I reviewed a copy for review. All opinions are my own. The way this story played out was wild and so thrilling. As it went back and forth in the timeline from different POVs, I found myself trying to figure out what really happened and was so eager to find out that I finished this whole book in one sitting. I really enjoyed Meg’s character and I felt everything she felt as the book went on. This is a book I will definitely read again.

This book was so good! I highly recommend it.

SUMMARY:
Meg Hart is a pretty awful mom. Not a particularly good person, either. So when her teenage son goes missing, it isn't long until suspicion falls on her. Honestly, that is probably as much of a summary as I can give without spoiling anything. You will want to go into this one blind.

MY THOUGHTS:
I really enjoyed this one. It has been a while since I read a book where I both didn't see the antagonist coming AND it didn't feel out of nowhere.

I really enjoyed all of the characters. Which is saying something, because I didn't actually LIKE a few of them. Like Meg, for instance. Genuinely makes the worst possible choice any time she gets the chance. However you do really feel for her by the end. You never really get the feeling that she is doing things out of actual malice. She is just so stressed out constantly.

I really, really, REALLY wound up loving the main teens in this story. I feel like it is rare in stories lately to get a group of teens, especially boys, who are just honestly good people.

The family dynamics explored in this book are really interesting. The interactions between everyone feel very well thought out, with a lot of history behind them. Everything in this book felt pretty realistic and grounded to me, which can be hard to pull off in a thriller.

The main antagonist deserves to die purely for his Mike and Ike slander. And all the murdery stuff too, I guess.

FINAL OPINION:
I had a very fun time reading this. Normally I read my ARCs from my laptop during downtime behind the circ desk. I got so invested in this one that I read the last 40% on my phone once I got home. Be sure to grab this one once it comes out, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

I thought the writing was really good but unfortunately this was a DNF for me because I can't read books about domestic violence, particularly sibling-on-sibling violence.

While I liked Upstanding Young Man by Sharon Doering, I can’t say I loved it.

I understand this is a domestic suspense meant to show the pitfalls and stress of living the perfect suburban life, it was too over the top for me. The sheer amount of dysfunction not only in their immediate family, but extended family and neighbors was just….pushing the limits of belief for me.

I’d probably read another book by this author since I did like her writing style, but I wouldn’t clamor to seek one out.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. Upstanding Young Man by Sharon Doering was quite a ride. It was told in alternating points of view, which was a bit hard to follow at times. We learn that there are many secrets in this family as the plot twists and turns.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publication Date: August 12, 2025

#UpstandingYoungMan #NetGalley

This book needs a serious edit and format work. At time it was extremely difficult to read as an ARC because of the formatting issues and I almost gave up several time. The author has some good plot points but has TOO many plot points in one book. She needed to take a few out and smooth out her story, or was messy and jumbled with so many things going on at the same time. It was a fine read but nothing amazing or I would say anyone had to read.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book and was interested but left somewhat underwhelmed. The storyline was great, and the twist did really get me! However I found it to be somewhat convoluted and hard to get through. I think the writing style just isn’t for me at the end of the day, and that’s okay.

The premise of this book hooked me, but the writing felt a little lackluster. Maybe it just isn’t my cup of tea, but it was hard for me to discern the change of voice when the point of view changed, and I was not a big fan of how both mom and son’s inner monologue felt immature for lack of better term. Maybe after this one is released, I will read it again and enjoy the story, but it just didn’t hit the mark for now.

Meg Hart has created the allusion of a perfect family, but her son goes missing right before his graduation, and the police think she had something to do with it. Lots of twists and turns.

I did enjoy this book. The twists were surprising, and kept me guessing and wanting to keep reading to figure it all out. My only criticism would be that it was a little longer than necessary; and could do without less irrelevant details overall. I think it could be shorter, but still be a great book overall.

Wow. Did I read this was a debut novel? I read the reviews beforehand, heard some good stuff but was not prepared to be blown away. This book is phenomenal & deep, explorative & explosive & horribly perfect. It takes an unthinkable situation & allows you to feel for each character. Whether young & self absorbed or older & jaded, each perspective is fully appreciated for the human-ness we all have. To think of this author improving with her next novel is mind blowing, just as Upstanding Young Man was. Love!!

With 'Upstanding Young Man' Doering hits the ground running, somewhat dabbling in the 'unreliable narrator' genre while telling the nail-biting story of a missing high school senior/all-star wrestler from a seemingly perfect family

Told in alternating first person chapters - going between mother Meg Hart beginning the day her son went missing, and the other being from McClane Hart, the missing boy, though with him his chapters are a countdown to his disappearance.

What unfolds - quite quickly - are a series of family secrets, neighborhood rumors, police investigations, and unsettling revelations, all building neatly towards finally finding out what really happened.

A terrific read. Fast and engaging, with the shiny veneer of the ideal suburban family dissected for all to see.

Highly recommended!

With some clever plot twists, some dysfunctional family dynamics, and a shocking ending, “Upstanding Young Man” is gripping and addictive.

Meg Hart tried to be a good mother, and she truly thought she had succeeded, until her high school aged son disappears. After involving the police, she realizes that she has made mistakes and might even be to blame for her son’s disappearance. She no longer understands her husband, her children, or some of the choices she’s made in life. But nothing matters anymore except finding her child, and she will do anything to try and keep him safe.

The plot is brilliant and the writing is superb. If you love a good thriller, you’ll want to read this. Thank you, NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for the advanced copy of this 5-star book.

