Locust Lane had the makings of a great murder mystery: wealth, secrets, drugs, and of course the murder of a local girl. Set in the Boston suburbs, we follow several families and the repercussions the crime has on each of them. Enjoyed the story and setting, but felt that the intensity waned as the story continued.

Thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

A riveting and powerful read, this multilayered story winds and sweeps through the lives of characters that at first glance, almost appear to have it all. Almost, but not quite, as soon becomes apparent when a young girl is murdered, and it becomes likely that the twenty-year old children of our three main protagonists are inextricably tied up in the drama. Somehow.

A soon-to-become terrifying peek into the family lives of our main protagonists, inhabitants of a wealthy and privileged slice of suburbia that could be just about anywhere in multi-millionaire-town America, this story takes the reader on a dark and suspenseful ride into what may or may not be psychopathy, in some of its most insidious strains.

Alice and Celia are friends, having met through the relationship in place between their two children - Hannah and Jack, respectively. Their mansion-centered lives are (at least on the surface) settled; for Celia through her three strapping sons, and the arms of her handsome, witty and charming husband, Oliver, a managing partner in the city’s largest law firm. Alice, on the other hand, is more of a wildcard, both in temperament and appetites, struggling to understand both her secretive tech-genius husband Geoff, and her troubled and needy step-daughter Hannah. Alice, however, is not afraid to take her happiness into her own hands. The plot can only thicken when we meet Michel, a handsome Lebanese restauranteur, the father of Christopher, who is the best friend of Jack, and the third link in a chain that binds these three together in a drama that will be revealed, albeit slowly, with ragged layers and ribbons, obfuscating truth so terrible it would perhaps have been better left sequestered.

Just exactly what was Jack, Hannah, and Christopher’s role to play in the murder of a young woman? With twists and turns and lies and deceit, so densely woven you can barely find your way through it, this book is hard to put down, and a terrifically compulsive read.

A great big thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own

What a wonderful book.
Well done, Stephen Amidon. I loved being on the road with you to solve this mystery.
The crime/thriller was fast-paced and so enjoyable.

This book is Mystic River meets Desperate Housewives. It focuses on the murder of a teenager in a small town and finding her killer. Her last living moments were spent with three local teens making them all suspects. There are several POVs in the book, most of them being from the local teens’ parents.

I will say this book will draw you in right from the prologue! It does slow a bit as the other POVs are being introduced, but then it becomes pretty hard to put this one down. It’s gripping and will keep pushing you through each chapter to figure out the truth. I was surprised with the ending but also felt pretty real for how the legal system sometimes works.

If you loved Mystic River by Dennis Lehane, I highly recommend Locust Lane.

Thank you CeladonBooks for my gifted copy of this arc. I was able to listen to the audiobook while reading and let me tell you, narrator Cassandra Campbell was perfect for this book.

The book hooked me from the start and it grew in suspense the further it went. When a young woman, who isn’t a local in a small upper class community,is found murdered in her uncles home, the police have their work cut out for them.

Told from multiple POVs with well developed characters. This is a slow burner suspense book you will have a hard time putting down.

This is a slow going mystery that was a difficult start for me. The characters weren't the most likeable so that was a struggle. There was a scene of an animal getting injured (trigger warning) which I had to try and buzz past quickly as that can be difficult for me. This book was full of secrets, drama, and I felt as thought the ending left a lot to be desired. I wanted more conclusive answers. Clearly, this is part of the authors grand plan for this book. I thought it was well written and it took me a bit to get the hang of all the characters and situations.

I love a good story about how life is not what it seems. Behind every seemingly beautiful life is complicated lives and everyone has to deal with. We hide and we try to save face, but we must always reconcile who we are what what we stand for.

I found this book a bit slow and boring. It was almost to much like reading the headlines about the girl who was murdered by one of the Kennedy kids. A bit to much like that for me. It did not exactly hold my attention but made me keep reading until I finally had to call it quits. It was well written but just not for me. It was more about everyone but the young dead girl.

I just could not enjoy this one.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

3 stars from me.

I always love a good murder mystery and domestic thriller and this book is perfect! It was a little difficult to get into at first since the characters in this story are not the most likable, especially the parents.

This is a slow burn mystery so be prepared for an uphill battle, it will take awhile. The story also has multiple point of views and also multiple timelines. There are unreliable characters which is always one of my favorites. The only complaint I have is I feel the ending fell a little flat and I wish their was a little more.

Thank you Netgalley and Celadon books for my ARC

Thank you Netgalley and Celadon Books. Honestly, I enjoyed this book. It has a bit of Pretty Little Liars vibe and Gossip girl vibe. A young girl found dead at a wealthy neighborhood and the wealthy trying to protect their own. The beginning of the book stung me a bit because of a dog getting hurt. The first 20% of the book is a tad bit slow, but it takes off from there. I honestly liked the book, because it does capture how if you can pull strings to get work done or get away with murder. Over all a good read, I cannot give it 5/5 and would give it 3.5/5 rating but it is worth the read.

