Holy-doodle, if The Most Dangerous Place on Earth isn't a wake up call, I don't know what is. Set in an affluent community in sunny California, this novel explores the facades of teen life on social media and the truth that lies behind those facades, and that is what makes it so compelling and horrifying.

Is it fair for me to say that Lindsey Lee Johnson gets teenage life in our era unlike anyone else I've read? Keep in mind this is coming from someone in their mid-forties. But i feel like this is a novel I will make my daughter read when she's just a little bit older because it highlights all the pitfalls and hazards of teenage life and magnifies them to the most horrifying conclusions. As a parent, I hope it had made me more aware of what to look out for, but also kind of makes me want to put my kid in a protective cocoon that sheilds her from the outside world.

Who would like this book? I don't know if high school teachers and parents will like this book, but it is definately something they should read. But truthfully, The Most Dangerous Place on Earth is a truly likeable book. The writing is superb, the characters are full and complex and the momentum of the narrative means I ignored my family for 2 days while reading it. It is a book for people who enjoy coming of age stories that aren't saccharine. I loved it.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

This is a horrific story of a group of seemingly heartless children following them from 8th grade through senior year.  They live in Mill Valley, a wealthy city within Marin County.  They are entitled, spoiled, and largely ignored by their parents.  Through the use of social media they are also extremely dangerous.  Each chapter is told from the perspective of a student or teacher.  Even the teachers in this book are awful.  They are trying to relive their high school years by relating and engaging with the children inappropriately.  This is a book that disgusted and enraged me, but also scared me to death (as a mother).  This books warns of the horrors of social media, how it betrays friendships, how people can be heartless and ruthless on social media with no regard to feelings and outcomes.  It warns how children and adults can make very big mistakes online, how a small mistake in real life can be amplified by social media to social and emotional ruin.

This group of children in particular is savage.  Social standing is everything.  Relationships lack depth.  Anyone can stab you in the back if it might earn you higher social standing.    With all that these kids were going through and experiencing, they each seemed to be islands, lacking close friendships or supportive families.  They did not share personal details of their lives with their friends, they did not confide in their friends.  Their friends were there solely for the purpose of social standing.  The children appear lost, unhappy, and in some cases were trying to become someone else rather than discover who they really were.

At it’s core this book is about bullying and I felt it was a cry that we as a society should be doing more to prevent it, to address it once it happens, and acknowledge that it will likely happen again.  There are so many students that participated in the bullying and the bulk of it was done online where people can hide behind screens and become more heartless.  How do we as a society, as communities, as school address the online lives of our children?  How much freedom and independence do we give them versus close monitoring?  What kind of limits should be imposed?

Towards the end of the novel, Molly is made to shut down her Facebook account by the school administration because of her over-involvement online with her students.  “At least for a while, she’d reside in the land of the actual, where she might discover who her real friends were.  Where she might discover herself.”

As hard as this was to read, I think there is an excellent message to this book.  It asks a lot of questions and hopefully will get people thinking.  The character development was excellent and I enjoyed reading and getting inside the heads of various different students and teachers.  I thought it was an interesting twist that Ryan gets taken advantage of through social media at the end, however, it did seem a little far-fetched and out of character for him.  My first inclination was to give this 3 stars,  however I’m bumping it up to 4 because it brings up a lot of great discussion points.  This would make for an excellent book club read.

I really enjoyed this book and found it to be a unique commentary on a California high school.  Perhaps even a unique commentary on all high schools.  I can't share with you the incident that was the catalyst for every other incident that happened in this book.  The events are kind of startling...the characters ordinary yet not so ordinary...and the struggles with both teachers and students...kind of shocking.

It's been a long time since I was in high school, but though times have changed and problems may be different, the basic behavior hasn't changed all that much.  There have always been the popular kids, the outcasts, and the middle group that doesn't quite achieve that rarified popular status but keeps trying.

The book is well written as it delves into the individual characters and how they cope with life.

When I finished the book, however, I was left with a somewhat 'is that all there is?' feeling.  Maybe it's just me, but it felt somehow unfinished.  It's an interesting read, though, and a very good debut novel.

Thank you to NETGALLEY and RANDOM HOUSE for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am always grateful for your kindness and generosity!

3.5 stars, somewhere between this book was okay and enjoying it. I rounded up instead of down, so I'm going to go with 4/5 stars for The Most Dangerous Place on Earth.

