The Neighbor by Joseph Souza

I can only hope author Joseph Souza never encountered anything in his career like the murder and mayhem in his new novel, The Neighbors.

Souza worked for the organized crime unit of the Drug Enforcement Agency, who now lives in Portland with his wife and two children. He’s written several novels, which I’ve enjoyed, so I looked forward to his new book.

And I need to confess, I canceled a luncheon meeting one day last week so I could continue reading The Neighbors. I just had to know what was going to happen next.

The plot is very winding and intriguing, and you will most assuredly hope you never have neighbors like these. Almost every chapter lurches you forward in a twisting sometimes downright scary story.

On the back cover, author Lisa Jackson described it this way: “The Neighbor is like watching a chain-reaction car wreck happening in slow motion. Scary and disturbing with dark psychological twists and turns, it horrifies while it fascinates. I couldn’t turn away!” Me either, Lisa.

I won’t give any of it away, but I can suggest that you not start reading it on a day with a busy schedule.

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.