This book just didn’t work for me. The writing felt immature—like it was trying way too hard to be edgy and provocative, but without much substance. The first half was a repetitive blur of sex, drugs, swearing, and swinging: key parties, partner swaps, you name it. Honestly, it felt like it was written by a horny teenager with a thesaurus.

The story revolves around rich, miserable people who seem to stay married only because of prenups, but I couldn’t figure out the actual point of it all. No one dies until about 73% in, and even then, I didn’t care who did it. The characters felt flat, the plot unfocused, and the writing repetitive (same ideas phrased slightly differently over and over). I just wasn’t invested in the characters or their relationships. Overall, it was a boring, overindulgent read that tried to be provocative but forgot to be interesting.

How can this be called a "Murder Mystery" whenever the murder does not occur until after seventy percent? There was also so much information-dumping and punctuation issues that at some points I felt like I was having a stroke. I understand as an arc reader we are supposed to read past the grammatical errors, but unfortunately for this book they were hard to overlook.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. Also, thank god I did not choose this for my BOTM because I would've been very disappointed if I spent money on this.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

New Bethlehem, Connecticut was created to be a sanctuary, a getaway town for busy wealthy men who worked in New York. And it still is that today. Most of the original founders are gone, replaced by "new money" people who make more money than those old timers could have imagined. Many of those original luxurious homes are now owned by people they would never have permitted in town, but now the town is the safest, wealthiest, has the best schools, the best EVERYTHING. And the uber rich live like kings, with nothing to control their excesses.

But two of the wealthiest wives are bored. So they decide that a "swingers" party would be just the thing to liven up their lives. Restricted to only four couples, the invitations are THE invitation of the year. With attendees including an ex-NFL player, THE local hockey coach, and a ruthless Wall Streeter who believes his wealth can buy him anything - and anyone- he wants, what could go wrong?

Amidst the betrayals, a few find real happiness, and others jealously attempt to destroy it. A murder ensues and finding out whodunit is the final third of the book. The outcome is a surprise, but it really shouldn't be.

The characters are familiar to anyone who has watched White Lotus or Our Friends and Neighbors, but there are twists and turns enough to keep you interested to the end. And you will be glad to stayed to the end.

“Promises are like glass, and they break just as easily.”

Living in Connecticut I can absolutely believe that these types of people exist and they probably exist here. The pompous, arrogant, and extremely wealthy are abundant here. But I digress.

I remember this style of writing from A Million Little Pieces, which I loved. It’s quick, abrupt, and choppy. The story itself is not the most earth shattering thriller I’ve read. In fact, it’s almost more of a character study…and then a murder was thrown in towards the end for good measure. But it is entertaining, dirty, vulgar, and yet compulsively readable.

The audiobook was AWESOME! The narrator just kills the voices and the sarcasm of these characters. A fantastic listen.

Thank you to Netgalley and Authors Equity for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. And thank you thank you to @libro.fm and Simon & Schuster Audio for the free audiobook!

This is a novel about bad men and devious women living in a small, wealthy Connecticut village. The characters are swingers, drug addicts, gamblers, and drinkers--and there is a hockey coach. An underlying theme is social media and security cameras and how people are tracked every day. There is also a sisterhood theme. The book is recommended as a beach read and it is guaranteed to generate discussion.

This book had the potential of being good. If we take some of the basic elements, move the murder plot to earlier in the book, maybe, just maybe, we’d have something there.
It really gave me the same feeling of when I’d have a writing assignment in my science class back in middle school, where it was rumored that my teacher would only care about how many pages long out essay was, but not read it at all. My sister once put an entire cake recipe within the assignment and the teacher never noticed. I guess the author thought we wouldn’t notice either. I know James Frey said we wouldn’t notice what was written by him or AI, since it was all reviewed by him, but to that I’d say he’s either underestimating our intelligence or I really, really dislike his writing style. This book was SO REPETITIVE. One of the chapters even has an entire paragraph written the same way! A lot of their actions were written as if they were lists. There’s a chapter that it’s like a random Ode to Connecticut (a cake recipe would have been better). There’s another chapter where he lists who the secret is spreading to and is just a list of random names saying they wouldn’t spread the secret anyway but did it. It could have been summarized to something like “no one was supposed to know, and yet, everyone knew”. Matter of fact, if this book could have been rewritten, without the repetitiveness and the unnecessary info, it would have been a short story.
As much as I love a good dumpster fire of a story, this was not it. Use your time reading something else, go tackle that TBR.

