The Deadly Neighbors

A Zoe Hayes Mystery #3

by Merry Jones

In this third novel featuring art therapist Zoe Hayes, the neighbors are shocked when a woman's body is discovered in the kitchen of Zoe’s estranged father, Walter. In fact, they suspect Walter of killing her. But as Zoe investigates further, it seems that the neighbors are up to some pretty shocking shenanigans themselves.

As Zoe tries to prove her father’s innocence, she encounters a cruel ring of organized criminals who specialize in dark and deadly forms of entertainment. Trying to escape their grasp, Zoe—with her daughter, Molly, in tow—must solve a series of grisly murders, but in the process, stumbles into secrets that force her to reconnect with a lost and very frightening part of her own past….

Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Fiction, Thriller

384 pages, Hardcover

First published November 27, 2007

About the author

AKA Merry Bloch Jones.

Merry Jones is a Book Excellence Award Finalist in Suspense (What You Don't Know), and a Best Book Award winner from American Book Festival (Child's Play.) She has been writing since she was old enough to hold a pencil. "If I don't write," she says, "over time, I get agitated and irritable, as if energy is building up inside and I have to let it out."

Accordingly, over the years, she has written a wide range of material, in a variety of styles and for diverse media. She began her career by spending about fifteen years writing and producing video and multi-media for corporate clients, but, when her second child was born in 1989, she decided to pursue her passion and began to write books.

Series:
* Zoe Hayes Mystery

Reviews

[Cecily · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main character is very frustrating. Good mystery

[Monique · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aww man I really hate this book turned into a one-star.. and ooh my first of 2015, I wonder hmm does it really deserve this rating but sadly as it is not the worst and really probably a two star read or more like a 1.25 but out of respect for my two-star reads it cant join their ranks, yikes- I know I know friends, I am hard but fair LOL...As a mystery, thriller, non fiction surburbia tale of community mayem, a romance,and/or a family novel it just all around failed for me and so I finished out of sheer will power and time under a hair dryer not enjoyment as the main character is frustratingly selfish and silly with her annoying inner monologues and reckless behavior..seriously what forty plus year old pregnant mother of a six year old and fiancé puts herself in so many avoidable and precarious situations..like for real walking up on your estranged father's house to a murder scene in the kitchen is one thing but actually paying admission to a dog fight with your child in your care and hiding and hanging onto a pipe above threatening, vicious trained-to-kill dogs while you are five months into a high risk pregnancy and contracting was just beyond...So to get into a little of the plot there is an estranged daughter (the pregnant ninny I just spoke about) who after being called by a neighbor comes by to check on her father after years of silence and then gets embroiled in all kinds of shenanigans with the neighbors, the Neighborhood Watch, her repressed childhood memories, her pending marriage and her wooden boring relationship, her inquisitive adopted daughter and the silliest mystery twist villain in a long while..one who actually proclaims as he tells why he did what he did that he is an utter moron, yes yes you were or was I for reading this book to its abrupt foolish end..sigh yes I didn't care for this random library selection and don't anticipate reading anymore in this series as Zoe Hayes as a person was too flighty, self absorbed, stubborn, silly and boring to keep reading about, there are thousands of others I have to devour! On to the next...fast.

[Eunira · Rating 2 out of 5]

After receiving a phone call from her estranged father´s neighbor, art-therapist Zoe arrives at his door to find him with a knife in his hand and a woman covered in blood on the floor. Unwisely, Zoe, pregnant at 42, investigates the crime and gets into unbelievable tough spots.

The opinion I formed of Zoe, the main character, when I read the previous book River Killings was totally confirmed in this book. She is a self-centered, irresponsible mother, who endangers her child and unborn baby repeatedly, I felt like screaming at her! She is also insensitive and drives her baby´s father and fiancé crazy.

Too much "literary licence" for my taste.

[Laren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zoe Hayes returns to her estranged father's doorstep only to find him standing over a dead body paranoically ranting about a conspiracy behind who did it. So of course she tries to solve the mystery with the help of her policeman fiance, while also trying to heal the rift with her father. You expect mystery protagonists to put themselves in unnecessary peril in the name of solving a crime, but I did not expect this one to do so during a high-risk pregnancy. So her actions were more horrific than heroic through all three of the mysteries intertwined within.

[Deborah Stebbing · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. I mostly enjoyed it. Although I felt that the subject of dogfighting is abhorrent, I was intrigued enough to finish. Sometimes the story dragged but it may just have been my own mood. The characters are real and interesting.

[Jamie Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent murder mystery but I felt some parts were either too far fetched or unfinished.

[Noellasue · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was one of the worst books I've read, I had to force myself to complete. I found the main character, Zoe, totally unlikable, she was whiny and totally self-absorbed. I had the bad guys figured out at their first introduction. I had even figured out the treasure in the basement long before it was revealed.

The events were unrealistic, a neighborhood of dogs that were being trained and starved for dog fights and neighbors being murdered went totally unnoticed by the rest of the neighborhood? That at her 5th month of pregnancy, Zoe, was having contractions that stopped her in her tracks, and no one noticed?

The repetitive whining was probably the worst, though.

[Michele · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a truly dreadful book. The main character was impossible to like. She is 40, has an adopted child & is halfway through her first pregnancy. Does this prevent her from walking willfully into danger? No, no it does not. On the other hand, did she constantly ignore serious medical warnings that indicated the life of her unborn baby is at seriously at risk? Why, yes, yes she did. Over & over & over with brief interludes to act pouty, defiant & childish. The revelations at the end are supposed to illuminate the reasons for her behavior but in no way did that work for me. Avoid this book like the plague.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the third in a series about Zoe Hayes, an art therapist who lives in Philadelphia with her daughter. It's a real page-turner and despite some small quibbles with the plot (Why would Zoe take her 6-year old daughter with her when she is visiting her father after a long estrangement?), I enjoyed this book as much as the first two in the series. I like how each book adds more dimension to Zoe and builds upon her relationship with Nick.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

well, the heroine is definitely human. so much so that the urge to slap her upside her head occurs not infrequently. she's also rather slow to catch on, but then she does have definite, unresolved childhood issues. it's reasonably well written, light, and diverting if you're facing a rainy afternoon and like mysteries.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this series for the flawed heroine but thought she crossed over into the TSTL territory in this book. I almost hoped that the hynosis she was undergoing would be the explanation for why she withheld what was happening with her pregnancy for so long.

Good suspense though.

[Cari Fallon · Rating 1 out of 5]

The main character is whiny and amazingly stupid. She has very little insight for a therapist and is incredibly self-centered. I can't believe two other books were even published with her in it. Bad, bad, bad.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok, not in love with how the main character is treated by some of the other characters and also how she continues to do really dumb things. I'm talking astronomically dumb things. I'll read more but she's not going to be the first author I search out.

[Heidi Rhea]

Not bad.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

okay
i've read better, though i read it in less than a day and enjoyed it