Sleepy suburb. Shady streets, well-groomed lawns, cozy houses. Truly a paradise for any teenager. Not for Meg and not for her crippled sister Susan. At the very end of the street, in the damp and dark basement of the Chandler family, they are helpless prisoners of their guardian, who took them after the death of their parents. Single mother Ruth Chandler slowly slides into madness, entangling her sons and the entire neighborhood with greedy tentacles. Only one boy decides to resist Ruth's cruelty. And not only the girls’ lives depend on his balanced, truly adult decision... “The Girl Next Door,” based on the real brutal murder of a teenager from Indiana, was released in 1989. Before this, three novels had already been written about the murder of Sylvia Likens by different writers, but it was this book that made a deep impression, significantly increasing the readership of Jack Ketchum. The story of domestic violence in a small town was filmed twice, and such famous actors as Ellen Page played in the films , William Atherton, Catherine Keener, James Franco.