Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read and review this intriguing book!

The name of this book should be Plot Twist, it has so many great ones!
It is told from two neighbor view points: Julie, a best-selling author, and John, her new neighbor who connects with her in more ways than just their running.

Julie and her family have relocated to this (crazy-strict) neighborhood of people who make Julie feel anything but welcome. As the story unfolds, the author makes us question every character as to whether they are really as they seem... because there are definite secrets in this story that unfold layer by layer.

This is a great page-turner, a story that will suck you in as you try and play detective. At least that's what I was trying to do!

The best part? There is a new book coming out that this author tied to this story: The Murder Game, which is the book the character Julie wrote in Fractured. ( )

Fractured/Catherine McKenzie Welcome, neighbor!
Julie Prentice and her family move across the country to the idyllic Mount Adams district of Cincinnati, hoping to evade the stalker who’s been terrorizing them ever since the publication of her bestselling novel, The Murder Game. Since Julie doesn’t know anyone in her new town, when she meets her neighbor John Dunbar, their instant connection brings measured hope for a new beginning. But she never imagines that a simple, benign conversation with him could set her life spinning so far off course.
We know where you live.…
After a series of misunderstandings, Julie and her family become the target of increasingly unsettling harassment. Has Julie’s stalker found her, or are her neighbors out to get her, too? As tension in the neighborhood rises, new friends turn into enemies, and the results are deadly.
 
I finished this book several days ago and am still reeling from the complete suspense it kept me in. I kept finishing chapters simply to get immensely frustrated at still not solving the mystery, and absolutely could not put this book down.
 
I really enjoyed how carefully drawn the neighbourhood that Julie moved to was. I felt as though the characters I saw could be people I would find in the town where I grew up, and though I almost would have liked them to have been more cariacatural, I enjoyed how one member of the area really took things over the top.
 
Characters in general were exceptionally well drawn and I felt like I had a feel for even the more minor characters. I liked that they had their strengths and their weaknesses. I liked that they had their own interests and how they demonstrated these. I liked that there were a lot of children that also had their own personalities and tropes.
 
But this book's strength comes from the suspense. The ultimate revelation of the mystery honestly was rather lackluster after the entire buildup, yet that didn't take away from how much I enjoyed the buildup to the revelation. The contrast between the characters in the past and the present, and how their desires had changed, too, was incredibly strong.
 
I could not put this book down, and I highly recommend this to anyone who loves to be sucked into a gripping story.
 
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Fractured by Catherine McKenzie was a book* that I thought would completely go one way, but swerved another way and it completely worked!

Julie (and family) have moved into a nice residential neighborhood to get away from it all- the big city, her adoring fans, and her stalker. Julie, a former law student, wrote a best selling book which may or may not be fiction on the perfect murder. Her stalker followed her around, sent threatening emails, phone calls, and did a bunch of other creepy things to Julie and her family. They are miles away now and safe. She can run, her twins can go to school, and she can have a normal life where no one knows who she is, even though the book continues to sell in the millions.

John and his family live across the street. He is a former IT guy who is an expert on firewalls, websites, etc. For several weeks, he has been standing by his window watching Julie leave for her morning run, timing when she comes back, and at times has put on running sneakers himself. He knows exactly who Julie is and has read her book several times. He Googles facts about her, notices her firewall is down, has found her new novel, and wants to be friends with Julie and her family.

I am going to stop with the description here because you are probably thinking this book is about what I was thinking about- John is a creep who will either become her new stalker or just be a creep. Let me give a slight spoiler and say the book is not about that at all! There are things that happen between John and Julie and there are creepy moments, but the creepy neighbor idea is out.

The story is told from two perspectives- John's and Julie's. It is also told through a countdown starting from a year out to "now." The now parts are taking place in a courtroom and a trial is going on- Julie is nowhere to be seen, John and Julie's wife are separate, and some of the neighbors are testifying. We don't know what the trial is about until the end, so no spoilers here.

The countdown parts take place in the neighborhood and are the stories being told in the courtroom at the moment. We jump between now and the next section of the countdown. As things start well and innocently in the neighborhood, we will wind up with cameras all over Julie's house (not a spoiler). Things just seem to progress and get worse and worse for Julie the more she tries to acclimate to the neighborhood.

I have been describing this book as fun, yet very serious at the same time. What I mean by that is the writing just flows and there are some humorous parts as well as some fun parts. The story itself will start playful, but get very serious toward the end, it seemed as if the writing style changed too. The tone is darker and becomes a different book in a way. It works too! I read this over the weekend and just had a blast!

I gave this one 4.5 stars.

*I received this book for review from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ( )

"In the end we were a hurricane wind in each other's lives, though we shouldn't have been."
Have you ever driven by a picturesque, peaceful little street and thought how lovely it would be to live there? How neighborly everyone must be? How close knit? Well after reading this, I'll take city living any day, where I don't know my neighbors and they don't know me!
Julie, her husband, and their twins move to such a street. It's lovely at first, and welcoming, and there are even block parties where all the neighbors get together. Just make sure you follow Cindy's rules or you'll be sorry. Cindy fancies herself queen of the street. She oh so gently "guides" the neighbors in what is and is not allowed. Constant emails and rule updates are sent out by Cindy and heaven help you if you forget to thank her for sarcastically given welcome basket.
Julie tries to fit in with her new neighbors but eventually that becomes impossible. She has bigger fish to fry anyway what with a stalker that may or may not have found her new residence.
As things get more heated and hostile between Julie and her neighbors I could just sense something horrific was going to happen. This made me fear turning the page, even though I was unable to put this book down til the very end. 5 out of 5 stars from me.

I received an advance copy for review. ( )

I enjoyed reading this book, which was definitely a page-turner. I did have a bit of difficulty distinguishing between Julie and John's voices, which I think could have been more defined. Otherwise, the story should resonate with anyone familiar with life in American burbs and the craziness that can go on among neighbors. In one place I lived there was actually a love "square" that left two families in divorce proceedings! ( )