The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood

The Killer Next Door is a great suspense novel full of twists and turns. Set in a London house that has been turned into bedsits it is owned by lecherous, obese landlord Roy Preece who seems to have no redeeming features. Most of the tenants have secrets they want to keep hidden, among them are Collette who is on the run and in fear of her life using her bedsit as a place to hide and Cher, she looks older than her years but is a young girl who has escaped from a children's home. Other characters include Vesta who has lived in the basement flat all her life, first with her parents, then her husband and now on her own, lonely Thomas and Iranian asylum seeker Hossein. There's also Gerard, he's very rarely seen but his loud classical music is often heard. One of them is a serial killer, but who?

 

They are all brought together one night when there's an accident, not something I ever saw coming, in fact I didn't guess most, if any of the revelations throughout the story. Although you do gradually learn more about the tenants as the novel progresses there's no slow build up with this one and it gets straight into the action. It is gory but only when necessary and isn't overdone or gratuitous.

 

I loved Alex Marwood's debut novel The Wicked Girls so was very pleased to get a copy of this from Netgalley. The Killer Next Door is as good, if not better than her first and she is definitely an author whose books I will now eagerly await. 

 

Rating: 4 out of 5