The Downstairs Neighbor

 The Downstairs Neighbor by Helen Cooper  369 pages 

Summary from Goodreads: From her downstairs apartment in suburban London, Emma has often overheard the everyday life of the seemingly perfect family upstairs–Steph, Paul and teenage daughter Freya–but has never got to know them. Until one day, she hears something that seizes her attention: Freya has vanished and the police are questioning Steph and Paul about their life. Do either of you have any enemies? Anyone who might want to harm or threaten you?

The effects of Freya’s disappearance ripple outward, affecting not just her parents, but everyone who lives in the building, including Emma and local driving instructor Chris, who was the last person to see the teenager before she went missing. Each character’s life is thrown into sharp focus as devastating mistakes and long-held secrets are picked apart and other crimes come to light–including a child gone missing 25 years before, and a shocking murder–that make clear that the past never stays where we leave it, and that homes can be built on foundations of lies. 

And here's what I thought: This was a nice page-turner of a story and uses different perspectives, as well as one person's perspective set in the past, to move the story along. As you can see from the summary, a young girl has gone missing --- and you start to wonder if some of the neighbors are involved. After all, Chris, the guy giving Freya driving lessons, seems awfully nervous and he's clearly hiding something. Emma, who lives downstairs from Freya, has issues of her own, including a relationship with Zeb (who at first you can't tell who he is at all, and then that's revealed). On top of that, both of Freya's parents seem to have secrets of their own that they are hiding from each other. And what about the person whose perspective we keep getting from 25 years ago?  That's revealed far into the story.  Plenty of twists and turns here, so if you like suspense (especially British suspense), this might be your kind of read.