Pleasantly surprised with this book, which I found very fascinating in a horrible way. It's like a train wreck that you drive by and rubberneck so you can admire the disaster, I found myself enjoying this book the very same way. I loved reading about these rich kids get their comeuppance for something terrible that they did; granted I don't think any of the characters in this story wanted such a bad thing to happen to young Tristan. 

I felt like the story line with Abigail/Doug was a little out of place but not distracting from the rest of the story. I understand why it was there, it just didn't go anywhere and it felt like there was supposed to be more story there that just didn't get addressed properly. I also sort of feel like this about Holly Nicoll's character but not as strongly.

I'm an older millennial so it was fascinating to me to read about social media in the lives of teenagers these days. When I graduated high school, MySpace was just getting ready to launch. I had a MySpace for a while, and subsequently move to Facebook (along with everyone else), but I didn't Facebook (oh my, it's a verb now!) for long before finding out that it simply isn't for me and deleted my account. It's so strange to read about how every day it is for children now, how quick news travels and how connected everyone is! It's not a part of my life and is a bit confusing to me. But it's interesting!

Calista is my favorite character in this book and I believe I identified with her the most. I found her desire to change and following through very inspiring, if one can momentarily forget why she had such a deep desire to change to begin with.


NOTE: I updated this review with the Amazon review link.

American public high school is likely the most dangerous place on earth. It's been that place for generations as writers and filmmakers have attempted to show us all of its pain and glory. Perhaps it is its universality coupled with the most awkward years of our lives. Honestly, its hard to know now which was more confusing, the place or the person; there was a lot going on. The author of this book does an admirable and engaging job of taking a peer group and moving through it over the course of five years. We inhabit the students as they try and come to terms with changing friendships and families, all while ostensibly pursuing their education. 'Stuff' gets broken and without guidance it is rarely addressed. It's so hard to remember how little it helped to speak in high school. Again, the author is right there, on point. This is a really good book but a painful one. Just like high school even if you tried to forget about it.

I liked the beginning a bit more than the rest of it, but still worth reading. 3.5/5 stars.

I found The Most Dangerous Place on Earth to be a quick yet compelling read. The story is told from the perspectives of a range of characters as they experience their 'world' through the lens of school - both as students and teachers - from 8th through 12th grade. 

Johnson deftly creates characters that are both vivid and multidimensional; you want to hate the nasty kid, but you can't because you also feel for him/her... I really liked all the characterizations, but found some to speak to me particularly. As a former high school teacher, the framing of the story within the 8th-12th grade years offered many 'memories' of student stories.

This is not a 'happy' book. As a former student it might make you remember... as a parent, it makes me sad to think of my children going through some of those situations. In any case, I will be thinking about this book and its characters for some time to come - it's a very powerful story.

(I received an ARC from the publisher - the book was published for the public 10 January 2017)

There are few times in life more difficult than high school. To some, it can be The Most Dangerous Place on Earth, hence this new book from debut novelist Lindsey Lee Johnson. 

The story of a group of kids in a wealthy suburb of San Francisco, this story looks at the individuals behind the stereotypes. What makes the pretty girl who seems stuck-up so quiet and isolated? Why does the wild alpha male student become a drug dealer? Why does a student become romantically involved with a teacher? Why does a smart kid cheat in order to get into a better college than he could get in on his own? Why does a girl drop out of her college track and take up drugs and a new set of friends? These students are more than a label, more than a prototype of The Smart Kid or The Slutty Girl or the Rowdy Boy. They are three-dimensional characters with real motivations, goals, and wounds. 

Running simultaneously through this story is that of the new, still inexperienced, optimistic, young teacher. Miss Nicoll is hired in the middle of the semester to replace a teacher who has left. She loves literature and wants to share her love of words with her students. She feels like she has so much to offer then, despite being only a few years older. But she faces not only her students' apathy toward her class but also helicopter parents, experienced teachers who dislike her ways, and school administrators. As she gets closer to her students, and trades cell phone numbers for homework questions or accepts friend requests on Facebook, how far is too far for that relationship to go? As the boundaries slowly get erased between teacher and student, how does that affect the education? How much of high school is about the information we learn, and how much is about the relationships?

Revisiting high school through the eyes of these characters makes you see these years in a completely different way. You see the layers of meaning and subtext, the subtle causes and effects of the choices made during these years, the friendships and the romances, the successes and the failures, the tests and the parties. Everyone has stories about high school, and everyone can relate to at least one of these characters. 

I am not a big fan of high school novels, but this one is interesting and intriguing in a way that makes you think. It's not just about the drama. It's about what's under the drama, and about where the drama leads. Revisit your teenage years--read this book. 



