This amazing debut exemplifies the notion that reading fiction fosters empathy. Johnson’s beautiful prose and well developed characters, in the end, enabled me to understand and care about each of these characters, even the most unlikable of the bunch. Employing the structure of following a different one of the half dozen characters in each chapter we are able to see each one’s motivations. On top of all this she manages to tell a compelling story that keeps you turning the pages until the very end. I can’t say enough about this book and I will definitely be following Lindsey Lee Johnson anxiously awaiting her next book. (I received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.)

This story follows a bunch of privileged kids from middle school when a tragedy occurs into high school. There is little hope for the characters in this story as they all face some sort of atrocity. The story starts with the kids in middle school when one child professes his love for another. The bullies of this school taunt him into choosing a permanent solution for a temporary problem. I wept over this first chapter. It was raw and hurtful.

One year later, we meet a new high school teacher who starts her career with optimism we hope every new educator would. She cares so much for the kids, some of which are still reeling from what happened. The story skips around and introduces a lot of the surrounding students to the tragedy. The problem is that they all have real issues of their own that do not ever get resolved. Not only that, but we don’t really hear from those kids again. The bullying is never really resolved. These awful kids go on to make horrendous decisions that will impact them for the rest of their lives.

This book leaves the reader helpless as these kids go on with their mistakes. We are mere spectators to the way the story unfolds and we don’t get much into how the characters actually feel. It is written about bullies and gives so many cliches. We get worst case scenarios with these kids that I scratched my head and asked the one question we all need to ask, where are the parents?

I know this is fiction, but I am a little horrified at the thought that kids live like this. I think the idea that these kids are just governing themselves without any kind of moral compass, is part of the point of this story. I wanted to put this story down, and probably could have at so many points, but I really needed to see if the story would ever circle back to the first girl in the book and what became of her. It did. Although I could have done without many of the kids in this story, the way this was written, I could feel the angst in these kids. I got invested without even meaning to. It was good and bad. I am torn on how to rate this. The writing by itself was good, but I think some scenarios were just for shock and awe and I didn’t enjoy that. I would not recommend this story.

Lindsey Lee Johnson worked at a private learning center where she tutored teenagers in writing.  Her experience there has given her insight into the behavior of teens.

In her new book, The Most Dangerous Place on Earth, Ms. Johnson follows a fictional group of teens from their last days in middle school through their senior year in high school.  Johnson’s teens come from upper middle class homes in Marin County, California.  Despite coming from privileged backgrounds, they face some of the same pressures as most teens do today— peer pressure to belong to the “right” group, to do drugs, to drink alcohol and party hard.  They also face pressure from parents who want them to do well in school so they can attend prestigious universities.  And then, of course, there is the inevitable bullying by classmates.

Ms. Johnson also weaves in the story of Molly Nicoll, a young first year teacher who strives to teach and mentor her students. As the school year progresses, Molly learns more than she expected about her relationships with colleagues and students.

Johnson’s coming of age novel is hard to put down as you get to know the students and their new teacher, and wonder how their story will end.  This novel would appeal to older teens as well as adults.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Books for the opportunity to read the ARC of this novel.

Sorry, this one just wasn't for me. Thanks for letting me try it!

As I read the first chapter of this book, I didn't really know at first what to expect. The title didn't give any hints as to what went down in the story, and the characters seemed so realistic, it was like every day situations took on a new meaning as each one headed into unknown adventures while moving through their daily lives. Then the story developed and things became more complicated as hatred, cruelty, sadness, envy, along with jealousy began to take action. Will the warning signs be ignored? Will action be taken to avoid harm, or will it come too late? A well thought-out plot! A good way to arouse curiosity; especially when it comes to teenagers in these days and times. THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE ON EARTH by Lindsey Lee Johnson was fascinatingly different. Her skills as a writer will show through as this tale leads the reader, along with a group of students down a path of intrigue. A must read! Especially if you have teenagers.

How to even begin to gather my thoughts on this book...

I kept thinking, I wish this book with its adult themes and real problems (suicide, bullying, social media, cliques, drinking/driving, cheating, student/teacher relations, etc.) could be required reading. The problem is, what age is it appropriate to say that for? Freshman?

The title is so fitting, Johnson literally hit every point of why high school is so tough. Even the kids who seem to have it all still have real issues. Because if it's not grades, its parents. While the book is set in a town in CA near San Fran where the students are considered privileged, it hits home to many high school students. Heck, I went to high school in WI and many of these themes were a large part of our lives. 

