The People At Number 9 By Felicity Everett

[amazon_link id=”0008216878″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’The People At Number 9′ is the second book by Felicity Everett.

Sara and Neil have new neighbours in their street. Glamorous and chaotic, Gav and Lou make Sara’s life seem dull. As the two couples become friends, sharing suppers, red wine and childcare, it seems a perfect couples-match. But the more Sara sees of Gav and Lou, the more she longs to change her own life. But those changes will come at a price.

This book is a twisted and dark story of jealously and lust.

Originally, when Lou and Gav moved into the house next door, Sara was in awe of the bohemian couple with their glamorous careers, successful friends and endless parties. Sara envies them and can only look at her quieter less exciting life with contempt. So she edges closer to the couple, befriending them and becoming more than a just next door neighbour but an intricate part of their lives, offering advice, babysitting and eventually teaching the children. In return, Lou and Gav give Sara the confidence to leave her job and follow her dream of becoming an author and allow her to be part of their clique.

Caught up in the couple’s exciting lifestyle, Sara begins to dislike her own, finds her husband boring and constantly comparing their lives. But as she spends more time with the couple, Sara begins to notice that Lou and Gav aren’t as perfect as she initially thought and begins to see another side to seemingly perfect couple.

When I initially started this book, I was disappointed to see that the perspective of the story was only seen through the eyes of Sara, I was hoping to see how the other people were settling into the new neighbourhood, but this was infact a clever move by the author, as for me Sara was the most interesting character.

She’s quite an unlikable person, regularly swaying from dark emotions from jealously and obsession, she becomes consumed by the new arrivals and wants nothing more than to belong to their luxurious lifestyle leaving her old friends behind and looks down on them for not being as exciting as Lou and Gav.

She’s selfish and self absorbed but also relatable as she idolises their couple and the life that she would long to have.

Cleverly written with intriguing and mysterious social butterflies, that made for unsettling reading, this book gripped me on all levels.

A dark and voyeuristic story of jealously and obsession, ‘The People At Number 9’ is about the complexities of friendships particularly female, and deals with the raw emotions that we all try to hide.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”0008216878″ target=”_blank” ]The People at Number 9 from Amazon [/amazon_link] and is available to buy from good bookshops.