Galleys provided by the publisher through NetGalley.com.

I know this book has had rave reviews but the content is not relevant to me.

So much of the publicity for this title compared it to Sittenfeld's "Prep" so I was quite excited to read this title.  I must admit that I became a bit dismayed when the opening chapters seemed overly formulaic and predictable.  But then the story, especially the introduction of the character Molly really helped this entire story take flight.  Hearing the same story from the varying viewpoints of the students and teachers made the stories richer and the characters fuller.  I would definitely recommend this title and believe this is going to be a big hit at our libraries!

What a thoughtful yet gripping story about high school life for privileged teenagers! This story follows a class of children living in the upperclass Marino County in California. As they progress from middle school into high school, various traumatic events along with their home life and other influences in their life shape their behavior and personalities, as well as their future.

I grew up attending a similar private school (though it feels like a lifetime ago now, it was actually only a few years ago), and the depiction of teenage behavior and dialogue was incredibly spot on. At first reading, some of the events in the story seemed a bit overdramatic or unlikely...but then I started remembering some of the big events of my middle and high school years (major car wrecks, house parties gone overboard, eating disorders, drug abuse, damaging rumors gone viral...the list goes on) and realized that this book is actually scarily accurate. Although none of the characters are especially likeable (except perhaps their overly-earnest but charming teacher, Miss Nicoll), you still empathize with the characters as they struggle to become adults in their bizarre, stifling social circle.

Although I highly recommend this book to YA readers, I think it's also a great selection for adults, especially those who enjoy reading about "rich people problems" as I once heard Rebecca Schinsky from the Book Riot podcast describe this genre. It makes you look back and reflect upon your own high school years, the mistakes you made, as well as some perspective on those old frenemies of senior year. Though the setting is for current-day high school, the struggles of identity and adolescence are timeless. Great work from this writer!

Rating: 4/5 Stars 

Special thanks to NetGalley, Random House and author Lindsey Johnson for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review! Great first read of 2017 for me!

I am so incredibly impressed with Lindsay Lee Johnson’s debut novel, “The Most Dangerous Place on Earth.” The novel takes place in a California town not far from San Francisco, following students from middle school until their Senior year. Characters are Cally (or Calista), Abigail, Emma, Ryan, Nick, Tristan, Dave, and several other adolescents with a variety of issues and very little consideration of right and wrong. There is also a brand new teacher, Molly, and her creepy inappropriate colleague, Doug. Not far into the novel, the reader is faced with cringe-worthy humiliation and bullying of a student that ends in tragedy during their middle school years, but then fast forwards to high school where each chapter focuses on different characters and their circumstances. It covers sex, drinking, drugs, gossip, inappropriate relationships, cheating, and so on. There’s very little that isn’t presented in this novel about these teenagers and their lives. 

Johnson takes us on a journey of friendships that end, new acquaintances, trying things for the first time, and ultimately, pushing the limits. If I had to choose a word to describe most of the characters in this novel, the word that comes to mind is naive. First of all, the students obviously think they are invincible, indestructible, and able to get away with anything and everything they do. Secondly, the new teacher, Molly seriously skews the lines thinking that these kids want to be her friends, and thus, she tries treating them as such. Thirdly, what few parents are even mentioned in the novel apparently do not believe in supervising their children at all and basically float along in their privileged lives refusing to see what is going on with their children. 

After finishing and digesting this novel I also realized that none of these characters honestly knew the first thing about one another. Sure, they knew the crap they deemed worth gossiping about, but they never took the time to get to know one another or themselves. I would like to say that Cally made the most “progress” in surviving adolescence and trying to make sense of it, but in reality, she was high as a kite for several years so I’m not sure I can classify that as “progress.” Stealing a word from creepy Doug the pedophile teacher’s SAT study sessions, no one in this novel – adults included – ever considered the ramifications of their words and/or actions. These spoiled kids did as they pleased and if the end results were negative, they simply shrugged it off and moved on. Some of the teachers were so detached and cynical regarding their students, as to where Molly, the young, newbie teacher, honestly felt that the students cared about her, what she said, and what she did. 

Being that I was a teacher for 13 years, I particularly enjoyed Johnson’s portrayal of the teachers and the dynamics between each other and the students. Some of the teachers were so detached and cynical regarding their students, as to where Molly, the young newbie, honestly felt that the students cared about her, what she said, and what she did. Although Molly initially attempted to blend and mesh with her colleagues, she quickly secluded herself and alienated herself by spending all of her time with Doug. After the “incident” with Doug, she continued to bury herself professionally by trying to befriend her students – especially with her pathetic Facebook postings. Her personal flashbacks of being socially awkward, unpopular, etc. turned her teacher-student relationships into one of wanting their acceptance and approval, which is obviously not the most logical way to approach one’s students. 

