By Erica Wiggins
Content warning: racism
“You can choose your house. Not your neighbours.”
In Those People Next Door, Salma Khatun has just moved to Blenheim with her husband and son, looking for a new start. However, shortly after moving in Salma sees her neighbour, Tom Hutton, knocking their anti-racism banner out of their garden. Wanting to avoid a confrontation, Salma moves the banner inside to a window. When she wakes up the next morning with paint smeared on her window, she decides to confront Tom. There is no going back now—the stakes have been raised and the consequences are inevitable. Those People Next Door is the latest novel from Kia Abdullah, a bestselling author and travel writer, who has won many awards for her writing. She is also the founder of Asian Booklist, a non-profit that advocates for diversity in publishing.
Wow! This my first book by this author but it will not be the last. While the first chapter started slowly, the story picks up from there, moving at warp speed and making it hard to put down. We meet the characters, literally, of this neighbourhood. Salma, her husband Bil and son Zain are trying to fit in while working through a difficult time. Their next door neighbour Tom lives with his privileged wife Willa and their son Jamie, who is hard of hearing. And then there is the nosy neighbour Linda, who seems to know everything and seems a little off. As the feud escalates, the author pulls you in different directions, offering clues from unreliable sources, and leaving you feeling suspicious of everyone and how they may or may not be involved. It’s a rare treasure to find a story that can keep you guessing like this one. At the end of part one, this feud has reached its boiling point.
Without giving the story away, part two and three only prove to highlight the skills of this writer. This story deals with a challenging topic—racism (perceived and actual)—but is handled in a way that reminds us that it is not always possible to know the whole truth. It demonstrates how something small and the way that we handle it can escalate very quickly.
I loved the construction of the story. Split into three parts, it starts with the foundation of the story, before moving into the courtroom and finally to the aftermath. It leaves you turning the pages while you flip back and forth on who you believe. The twists keep coming; you think it’s all sorted and done and then another bomb is dropped. I couldn’t believe how many times the author got me.
Thrilling, gripping, and thought-provoking, Those People Next door slips you into suburbia and takes you on a ride. The author takes this topic, a real-life problem, and spins a fictional tale with a ring of truth to it, making it feel so much more realistic. This story is compelling and makes you question what choices you would make. If you love a thriller that twists until the end, then this book is for you.
Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.