I absolutely love this cover and the premise is right up my alley. The length was a bit much for me to bet on in print/ebook, so I was pumped to find ALCs available. This started off really well. The narrator, Gina Gershon, is fantastic. I ended up looking her up so I could purposely listen to more from her. Then it had been 45min and we were still getting introduced to people and places and their relationships. I was lost. I could picture the setting maaaaybe 25% of the time? That might be generous. I felt like I was stuck at a brunch full of rich a$$holes, toted around by an older cousin like a shelter pup, stuck listening to their one-man show about the guests that 1) you didn't ask to experience & 2) will forget immediately bc, why remember? I'm not that mad at the book... I think I'm upset at the characters bc they're annoying, and then it naturally trickles down to the book when it's unable to carry said characters' weight.

I'm a mood reader who balances more than one book at once. At first I was groing to bring that up to discount my review, but my review is just as valid as from someone who reads a book at a time—because other readers read the way I do. If the default review is tailored to a monogamous reader, just be warned this one is v poly (w/ books, to be clear).

Next to Heaven is a fever dream of a novel—jarring, lyrical, and completely unapologetic. From the first page, I felt like I was being pulled into a whirlwind of beauty and brutality, a meditation on longing, loss, and what it means to search for transcendence in a fractured world.

James Frey has a way of writing that feels both chaotic and deeply controlled. The structure defies convention, but there’s intention in every line. It’s not an easy book to pin down—it flows more like a stream of consciousness, a confessional, a prayer, and sometimes a scream. But through it all, there’s this aching humanity that holds everything together.

This is not a novel for readers looking for a tidy plot or clear answers. It’s messy and abstract, and at times it made me uncomfortable—but in the way that good art does. It demands that you engage with it on its own terms. And when I let go of what I thought it should be, I found something strange and beautiful underneath.

Next to Heaven is about the search for meaning in places where it’s been stripped away. It’s about the contradictions of faith and despair, of violence and love, of heaven and the rawness of being alive. It left me disoriented, but also moved. I closed the book feeling like I’d just woken up from a long, strange dream—and I was grateful for the journey.

The turn of events proved to be interesting, but there was no story development. It was a fact-finding mission all the way, which means I did not get the opportunity to connect the characters not their situations. Show, don't tell, Mr. Frey. This book was a dud for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ALC. I was super excited to read something new from James Frey. I found the beginning a bit slow, and then it picked up—- and then it turned into everyone sleeping with each other. My fiancé heard part of it and literally thought I was listening to a porn book. Kind of a let down, didn’t really enjoy it.

Very descriptive… the narrator was fantastic. The perfect voice for this story.
I liked the ending.

This is kind of a high-brow version of a trashy novel. Kind of reminded me of "Desperate Housewives" with a little bit of "White Lotus." I liked the first half of the book as I got to know the characters and was wondering what the big murder would be. But it got sort of tedious as it went on and I didn't feel like I was rooting for anyone. The characters kind of blur together because they are all very surface-level. We get a bunch of initial exposition about them (how they grew up, how they met their spouse, etc) but we don't get to KNOW-know them. It's all quite superficial in the end so I didn't even end up caring about the murder. Also, there was an odd interview with the author at the end of the book where he talks about who he would want at a swingers party and names a bunch of hot women. Awkward.

This wasn’t for me.

The first half of the book was just information about each character and the town. There were a lot of characters. Normally, I like a good backstory and information about who is who and why they are the way that they are but this was excessive. I just couldn’t get into it.

I fast forwarded to about 50% to see if it would get better and then just decided to DNF.

The narrator was great, though. I listened at 1.75x.

Big thanks to #NetGalley for this audiobook.

To be honest, I picked this book out because I read A Million Little Pieces by James Frey way back in the day and I really liked his writing style then. I also typically choose a book because I really like the cover which I suppose says a lot about me.

I would technically give this book 3.5 stars. I felt like the first maybe 55 to 60% of the book was character introductions and there were so many different characters. I had kind of a hard time keeping up. I would find myself having to go back multiple times to figure out who the narrator was talking about.

