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The Book Room Presents Hannah Kaner

 The Book Room Presents Hannah Kaner Artisan @ the Biscuit Factory, 19th March 2025 Last night's book event with Hannah Kaner was a fun and fascinating discussion about Hannah's new book, Faithbreaker , the third book in Hannah's Fallen Gods trilogy.  Hannah was in conversation with Naomi Kelsey, author of the historical novel The Burnings, and the upcoming The Darkening Globe.  With two north-eastern authors talking in front of a Newcastle audience, we started with a discussion of the numerous Geordie terms that Hannah was able to sneak into her books, terms that apparently had her American editors questioning whether they were actually typos! Apparently a lot of the geography in her series is inspired by the coastline of the North East, from beaches of golden sands to hard, black rock sills, and though none of her characters are actually Geordie, it being a fantasy world and all, those influences crept in in their language. Talk then turned to food, and the range and qu...
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Review - The Neighbour by Fiona Cummins

 Review - The Neighbour by Fiona Cummins

FOR SALE: A lovely family home with good-sized garden and treehouse occupying a plot close to woodland. Perfect for kids, fitness enthusiasts, dog walkers . . .

And, it seems, the perfect hunting ground for a serial killer.

On a hot July day, Garrick and Olivia Lockwood and their two children move into 25 The Avenue looking for a fresh start. They arrive in the midst of a media frenzy: they’d heard about the local murders in the press, but Garrick was certain the killer would be caught and it would all be over in no time. Besides, they’d got the house at a steal and he was convinced he could flip it for a fortune. The neighbours seemed to be the very picture of community spirit. But everyone has secrets, and the residents in The Avenue are no exception.

After six months on the case with no real leads, the most recent murder has turned DC Wildeve Stanton’s life upside down, and now she has her own motive for hunting down the killer – quickly.



I've loved Fiona's dark, creepy, slightly supernatural books, The Collector and Rattle, so I was really keen to try this standalone thriller. It didn't disappoint.

The Neighbour plays around with two different time streams, one narrated by the killer waiting for the police to arrive and telling stories about the past, the other set around a fateful few days in the neighbourhood. I felt this technique worked really well, establishing a strong foreshadowing element that added to the tension.

One thing I loved about the Neighbour is that it starts towards the end of the action. Most of the murders have already happened, and it is much more focused on the detective work and the chase, as well as the possibility of another murder, rather than us chasing the action from crime scene to crime scene. This really made it different to most of the crime novels out there. Also, while there is a strong police procedural element, it is not exclusive, and lots of the action is seen from the points of view of the inhabitants of the Avenue.

Overall, The Neighbour was an exciting crime thriller with an interesting twist to the timelines.

🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

The Neighbour by Fiona Cummins is out now, published by Pan Macmillan

I was given a review copy via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

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