*Overall, I liked this. It’s a multi-POV suburban drama with slasher-esque murders, more focused on character reactions and how different personalities cope than on sleuthing or cat-and-mouse games. But sometimes it felt cluttered, occasionally preachy, and left too many stories unfinished.

 

Energy: Admonishing. Neurotic. Playful. 

 

🐺 Growls: The ending focuses on one of the least compelling characters and most of the subplots are unresolved.

 

🐕 Howls: The ending is a series of quick wrap-ups with a lot of questions unanswered. There’s a lot to keep track of so it’s easy to get lost if you take long reading breaks. Wish we got a map of the neighbourhood for who sees what from their respective houses (instead of writing that out every time). Occasionally dips into commentary that was giving tokenistic or problematic (I think it’s just the writing style paired with the different character opinions that felt too matter-of-fact sometimes). It does that thing where characters get happy endings because they decided to have children. 

 

🐩 Tail Wags: The kills have a delightfully cheesy, slasher-film vibe. How the story is mostly about how each neighbor handles shock, secrets, and the gossip swirling around the cul-de-sac. The mix of characters, almost all unlikeable to insufferable in some way. Highly predictable but still intriguing, in that waiting for the characters to catch up way. 

 

Scene: 🇺🇸 An affluent suburb in Alpharetta, Georgia, USA. 

Perspectives (12): A has-been teen sitcom star who just married their older surgeon spouse. A married parent who came into money with their spouse after selling tech and security patents. A 19-year-old nanny and general helper in the neighbourhood. A married attorney no longer practicing. An older adult widow and former artist who lived in the neighbourhood long before it was developed. A spouse obsessed with looking young and taking others down to feel better about themselves. A parent running a cybersecurity firm with their spouse. An older adult widow using the HoA to punish neighbours they believe are ruining the neighbourhood by existing. The single HoA president who lives by double standards. A late twenties Instagram lifestyle influencer who returns to the neighbourhood to vlog the happenings. A married politician with secrets. A person who believes their spouse and kids are a total disappointment and make them look bad.  

Timeline: Current (2020s). Linear. 

🔥 Fuel: Who is killing people in the neighbourhood? Why? Is the accused person guilty or innocent? What will happen to the surviving community members? Who’s next? 

📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief 

 

Bath bombs. Book club. Costco. Wine. Kitchen islands. Heated pool. Greenhouse. Instagram sponsors. Chickpea bites. Staircase. 

 

Content Heads-Up: Abandonment (spousal, parental). Alcohol use. Bigotry. Car crash (fatal). Coronavirus (brief mention; remote work). Classism, elitism. Domestic abuse (physical, emotional). Fatphobia, body shaming (from parent). Homophobia (slurs, character opinions). Imprisonment. Infidelity. Jealously. Loss of family (as teen). Misogyny. Murder. Nazi sympathizer. Potential false accusation. Pregnancy. Prejudice, discrimination (lesbophobia, racism, ageism, transphobia). Transphobia (slurs, deadnaming, targeting, character and narration). Unemployment (fired). Vandalism, property damage, home invasion. 

 

Rep: American. Black American. Second generation Columbian American. Second generation Korean American. Cis. Trans. Hetero. Lesbian. Dark, pale, and ambiguous skin tones. 

 

📚 Format: Kobo Plus
*Did you know Kobo Plus automatically returns the book as soon as you flip to the last page, deleting all your highlights and annotations forever? I didn’t (also, why?)…anyways this review is entirely from memory because of that so I may have missed things.