This book provides the perfect atmosphere for a summer read. It is a bit of a slower burn but you get just enough tidbits of information to keep you going. Lots of secrets to keep hidden and the drama that comes along with that. It’s a good popcorn thriller that I think people will enjoy.

I LOVED this book! I was so excited to get it, as I read Jessa Maxwell's previous book and still think about it a year later. This is the perfect summer thriller and I will be recommending it to everyone!

This book had everything I love in a summer mystery—an atmospheric setting, complicated characters, and a chilling sense of secrets buried just beneath the surface. Returning to Hadley Island, Orla O’Connor is forced to confront the disappearance of her best friend Alice, a decade-old tragedy that still haunts the community. From the first page, the story pulls you into a web of gossip, suspicion, and long-held grudges.

3.5 rounding up.

This one is set in a little island in New England. I pictured Oak Bluffs the entire time I was reading it. The story is told from three points of view. We have Faith who has seemingly escaped her humble past and troubles and started to blend in to society life. She thinks she’s about the seal the deal to this life when her boyfriend from a wealthy family invited her to his posh family home. When she arrives though she finds that she doesn’t know him as well as she thought she did. Then we have Orla. She never quite recovered from her best friends murder (I mean who could?). After her short lived success in NYC she finds her self back on the island for the first time in years, but everything feels wrong. Finally we have Harry. He’s been a lonely shut in since he was accused of murdering Alice, Orla’s best friend, but he’s innocent … or is he? He doesn’t leave his home, but he always knows what’s going on in town. He’s always watching…

I really enjoyed this one! Definitely a fun and quick popcorn thriller, but unique enough to hold its own in a genre that has been tackled from every angle. I enjoyed the multiple points of view and the narrating characters. Weirdly though for some reason I don’t feel like the title fits the actual book.

Thank you Atria Books via NetGalley for this eARC. All thoughts expressed in this review are my own.

Dead of Summer is a quick and easy popcorn thriller set in a gossipy coastal town full of secrets and rich people drama. The twists were fine, the setting was fun, but it didn’t leave a lasting impression. A solid weekend or beach read if you’re in the mood for something light and dramatic! I look forward to reading more of Jessa Maxwell’s work!

Publishes July 22nd and follows a decade old disappearance that took place on a small island in New England. Orla hadn’t been home since her best friend vanished all those years ago, but when her childhood home needs to be prepped for selling Orla returns to Hadley Island. Meanwhile, old friends are also making an appearance on the island including Orla’s childhood crush David and his stunning new girlfriend Faith.

This story is told in multiple POVs and two timelines. Past timeline covers leading up to the disappearance of Alice and present day timeline is the characters reconnecting and the discovery of the truth of what happened to Alice all those years ago.

Throughout the bulk of the story we’re following Orla and David’s girlfriend Faith as she experiences stepping into the world of a man with a haunted past.

While this book does focus on a few wealthy characters I didn’t care for, the overall story was quietly intriguing. More of a slower paced drama, the subtlety of the story weaved in an intriguing yet unassuming mystery.

I thought this book was pretty good. It kind of reminded me of the show the perfect couple based on elin hilderbrandt’s novel.

While the story didn’t blow me away by any means and I was able to guess a major twist, I still was satisfied with the resolution of the story. 3.5

This was a slow burn, sultry mystery steeped in money and secrets. It did feel like a disproportionate amount of the teasers, red herrings, and action came in the last 25% of the book, so you definitely have to stick around to get to the meat of the story. It probably wasn't as big of a hit for me because I didn't really connect to or relate to any of the characters, but the mystery kept me guessing and reading. A great summer read, as the title suggests, but didn't love it quite as much as Jessa Maxwell's first two stories.

Thank you to Jessa Maxwell, Atria Books, and NetGalley for the ARC of Dead of Summer.

I loved this atmospheric thriller! It has multiple POVs to keep you engaged and really helps you feel like you know these characters. This book really threw me for a loop and while I did finally guess the ending, it took me a little bit to get there. This book was a bit of a slow burn, it takes some time to really set the scene and get you familiar with the characters. I still think this was a really great summer read and rate it 4 out of 5 stars!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria publishing for the advanced digital copy. Dead of Summer is your next beach read. The plot brings three point of views together and the character development is strong. This is a quick paced story, that can be a predictable at times but is a solid mystery/thriller set in a small coastal town.