I will say, though, that the character development was excellent, and a lot of the characters, I felt their feelings and felt a connection to based on my own life experience experiences. There were just a lot of characters to keep up with.

There is in fact a murder, but that murder doesn’t happen until maybe about 65 to 70% of the way through the book. I’m not sure if this book is supposed to be classified as a thriller as you have to wait for a very long time to actually find out who the murderer is.

Overall, I did like this book and I will be excited to find my next read on Net Galley.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
3/5

This book started off so incredibly slow. The drawn out descriptions of the town, each main character, and the couples were not needed. Once we got past that, I really enjoyed the book. I liked the switch up of partners and the deviousness of Anna and Belle. The majority of men in this book are red flags.

Thank you NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Audio, and James Frey for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was so excited for this book as I'm a sucker for any "rich people behaving badly" storyline. The book has a great setting and a great premise. The book itself? Far from great.

I read James Frey's first book forever ago and I remember really liking his writing style. I'm not sure if his style's changed or I have but I'm no longer a fan. Every sentence is so wordy and overly descriptive, which keeps the reader stuck in insignificant moments for far too long. As a result, the pacing is a mess. Just all over the place.

I live in the area of CT where this books takes place so I enjoyed the references to the various towns and establishments, though I imagine this will be lost on most people. For reference, New Bethlehem is a fictional place but all the other towns mentioned are real (mine was mentioned several times...so that was fun).

As for the book's conclusion....ehhh. I get the sense Frey felt the ending was a big surprise but it felt obvious to me.

Trigger warning for some of the most disgusting phrases you'll ever come across. Think "yogurt cannon" and "coconut cream explosion." I definitely said "ew" out loud to myself a few times while reading this.

3.2 rounded down to 3.

Next to Heaven fell flat for me. I enjoyed hearing about the character's backgrounds, but then the storyline would go in circles - I was always waiting for the plot. Too much world-building (I get it, they're rich). Nothing about the book kept me wanting for more.

James Frey as created the perfect beach read/listen. I could not stop listening to this salacious mystery set in an elite Connecticut town . The book is about its wealthy inhabitants who in the main, are not nice people. Full of sex and affairs, intrigue, secrets, mystery and a murder, these characters are sharply drawn and a lot of fun to read, badly behaved horrible wealthy people are most entertaining. Well written, fast paced, this is a blistering entertaining read and doesn't pretend to be anything else.
I have not read any of James Frey's work since A Million Little Pieces, I am going to check out some of his others now.
Perfect Summer Reading 4 stars.

3.5 ⭐️. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster audio for an arc of the audio book. I did enjoy this but I felt like it ended up being pretty anticlimactic. Felt like I kept waiting for something big to happen and then it did and it was over just as quick. Enjoyed the narrator and did think it was a good concept.

I really enjoyed this. It definitely reminded me a lot of Big Little Lies, with much more debauchery. I did find it difficult, at times, to keep the characters and their spouses straight but in the end, it all fell together nicely for me. I did predict the reveal but that didn't make it any less enjoyable for me. After all, I support women's rights and, more importantly, women's wrongs.

Well it wouldn’t be a James Frey book if there weren’t people clutching their pearls and stirring up controversy. So naturally, I’m here for it!

This is a dark, ripped-from-the-tabloids and humorous story of the rich behaving badly. James Frey is a great story teller and Gina Gershon @ginagershon has the perfect husky, sexy voice to narrate the story. I enjoyed the mystery of who was going to be murdered and I was surprised by who did it. If you only enjoy reading about characters you like or are offended by foul language, give this one a hard pass. Since I love despicable characters and I’ve been know to make grown men blush with my words, I loved it!

Next To Heaven, written by James Frey and narrated by Gina Gershon, is an absolute must read/listen! In a way, it felt like a modern twist on the kinds of novels that turned me on to reading ages ago written by authors like Jacqueline Susann, Jackie Collins, and Sidney Sheldon. Thoroughly escapist and unputdownable. The fictional town of New Bethlehem is really New Canaan, CT—the town right beside mine in Fairfield County, CT. I recognized all the landmarks and his descriptions are spot on. Some characters I loved, some I loved to hate. But I enjoyed every minute!! And Gerson has the perfect sultry voice for this book! Highly recommend!!!

