Book Review: "The Psychopath Next Door" by Mark Edwards

Five years' ago, I read The Hollows also by Mark Edwards. You can read the review below...

Beginning with a creepy woman who is let out of prison, moving in next door to a nice little family - I could only tell from the outset that this book was going to be a twisted masterpiece. There's something about the tone you read this book in that makes your skin crawl and I loved it. Mark Edwards has definitely done it again with this one and if you enjoy dark, twisted nightmare fuel thrillers then this one is a definite one for your TBR. I hope you enjoy it and...oh yes, I remember now...you might not want to read it at night.

So let's start with the characters. This book is written as many thrillers are, in an alternating narrative of third person limited. First we have the next door neighbour, Fiona. and then we have Ethan, the father of a little family in which there's Emma, the wife and the two children: Dylan and Rose. The story starts with Fiona meeting the family and establishing a relationship with them, not initially revealing that she was once in prison with a strange woman named Lucy who later becomes a library orderly in the prison. One thing that Mark Edwards does best is he makes us question the motives of the characters and yet, it makes sense. Think about it this way: if you had been to prison, whatever it was for, would you want to tell every next person whom you encountered? Probably not. It makes sense for Fiona to not mention it even though we, as the reader, know full well that she's been inside. The dramatic irony adds the extra layer of tension to the book and keeps us occupied and distracted from what is really going on.

There's tension in Emma and Ethan's marriage and so, Ethan is stressed for much of the book even though he seems like a bit of an ignorant husband most of the time. He's definitely a guy you get stuck with rather than marry out of want and need. But as their marriage becomes more tense, Ethan starts looking at Fiona in a different way. All the while, Fiona is trying to offer her babysitting services for free in order for the tense couple to go out often. This brings Fiona closer to the outsider daughter, Rose. Rose is someone who makes sense to Fiona but doesn't make sense to her parents. She is somewhat detached and often states that her mother is her biggest problem, treating her like a baby and ordering her around instead of actually being loving. It seems like the mother's love for Rose is conditional whereas her love for Dylan is kind of just always present. Fiona seems to fill this gap where she has become someone Rose can rely on, someone she can talk to, someone she can come to when things are going wrong. This obviously releases Rose somewhat from Emma's grasp and drops her into the hands of a woman she may not fully understand. Mark Edwards definitely uses this new relationship to heighten the tension as we do not yet know what Fiona is capable of.

But it does not stop there because the author does one last thing. He lets us know something towards the midpoint of the book. This something is: if you think you were always aware of what was going on then you weren't really looking, were you? If you think you were all-seeing when it came to who Fiona really is and whether she and Rose are really all 'cool' with each other then you didn't really see the switch flick. There's an extra layer here that you won't realise until you are right towards the end of the book that flips the entire story on its head and makes for one deliciously dark read. I have to admit, I thought it was so obvious until this particular point. Then I felt so stupid that I didn't see it before. Oh it was so good...

Mark Edwards, you have done it again and I absolutely loved every minute of it. The smile that wipes across your face when you realise that you've been completely fooled is something else completely.