“Her Next Door” by T.R. Robinson is a short story that can be classified as both thriller and drama. Within these pages, Ms. Robinson creates an in-depth main character, Tara, with a backstory that makes the reader concerned for her well-being. Of course, in the scope of a short story, that is a rather difficult task, but Ms. Robinson pulls it off with great success.
The quality of the writing is neat and clean. No glaring errors in punctuation, spelling, or gaping plot holes. Also, the copy editing was well done, with no repeated words, amateur body language, or dialog flubs.
The protagonist is affable. Despite her horrific backstory, Tara gives other people a clean slate, unless they do or say something to warrant an apprehension. Here’s where T.R. Robinson’s writing skills shine. At first, we’re not sure if Tara’s mental “red flags” are real or if she’s merely hyper-sensitive on account of her past. You’ll have to read it to find out.
The use of setting for thematic purposes is also well done. Tara’s new home serves as a metaphor for her life. The run-down condition of the house represents her former existence. As the story moves forward, now she’s forging ahead, reconstructing her surroundings as she also reconstructs her life. However, houses exist within a community of other dwellings, and those homes have people, too. Will “Her Next Door” neighbors live up to her suspicions? Or will she open and proceed through “Her Next Door” to a new and better life?
I highly recommend this little gem. “Her Next Door” is the first in T.R. Robinson’s series called “Bitches.” The series has progressed from an initial short story into a series of six. If this story is anything to go by, all of them should be great reads. You can readily find all of them on T.R. Robinson’s Amazon Author Page.
T.R. Robinson has a rather in-depth author blog among other social media locations.
Connect with T.R. Robinson on Twitter and FaceBook.
San Giacomo's Corner 
Thank you very much Ernesto for your generous in-depth review.
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Was my interpretation correct?
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Yes Ernesto. You are the first to really understand.
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🙂
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I’ll bookmark this. Really hope to find the time to be able to read some of them…
Thank you.
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“Her Next Door” runs 46 pages with author notes. All you need is one quiet evening.
You can do it…I have faith in you. 🙂
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Yeah, totally. I WILL do it! 🙂 🙂
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Success! Downloaded the story and enjoyed it a lot.
There was an immediate sense of tension involving the protagonist stepping into her new home but still feeling like a stranger who didn’t belong and repeating almost like a mantra over and over (sic) “Is this real? Is this really mine?” And the trepidation only amplifies from there, of course.
I was having trouble pinpointing what era this was due to the fact that it was evidently a huge achievement for the protagonist, as a woman, to purchase property, and I wasn’t sure if it might still be like that in other countries, really patriarchal. But then when they mentioned a certain word in context with their plans (being vague here in order to avoid spoilers), I looked it up and put together that it was probably the ’70s………?
At any rate, the sense of unease and moments when the protagonist’s willpower teetered and rallied back and forth had me tensing my jaw and mentally buoying her on: Don’t give in, Tara! You can do it. Afterwards, reading about T.R. Robinson’s personal story and how it inspired this one was surprising, painful, honest, and ultimately uplifting.
Thank you for sharing!
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Hi Seliza!
So glad you took the time to discover and enjoy T.R. Robinson. She has a lot to offer her readers.
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