This really is a family drama focused on the lives of Steph and Ed Thatcher, as told through the lens of Andrew, a writer who has returned to the small Maine town of his childhood, only to find his old lobstertrapper boss to be unexpectedly wealthy. I loved Andrew’s role as a framing device for the story, and found the characters enthralling. Also, the writing is beautifully atmospheric, a love letter to the coastal Maine setting. Thank you to the author, publisher and #netgalley for the arc.

This family saga and crime thriller just vibrates with coastal town Maine authenticity and the underside of dark secrets lurking behind a taciturn Maine mindset.

Narrator Andrew, having attended Exeter and played lacrosse at Dartmouth, has returned home to teach public high school English and coach lacrosse after the cost of living in Boston proved too high. The book opens with his wife and their two young kids attending a lavish lawn party and lobster bake for the traveling Amherst women’s lacrosse team who are up in Maine to play Bowdoin. The daughter of the local couple hosting bash, the Thatches, plays on the Amherst team. Andrew worked on the docks with her dad, Ed Thatch, summers before leaving home at the Thatch family-owned lobster business. Andrew marvels at how Ed as a lobsterman has emerged the wealthiest man in town, and then recoils when stumbling across a photo in a folder that Ed has been reading in his family room showing dead bodies in a burnt car. As Andrew steps outside, police cars, sirens blaring, pull into the Thatch’s driveway.

The story then goes back in time, with Andrew playing the role of amateur investigator and writer, trying to ascertain what has happened in the time he’s been gone that lead to the Thatch’s rise in wealth and power, as well as the police arriving in full force. This includes interviewing Ed’s wife Steph and others in the town, and weaving in their first-person perspectives on the events as they unfold.

What emerges is a compelling story of young love, ambition, police corruption, drug trafficking and house burglaries: the dark underbelly of the idealized Maine life to which summer vacationers flock.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

This was an interesting novel in parts, but then I'd get turned around and think, "huh?" Once I finished I could put all the pieces together but it didn't mesh for me during the reading. Andrew and wife Maeve have moved to Maine where Andrew worked on a lobster boat when he was younger. They are delighted to be there but of course there is deception in this small community and secrets go back generations. So as they--mainly Andrew--try to piece together the full truth, we see corruption, greed, class differences, and inequality; so yes, it's relevant for sure! Also made my mouth water at some the descriptions of seafood!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

As someone who lives in the midcoast of Maine I wanted to read this book. The characters were well developed and the scenery is described beautifully. It is not really a mystery but a look at small town secrets and lies. It is not an uplifting story over all but Adam White tackles some issues that plague many towns.

Thank you to NewGalley and Random House for my ARC of this book.

I enjoyed this one, though I think the writer/narrator either intruded too much or not enough. I wanted a stronger final punch or something a little darker. I enjoyed the world that was built, but the plot wasn't quite enough.

The characters are multifaceted, complex, interesting and also amazing. You will end up rooting for all of them. It is very reminiscent of peoples own childhoods in a small town. Very well done

This book was less of a mystery and more of a study of the people and the place in Maine, It was interesting enough but was also very slow. It wasn't really my favorite but others might like it

This was a very interesting book- part mystery, part saga/character study. There’s a rags to riches story, but how exactly did those riches come about? What’s hiding underneath the surface of this small town?

The characters were well developed and the scenery is described beautifully. There were some areas where the plot dragged a little, but overall this was a great debut novel. I would certainly read more from this author.

Midcoast is a real page turner.. it-is at once an examination of WASP culture contrasted with the lower class inhabitants of Maine coastal vacation towns and a study of crime and it’s consequences. The main narrator has attachments to both the working class and the summer vacationers.
Unlike most books it doesn’t fit neatly into a category, but is in part a family story a mystery and an examination of the consequences of class differences. It was a pleasure to read, bringing alive the feel of the area.

Andrew has moved his wife and two children back to his hometown in Maine, and while some things have changed (or appear to), others have stayed the same. Ed, the guy who was kind of a jerk to Andrew when he was younger has grown up and married, Steph, the girl Andrew once lusted after. Now the “it” couple in town, with Ed owning and managing several businesses and Steph as the town manager, their lives couldn’t be more different from what it was like when they were all in high school. Even though Andrew is impressed with Ed and Steph, he just can’t get his head wrapped around how much things have changed, and the more Andrew digs, the more he starts to wonder if anything has really changed after all. Great read; full of thought and planning and truly different in its approach! I do have to admit I sometimes had trouble following the timeline of the narrator, but I’m glad I stuck with it—it was absolutely worth it.

Special Note: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really, really hate when I must give reviews like this. I decided to DNF this book at the 29% mark. My reason for DNF’ing this book is due to the fact that I still had no idea what the book was supposed to be about nor did the plot line really interest me any longer by that point. I felt that the story skipped around quite a bit and at times I noticed that I had to stop and try to circle back to what was truly happening and was being conveyed in the text.

I hope other reads have a better time with this book and are able to truly enjoy it, I just knew it was not going to be for me.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy!

Stunning. Get this on your pre order list. The author juggles the creation of a strong sense of place with photographic flashbacks, fascinating characters, a thread of mystery, and the relatable narration. I really enjoyed it, especially the chapters focusing in on each specific character, almost like an in depth study of why they are who they are. Big fan!

