The East End by Jason Allen was too busy for me. Too much was fit into the story. Once I started reading it instead of having a difficult time putting it down, I had a difficult time forcing myself to read more. I was given an early copy to review.

Gripping novel about the tensions that occur between the household help and the wealthy in the Hamptons. Leo brings his boyfriend Henry to his beach house in the Hamptons and things going terribly wrong, THE EAST END explores the lives of Gina, the housekeeper, her son Corey and his friend, Angelique, in the aftermath. Well drawn, realistic characters and a very tense, suspenseful plot. Allen does a beautiful job of making us understand each characters motivations and brings the story to life with great descriptive language. I really enjoyed the book and will definitely keep an eye out for future novels by Allen.

One moment escalated into more, creating a crazy chain of events causing one man to become stuck in an impossible position.
This story reminded me of Horrible Bosses with all the crazy chaos taking place while in the bosses home.
There are three story’s being told: family secrets and scandal, love and heartbreak, and working class struggles amongst the wealthy. All these stories intersect with each other eventually. Would have been nice to get some type of notification that the chapters switched from one character to another.

There is some some exciting activity in the story, but there is also a lot of minute details as well. In order to reach the pertinent information faster I chose to skim thru portions of the chapters.

Overall:
I wasn’t expecting the story to get off topic from the situation Corey encountered at The Sheffield property. But then again I realize the book description clearly states that this story focuses on three primary topics. I guess what I don’t like is the way the story is laid out. It’s execution of these three stories was dull individually.
This one night turned into a fiasco quickly escalating the chaos. I was disappointed an entire story was spent rehashing the same scenes. Within all the chaos very little was accomplished.
Not every book is for every reader, sometimes an author writes a book that doesn’t work for a reader...this was that book for me.
I didn’t technically not DNF this book, but I did skim this book...however I didn’t read it in its entirety.
The constant repetition felt like the author was trying to fill the pages.

This story starts off with a bang and sucked me right in. Corey Halpern breaks into houses not to steal things; he does it for kicks and giggles and to prank people. The beginning reminds me of another book called The Burglar by Thomas Perry, but Corey's really more of an intruder than a burglar, and he's way more ballsy.

This book is about people making bad choices and other people watching them. I've read many books that take place in the glitzy Hamptons, but this one that stands out. It has tragedy and mystery, but there is a comedic aspect that made me laugh many times.

The story also highlights a situation that is very dominant in the Hamptons: struggles of the working class and the polar opposite world of the super wealthy. It delves into socio-economic disparity - townie vs. vacationer, white collar vs. blue collar, "upstairs" vs. "downstairs" - and what divides the two groups.

Another unique thing about this book is the writing style. It has less dialogue than I'm used to, and many long parts of narrative. This writing style makes me realize that I enjoy a story more when it's infused with character dialogue. But even with the lack of dialogue, the plot is so binge-worthy that I couldn't stop reading. The ending was a surprise and tied everything together.

This book is about scandal, secrets, love, family, addiction, tragedy, class, greed, and voyeurism. The story is a slow burning mystery, but has underlying themes of class, social structure, and discrimination wrapped up in family drama. It will make you appreciate your own family.

This book wasn’t as good as I was hoping it would be. It had a great concept and plot with a good character development but it wasn’t that engaging to me. I just couldn’t get into this book which is why I am giving it only 2 stars. I see I am in the minority with this one as so many gave it 4-5 stars but it’s just not the book for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book for my honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is about a wealthy executive, Leo, who takes his male lover, Henry, to his house in the Hamptons the day before Memorial Day weekend and the day before his family and guests are to arrive. They do a lot of drugs, Henry dies, and it is all witnessed by Corey, the son of the woman, Gina, who works as a housekeeper or caretaker of the property. The story then unfolds over the weekend when all of the guests are in attendance.

This book was short, so it was a quick read, but I found it to be boring in many places. I think the issue for me is that I like mysteries and thrillers and this was more of a novel. There were no twists or turns. I thought the story of Gina and her crappy life was boring and took too much time. I know the point was to show the disparity between the people working in the Hamptons and the people they are working for, but it wasn't entertaining for me.

I think many people will enjoy this book and it shows from the positive reviews, I just like more twists and turns and mystery in my books.

A Binge-Read-Sleep Stopper....
Debut author - Jason Allen - is a mean human being.
Hasn’t he read the reports of the essentials of sleep?
My trail hike this morning- is definitely going to be an upward climb.

Instead of sleeping- I compulsively ‘had’ to keep reading. Is it the best book on the planet? Of course not.....
but it’s got ‘something’ going for it!! Seriously something unique is going on here.

“The East End”, is the best anti-murder- intrigue- meshuggah - novel on crack. We’re taken on a wild trip!

It has a few flaws..but so do some of my favorite songs ..
Thinking of the song:
“Who Put The Bomp ”, by Barry Mann.

Lots I can say about this debut gem- many themes worth a book discussion- but rather than write one of my ‘god-awful’ long winded reviews -
I’ll just say - this thriller has heart...
There is an underline feeling of sadness that will stay with me -
that slowing went into my body like an IV drip.

This Jason Allen guy has an artistic flair for painting atmospheric- psychedelic-type-psychological scenes...with characters we will remember.

I liked it!! I’d read a sequel!!! Or Jason’s next book!!