I genuinely did not want to put this book down. If you're into clausterphopic, everyone is hiding a secret type vibe, this is the book for you! The book follows Faith into her new relationship with David, a wealthy man whose family (of course) has secrets. Faith embarks on a summer trip to David's family summer home and learns a lot about the history of this mysterious place. What happened to Alice all those years ago? Why did David bring Faith, the spitting image of Alice back to the island with him, and how shocking is being reuinited with his old pal, Orla? Henry, an island local knows everyone's secrets & watches from his perch through a telescope. Who is to blame for Alice's supposed drowning? Is it Henry the watchful eye, David & Orla he old besties....or someone else? HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Wonderful thriller. Atmospheric beach town setting with interesting characters with many secrets. Kept me guessing and turning the pages.

“Dead of Summer” is a great binge read! I read this in two days while staying at Disney’s Vero Beach, and it was a great book to take on my vacation—enough captivating elements to keep me going but not overly heavy on the details to slow me down while pool lounging and occasionally chatting.
A page-turner with lots of twists and turns, revealing of secrets, friendship building and a love story. I particularly enjoyed the way the writer talks about the island.

I you’re looking for you next vacation read, “Dead of Summer” is a MUST!

Fun, quick read with a decent twist. I write haiku reviews on Instagram but am happy to provide more feedback, if you would like.

This was so engaging and suspenseful, I love how it was told through different perspectives, which made it at times a little hard to follow, but still love the different POVs. The creepy camp setting and slow-burn tension made it a fun and chilling read overall. Would recommend

Dead of Summer is dead on arrival. This slow burn mystery from Jessa Maxwell moves at an obnoxiously glacier pace unfit for a novel with the word “summer” in its title.

This multi-POV story follows three characters who are directly and indirectly to the death of Alice Gallo over a decade ago. From there, readers are tasked with the Herculean task of caring about these characters and pretending to be surprised when mysteries are revealed. Seriously, the big twist, if you can even call it that, can be spotted from a mile away. You won’t need Henry’s telescope for it, I assure you.

The one redeeming quality here is that Maxwell has successfully created terrible rich people. You would be remiss to root for anyone. This ARC was provided by the Atria books, the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

P.S. Loved seeing my last name throughout the story. I hope the next time, though, it’s in a better book.

On Hadley Island, no one has truly forgotten the disappearance of a young girl several years ago. Certainly not Henry, a reclusive elderly man who has been found guilty in the court of public opinion. Nor Orla, the missing girl’s childhood best friend who is returning to the island for the first time in years. And then there is Faith, who arrives at the island for the first time only to find that her boyfriend has a strong connection to the missing girl as well. When another girl goes missing, everyone’s secrets will be revealed.

Let me start by saying that I have really liked this author’s other books. I was excited to read this one, and recommend her books in general to mystery lovers. That being said, I struggled with this one. There’s very little dialogue, which makes the book move quite slowly, and I had a hard time connecting to any of the characters. While the author does try to weave some twists and turns throughout the book, I found none of them surprising. I was able to call most of them several chapters ahead. I hope others truly enjoy this book, unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to the author, publishers, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

As a fan of Maxwell's previous books, I was delighted to get the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. I appreciate that each of her books has a unique scenario- nothing cookie cutter about them! In this book, I liked how the alternating narrators each have secrets in their pasts which impact the current story. I empathized with many of the characters, and I enjoyed the twists and turns in the plot. I think this will be a great vacation read. I look forward to reading more from the author.

This was a quick and entertaining read. But it was also so stupid. And there are two people in this book who are terrible friends. I guessed a twist pretty early on. It was a sad one, not a shocking one. I'd recommend this if you just want a ridiculous beach read.

This was a slow burn, sultry mystery steeped in money and secrets. It did feel like a disproportionate amount of the teasers, red herrings, and action came in the last 25% of the book, so you definitely have to stick around to get to the meat of the story. It probably wasn't as big of a hit for me because I didn't really connect to or relate to any of the characters, but the mystery kept me guessing and reading. A great summer read, as the title suggests, but didn't love it quite as much as Jessa Maxwell's first two stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC of this book!

At no point did I know where the book was going. It was full of emotion and great writing! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review!