Money, power, love and lies.

Eden, a local 20 year old, ends up dead. Three teens are the laat to see her alive. One of them gets arrested, but the pieces don't seem to fit perfectly. The parents get involved and some friendships are destroyed while other alliances are formed.

This was an addictive domestic drama filled with some vile people, but who knows the lengths we'd go through to protect our children. It gave off vibes of Desperate Housewives and Defending Jacob. A guilty pleasure of people behaving badly mixed with a great who-done-it.

I was surprised and heart broken by the ending. It has left gutted, in the best way.

Good to the very end! It was suspenseful, a bit screwed up (in a good way) but kept me engaged the whole time!

One of my recent reads from @netgalley was Locust Lane by Stephen Amidon. This is a murder mystery/domestic thriller that is set in the affluent community of Emerson, MA. In this slow-burn suburban story, a young woman named Eden is murdered. As news of the murder spreads through the town, an investigation will lead to three other teens and the secrets they share. The story is told from five different points of view, four of which are the parents of each one of the teens involved. The other POV is of an alcoholic, grieving father who just so happened to be driving past the house where the murder took place at just the right time to see...something...a shadow of someone hiding behind a bush.

This story is more about the lives of the people impacted by Eden's murder, than it is about the murder itself. It covers the thoughts and feelings of the parents of the three teens involved in Eden's death as they do whatever it takes to protect them. It is also an exploration into social class and how that affects not only how the general public view our suspects, but also how their parents react.

I liked this one, it was a bit boring at times for me. Which I think has more to do with not really connecting to any of these characters.

If you love suburban thrillers and all the juicy gossip and manipulation that comes with them, then give this one a try. It came out already on January 17th!

I spent a lot of hours reading this book about completely unpleasant people. The parents were appalling and they raised the children you would expect. I didn’t even get a satisfying ending. I didn’t enjoy this, but others seem to have.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

3.5 Stars

I felt like this one was more of a mystery than a thriller. It was a bit of a slow burn but I was engrossed in the characters, their multiple POV’s and the tension/build up. I loved the multiple POV’s, different timelines, and unreliable characters. My one complaint was the ending…it felt flat and left me wanting more.

Thank you to Celadon books for my copy.

I just finished reading Locust Lane, and I don't know how to process my thoughts. On one hand, I am FURIOUS at how the book ended and would argue it needed A LOT more resolution and answers for readers. On the other hand, it makes sense and if readers are supposed to draw their own assumptions...I get it. And my assumption about how the plot plays out also makes me furious. UGH.

Overall, I think this is a pretty good book filled with neighborhood drama, secrets, and murder. I was engaged throughout, and the audiobook narrator (how I read the book) was really good. It was confusing at times tracking all the different characters, but you get the hang of it about 25% into the book.

Thank you Celadon Books and Netgalley for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

A huge thank you to Celadon Books and to Macmillan Audio for providing me a copy for review. While Amidon's book, Locust Lane started with a lot of promise, the plot itself to me felt haphazard. Lots of little bits and pieces are revealed along the way, but most of them don't contribute to discovering how Eden was murdered. I enjoyed the beginning of the book and the end. This could've been much shorter and perhaps I would have felt more positive.

I had high hopes for this one, I saw it all over Bookstagram, but to me it fell short in comparison to other mystery/ thrillers I've read recently. It reminded me quite a bit of The Lifeguards by Amanda Eyre Ward.

The cover and Synopsis grabbed my attention. The book overall was a preferred length (about 320 pages) but the chapters were long. Within each chapter there were smaller sections (or would be sub-sections??) that were titled with the characters name. I don't love long chapters because I like to stop at the end of a chapter. The shorter sections fixed that "problem".

On to the nit picking part of my review. I needed more of a back story. For example, I liked Alice's character. But, I feel like there needed to be more detail on how she met her husband, how long they were married etc. She played a big enough role in the story that I think it was necessary. More detail on the kid's friendships would have helped me understand their behaviors better as well. This in turn would have made the book longer which I would have preferred in this case.

This was a pretty good story but it was too slow for me. I ended up putting it down quite a bit and didn't rush to get back to it. The book also opens with an incident with a dog and though the dog is fine it didn't make me want to keep reading. I skimmed large parts of the book and it ended up just being okay.

This one was actually hard for me to get through. It is beautifully written, but it is very much a slow burn novel. I’d likely read another book by this author, but this one just didn’t do it for me. That being said, if you like slow burn, character driven novels, I’d check this one out.