At the start of The Neighborhood, an action-packed thriller by Matthew Betley (Amira), armed mercenaries enter a gated community in the dead of night to retrieve a package. They'll kill to complete their objective. Standing in their way is resident and ex-Special Forces operator Zack Chambers.
Zack thought he left his military background behind when he settled into family life in the secured community of Hidden Refuge. The houses are beautiful, the plots are large and the neighbors are close by--but not too close. A late-night knock on his door shatters his complacency. Local police outside claim that a nearby train carrying toxic chemicals has derailed and that the whole neighborhood needs to evacuate immediately. Zack senses something off about the cop on his doorstep but agrees to vacate. He then retreats to the woods to observe the unfolding events. His instincts are confirmed when a neighbor is shot in a confrontation. It's clear the "police" are fake, and Zack decides to do something about it. Initially a one-man army against an onslaught of bad guys, Zack is eventually helped by the sassy teenager next door and her boyfriend, trained in the martial arts. But Zack's makeshift group is outnumbered and outgunned, and he soon learns he shares a dark past with the lead insurgent. The stakes are life and death--for Zack and all his neighbors.
Nonstop fury and a hail of bullets propel Betley's novel. The author's military background should attract action buffs, but it's the teenager next door and her boyfriend, the novel's heroic sidekicks, that make this an enjoyable and popcorn-worthy read. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer