Diksha Sundriyal
In 2015’s erotic thriller, ‘The Boy Next Door,’ an affair turns deadly for a high school teacher. Recuperating from the heartbreak caused by her cheating husband, Claire was looking for a reprieve. But she didn’t expect to find it in 19-year-old Noah, who’d taken residence in the house next to hers. He seems smart and considerate and has shared interests with Claire. Even as her best friend says that something feels off about him, Claire is convinced that Noah is a good person. But this illusion shatters the night after she sleeps with him. She sees that night for the mistake it was, but for Noah, it was nothing short of a declaration of their love for each other. As he hounds her to reignite their affair, she digs into his past and makes a startling discovery. SPOILERS AHEAD
Noah’s Parents’ Death Wasn’t an Accident
When Noah first arrives in the neighborhood, he is introduced by his uncle, who has taken him in as his only relative left after his parents’ tragic death in a car accident. Later, Claire discovers that it was murder. Noah killed them, and he was so sharp about it that he didn’t leave behind any trace that would suggest that the car accident was foul play.
When the topic eventually comes up, Noah confesses that he did tamper with the car because he wanted to kill his father, but the woman who died with him wasn’t his mother. His mother had died a while ago. She killed herself for reasons unknown, and her death broke Noah, but it only emboldened his father to bring his mistress home. The man didn’t pay heed to his son or bother to wait a suitable length of time to honor his wife.
His father immediately jumped to the next woman in line, irked Noah. He hated his father for forgetting his mother, and he hated his new wife for trying to take his mother’s place. Still, he knew he couldn’t separate them. There was nothing he could do except get rid of them altogether. So, he studied the model of his father’s car and found the best way to fail the brakes without it getting caught in the aftermath. The next day, his father and stepmother drove away in the car. Noah’s trick worked; his father lost control of the car, and it crashed, killing him and the woman he’d left Noah’s mother for.
Claire’s Discovery Isn’t Enough to Send Noah to Prison
Noah is introduced to Claire and the audience as an ideal boy. His wheelchair-bound uncle holds him in high regard, especially because Noah takes care of him unlike anyone before. Noah’s kindness and care for his uncle melt Claire’s heart, and she finds herself drawn to him. This evolves into attraction, and then trouble ensues, which leads to the point where she almost loses her son and her husband to a car accident.
It happens when Garrett picks up Kevin from school. Noah has already riled up the boy against his father, and he takes it out on the car, speeding through the road as his father pleads him to slow down. However, even when Kevin tries to slow down, he can’t because the breaks don’t work. Eventually, sustaining a minor crash, the car is brought to a half, and Kevin and Noah survive.
Claire has an inkling that Noah might have something to do with it, but that suspicion doesn’t just stop there. It extends to another car crash that happened in Noah’s circle. Considering his violent behavior, it isn’t difficult to imagine that he had something to do with his parent’s death, and sure enough, she finds the evidence in his computer when she sneaks into his house. She finds the designs of Garrett’s and his father’s cars, focusing on how to make them malfunction.
When she later takes it up with the police officer who handled the case, he reveals that while there is a possibility that someone could have messed up the car, there was nothing left to examine the evidence and prove it. What Claire has doesn’t prove his guilt either, and she knows that even a confrontation will do nothing to deter him because he knows she can’t use any information against him, especially since he has better evidence to incriminate her and destroy her life.
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