Last year, I had the privilege of living next door to a couple of underage stoners who insisted on blasting Kelis’ “Milkshake” at all hours of the night – coincidentally – in the room right next to mine. Needless to say after several “anonymous” calls to the apartment complex’s security, these noisy delinquents were issued a series of warnings which eventually led to their eviction. Up until I read Dear Neighbor, I had always felt guilty about this. After all, it wasn’t those stoner kids’ fault I had to wake up early every morning to go to school. But, as authors Jennifer Miller, Michele Wolfe and Linda Marr point out in their story, an annoying neighbor can bring out the darkness in anyone. Defying the standard format of most traditional books, Dear Neighbor is a story about a young woman’s attempt to establish a healthy relationship with her rude neighbor – all through a series of friendly (and sometimes not-so-friendly) letters. Her first attempts start out innocent enough. She leaves a note welcoming the new tenant and lets him know she is there if ever he needs anything. He accepts this offer and asks her to accept a package for him, which she ends up paying the c.o.d. for. This little misunderstanding eventually snowballs into a feud between the two tenants. “Dear neighbor, Glad you got your package. I don’t know if you noticed on the receipt that it was sent c.o.d., which I was happy to pay for. So you can leave a check for $42.50 in my mailbox, although of course I still look forward to meeting you.” The neighbor responds to this friendly little message by sending her a half-eaten box of See’s candy with a note reminding her that his thank you gift had an estimated value of $23, which should even the score between them. As readers continue to read the woman’s letters (and trust me, it doesn’t take long) they are introduced to a whole new side of her, as her frustration with her neighbor forces her deeper into the darkness. By the end of the book, she is a completely different person, one consumed by frustration and bitter vengeance. In a later note, she even writes “Dear neighbor, You think I don’t know you scratched that on my car? You think I’m that stupid?! The C’s and T’s look exactly like the writing in your note, which I have kept as evidence. THE COPS WILL THINK SO TOO! Don’t threaten me! Don’t you dare threaten me! I will destroy you!” A whopping 136 pages long, Dear Neighbor is definitely no War and Peace. Most of the pages are only a few short sentences long, which makes the entire book a good 15-minute read. But the brilliance behind this book isn’t in its depth — it’s in its versatility. For only $8.95, this book will easily scare away any noisy roommates or annoying stoner neighbors who ever get in your way. Dear Neighbor is in bookstores now. – Dee Dee Chew