On a technical side, the audiobook was skipping about 5 chapters towards the end and there was either some bonus chapter in the end, of a chapter fell out of order as well. Also, the interview with the author and narrator wouldn’t play entirely. Hopefully they fixed it before the release. The narrator was great though.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of the ebook and audiobook in exchange of my honest opinion.

Originally grabbed this one just for the author. I was curious as I’ve only read A Million Little Pieces by him, and despite the controversy, I loved it and was extremely moved by it …For Next to Heaven I went in blind, and I really should have done a little more research prior to requesting. The plot just wasn’t for me. Thank you NetGalley, James Frey and Authors Equity for the ARC

All the best things in a book: Sex, Scandal, and Murder. Great character development, an absolute page turner, and a major plot twist. You think you know what’s going to happen, and then Bam! I couldn’t put this book down! Highly recommend

I really wanted to love this book but it just didn't land for me

The writing is great and the blurb was so promising however if I am being honest if could be been shorter and less drawn out. For me it was rather repetitive and just didn't capture my attention the way I'd have hoped

Many thanks to NetGalley and Authors Equity for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest book by James Frey. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4 stars!

New Bethlehem, Connecticut is a picture perfect town where only the one percenters can live. From the outside, they have it all. But look a little closer, and everything is a mess. It takes a key party - a swing party - carefully curated for a small group of couples to really stir things up. And then there's a murder.

I'm going to get the controversy out of the way first - yes, James Frey has said he has used AI for research and maybe some of his writing. While I'm not a proponent, I can't google something without AI giving me an answer, so I'm not sure how anyone can say they research without it. And yes, James Frey's books are controversial but I've still enjoyed them all. This one drew me in from the beginning. There are not many likable characters and their behaviors are crude and atrocious, but it's written in a style that completely pulled me in to the story. He gives us little bits and pieces about each of the characters' lives and actions, all barreling down to a conclusion that I loved.

Next to Heaven" is where I live in Connecticut. The exacting details of setting and people are spot on in James Frey's newest work of fiction and what I enjoyed thoroughly. Thankfully my own neighbors are not as obnoxious and egotistical, but deplorable characters have great big comeuppances in "Next to Heaven." What begins with a high class key party among three couples and a lacrosse coach and girlfriend, ends in a trip to hell, a long plotted murder and break ups. The key party is RACY stuff and definitely written by a male author. It's shock and awful at points but the consequences of the night are the main story. Mr. Frey's writing is repetitive at times and he has said he's experimented with AI - this would seem to be a result. All said, it's a good and quick summer book but one to listen to as Gina Gershon is the reader. She and Mr Frey have an excellent conversation following the book's conclusion and discuss his inspiration being "Hollywood Wives" by Jackie Collins. These details increased my post reading satisfaction. He's already working on the screenplay.

This is a very trashy summer read. Seems like James Frey wants to reinforce his self-described reputation as a “bad boy.” Readable and also forgettable. Seems destined to be the next Nicole Kidman limited series about the ultra-wealthy and ultra-despicable crowd…and of course a murder and betrayal.
Thank you to Net Galley for an advance copy.

Let’s chat about AI.

It’s not going anywhere, so how does it fit into society in an ethical (and more environmentally friendly) way? I’m sure it will serve society in many valuable ways in terms of technology, but does it have a place in the creative world?

James Frey (touted in the early aughts as “the man who conned Oprah” seems to revel in controversy. I was still curious about his new book, and learned of his usage of AI in his writing just a few weeks ago. In an interview from two years ago, the author is very blatant about how he not only uses AI for research purposes, but to copy his writing style. So the reader is left not knowing who (or what?) generated the words they are reading.

My first instinct is I am not interested in consuming art of any kind generated by AI, but I was curious to see what an AI generated book would look like and tried to read this one objectively. And being that I received an ARC, I’m comfortable with not supporting the author monetarily.

