The Killer Next Door

The Killer Next Door
Alex Marwood
book recieved in return
for far review

Amazon Blurb -

Everyone who lives at 23 Beulah Grove has a secret. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be renting rooms in a dodgy old building for cash—no credit check, no lease. It’s the kind of place you end up when you you’ve run out of other options. The six residents mostly keep to themselves, but one unbearably hot summer night, a terrible accident pushes them into an uneasy alliance. What they don’t know is that one of them is a killer. He’s already chosen his next victim, and he’ll do anything to protect his secret. 

*****

An eclectic group of tenants reside in a boarding home.  The landlord Roy Preece is a repulsive lech of a man who knows some of his tenants are between a rock and a hard-place and uses their situation as a tool to take advantage of them.

Lisa has come to live here on the run from a mobster whose money she has stolen quite accidentally, after witnessing henchmen delivering a deadly beatdown.   Hopping from place to place Lisa has been on the run from Tony Stott, barely one step ahead of him. Changing her name to Colette, she is hiding here from him while trying to care for her mom who is dying and in a home.

Tenants Vesta, a senior citizen who has lived there since she was a child with her parents, Hossein is seeking asylum, Gerard a divorced music teacher, Thomas a socially inept loner, and Cher, a 15 year old scrapper trying to stay out of the fostering system. Amongst them all is the Lover. One who ghoulishly collects women, preserving them, hoping each one is a better masterpiece than his last.

Their interaction and formed friendships make for an interesting story. In the sweltering heatwave they are dealing with plumbing problems and a stench of grand proportions.  Their landlord fixing the problem is not on his list of responsibilities to his tenants.  In a crazy twist that has them all working together, this group becomes an odd family unit.

I enjoyed this book. My only complaint, the detail was a bit much, and I wished for more focus on the main storyline itself and not on the side stories.  This had me pushing through at times, knowing the good stuff was coming. Alex Marwood has a great writing style, she weaves a tale that holds you in 

its grip.

3 1/2 cannolis