The People Next Door — Caroline Crane

Debra Gillis was always a worrier. But now, in her family's new home by the seashore, Debra has good reason to be afraid. A rash of break-ins strikes the area. A child is found dead on the beach with his neck broken. Then there are the people next door, Frank and Enid Maul, who own the house the Gillis'es have rented. Not long ago the Mauls suffered a terrible tragedy that took place in the basement of that same house a tragedy that, for Enid, never ends. A desperate suicide attempt by her only son has left him brain-damaged and mute. Debra, mother of baby Drew and stepmother to teenage Gigi, tries to befriend her neighbor. But Enid is filled with hate, embittered over the fate of her strange, silent boy, and begrudges Debra her own healthy children. There's danger in the air. Is it from Enid? From her crippled son? And what secrets is the headstrong Gigi keeping? Debra knows the girl is in trouble, but her husband, Kurt, wont listen. Debra has always been a worrier. Then Gigi and Drew disappear

To Kurt and Debra Gillis, their new home seems ideal; a lovely big house near the beach, with room for their baby son to play in and for friends of Kurt's teenage daughter Gigi. Almost immediately, the restless Gigi finds a new boyfriend, handsome Todd Jorgenson, a neighbor.

But Debra soon begins to sense that all is not well. First there is Gigi, her beautiful headstrong step-daughter. Debra cam bear the girl's resentment, but unknown to her parents, Gigi has problems that neither of them can handle. Even when Debra realizes the truth, Kurt refuses to listen her her.

Then there are the people next door, Frank and Enid Maul, who own the house the Gillises have rented. Only a few months earlier, the Mauls suffered a terrible tragedy that took place in the basement of that house--a tragedy that for Enid goes on and on, a tragedy that is not over yet, and which threatens the very lives of the Gillis children.

Blindly, Debra tries to make friends with Enid Maul, only to be rebuffed. They are two women at odds with each other, unaware of how much they have in common until the night f the storm when events reach a shattering climax