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Welcome to Maple Street, a picture-perfect slice of suburban Long Island, its residents bound by their children, their work, and their illusion of safety in a rapidly changing world.
But menace skulks among this exclusive enclave. When the Wilde family arrive, they trigger their neighbors' worst fears. Dad Arlo's a gruff has-been rock star with track marks. Mom Gertie's got a thick Brooklyn accent, with high heels and tube tops to match. Their weird kids cuss like sailors. They don't fit with the way Maple Street sees itself.
Maple Street's Queen Bee, Rhea Schroeder—a lonely professor repressing a dark past—initially welcomed Gertie, but relations plummeted during one summer evening, when the new best friends shared too much, too soon. By the time the story opens, the Wildes are outcasts.
As tensions mount, a sinkhole opens in a nearby park, and Rhea's daughter Shelly falls inside. The search for Shelly brings a shocking accusation against the Wildes. Suddenly, it is one mom's word against the other's in a court of public opinion that can end only in blood.
Riveting and ruthless, Good Neighbors is "a chilling, compulsively readable novel that looks toward the future in order to help us understand how we live now" (Kevin Wilson, author of Nothing to See Here).
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
February 2, 2021 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781797119328
- File size: 293510 KB
- Duration: 10:11:28
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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December 21, 2020
Bram Stoker Award winner Langan (Audrey’s Door) crafts an incisive story about a seemingly pleasant neighborhood in 2027 Long Island, where the appearance of a massive sinkhole ratchets up local tensions. Married couple Arlo Wilde, a former rock star and junkie, and former beauty queen Gertie Wilde have moved with their two children to the suburbs from Brooklyn, but they don’t share their neighbors’ bourgeois obsessions with extracurricular activities and college prep. Neighbor Rhea Schroder sticks up for Gertie when other neighbors give her a hard time, hoping to make a friend and desperate to escape her suburban doldrums. After Gertie dismisses Rhea’s attempt at confiding, Rhea’s hopes turn to bitterness. This affects both of their daughters. Shelly Schroder, 13 had become best friends with 12-year-old Julia Wilde. Now Shelly torments Julia after Rhea turns her against the Wildes, and hides a secret. Then Shelly falls into a sinkhole that appeared nearly instantaneously on their street, and Rhea schemes to pin the blame for Shelly’s fall on the Wildes. Witty dialogue abounds, and Langan sets up an ambitious structure by incorporating tabloid excerpts of the Wildes’ past and studies of the sinkhole published in the future. This sharp, propulsive novel pulls off a maximalist variation on suburban gossip gone wrong. Agent: Stacia Decker, Dunow Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency. (Feb.)This review has been updated to remove a spoiler. -
Narrator Nicole Lewis delivers great dialogue voices, including convincing Brooklyn accents for protagonists Gertie and Arlo Wilde and their kids, Julia and Larry. Lewis also expressively performs the narrative. The Wildes move into a house on Long Island's Maple Street, where Gertie becomes friends with Rhea Schroeder, who has many secrets. After drinking too much one evening, Rhea reveals too much to Gertie, regrets it, turns against her friend, and helps neighbors do likewise. This is a story of broken friendships, a sinkhole, a missing child, lies, and whispers. It is funny, tragic, and compelling. Lewis captures the essence of the adults and children of Maple Street, and even the neighborhood itself. An outstanding performance. G.S. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
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