Could be a very very good book but it fell flat in a-lot of places. The story dragged on really with no purpose. And the character dynamic was all over the place.

I received an ARC of this book from Hyperion Avenue via NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback. I have never read this author before, but she is now on my "automatically will read" list! It was crazy and fast-paced and shocking and just GOOD.

This novel was so unique, which is tough with so many thriller/ domestic suspense books. I have never read anything else with this set-up or plot. I did not want to put it down each time I had a chance to read; I was definitely up late fighting my eyes closing so I could see what would happen.

Lots of twists, none of which I expected, and I don't think there were even any clues, so they were truly surprising and shocking.

I also think Ms. Doering did both voices skillfully: both the stressed-out 40-something mom and the typical teenager. They both read realistically, which does not seem easy.

Most characters are unlikable, but they are all individuals with their own personalities. No one was cardboard or filler, and it was no problem to keep them all straight.

There are a lot of triggers but I don't want to give spoilers.

I hope the Kindle formatting issues are resolved before publication.

This book was weird. It could have been worthwhile but it just dragged on and on forever. David the son, has so many problems, it was overwhelming. I felt like the author wanted to make the story longer but it just got to be too much! I don’t think I could recommend it, but the author has potential.

Thank you to NetGalley for an e-arc of this book.

Unfortunately, this draft did not seem ready for ARC status. The grammatical and formatting errors were on every page, making it very distracting to read. Aside from that which is hopefully just an ARC experience, the story is an intriguing idea but lacks in execution. There are way too many side tangents and commentary about the “state of the world” and family/relationships that don’t advance the story. I also felt like the teenage son’s POV was not authentic at all - he and his friends had dialogue like caricatures of teenagers.

Overall the story was decent and I tried to push through to find out the twist, but at this time it was a DNF for me.

Multiple POV? A dual timeline where the two are the least spread out across time from each other that I’ve ever read? A twist I 100% did not see coming? Sign me up! 4.5 ⭐️ (rounded up from 4)

Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for the ARC of this book. This is my first, and what a start to giving advance reviews!!

This book defied a few of the typical mystery themes that we see so often for me. The use of two characters who are already so intertwined, instead of two characters who are seemingly unconnected until nearly the end, was an excellent way to really give the reader a great view into the family dynamics. But a great use of mystery also kept some pretty big gaps in that knowledge until the author was ready to reveal it! Having such a short difference in time between the two narrators was really fun. Usually it’s years or months apart and you’re waiting for the two to cross and provide the mystery. In this book, that mystery is right out in front and the timelines provide the suspense by dangling the specifics just out of reach. And finally, I loved that this mystery was solved/wrapped-up, but there was no pretty bow to be seen. It was messy, it was tragic, and it was also somewhat hopeful. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it all when I read that last page, but in the best way possible.

We learn right away that McClane, an 18 year old just about to graduate from high school, is missing from his mom’s POV/timeline (Meg). But then we are quickly taken just a couple of days back in time to McClane’s POV, written from before he goes missing. As a teacher of high schoolers, reading this book in May, I am HIGHLY impressed that I wound up really, really liking McClane. He is a senior boy in the throws of senioritis (the struggle is real), yet he still wound up being a character that I really believed was a great young man. He may have had just a bit too much “adult-ness” attached to him and his narration, but it worked. And Natalie, his girlfriend, although more of a secondary character, reminded me of those girls who are beautifully self-assured, and I enjoyed the fact that their relationship was yes, a bit grandiose, but didn’t wind up being a mysterious plot point on its own. It was just part of their story. Meg, on the other hand, is a big tougher. She is a flawed character to be sure, and some of the parts of her story were a little over the top for me, but much of it was very believable as life brings a lot to a middle aged mom of 4!! And her personal arc was interesting to read as she moves through all the things her life has become.

The structure of this mystery did pull me in right away, but it was really that last 100 or so pages that made me plunk down in my reading nook and not get back up until I was done. That “I have to know!” switch got firmly flipped in my brain and I had to answer the call.

I would not recommend this book to all high schoolers, but if you have readers that you know are mature and can handle some harder topics (trigger warnings would include violence, drug use, roofies, mental illness, CTE, death), it could still be a good recommendation for your mystery fans.

There's a lot going on here, but it works really well the way Doering has assembled it. The little ways that things between people can seem off to outsiders looking in; the way we balance what a kid says and does versus how they actual feel outside of that moment, and at what point have things gotten out of hand....

I will say, there's a myriad of bunny trails--red herrings even--that Doering casts about, which actually makes the ride more enjoyable. Can I trust him/her? Are they connected to the overall mystery? Or are they just complicated beings living in Meg & McClane's ongoing nightmare?

Fast and enjoyable -- definitely recommend.

This was a mystery and thriller that pulled me in and didn’t let go.
McClane comes from a perfect family. So, what could have happened to make him vanish? Well, there are his parents, Meg, and Joe, each with secrets of their own. I should mention his girlfriend Natalie, who is pregnant. Or one of his elder siblings, David and Jamie know something that they are not willing to share. Did McClane run from a situation he could not handle? All will be revealed.
The story is told from Meg and McClane’s POV’s. We learned from him what led to his disappearance. Meg, meanwhile, picks up the story once she learns her son is gone. So many secrets are revealed. I did not guess whodunnit. I also was not a big fan of Meg, though that was most likely the author’s intention.
If you enjoy a messed up family, and a compelling mystery, this just might be a read that you’ll enjoy. Publishing in August, I could see myself having read this on the beach.