‘Neighborhood Watch’ Review: Everybody Has Something to Hide

I love a good whodunnit, but let’s be real, they can go basic very quickly. Somebody gets attacked, everyone has a motive, we point fingers for a few issues, and eventually the truth comes out. But this is Sarah Gailey, who wrote Know Your Station, one of my all-time favorite series, and Eat the Rich, which I also loved, so I knew Neighborhood Watch probably wasn’t going to give us the basic version.

Thankfully, I was right. What starts with a woman found shot and barely alive in a tunnel quickly becomes a mystery about two communities that already don’t trust each other, a victim living two different lives, and a whole lot of secrets.

Two Communities, One Very Strange Crime

The tunnel connects two very different communities. On one side is a traditional gated neighborhood with an HOA, private homes, and a more conservative mentality. On the other is Open Arms, an intentional community where people have chosen a more communal way of living, sharing responsibilities and resources and having a much more open idea of what family can look like.

Bianca, from the gated neighborhood, and Val, from Open Arms, discover the woman together, and naturally both sides immediately become suspicious of each other. There was already plenty of judgment between these communities before anybody got shot, so throwing an attempted murder between them does not exactly improve relations.

Then comes the twist that completely sold me: Bianca and Val both know the victim, but they don’t know her as the same person. Bianca knows her as Jill Hewett. At Open Arms, she is Cassie. Okay, now I’m listening.

Suddenly this isn’t only about who shot her. Why did Jill have two identities? What was she doing in both communities? Who actually knew her? Until she wakes up and tells them what happened, Bianca and Val have to work together to figure it out.

Everybody Is Hiding Something

Over five issues, Neighborhood Watch keeps giving us new information without becoming one of those mysteries where I need a conspiracy board beside me to remember what is happening. I kept changing my mind about people, which is exactly what I want from a whodunnit.

I also genuinely liked Bianca and Val. They come from completely different environments and see certain things very differently, but I could understand both of them. Their relationship gives the mystery personality because this isn’t just two detectives checking clues. They both begin the story with assumptions about the people living on the other side, and solving the case forces them to question some of those assumptions.

Bianca also has a much more personal reason to stay invested in what happened to Jill: the two had been having a secret affair. That adds another layer to her involvement because she isn’t just trying to solve a crime in her neighborhood. She is trying to figure out what happened to someone she was secretly involved with, while keeping that part of their relationship hidden from everyone else.

The judgment coming from the gated community toward Open Arms becomes especially hard to ignore. They are very comfortable treating the collective like these strange, suspicious people who must be hiding something, while the supposedly respectable neighborhood has plenty of ugliness behind closed doors too. Sure. Maybe worry about your own houses first.

Aurora Changes Everything

The biggest emotional shift comes when we learn why Jill was spending so much time at Open Arms. Her daughter Aurora is transgender, and her father refused to accept her. Aurora eventually found a home at Open Arms, while Jill secretly stayed connected to her and began planning to move there herself.

That changed how I saw Jill’s entire double life. Cassie wasn’t just some fake identity hiding something sinister. Open Arms represented another possible life for her, one where she could reconnect with her daughter and get away from the expectations surrounding her in the gated community.

It also makes all that judgment toward Open Arms hit differently. The people being treated like outsiders are the ones who gave Aurora somewhere she could actually be herself, while the supposedly “normal” family and community are a huge part of why she needed somewhere else in the first place.

A Whodunnit That Actually Pays Off

Most importantly, the mystery works all the way through. The Jill/Cassie reveal is a great hook, but it isn’t the only trick the series has. Every issue adds something that changes what you think is happening without making the previous twists feel pointless.

The ending worked for me too, but I’m absolutely not telling you what happens. This is a whodunnit. Go read it.

Sarah Gailey gave me exactly what I wanted here: likable characters, people with secrets, social commentary that actually matters to the mystery, and enough twists that I never felt like I was waiting for the obvious answer. Neighborhood Watch is another reminder of why I’ll read basically anything with Gailey’s name on it.

The complete trade paperback collects all five issues and releases February 23, 2027.

Related Reading

If you want another murder mystery after Neighborhood Watch, our Narco review follows a man with narcolepsy trying to solve a murder he may have partially witnessed. And our The Smart Division #1 review pairs a veteran FBI agent with a chaotic Gen Z savant for a completely different kind of investigation involving murder and predictive AI.

FAQ

What is Neighborhood Watch about?
Two women from neighboring communities investigate after a badly wounded woman is discovered in the tunnel connecting them, only to learn they each know her by a different identity.

Who created Neighborhood Watch?
The series is written by Sarah Gailey, with art by Haining, colors by Rebecca Nalty, and lettering by Jodie Troutman.

How many issues is Neighborhood Watch?
It is a complete five-issue miniseries from BOOM! Studios.

When is the Neighborhood Watch trade paperback out?
The complete collection releases February 23, 2027.