Thank you Harlequin Trade,
Netgalley, and Jason Allen

Eloquent exploration into the world of Hapltons, full of contrasts and secrets. We follow two main storylines: the family who is struggling with poverty, alcoholism, and domestic violence, and the family who is struggling from the excess of wealth. The two families struggle with moral dilemmas, love affairs, substance abuse, and some very difficult choices until the very end. The author explores each character masterfully and dramatically, making this an irresistible read. While this novel has strong thriller elements, I would place it firmly into a literary category.

The East End is Jason Allen’s debut novel. Corey, just out of high school, lives in the Hamptons in a working-class neighborhood. His mom Gina, is the head housekeeper for billionaire Leo Sheffield at his massive estate in the Hamptons. Bored and full of angst about rich Hamptonites, Corey has started breaking into their mansions and playing pranks on them. One night he decides to break into the Sheffield mansion and sees something he should not. From here the story turns into a game of cat and mouse. The whole novel takes place over the course of a few days. It is told from the perspective of Leo, Corey, Gina, and Angelique. Angelique is best friends with Leo’s daughter Tiffany and was also at the mansion and witnessed the horrific act that Corey also saw. This is a very fast-paced read. It is also disturbing in a good way. I will definitely read more of this author’s books. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A wrong side of the tracks employee illegally enters the stunning mansion of his boss intent on causing mischief. In the wrong place at the wrong time, he witnesses an affair and a horrifying tragedy. This character has to decide what to do when it becomes obvious that his boss is going to cover up the accident and continue with his glamorous weekend party. Wealth, privilege, class, affairs, jealousy, sordid secrets all rear up in the wake of the crime. I didn't always like the characters very much but they held my interest. Gorgeous setting and interesting plotline. A little heavy on description and light on dialogue. Leaves a lot of questions unanswered and are readers free to create their own impressions. Thank you for the chance to read and review and share this book!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Publishers for this powerful, gripping and suspenseful novel, which focuses on socioeconomic disparity. It shows both the super-wealthy as well as the townspeople who labour in their elaborate mansions can be trapped by circumstances and haunted by their past.

I found the characters to be memorable but unlikeable, mostly existing in a haze of alcohol and drugs. Nevertheless, I found myself caring about their outcome. I was riveted to the pages throughout, engrossed in the drama and the suspense of how the story would be played out.

Written in atmospheric prose, and with remarkable character insight and development, I hope to read more of the author's books. This intense story covers a couple of days at a billionaire's Hampton mansion. A tragedy occurs which has escalating fallout involving the distraught homeowner and an unhappy housekeeper and her son who work for him. All are regretting the unhappy prospects facing them and hoping for a better life.
Recommended for those interested in a well-written novel which concerns the fabulously wealthy, and those struggling financially nearby, who are envious and dreaming of a more rewarding and freer lifestyle. 4.5 stars

This whole book read like a black out fever dream of something you'd experience in delirium tremens but I can't fault the writing or the plot if you're willing to suspend disbelief for a couple of days worth of reading time. Briefly, rich dude is hiding his love affair with another man and brings the lover to his Hamptons estate. While he's upstairs getting goodies together, younger man does WAY too much blow on top of gallons of booze, has some kind of catastrophic fit and falls face first into the pool. Older guy doesn't make it out there in time for CPR to make a difference, although I don't think it would have anyway, because I think he OD'd. This sets off a chain of events in which his daughters friend, who wasn't even supposed to be at the house sees him with the dead body, the maids son helps daughters friend escape when older guy chases her down to try to "explain" things, the maid, who has been cleaning up his messes for years even though she's an alcoholic and pill addict as well, gets dragged into it, and her ex is chasing everyone around with a gun. It all builds to a crescendo at the end of that holiday weekend with blackmail, guns, kids that don't know any better and a stand off in the rain. Grossly entertaining, but highly implausible, still fun for a quick read.

Twist and turns like no other.. This book is not only crazy fun but so worth it.
The characters are memorable and there are plenty to root for.

Thanks to author,publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free,it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

Excellent read by Jason Allen! Well developed plot and characters that keep you engrossed until the end.

I thought this was such an amazing, quick read. While not my normal thriller, I still found myself completely immersed in what I was reading and had a hard time shutting it and reading others, or even going to bed. It’s more of a drama, and a book that really delves into the socioeconomic differences, in areas where the poor tend to stay at a place year round, and the very wealthy tend to visit for summers or even weekends; which I thought was very well done and interesting. I thought the author did a good job, of setting up a great suspense book, which really hit on some realities many face in a way that I think many could learn from. I’ve read quite a few of the upcoming 2019 PARKROW PUBLISHING HOUSE/HARPERCOLLINS books and I will tell you that they have an absolutely MASSIVE amount of STELLAR books headed readers, the thrillers including this, will blow any thriller lover out of the water! A huge hit for me and one I will definitely be recommending.
Will use in a challenge, review, and highly recommend in Chapter Chatter Pub and other places I see it mentioned! Thank you for the chance to read an arc!

The Sheffields are a well to do family with a luxurious home in the Hamptons, but Leo, head of the family has a deadly secret that he must keep hidden from his family and the authorities. The Halperns are blue-collar workers who manage to eke out a living in the same seaside town. Corey H supplements the family income with a little breaking and entering. On Memorial Day weekend, he breaks into the Sheffield home just in time to see Leo arrive with his mistress, and the accident at the pool that follows. Leo can’t let the truth about what happened that night get out, and Corey sees a way to make some easy, big money. The question is, how far are either of them willing to go? This is a searing portrayal of the growing divide between the haves and have-nots. You won’t be able to put it down