This book outlines the lives of several different students and center around a new teacher, Miss Nicholl. Miss Nicholl seems seduced by the students' lives, almost like she wants to be one of them. It's clear she didn't have the same high school experience they are having and wants to feel apart of it. She oversteps her boundaries many times, but I think back to my own teachers and often these were the teachers I liked best. The teachers I connected with and felt they actually cared about me. Double-edged sword I guess.

What makes this story so compelling is how realistic it could all be. Sure, it would be a bit intense where all these scenarios happen but in a larger high school, they could. Thinking about my own time, about 11 years ago, most of these things DID happen. Which is pretty nuts if you ask me. Social media and cell phones were kinda just beginning to be a thing, so I imagine how much worse it probably is now.

It was such a quick read due to the nature of the subjects, definitely worth a read! It will have me thinking about it for some time.

For fans of Megan Abbott.  A dark look at today's HS students and their lives.  I enjoyed this book, while also (occasionally) being shocked by what is (potentially) the life of today's teenager.

I felt like this was a waste of my time  it was rambling and not cohesive.

Meh.. Just didn't do anything for me. I didn't like how it branched off into differant stories

Random House and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Most Dangerous Place on Earth.  This is my honest opinion of the book.

The Most Dangerous Place on Earth was, unfortunately, a big disappointment for me.  The story never came together in a meaningful way, with a premise that promised more than the author delivered.  Following a group of kids from a pivotal moment in eighth grade to their later years in high school, the book shows how the lives of these teens were forever changed.  The characters, as there were too many individual stories that jumbled together in a big heap, were mostly flat and uninspired.  Had the book been written from one person's perspective, perhaps the plot would have flowed better.  The problem was that there was too much going on, yet not enough at the same time.

The oversharing on different media outlets is realistic and points to a real-time social problem, but the rest of the book is a simplified look at life in high school.  The Most Dangerous Place on Earth just did not grab my attention and, therefore, I would be reluctant to recommend it to other readers.

I had a rough time with The Most Dangerous Place on Earth. While it sounded a touch Gossip Girl at first, I soon found myself struggling to like any of the characters. It made it challenging to read. As the mom of two, I know what goes on in today's high schools. But in this case, I really just couldn't feel sympathy for anyone in the book.

When an incident in middle school turns tragic, the lives of a handful of kids change. Abigail enters into a sexual relationship with a high school teacher. Emma's partying ways put her love of dancing on the line. Dave is determined to please his parents with their dreams of him attending Berkeley, but it's rough when he's not much more than an average student. Calista ditches life in the popular crowd and falls in with the hippie crowd. Damon ends up in rehab and wants to prove he's better than that while struggling with his addictions. New teacher Molly wants to connect with her students, but not knowing their past proves to make it very difficult.

My heart broke when the tragedy in middle school happens. It instantly made me hate the teens in the story and that made for a rough time finishing the book. I didn't feel sorry for any of them. Karma's a bitch and all. I felt the most for the boy in the beginning of the story. His thoughts and actions broke my heart. It's a big reason why I kept reading. I wanted these other kids to feel his pain and take responsibility, but they really never did do anything that made me satisfied with the outcome.

I have always thought of high school as a microcosm that reflects the dynamics of society at large and serves as a training ground for young people to practice how to become independent adults and hopefully, responsible citizens.

To an extend, The Most Dangerous Place On Earth includes the predictable cast of characters you expect to encounter in any high school narrative. You will find the jocks, the nerdy crowd, the bullies, the popular girls, the idealistic young teacher, the cynical more hardened school teachers, the inept bureaucrats, all struggling to find out where they fit in the social ladder of this environment.
To Johnson's credit, she dares to go much deeper into the behavior and motivations of these characters, as a result she is able to reveal to us the complex social maze that is a high school in America today. 

So as the novel opens,  you are now entering Mill Valley, a wealthy California town located in the affluent Marin County. The place is not only economically prosperous but it blessed by nature as well with "..green mountains and gold hillsides, but also redwood forests,  canyon waterfalls the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay."

Considering where the story takes place the title of the novel might sound counterintuitive: The kids of Mill Valley don't have allowances, they have bank accounts; when due to of an emergency a couple of girls entered a Walmart store "they giggled in fascination and horror at this newly discovered yet essentially unknowable corner of the universe", In other words, so far they have lived extremely pampered, overindulged lives.  
 
The irony of being born into privilege is how challenging it is to be exceptional when so many around you already are. So the pressure for these kids is inescapable and it's amplified by the expectations their parents have on them: be the best dancer, write an outstanding essay, excel at math, get that perfect SAT score. 

