The Neighbor Paranormal Suspense Ghost Horror
Carfax Abbey
March 10, 2021
326
Claire Vogel is a recently divorced mother of four girls and a successful counselor living in a planned and prestigious community. She knows all her neighbors, and they know her. But Claire has a secret. To cope with hidden, deep-rooted pain, she often participates in risky, reckless behavior.
When the mysterious Steel Nolan moves in next door to Claire, their flirtation quickly develops into a deeper attraction. But soon after, Claire and her children contend with sleepwalking, shadow men, and disembodied voices.
As Claire begins to remember childhood memories and learns more about her new neighbor's past, her concern for her children's safety grows. Is Steel Nolan the man of her dreams … or the stuff of nightmares?
Available at Amazon.
Reviewed by S.C. Principale
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
The Neighbor by London Clarke is one of those books that you will read in one day,
despite the fact that it’s over three hundred pages. It’s absolutely gripping and you’ll
very likely find yourself trying to do everything with one hand while you grasp your
paperback or tablet with the other.
Claire Vogel seems to have it all together while equally falling apart. She’s a calm,
collected therapist who is a mother of four beautiful daughters, while at the same time
still reeling after divorcing her perfectionist husband. It makes sense that she lets loose
sometimes, assuming the persona of a sensual party-girl. Claire, using assumed names,
will flirt, but never lets things go farther. Control is important to Claire.
Right until her hunky neighbor recognizes her at The Destiny Room— oh, the
foreshadowing is intense in this book! Claire falls headlong into an oddly tense
relationship with her single neighbor, Steel Nolan, only to find he’s not the man she
thinks he is and he’s the one pulling all the strings.
At first, it seems unlikely that a smart woman like Claire (who even spends time
counseling other vulnerable women) would be so reckless, but as the secrets about
Claire’s past and Steel’s true identity are revealed, you’ll find yourself drawn in as easily
as the initially reluctant single mother.
Steel Nolan isn’t just tall, dark, and handsome, but also seems to be a genuinely dark
presence. As mysterious deaths and accidents plague the neighborhood, Claire begins to
wonder if her reliance on science can actually provide answers for everything, or will she
need to go back to her roots and turn to faith in order to get to the heart of the darkness
spreading through her small community? Is it Steel who is the neighbor in question? Is
it misguided teen Tommy Frankenson next door? Or does the title refer to the
dilapidated house just beyond the clean new neighborhood, a property that once
belonged to a child molester and murderer… a man Claire finally realizes she crossed
paths with long ago.
As the action builds to a fever-pitch in this book, you’ll wonder if it should have
been called The Neighbor or The Neighborhood. There are as many dark forces
surrounding Claire and her beautiful girls as there are good friends who are willing to
fight to save them from something of truly Biblical proportions.
While the situation is fantastical, blending mystery, paranormal, suspense, and
horror, you’ll also find yourself easily relating to the characters. If I had one initial
criticism, it would be that the creepy and mysterious events seemed a bit disjointed at
first, piling on fast and furious, leaving us with many questions and no answers.
However, like a master weaver, Clarke pulled the threads together to create a truly
captivating picture that was fully understandable in the end. I am now hooked on this
author and can’t wait to read the rest of her work!
