After years of success in other subgenres, LynDee Walker released her first domestic suspense novel, The Pastor’s Wife, to great acclaim last year—even snagging a spot on the coveted Top Reads of 2025 According to BOLO Books list. She is keeping that positive momentum going by releasing The Housewife Next Door this January, once again giving readers her unique blend of relatable characters in batshit crazy situations.
It is a universal truth that the more successful a domestic suspense novel is in our modern era, the more difficult it is to talk about in a spoiler-free way. What can be said about The Housewife Next Door is that it wastes no time luring the reader into its tangled web(s). Meg is a single mom who has purchased a Kansas homestead to escape her complicated past. One day she meets Ainsley, a slightly younger girl who lives on the adjoining farmland. These two isolated individuals strike up a friendship, forever entwining their lives in ways they could never have imagined.
SarahBeth is Ainsley’s mother. Along with Ainsley, SarahBeth has five other children and a husband who provides for the family. In contemporary parlance, SarahBeth might be called a tradwife, but there as many layers to this woman as one might find on a typical onion. For some reason SarahBeth takes an instant dislike towards Meg, but it’s only when Ainsley reveals with her dying breath that there is a little girl buried on the farm that matters escalate to dangerous levels. (Don’t worry, no spoiler. That scene happens in the novel’s prologue, which should be clue enough that things are about to get extremely twisted.)
Through these three points of view, LynDee Walker manages to obfuscate the most telling details of these women’s lives, thereby elevating the tension and ensuring a long night of reading ahead. Fans of this type of domestic suspense allow the suspension of disbelief to reign supreme while immersed in these fictional worlds. Knowing this, LynDee Walker is gradually making this subtle, but intentional, manipulation her trademark literary device—which is excellent news for readers who enjoy one shocking twist after another.
While anything but a traditional series, it is worth noting that The Housewife Next Door shares some DNA with The Pastor’s Wife, both thematically and beyond. It is to LynDee Walker’s credit that the novels work equally well as standalones or if read in either order. These types of over-the-top domestic suspense novels are currently having their moment, but LynDee Walker’s writing skills help to elevate the books above the trend, giving her novels a longevity not often seen in this particular style.
Where will LynDee Walker go next? Only time will tell, but there are now a horde of fans who are more than ready to follow her down whatever twisted path her mind conceives of. Join us by picking up The Housewife Next Door and/or The Pastor’s Wife today. You won’t regret it…well, other than a few nights of lost sleep, that is.
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BUY LINKS: The Housewife Next Door by LynDee Walker
Disclaimer: An e-galley of this title was provided to BOLO Books by the publisher. No promotion was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.
