
The Neighbour
An Addictive and Compelling Thriller from the Author of Into the Dark
Fiona Cummins(Author)
Pan Books (Publisher)
Published on 24. April 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
432 pages
978-1-0350-6348-2 (ISBN)
Description
For fans of The Family Across the Street by Nicole Trope and The Cottage by Lisa Stone, The Neighbour by Fiona Cummins is a twisting thriller about a quiet neighbourhood that's hiding a deadly secret.
'Creepy as hell and kept me guessing to the very end' - Ian Rankin
A new home. A new start.
It's all the Lockwoods want.
And on The Avenue, a leafy street in an Essex town near the sea, it seems possible.
But what if what they want isn't what they get?
On their moving-in day they arrive to a media frenzy.
A serial killer has struck in the woods behind The Avenue.
The police are investigating.
And the neighbours quite clearly have secrets.
With their dream quickly turning into a nightmare, the Lockwoods are watching everyone.
But who's watching them?
Praise for Fiona Cummins:
'Trust me - Cummins is a keeper' - Lee Child
'Head and shoulders above the rest' - Val McDermid
'A crime novel of the very first order' - David Baldacci
Dark, intriguing and gripping' - Laura Marshall
'What a storyteller' - Caz Frear
'A nightmarishly addictive read' - CJ Tudor
'Enthralled from beginning to end as each page drips with threat and menace' - Liz Nugent
'Creepy as hell and kept me guessing to the very end' - Ian Rankin
A new home. A new start.
It's all the Lockwoods want.
And on The Avenue, a leafy street in an Essex town near the sea, it seems possible.
But what if what they want isn't what they get?
On their moving-in day they arrive to a media frenzy.
A serial killer has struck in the woods behind The Avenue.
The police are investigating.
And the neighbours quite clearly have secrets.
With their dream quickly turning into a nightmare, the Lockwoods are watching everyone.
But who's watching them?
Praise for Fiona Cummins:
'Trust me - Cummins is a keeper' - Lee Child
'Head and shoulders above the rest' - Val McDermid
'A crime novel of the very first order' - David Baldacci
Dark, intriguing and gripping' - Laura Marshall
'What a storyteller' - Caz Frear
'A nightmarishly addictive read' - CJ Tudor
'Enthralled from beginning to end as each page drips with threat and menace' - Liz Nugent
Reviews / Votes
This thriller explores typically dark territory for this author, who has a gift for tapping a rich seam of evil that underpins the surface of the every day. Superbly sinister * Sunday Mirror * She is the master of depicting the way the most terrifyingly grotesque and evil psychopaths inveigle their way into the lives of ordinary people . . . when writing from the perspective of ordinary people caught up in horrific events, Fiona Cummins is unbeatable -- Jake Kerridge * Sunday Express * Creepy as hell, and kept me guessing to the very end -- Ian Rankin A crime novel of the very first order -- David Baldacci on <i>The Collector</i> Trust me - Cummins is a keeper -- Lee Child on <i>The Collector</i> An excellent read -- Martina Cole on <i>Rattle</i> It's a rare debut that has this much polish. Harrowing and horrifying, head and shoulders above most of the competition -- Val McDermid on <i>Rattle</i> An extraordinarily good writer. What a storyteller -- Caz Frear The Neighbour is nerve-janglingly creepy, beautifully written and full of surprises -- Holly Seddon [A] brilliant book. What a dark, creepy and twisted (in all senses of the word) tale -- C. J. Tudor Fiona is the mistress of tension building and the way she weaved that tangled web of suspects and motives left me breathless. Truly magnificent -- Jo Spain I could not stop reading, every turned page revealing secrets, increasingly strange and fascinating . . . I loved The Neighbour, a feat of masterful plotting from one of my favourite storytellers -- Amanda Reynolds Fiona Cummins drew me in from the very first page with her original and compelling prose. Dark, creepy and intense with brilliant characters and a clever plot with an ending I didn't see coming -- Jenny Quintana Tension that creeps all the way through, but a pace and language so precise and right that it felt like I was watching a movie . . . This book will linger -- Hayley Webster Fiona's books are so masterfully crafted and beautifully written . . . A disturbing observation of a community and the secrets hidden within it, a dark and compelling read -- Debbie Howells Original, compelling and oh-so creepy. Stock up on the sugar because you might never dare pop next door again -- Tammy Cohen An original plot, brilliantly crafted with the wonderfully atmospheric storytelling that readers have come to expect from Fiona Cummins -- Olivia Kiernan Fiona Cummins is the queen of all things dark and wonderful, and she writes so beautifully. It creeped me the hell out and I absolutely LOVED it -- Joanna Cannon I was enthralled from beginning to end as every page drips with threat and menace . . . Totally gripping with a cast of ghastly characters, one worse than the next -- Liz Nugent Kept me guessing and second-guessing the whole way through. Storytelling at its best -- Patricia Gibney You'll be curtain twitching after reading this - a deeply unsettling and brilliantly claustrophobic novel that will have you questioning how well you know your neighbours -- Michelle Frances Fiona Cummins has concocted a frightening tale that's compulsive reading. I couldn't put it down, despite the fact that I started each new chapter with a creeping sense of dread and the hairs standing up on the back of my neck -- Alison Belsham Incredibly creepy, intense and compelling. Excellent -- Will Dean Creepy, menacing genius -- C. L. TaylorMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pan Macmillan
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 194 mm
Width: 124 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
292 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0350-6348-2 (9781035063482)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Fiona Cummins
The Neighbour
The gripping crime thriller of the year with a twist you'll never see coming . . .
E-Book
03/2019
Pan Books
€14.49
Available for download
Person
Fiona Cummins is an award-winning former journalist and a graduate of the Faber Academy Writing a Novel course. Rattle, her debut novel, received widespread critical acclaim from authors and reviewers, was the subject of a huge international auction and has been translated into several languages. She has since written bestsellers The Collector, The Neighbour, When I Was Ten and Into the Dark, in which she introduces DC Saul Anguish, a brilliant young detective with a dark past. Fiona lives with her family in Essex.