It was a lot to follow and I felt like it was more of giving me information about people's lives than following much of a story line. Alex's murder and Billy being convicted of it was a great story line, but I wish the book followed along that more instead of just focused on the messy lives of the priveleged.

Well well well I had to come back to this to review as I was left a little lost for words if I’m being totally honest!

This gave me an education of sorts maybe I’m naive but I had no idea the amount of drugs out there! I still don’t grasp the concepts of all that were spoken of! On top of this the detail put in to this it was clear the author had done their research and at the end there is a Q & A session that actually answers questions I didn’t realise I had! Also addressed here is something that made me curious as to the fact that although it is stated this particular book based on a real place where these things do happen none of these people are real etc it makes the mind wander naturally… I won’t reveal anymore as to spoiler, you will understand when you get to Q&A if you think of our current world and what is said in this section!

This is a little like desperate housewives meets orange is the new black (en route) 😂 in that the premise is looking in from the outside everything appears to be happy “normal” living life’s everyday circumstances however for all of these characters they are doing anything but that! There is so much betrayal, even abuse etc that the old saying applies you don’t know what goes on behind closed doors and this applies here in the most upper class of areas where the most prestigious people are living.

The most likeable character from my perspective was definitely Anna and probably obviously so the most disgusting was Devon’s husband. I found this to be quite a slow burn with a lot of character building but definitely almost like a tv show which I could very easily envisage this to be!

The writing style for me was more suited to a tv sitcom type and this atm is a different style of genre than what I have generally listened to so I’m still attempting various avenues to expand my own knowledge and understanding of styles to see what preferences I have, this is one I’m on the fence about just now.

With thanks to NetGalley & AE TITLES/ S&S AUDIO for the opportunity to listen to this ELC in return for an honest review. Wishing you all best wishes with publication in June 2025 📚🎧🙏🏽❤️

Next to Heaven is a raw, edgy, and unflinching dive into the lives of the extremely wealthy that left me thinking long after I turned the last page. James Frey doesn't hold back—his writing is bold, fragmented, and electric, perfectly matching the intensity of the themes he explores.

I was given a copy of James Frey's Next to Heaven from NetGalley and Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.

Listening to Gina Gershon's audio narration of Next to Heaven felt particularly inspired and she matched the sexually-charged activity of all the New Bethlehem players with real verve. It was fascinating that in her chat with the author, he referenced Jackie Collins' Hollywood Wives (I know who publishes it) and Danielle Steele as inspiration for this book. There are oceans of differences between the two authors, who I have signed autographs from, but that's a different story.
Also, the chat was illuminating. I don't think Frey and I would be hockey buddies based on what he & GG discussed.

There were two powerful parts of this book. The backdrop to New Bethlehem was excellent - its moral rectitude followed by the sleaze-laced antics of its current cohort of residents- and the story of Katy, which was very much inspired by those exquisitely told backstories that Collins did so well. Its premise of being really trashy inspired me to request it. Collins really was an original - and even though nobody is close to replacing her, I do appreciate those who try.

Perhaps somewhat lacking from this book is that it's sleazy without much charm. It's a selection of characters who don't see much use in sex, who have everything, and who aren't particularly witty. Maybe it's more suited to Americans because American football doesn't translate all that well. Maybe it's the whole swingers party. Maybe it's Belle or Devon, both of which lack any real, fleshed-out characterisation. It could be the unfortunate use of yoghurt cannon as a euphemism. That's like a star lost there and then.

It's quite a long audiobook, 10 hours and some techniques were repeated, unsuccessfully. The gossip, Chinese whispers chapter, and the three very film-noir/pulp interrogation scenes. Everything was thrown at the wall and only some of it stuck. I would have recommended some cuts and some stronger characterisation. That said, I was pleased to receive a copy and listen to it.