The Boy Next Door

Breathe in. And out. Where do I begin with this review? I received this book from Hachette Book Group; I’ll start there. It sat on my bookcase for a while before I was ready to pick it up; it was intimidating and large and serious looking and I knew I needed to be ready for it. I started it, and fift......more

What I love about reading is that you can pick up a book you've never heard of, full of a place and time you know nothing about and by the end of it have a real feel for the people and their lives. A small mystery , an unlikely seemingly impossible relationship and real characters set amid the turmoi......more

Had I reviewed this book after the first 150 pages, I would only have given it 3 stars. It had the usual first novel feel, with passages that could have been much more fully explored. But by the time I reached the end of the book, I had been totally drawn in. The relationship between Ian, a "Rhodie"......more

I loved this engrossing novel. In a crowded market of first time novels this one stands out both for its unusual setting - Zimbabwe in the years following independence - and for its sure handling, a keenly observed story by a writer who clearly knows the world she describes and who is obviously pass......more

I loved this book. It was a wonderful, page-turning, sometimes heartbreaking, clear eyed, unsentimental immersion in Zimbabwe from the 80s til today, told through the lens of a powerful uncliched love story. It has the sweep and power of an epic novel, a fresh crisp narrative voice, and characters i......more