Moving on from the plot and characters, I was truly mesmerized by Lindsay Lee Johnson’s writing. “The Most Dangerous Place on Earth” reads and flows with incredible ease, in spite of the suspense and troubling moments in the novel. Whether it was the thoughts or dialogue of a student, parent, teacher, medical professional, and so on – her writing was spot on with perfect slang, inner-dialogue, reactions, and reflections. Johnson writes with the ability to be whoever she needs to be at that moment, making it difficult to remember that you are reading a work of fiction and that these people are not actually real. Bravo to this extraordinary author and her debut novel. I hope to read more of her incredible work in the future!

LEARN MORE ABOUT LINDSAY LEE JOHNSON BY VISITING HER WEB PAGE. 

PURCHASE “THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE ON EARTH” ON AMAZON. 

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In Lindsey Lee Johnson’s debut novel The Most Dangerous Place on Earth, readers are launched into the lives of privileged, seemingly perfect teenagers in a wealthy suburb of California. Their new, 23-year-old teacher Molly Nicoll becomes intrigued with their lives, sensing the mystery and pain behind their wild and reckless ways. What she doesn’t know is that a major trauma from middle school affected each and every one of them in a different way, shaping the people they have become and haunting their everyday lives. There’s the flower child, the party girl, the druggie, the delinquent, the outsider… a Breakfast Club myriad of sorts.

Told from different perspective in each chapter, the book is divided into three time-based parts: Eighth Grade, Junior Year, and Senior Year. We watch these children grow and evolve as they prepare for the rest of their lives in the adult world once high school ends.

This story hit close to home for me, as I’m sure it will for many. The oftentimes unspoken tribulations of high school are spoken about open and honestly– something most authors shy away from– which was truly captivating, although it lingered on the line of over-the-top at times.  It was a story that speaks truth for teenagers, something I wish I had growing up in a privileged suburb of Connecticut.

Pros:
The writing style was mesmerizing and poetic. It made me feel as though I was right in the story and I wound up highlighting so many passages based off of their beautiful composition.
The character development was truly phenomenal– I’ve never seen it done so well in a Young Adult book with so many different characters. Each go through a profound transformation, whether positive or negative. It’s a realistic cycle of growth and development into adulthood.
The ending wasn’t neatly tied up with a pretty bow. No spoilers, don’t worry! But I loved that the ending was true to life– messy and sometimes not exactly ideal. Raw, honest, no holds barred.
The plot was incredibly intense and captivating. Fun fact: I stayed up until 4 in the morning just to finish this book once I got into it! The groggy day that followed was 100% worth it.

Cons:
The book started and ended focusing on the narration of one character, Callie/Calista. But there wasn’t much of her point of view in the center of the book– this kind of confused me and left me wanting a little more at the ending. Some sort of a deeper connection to her character throughout the course of the story’s entirety would have made it a bit more meaningful.
While I loved the riveting plot, it fluttered on the line of over-the-top at points. I’m not saying that any of these portrayals are inaccurate, I just think that it was hard for me as a reader to consume a story with so many traumatic events that are not necessarily the norm of adolescence.

4 STARS

Mill Valley High — a place where you would not want to be, and yet if given the opportunity — guiltily eavesdrop, quietly observe the students, the way they communicate, carry themselves and welcome the world, the juvenile angst and naivety. With one exception — there’s no naivety at all. Those teenagers, granted still kids, are very much aware of their actions and very much detached from the consequences in their own way.

Mill Valley is the place where Abigail Cress, Calista Broderick, Nick Brickston, Dave Chau, Emma Fleed, Damon Flintov, Ryan Herberger and Elisabeth Averine reside. It is the place where they live, go to school, eat expensive lunches, throw heavy parties, tenaciously revolt, make their first attempts to love and shield from pain.

The writing is superb — a beautiful arrangement of sentences, formed by real words that blend with each narrative. To be frank, I’ve never been a cheerleader for descriptions as not every book has this finesse to make them a cardinal part rather than just a background to the story. Well, Lindsey Lee Johnson certainly has the smooth skill to turn every scene, every line of description into an artistry and I admire her for that. 

