Debut novelist Joanne Serling has used a familiar setting --- suburbia --- to tackle two difficult subjects: adoption and abuse.

Nicole Westerhof is the narrator of this story about her upscale community in the Boston suburbs, where all the neighbors are friends and their kids play in each other’s yards. The clique includes Nicole and her husband, Jay; Lorraine, a high-rolling recruiter, and her boyfriend, Jeffrey; Nela, also a successful businesswoman who grew up in South Boston, and her husband, Drew, who works locally and looks after their boys; and Paige and Gene, who are the wealthiest and most social members of their group.

"[I]t’s hard not to feel that everyone involved is both complicit and worthy of sympathy --- which gives GOOD NEIGHBORS a gravitas that was not apparent at first."

As GOOD NEIGHBORS begins, Paige has just announced that they are adopting a Russian toddler, whom they will name Winnie. When she arrives, the group assumes that Winnie’s trouble understanding them is because she speaks only Russian, but eventually it become apparent that she has underlying cognitive problems. Paige also implies that she has anger issues, though with Nicole and others, she is sweet and eager to please. Nicole, in particular, takes to her immediately.

When Drew suggests that the couples and their children go on a cruise to Bermuda, everyone signs on, and when the trip turns out to be a success, it seems to cement the group’s friendship. All the concerns that have arisen since Winnie’s appearance --- that Paige is depressed, that Winnie is not developing properly, that Gene is having trouble keeping the peace between mother and daughter --- fade into the background. But telltale signs can’t be ignored, and neighbors begin to take sides, fracturing the superficial friendships they all thought they shared.

Nicole, while she is the stand-in for the reader, is also a meddling neighbor who doesn’t know what her role should be when she suspects that all is not well. So as the denouement unfolds, she provides the cues and keeps us engaged. But it’s hard not to feel that everyone involved is both complicit and worthy of sympathy --- which gives GOOD NEIGHBORS a gravitas that was not apparent at first.