Set against the backdrop of the deadly 2007 wildfires that forced the
evacuation of half a million San Diego residents, Debra Ginsberg's new
novel, The Neighbors Are Watching, examines the dark side of
suburbia--a place where everyone has something to hide.
Aside from their annual block party, the neighbors on Fuller Court tend
to keep to themselves--which doesn't mean that they aren't all watching
and judging each other on the sly. So when pregnant teenager Diana Jones
shows up, literally, on her biological father's doorstep, the neighbors
can't stop talking. Joe Montana is a handsome restaurant manager who
failed to tell his wife Allison that he fathered a baby with an
ex-girlfriend seventeen years ago. Allison, already harboring her own
inner resentments, takes the news very badly. She isn't the only one.
Diana's bombshell arrival in their quiet cul-de-sac sets off a chain
reaction of secrets and lies that threaten to engulf the neighborhood
along with the approaching flames from two huge wildfires fanned by the
Santa Ana winds.
A former reality TV contestant who receives a steady stream of gentlemen
callers at all hours, two women forced to hide their relationship in
order to keep custody of their children, a sanctimonious housewife with
a very checkered past, and a family who nobody ever sees--these are just
a few of the warring neighbors struggling to keep up appearances and
protect their own interests. But when lovely, troubled Diana disappears
in the aftermath of the wildfire evacuation, leaving her newborn baby
and many unanswered questions behind, the residents of Fuller Court must
band together to find her before all of their carefully constructed
deceptions come unraveled.
A potent blend of domestic drama and suspense, The Neighbors Are
Watching reveals the secrets that bloom alongside manicured
flowerbeds--and the truths that lurk behind closed doors.
