Home Sweet Home- Book Review

The Family Across the Street by Nicole Trope

Previous Title: Home Sweet Home 

Publication Date: 6th August 2021
Genre: Suspense, Thriller, Family Drama

3.7 Stars

Hogarth Street has pretty houses with happy families, or so it seems. The West family with John, Katherine, and their five-year-old twins is one example.

Gladys and her husband Lou live in the neighboring house. Despite her worry about Lou’s health, Gladys is eager to know her neighbors and misses the good old friendship people used to have with others in their street.

Life goes on until it doesn’t on a hot sultry summer day. Is it the heat making Gladys jumpy, or are her instincts about the West’s family correct?

Do people know each other, or do they prefer not to? How do we draw a line between a helpful neighbor and a nosy one?

Burdened by his past, Logan knows he needs to stay away from anything that could risk his future. But can he stop himself knowing that a woman and two kids, even if they are strangers, are at risk? How will his decision cost him?

This is my first book by the author, and I must admit I’m impressed by her writing. The story has multiple POVs with Logan's, Gladys and Katherine’s are in the limited third person and one in the first person.

The chapters are medium to short and give us more information about the characters. Some of it makes us wonder why it’s needed, but we can see things come together towards the end. The constant struggle Logan and Gladys experience about their instincts was great to read. It’s so easy to get blamed and called names for trying to help. But what if the other person is really in trouble? Their doubts and concerns are relatable.

The pace is decent, though there’s this constant itch of wanting to skip a couple of chapters and read what happens next. Some events seem a bit too coincidental, and there are a couple of things I find unbelievable and unconvincing.   

I did guess what the twist could be, though I was trying to connect the dots in the right order. The twist was neither unbelievable nor bland. The hints are there and fit rather well once the major reveal is over.

I like how the book ended with a decent-sized epilogue. Things get better for most characters and end on a positive note. The book also highlights how people with similar abusive backgrounds can grow up to be two different people. It’s not the circumstances that change a person, but their attitude and approach to the situation.

To sum up, The Family Across the Street uses the same tropes of a traumatic childhood but uses them well to create a 250-page story full of suspense, tension, fear, determination, and hope.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bookouture.

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