Image: Atria Books
Sarah Langan s
Good Neighbors is one of the creepiest, most unnerving deconstructions of American suburbia I ve ever read. Langan cuts to the heart of upper middle class lives like a skilled surgeon and exposes the rotten realities behind manicured lawns and perfect families, and the result is horrifically plausible.
Maple Street is a crescent of perfection in suburban Long Island. It s a safe place where families tend to their Harvard-bound children, no one worries about mortgage or car payments, and everyone gets along splendidly. But there s something dark and evil bubbling beneath the nice cars and bright smiles, and when the Wilde family moves into the neighborhood, everything changes. The Wildes are disruptive because they don t fit in. Dad Arlo is a has-been rock star with arms covered in tattoos of demons that hide his track marks. Mom Gertie is a tall blonde with breast implants who used to be a beauty queen. The kids, Julia and Larry, are weird, loud
Sarah Langan s
Good Neighbors is one of the creepiest, most unnerving deconstructions of American suburbia I ve ever read. Langan cuts to the heart of upper middle class lives like a skilled surgeon and exposes the rotten realities behind manicured lawns and perfect families, and the result is horrifically plausible.
Maple Street is a crescent of perfection in suburban Long Island. It s a safe place where families tend to their Harvard-bound children, no one worries about mortgage or car payments, and everyone gets along splendidly. But there s something dark and evil bubbling beneath the nice cars and bright smiles, and when the Wilde family moves into the neighborhood, everything changes. The Wildes are disruptive because they don t fit in. Dad Arlo is a has-been rock star with arms covered in tattoos of demons that hide his track marks. Mom Gertie is a tall blonde with breast implants who used to be a beauty queen. The kids, Julia and Larry, are weird, loud, and foulmouthed.