THE NEIGHBOR
Lisa Gardner
Bantam
Thriller
ISBN: 9780553807233
THE NEIGHBOR, Lisa Gardner’s latest work, takes the mystery and thriller genres into slightly new directions. While the book features the welcome return of D. D. Jackson, last seen in HIDE, the Boston police detective is by no means the primary character. She shares the spotlight with a very enigmatic and memorable cast of individuals in a novel that tells the story of an inexplicable disappearance, the investigation of which is hampered by past events and current shame.
Initially, the premise of THE NEIGHBOR seems to be a deceptively simple one. Sandra Jones, a young, attractive middle school teacher, disappears one night, leaving her four-year-old daughter at home alone and asleep. Her husband, Jason, is a newspaper reporter who covers the graveyard shift. He comes home in the middle of the night and finds his wife missing, yet waits three hours before reporting her absence. D. D. Jackson is assigned to the case, and immediately senses that all is not right. Jason is withdrawn, secretive and wholly uncooperative with the police, an odd set of circumstances that makes the initial law enforcement conclusion --- that Jason is responsible for Sandra’s disappearance --- even stronger.
The narrative switches perspective among a number of characters. Jackson, Jason and, in the days and hours leading up to her disappearance, Sandra, as well as others, slowly but surely reveal secrets and events past and present. Sandra and Jason had an odd relationship that somehow worked, if not always well. Jackson is all but certain of Jason’s culpability, but there is a wild card in the mix. A registered sex offender lives just down the street from the Jones family, and his status as such marks him as a person of interest almost immediately.
Convicted of statutory rape, Aidan Brewster’s post-incarceration life is tied together with a fragile rope that is fraying day by day. Gainfully employed and dutifully attending support meetings, Brewster’s carefully regulated existence begins to unravel when Sandra vanishes. Though only a nominal suspect, he is drawn into the investigation’s orbit. While Brewster can provide an important piece of eyewitness testimony that will prove crucial in determining the “why” of Sandra’s disappearance, the revelation of his past threatens not only his job, but also his life.
Sandra has her own demons, past and present, one of which turns out to be responsible for her disappearance. It is Jason, however, who is a true man of mystery. His efforts to conceal his past serve him poorly now, even as the search for his wife widens and the net of suspicion tightens around him. And when Sandra’s estranged father, a powerful, influential judge, comes to town, everything kicks into high gear. Just when the suspense is cranked to an excruciating level, however, a highly unlikely source for the truth steps forward, one who unwittingly and begrudgingly has the power to either explain Sandra’s disappearance or leave it shrouded forever in mystery.
THE NEIGHBOR is one of those incredibly smart mysteries that is almost impossible to figure out before all is ultimately revealed, driven in equal parts by a strong storyline and vibrant, sometimes quirky, characterization. Gardner also raises an extremely controversial and difficult issue that is just beginning to invade the public discourse. Should a 19-year-old man who has sexual relations with a 14-year-old girl be treated the same as a 24-year-old who forces himself or herself sexually upon a six-year-old? And is it fair to continue to penalize such individuals after they have served prison time? While Gardner frames this hot-button topic discreetly, she takes a major chance by presenting Brewster, a sex offender on one end of the spectrum, as a sympathetic character who in his own way arguably can be considered a victim. In the hands of a less capable author this would tip over into sensationalism, but for Gardner it proves to be a gutsy move that works.
For many reasons, THE NEIGHBOR will leave you thinking long after the final page has been turned.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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