The novel not only has great writing and real characters, but also a plot (I know, it’s rare). But it does, a plot that keeps you guessing what’s coming next at every turn of a page. It makes you worry if Dave will find the courage to assert himself, it plants a concern about Damon Flintov, will he be ever understood? You grow fond of them as they were real, as you actually knew them. There are no happy or sad endings here. There are choices, developments, sequence of events. It might be time to leave the most dangerous place on Earth (where here I think this holds an individual meaning to the characters, it’s more than the universal high school and its thousand hidden mines waiting to be stepped on, or the dread of the perfect small town), but their ride to themselves, finding what sparks an interest and how happiness feels like, will continue.

Uncertain if it was a creative move from the author, but somehow each one of the characters’ parents seem to be, if not the decisive, then the salient factor driving and predicting their children’s behaviour. A question I asked myself — is it about perception? Adolescents’ sometimes deceiving perception that parents are always on the wrong side of the fence? Because if at the end, it all comes inevitably to nurture and upbringing, then where’s left the choice? How can they break the cycle? And could we really assign all the responsibility to the ignorant, selfish or demanding parents?

A story worth of reading, not only because I liked it, but mainly because it’s depth invites reflection and leaves a room for discussion. 

I have kindly received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Random House.

A well written novel that follows a group of privileged high school students in the moneyed town of Mill Valley, California The Most Dangerous Place on Earth spends most of its time in dark places. From cyber bullying to drug use to academic cheating scandals there isn't much illicit activity that isn't happening at this small town high school and even the teachers get involved whether they're young and trying to fit in with the kids or are seeking out inappropriate and illegal romantic relationships, it's all there.

The main problem I had with the novel was probably a personal one, simply that it's hard to identify with or develop empathy for uber privileged kids and their often self-imposed struggles. It's difficult to shake the thought that these kids have so much handed to them and still manage to have more problems collectively than any high school I've ever heard of. Add to that the fact that the novel dwells almost solely on the negative and it's hard not to feel somewhat manipulated. Another issue I had was that this novel continued a 2016 trend of featuring a sexual relationship between an underaged girl and a grown man in a position of power. Johnson's novel, through no fault of her own, was the fifth I read in 2016 with such a plot point and I have simply grown tired of it. Why am I mentioning this? Perhaps to let the reader know that it may have unfairly affected my reaction.

Johnson's debut was often compared to Ng's Everything I never Told You in the build up to its release and while the comparison is fair, I don't think it does her any favors. Ng's novel felt far more plausible while Johnson's tends more toward the dramatic, cramming ten years worth of scandals into the experience of a few classes of high schoolers. The Most Dangerous Place on Earth definitely has its moments, but overall tended toward the improbable with characters who were too often unlikeable.

4 out of 5 stars

THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE ON EARTH: takes place in an idyllic, wealthy community near the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco: Mill Valley and follows a group of students from 8th grade to 11th and 12th grade. In every school, unfortunately, there are those that bully and those that are bullied. This is something anyone who has gone through adolescence can relate to and understand. However, what I think separates todays bullying from that of years past is the way social media has shaped adolescence. This is a common theme throughout this book: what happens when everything you do and mistakes you make is something that can be captured and placed on the internet, forever. The internet has made it easier for people to bully, to be mean, to say and do things they may never have done face-to-face. In this case, the cyber bullying leads to a tragic incident, one the students will carry with them. As we follow them into 11th and 12th grade, that incident is always there, slinking in the background, shaping the things these students do, the paths they take. 

THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE ON EARTH was captivating, tragic, emotional, heartfelt. I enjoyed the way this story was told, it wasn’t a typical narrative. You think/get the sense it will be a narrative through the eyes of one the teachers: Molly Nicoll. But, we then get varying perspectives from the students. We get to delve a little deeper into each character, finding out more about their flaws and what pushes them. You don’t ever get to fully know any one character, but it allows for you to get a general sense of many characters and in this case I think it worked. I found the portrayals of these kids to be realistic: you saw the good and the bad with each character. I would have liked two of the story lines to be told a bit more thoroughly, a bit more information as to what came next for that character would have been nice. I will definitely be interested to see what else Lindsey Lee Johnson puts out. 

Thanks to Net Galley, Random House & Lindsey Lee Johnson for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I am so sorry, but I had difficulties reading this book. The writing was excellent but memories were too painful. Please accept my apologies for not being able to review this book.

The one thing about this book is that all the characters stories are believable and happen all the time. Even the suicide (I had someone close to me commit suicide for similar reasons in high school). Molly gets to observe the teenagers acting how they were. It was an interesting read and I liked it. Will read future books from her.