Well developed characters and interesting story. Impressive for a debut novel, looking forward to more by this author. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

The Midcoast, Adam White’s debut novel, is a small town with dark secrets family saga. He tells the Andrew, who as a teenager, worked for Ed Thatch, a down-and-out lobsterman. Andrew leaves for college, but when he returns to his home town of Damariscotta, he finds Ed’s life has changed immensely. He’s now a well-to-do businessman, and his wife is the the manager of Damariscotta, a little haven on the Maine coast known for its oysters and antiques. Andrew’s interest in the Thatches culminates in his writing a novel about them and interviews them as well as doing other research. His research drives the unfolding of events in the Thatches’ lives.

White’s characters are well-developed and multifaceted and he juggles different time frames and points of view well. Having spent time on the Maine coast, I could readily identify with both the characters and the not-as-idyllic-as-it-seems village.

Wow I really enjoyed this book! First because it was great, second because I spend several months a year in or near this town. Great storyline and very well executed. Will be reading more by Adam White. Awesome debut.
Highly recommend.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

JUST CRAZY GOOD! Midcoast is a Maine rise to wealth story. Set amongst the lobsterman based small town filled with secrets. Andrew has returned to his small town and is surprised and fascinated to find that his childhood bully Ed and his childhood crush Steph are happily married and the de facto leaders of the town with Steph acting as Mayor and Ed's real estate and development company changing the landscape of the town. Andrew happens upon a folder within their mansion at a special party and begins his own investigation on how these high school dropouts became the richest family in town.

This isn't a story of black and white, the characters are multifaceted, complex, interesting and amazing. You will root for all to survive the ending as Andrew slowly unwinds the clues. I could see plenty of the people I know in these characters and no one's actions surprised me. I would love to read Adam White's next novel and be immersed again in a small community filled with reality and intrigue and the uniqueness that is actually ubiquitous to small towns.

If you love a sprawling story, rooting for the underdog, enjoy reminiscing your own childhood in a small town, then #TheMidcoast is for you. #randomhouse #hogarth #netgalley

The Midcoast was a good story and the author really knew the setting well. I hope the people on the Maine coast are not as lawless as the people he described. Ed Thatch wanted to give his wife everything she wanted so he did whatever he could to get things for her - land, jewelry, money, power. And she took what he gave her and used it to conserve/update her community. Ed wanted to get his daughter into a good college on a lacrosse scholarship and he used money to do that as well. But it all went badly for him and his family.
While the book purported to be written by a teacher/writer, the point of view skipped around all over the place, giving details he could never have known. The chronology flipped back and forth in time and it wasn't always clear what time period was being described. I really wanted to like the book but I couldn't warm to any of the characters; they didn't seem real enough. More time could have been spent in developing the characters and less time in describing the setting.
Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book. These are my opinions and I was not compensated for writing this review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. The Midcoast is Adam White's debut novel and it is superb. Based on the description of the storyline, I knew I would like it and it exceeded my expectations. Set in the midcoast of Maine, Andrew tells the story of Ed, a man he knew as a teenager, and Ed's wife, Steph. Andrew is a teacher who moves back to the midcoast with his wife and children. Ed and Steph both grew up with very little means or education. Steph gets pregnant by Ed when she is 17. Ed and Steph's circumstances are vastly changed when Andrew returns with his family. Andrew is a teacher and aspiring author and has an explosive story to tell about what Ed has done in the years while he was gone. Ed wants to give Steph the life he believes she deserves and presents himself to the world as a lobsterman but his wealth is coming from theft of valuables from the homes along his lobster trap route. Mr. White's writing is very intriguing and builds up a terrific tale of a man who only wants the best for his wife and children and ends up destroying them in the end.

I live in midcoast Maine, love lacrosse, have an interest in colleges, and love my teaching job. So, this was a novel that piqued my interest from the beginning. The story was well written and gave a background of the town of Damariscotta and the area. I also love a mystery, and this had enough leads to keep the reader engaged.
The book was engaging. I would recommend it.

In The Midcoast, Adam White tells the story of the Thatch family and Andrew, a newly-returned-to-town teacher/lacrosse coach/writer. The novel is part family saga, part mystery. The family saga pieces centers on the Thatch family, the local poor family that makes good. The mystery piece focuses on Andrew, whose recent return to Damariscotta peaks his interest in the Thatch family and its rise in town. Nothing happens in town without Ed or Steph Thatch's involvement.

Ed and Steph Thatch marry young. Ed is a lobsterman whose family owns the Lobster Pound, the local lobster distributor, and all Ed wants to do is make Steph happy, whatever it takes. When Andrew and his family attend a reception for the Amhearst girls lacrosse team (where the Thatch daughter plays) at the Thatch compound, Andrew sees photos he can't unsee and his interest in the family's financial and influential rise causes him to investigate further. Andrews starts to research for a book about the Thatch family and it is through his research that the story unfolds.

I enjoyed this read. It keeps the reader interested, since the story hops back-and-forth between Andrew's research, present events and the past events that led up to them. Some of the incidents were a bit predictable, but overall the story kept me guessing. The ending felt unfinished, though I think that was the point. White does a thorough job of bouncing through the different eras and different perspectives. I'll be waiting to see what he does next.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #RandomHouse for an ARC of #TheMidcoast.