As it is for many teenagers, their lives exists on parallel platforms: on and offline. Peer-pressure is not a new social phenomenon but no doubt its digital iteration is much darker and troublesome than it was in previous forms. The very troubling events that occurred in the first chapter of the novel highlight the perils of this new brave digital world we are living in.

Because of the multiple perspectives and its complex character development it would be difficult, perhaps pointless to summarize the plot of this novel. But the storyline revolves around a traumatic event that takes place during 8th Grade. For the kids involved on this episode, the circumstances and its tragic consequences will follow them all the way thru the end of high school and one can think perhaps the rest of their lives. 
 
While reading this story, I frequently though about an issue I personally struggle with as a parent, which is this: where do you draw the line between motivating your kids to develop their full potential and acknowledging their limitations?  Will they live happier lives by allowing them to find out these answers for themselves? This is probably one of those trial and error scenarios which means that as a parents we get no easy answers.

So my take on The Most Dangerous Place on Earth is that besides being a profound, well done character study, this is also a serious novel that carries a poignant message for parents, teachers and any adult interested in the future of a generation of kids growing up in this challenging digital world. Not an easy read but an important one.

God damn can Lindsey Lee Johnson ever write beautifully raw, and fully fleshed out characters. The Most Dangerous Place On Earth is an incredibly unsettling look at the high school lives of a group of teenagers. The author does a phenomenal job of getting in their heads, showing the rudderless movement of their thoughts, emotions and actions, and all the attendant horrible consequences. These are privileged teenagers, caught up in parental and social pressures. It's heartbreaking to watch them, because they're so quick to hurt each other, to be careless with each other. It's painful to watch them because they don't have a clue about their place in the world or the effects of their actions. These characters are all vain, entitled, and technology-obsessed, but these qualities never became their entire identity. It's the instances where their intelligence, passion, emotions, and determination to succeed really make them shine.

This is not a book for readers who prefer likeable characters or stories of redemption, as the novel is full of pain and heartbreak all the way to the end. What makes this book worthwhile is Johnson's prose, which is incredibly strong, and at times stunning -- there's an almost unbearable written account of a teenage party. And the instances of bullying and humiliation are brutally relentless.

The Most Dangerous Place on Earth is certainly not one of my favourite books, but I couldn't help being drawn into the journey that it took me on.

This book is extremely dark and depressing.  As a parent and an educator, it's very difficult to read.  It's well-written, just not my cup of tea.

What a great read. Interesting characters, developed plot points ... not just a book about/for kids.

This book came to life.  I graduated over 25 years ago and I felt the same emotions as if it was yesterday.  This book captivated me from the beginning and kept luring me in.  wonderful book for the adult who didn't really fit into a category during high school.

Another well crafted literary work but one that left me cold & disinterested

Wow... the first of these interconnect stories blew me away. 

I've spent a bit of time in the "trenches" of public ed, and when I come across a book about the junior high/high school experience entitled "The Most Dangerous Place on Earth," my little antennas perk right up. 

I suppose you could say that some of the narrators/character choices for these stories are stereotypical--the hot girl, the smart girl, the drug dealer, etc., but what I'd admired was the way that these stereotypes were revealed as facades. Johnson got to the heart of what the characters loved and feared and wanted, which for me made them universally appealing, rather than mere cliches. (less)

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

This book is about teenagers, but is definitely an “adult” book: it shows the gritty, seedy underbelly of a world where everyone looks ok on the surface, but underneath, is a complex personality filled with conflict.

The book loosely follows a first-year teacher at Mill Valley High School, an upper-class SAN Francisco suburban high school where her core group of students seem to have it all: from the material to good looks, bright futures, etc. But each of them harbors an intense secret – all strung together by one tragedy in eighth grade. As Miss Nicholls tries to understand her students, she is pulled into a world where nothing is what it seems.

The book is set up so that Molly Nicholls, the teacher, narrates every other chapter, while one student tells theirs in the alternating chapters. It’s an interesting approach, but the timeline gets really confusing. There’s a couple of events which center the narrative, but it’s really all over the place.

Also, if you’re looking for happy endings, this book is not it. It’s very short in good feelings. But it did keep my attention until the end. I really wanted to know what happened to these kids, good or bad. The story was good, if a little (ok, a lot) depressing.

Perhaps if there had been some overarching positive ending to take away, I might have rated the book higher. But in the end, while I did want to know what happened, when I found out, I was really bummed. Like, there’s not a lot to grasp onto here.

I mean, I get that it’s a cautionary tale, but Jay-sus.

I would definitely read this author again, she very clearly has great storytelling skills. I just wish this book had been slightly different.