Good Neighbours by Sarah Langan
I haven't read a Langan novel in sometime. Maple Street is a middle class suburban street in Long Island. It has a sleek suburban facade that cracks when the Wilde family moves in. The Wilde's are considered low rent, low class, white trash. They are excluded, bullied and then things get really ugly as the Queen Bee of Maple Street spreads lies and fake gossip and makes shocking accusations about the unwanted Wilde family. Hysteria and violence follow. This was good.
Best Lines:
“The illusions of a child.”
“The loser who'd ruined her life.”
“Vacuum of neglect.”
“Did he see what was happenning in his home? Did he care?”
“How much she wished Gertie and her whole family dead.”
“The things no one else saw.”
“Genuine tears, not fake ones to rile up the neighbours.”
“She didn't know how to accept company.”
“These people are the kind you leave behind.”
“Which one of them wasn't an enemy?”
“Turn addiction into social covention.”
“Mistook for the essence of Americana.”
“Their mean-spirited twins ran their roost.”
“The carpet smelled like cats.”
“Logic and adulthood told her otherwise.”
“He's had no one to pretend for.”
“Like she was not a good person.”
“Had never offered salvation.”
“No changing course now. No possibility for redemption.”
“So grateful for this live she'd given him.”
“Acted predictably, if horrendously.”