Someone We Know by Shari Lapena

Hello everyone.

Are you in one of those communities where you know all your neighbors or just a few, perhaps none? Right now we know some, not all. In our old Victorian we knew absolutely everyone. We ended up being quite close, as we were all going through the restoration process. One of our neighbors across the street was a FBI agent. My father-in-law would come over pretty much every Saturday to help us work on the project of the moment.  He didn't call but since we were always working on the house it was a pretty safe bet that we would be tackling some issue first thing on the weekend. One time we were at the store when hubby's dad arrived. He started walking between houses admiring his recent handiwork on a diamond shaped window. Our FBI neighbor was not sure who my father-in-law was and immediately came over to question him. It may seem bothersome or intrusive to you, but it was great for us, especially since my husband often traveled for business. You never really know what you are going to get in the neighbor department until you move in.

I just finished Shari Lapena's new book, Someone We know. This story begins with a mother who walks the line between protecting her teenage child and the morality of knowing he has broken into the neighbor's homes for the purpose of snooping around their computers, and for the challenge. The boy's parents decide not to go to the police but the mother's feelings of guilt for her son's behavior grow.  To calm her conscious, one night she sneaks out and pushes an anonymous letter of apology under the door of the affected houses. The problems really start when we discover that one of the houses explored belongs to a man who has had some startling news; his wife was found dead. The teenage boys prints are all over the house of the murdered woman. Guilt is cast on several neighbors as the book progresses leaving the reader guessing, certain the killer is one person then the next, in this classic, suspenseful "who done it".

The writing a good, as always, typical of Shari Lapena's past books. This one might be a bit faster read than her last, definitely a page turner as the tension grows. No rocket science here, just another solid story from this author. So far, I've read everything Lapena has written and she hasn't disappointed me yet.

Think I'll go next door and borrow a cup of sugar, just to make sure they aren't up to no good.