J.D. Barker has more than established himself as one of my must-read authors with novels ranging from pure supernatural horror to nerve-wracking thrillers. Along the way, he has made a name for himself by writing a handful of novels with the great James Patterson.

Barker’s latest effort, THE QUIET NEIGHBOR, is a good old-fashioned thriller. Along for the ride is Adam Roach. I was previously unaware of Roach --- who has writing credits in the YA fantasy realm and has penned two novels in the Vince Tanaka thriller series --- but his involvement helps make this story sing.

"Suspects and red herrings abound in THE QUIET NEIGHBOR as we are hurtled forward with Cynthia’s mission to rescue Tori. Barker and Roach throw in plenty of plot twists along the way, leading to a final revelation that I did not see coming."

Cynthia Burrows is trying to make a happy home life for her family in San Diego. However, these efforts will be threatened when her 18-year-old daughter, Tori, does not show up for school one day and officially goes missing. This takes Cynthia right back to the horror from which she has attempted to run away but that may have found her once again.

Throughout the novel, we are made privy to eerie and psychotic journal entries that do not reveal its author. The thoughts contained in these writings are clearly from a disturbed mind and someone who idolizes serial killers. Chapters also jump between NOW and THEN. In the passages contained within THEN, we are introduced to some young ladies, principally Samantha, who will experience an abduction that is part of a serial killer case that hits remarkably close to home for Samantha.

It is not giving anything away to connect the past to the present. Samantha is none other than Cynthia. Barker and Roach are fully transparent about this as we learn that Cynthia is the product of witness protection and an identity change, which she has kept secret even from her husband and daughter.

As Cynthia steps away from her job as an attorney to search for Tori, she begins to turn up disturbing signs that clearly speak to the past she has kept hidden for so many years. An employee at the coffee shop that Tori frequents each day on her way to school has been given the nickname “Blue Eyes” by the staff. This unsettles Cynthia, but nothing will prepare her for the next shock when she looks at the list of people who work there and comes across a name that terrifies her: Alexander Beaufort, the serial killer who terrorized her and caused her family to enter witness protection.

Now, fully believing that Tori has been kidnapped by this same individual, we see Cynthia barely containing her alarm and panic as she proceeds to go to any length to find Tori and save her from the fate that she feels might be her destiny. Cynthia shares all of this with her closest friend, Gabby, who is an investigator. She also will have to come clean to her husband about her past and how their daughter’s abduction might very well be considered an act of sick revenge.

Suspects and red herrings abound in THE QUIET NEIGHBOR as we are hurtled forward with Cynthia’s mission to rescue Tori. Barker and Roach throw in plenty of plot twists along the way, leading to a final revelation that I did not see coming.