It’s ever evolving, but at the moment AI can still be pretty shitty. Like how it STILL can’t get hands to look like hands. Or how the AI blurb that comes up at the top of every google search is sometimes wrong. Well, the same goes for writing. AI or not, this book wasn’t that amazing. While Frey does have some decent writing chops (I truly enjoyed his first two novels), I wouldn’t classify his writing as any better using this tool.

What seemed like a sordid story with a number of rich people doing rich people things with a lot of infidelity happening, it sounded like a juicy enough read. I was invested enough, despite struggling to keep all of the characters and pairings straight, but it felt really whomp-whomp by the end. It also didn’t help that the audiobook arc was a true dumpster fire, missing chapters that I had to go back and read in the print version.

I will chalk this one up to being a little experiment, and have no intentions with consuming AI generated books in the future. Why would I, when there are so many incredible minds already writing wonderful books with just their imaginations?

2⭐️ (rounded down from a 3⭐️, because you know, cheating).

The cover is what drew me in. It was an interesting read and I look forward to reading more by this author.

A book about terrible people written by someone who has done terrible things.

A lot about this book felt very repetitive, which makes me wonder if the AI controversy surrounding it is accurate.

I wasn't sure what to think as I approached this book given all the controversy surrounding the author, but honestly this book was a fun wild ride! I had to get used to the writing style. Yes, there is a lot of repetitive wording, but it almost becomes meditative after a while. The chapters are short and many sentences are short as well keeping you turning pages. The characters are almost all just horrible overindulged people who get away with doing bad things (drugs, affairs, money crimes -- you name it) because they are rich and living in an enclave of other people like them. There is a murder in the book but you don't find out who until three quarters of the way through the book -- so the mystery is not the focus of the plot until the very end.

If you like books about rich people behaving badly this book checks all the boxes. It's a propulsive summer read that's hard to put down once you get to know the characters.

James Frey's new novel, Next to Heaven, is out today. It is causing quite a stir in the book world.

I am compelled to add my perspective when everyone is weighing in on this controversy. I aim to be fair and balanced, believing that people often deserve a second chance, especially after a period of reflection or "time out." Of course, I have my boundaries – some offenses are unforgivable (For example, Kanye can go away and never return). However, how long can we hold that over someone's head when it comes to things like lying and embellishment? I believe there comes a point where continued punishment becomes unproductive.

For those of you who are not in the know or who need a little refresher about who James Frey is, he released his memoir A Million Little Pieces twenty years ago. Oprah picked it as her Book Club choice. Then, he was accused of fabricating parts of his story. She brought him back on her show for a public shaming. He was "canceled" before the term was widely used, and for twenty years, he has been pursuing other projects and staying out of the public eye. Now he is back, and the reception has been met with skepticism, hatred, and people flat-out bashing him. Have they taken the time to read the book?

The New York Times wrote an extensive profile of him. He has said he uses AI to complete his work. In an interview with Centre Pompidou, he said, "I use artificial intelligence because I want to write the best book possible, and I'm prepared to use all the tools at my disposal to make it happen." And so, people are saying this book has been written by AI, without proof, but just by applying his quote to this book. All to say that Simon & Schuster, home of Stephen King, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Colleen Hoover, and many bestselling nonfiction authors, didn't vet this one? Risked their billion-dollar business on someone who decided to write with AI? Or maybe he did, and they just let it go? Who knows? Who cares? Well, a lot of people do.

But what about the actual text?  Here's the bottom line: This book is a good time. It is about rich people who misbehave. The writing is quick. Easily digested. It is the perfect summer read. There, I said it. It's good. It kept my attention. It had me turning the page.
It is a trashy page-turner centered on the ultra-rich. We are in the fictional town of New Bethlehem, Connecticut (think Greenwich or Scarsdale). Two wives conspire a spouse-swapping evening because, you know, a night on the town won't do. Beyond their immediate desires to escape problematic husbands, a deeper, long-term plot slowly unfolds. There is a list of luxury brands and a vast array of illicit drugs. The sheer, wild excess is a constant presence.

It reminded me of a recently binged show, Your Friends& Neighbors. After he loses his high-paying gig, hedge fund manager Andrew "Coop" Cooper (Jon Hamm) begins stealing items from his neighbors' houses and discovers dangerous secrets. Everyone around him, in his idyllic New England town, is also falling apart.  There's a murder. There's a cover-up. The search for the murderer and the accusations of who did it tear the town apart. I hated every character on the show. I loved every scene. I wished for everyone to fail (except the kids, who I believe are innocent bystanders). But it made me think of all the shows in recent memory where I've felt similar thoughts: White Lotus, Succession, and Big Little Lies. We love to see rich people fail and be tortured, while we also make lists of the things they own so we someday can own them, too.

This cognitive dissonance made me turn to the next page of this novel. I was invested in the disillusionment of wealth while simultaneously continuing to desire lavish lifestyles and expensive objects. I was drawn to (and maybe even desired) the materialism. I understand the critique, gawk at the extravagances, hope for their demise and remain engaged. If you can approach Next to Heaven with that level of awareness – holding two truths that may be in opposition – you'll enjoy this book. If you want to dismiss it for its purported fake creation and your moral judgment of the author's past transgressions, it isn't for you.

My Rating: 3.75 Stars
Review Sites: 2.9 Stars
Length: 336 Pages
Read if you like: If you read Vanity Fair, Pineapple Street, Liane Moriarty

Super wealthy friends Devon and Belle are in stagnant marriages and looking to branch out by hosting a swinger party. The party sets multiple events in motion for the handful of attendees that culminates with a murder.

I’m glad I didn’t read reviews of this til I had finished the book. I didn’t think it’s as terrible as so many reviews say, but does have its faults. While the author has insisted that AI was not used for this work, there are some writing patterns and lines in the book that would indicate otherwise. For example, “hahaha” is used 13 times in one short chapter. Most experienced writers of dialogue wouldn’t write that basic or repetitively. Some of the language and descriptors were more vulgar than I prefer. That said, I thought the storyline was juicy and generally entertaining, and I didn’t have the ending figured out. If you are interested in a buzzy book about rich people behaving very badly, this might be for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Ooooh I love a good book about the filthy rich. This was like a modern day Gatsby but with more drama, glitz, and glitter. It was so hard to put this book down. This feels like the next Netflix adaptation. I highly recommend!

"New Bethlehem, Connecticut. Picture-perfect lawns, manicured hedges, and multi-million dollar homes present a carefully curated facade. But beneath the designer yoga gear and country club memberships lies a darker reality."

Imagine having all this and still wanting more. More thrills, more danger, more reasons to feel alive. However, every risk comes with a consequence....

"Next To Heaven" by James Frey plunges you into the opulent yet unsettling world of New Bethlehem, Connecticut. Beneath the town's pristine facade of perfect lawns and multi-million dollar homes lies a simmering darkness, a reality far removed from the designer yoga gear and country club memberships.

At the heart of this world are best friends Devon and Belle, who seemingly have it all – beauty, money, and status. Yet, they crave something more, something dangerous and exhilarating. Their answer? An ultra-elite swingers party, a meticulously planned gathering of New Bethlehem's most prominent figures. From a desperate ex-NFL quarterback to a hockey coach with a penchant for married women, and a ruthless Wall Street "closer," the guest list is a powder keg of ambition and hidden desires.

One night, this curated event becomes a breeding ground for multiple betrayals, culminating in a murder that will shatter the town's carefully constructed facade. Frey masterfully peels back the layers of privilege and exposes the rotten core beneath the surface. The novel expertly blends elements of noir, psychological thriller, and social commentary, creating a darkly entertaining exploration of wealth, power, and the lengths people will go to protect both.

"Next To Heaven" is as a compulsively readable page-turner and a wild, indulgent thriller. It's a novel that isn't afraid to delve into the lurid details of excess and scandal, making it a potentially sizzling beach read.

Overall, "Next To Heaven" offers an unflinching look at wealth and power, delivering a story of revenge and redemption that will stay with readers long after they turn the final page. If you're looking for a book that exposes the dark underbelly of American privilege with a healthy dose of suspense and excitement, this novel might be your next read.