While driving aimlessly on a dark night, Patrick Noone hits a dog. When he steps out of his car to help the injured animal, he sees a man standing in the shadows. This begins Locust Lane, a deftly plotted, fast moving and deeply disturbing novel of murder in the suburbs. Three local teenagers party with Eden Perry, who is discovered dead the next morning. Jack is the son of a well connected lawyer and his socialite wife. Hannah is the daughter of a tech inventor and stepdaughter to his second wife. Christopher’s father if the owner/chef of a local hotspot restaurant. He is also an immigrant from Lebanon. The lives all these characters weave together during the search for Eden’s murderer. Justice is complicated in the suburbs.

Locust Lane is family drama at its best! The characters are so well described that you feel you know them and understand what is behind their actions. Stephen Amidon is a author and screenwriter and his talent shines in this very visual read. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Celadon Books and Stephen Amidon for this ARC.

I really enjoyed this domestic suspense novel. It kept me guessing the entire time. I would have liked a little more closure and resolution at the end but other than that it was a great book. It would be a good choice for a book club. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

A small street is disturbed when a young resident, Eden Perry, turns up dead. The investigation reveals three of the street's younger residents were partying with her that night however finding out who was responsible is anything but cut and dry.

The following review contains spoilers.

Even though the murder investigation’s focus is one the three teens, the story is actually told from the perspective of the adults in each teen’s life, including the mother of the deceased, the mother of Jack, a popular kid with some serious behavioural issues, the stepmother of Hannah, a woman having an affair with the father of the accused, Christopher. The story explores how status, race and gender are often intertwined with suspicion, guilt and resolution.

This book prominently features instances of sexual assault. The reader never experiences them in real time but the reader is exposed to a graphic account after the incident as well as how a family covers it up. I’m of the opinion that sexual assault storylines don’t belong in stories meant to entertain. Not when 1 in 4 women in North America experience sexual assault in their lifetime. This isn’t a cautionary tale. It’s not a story that explores the implications women deal with long after the fact or the struggle to be believed. Instead, it perpetuates common societal problems which allow for the trend to continue.

I want to see strong female characters in books. Well females make up most of the perspectives we hear from in this book, one is submissive, one is cheating on her husband and the other ends up sleeping with the only witness to the crime. They weren’t compelling nor were they complex. Their security came entirely as a result of sex with men.

It was kind of obvious what happened from the get go and I didn’t find any anticipation in terms of moving ahead in the plot, which unravels quite slowly until just prior to the end when everything comes together.

This was just not a book for me.

Thank you to Celadon Books for providing an advanced reader’s copy through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Locust Lane is a beautifully written novel about a horrific crime committed in a small town where everyone's business becomes - literally- front page news. Three teens are at the home of stunning, troubled 20-year-old Eden, and by the end of the night Eden is dead and we have two suspects. Was it Christopher, the son of local celebrity chef Michel, whose skin tone makes him immediately guilty in the court of public opinion? Or was it Jack, the aggressive and misogynistic teenager who has already encountered accusations in the past?

As families become deeply entangled in maintaining the innocence of their children, we see the extreme measures that people will take to protect those who they love - right or wrong.

This book has a lot of drama, but nothing that made me want to keep reading. I was so bored with the characters that I couldn't finish reading it.

Huge thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a pretty easy book to fall in to. Typical of a murder mystery/small-town secrets type of book. I felt pretty engaged through the entire thing! Ultimately the ending fell short for me. Without giving anything away it just didn't sit right for me. Little too much pretentious white-privilege for me.

I did think all the multiple POVs (there were at least 5) was a bit much for this type of book. Especially on audio! Little confusing at first but eventually I got the hang of it.

3.25/5

Locust Lane was a really thrilling and propulsive novel. I enjoyed the themes of what parents will do to protect their children. I liked the different points of view.

This was a very fast read with a lot of drama surrounding the murder of a young woman. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and because of that Im glad I had a digital version as well. That allowed me to properly keep track of the characters at the beginning and then I transitioned to the audio once I had a good handle on each person.

This was ultimately a very sad story and a little more dramatic than I tend to prefer. But, as I said, it was quick, and I’m grateful I had the opportunity to read and listen to this. It landed around 3.5⭐️.

The narration was good, especially considering just how many different voices needed to be transitioned through.

Thank you Netgalley and Celadon Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

A man driving aimlessly in the middle of the night hits a dog, stops to check on it, and sees something in the dark copse nearby. But it's late, he's been drinking, and his relationship with local police is troubled, so he returns home and reports nothing. The next day, the dead body of a teen-aged girl is discovered in a home right near the scene of his accident. Several other teens are known to have been in the house with her just before her death. Were they witnesses, or even perpetrators in the killing? Was her death accidental or intentional? In this wealthy suburb, as conflicting theories and rumors fly, the teens' parents are quick to push back to protect their children.

Amidon has crafted a propulsive and very engaging story about the lengths to which parents will go to protect their children, and the influence of wealth, power, and public opinion on the pursuit of justice. Character development was clearly secondary to plot, and the ending felt just a bit rushed, but overall, this was a very satisfying mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audio-arc and e-arc!

I knew I wanted to pick this one up as soon as I read the synopsis. “On the surface, Emerson, Massachusetts, is just like any other affluent New England suburb. But when a young woman is found dead in the nicest part of town, the powerful neighbors close ranks to keep their families safe. In this searing novel, Eden Perry’s death kicks off an investigation into the three teenagers who were partying with her that night, each a suspect. Their parents, each with motivations of their own, only complicate the picture: they will do anything to protect their children, even at the others’ expense.”

And then I read the prologue, and I was hooked! It was an intense opening scene. I was very drawn into this one at the start. The book is told from multiple POVs, and it’s the parents POVs. They are trying to figure out what happened and what their kids knew. They uncover family secrets and find out a lot about their kids lives.
However, part way through I find I started to lose interest. I felt like there was a point where I was just hoping for new information and something to add more suspense to the story. In the end it started to get more interesting again. I don’t want to spoil anything by saying too much but overall, it was a great story! Check this one out when it is released on January 17, 2023!!

The murder of a teen girl in a wealthy, MA superb has its residents fearful and questioning their safety. This was a character-driven study of the lives of the parents involved. The plot plodded along at times but the author did an excellent job of creating a unique interpretation of a psychological suspense. The ending worked really well and I applaud the author for his originality.

This wasn't my favorite, but I am a picky reader. I think other readers will enjoy it, and this is an obvious addition to the collection.

It was sort of an un-thrilling thriller. I had a difficult time remembering who was who because there were too many character point of views. The choice to switch POVs to finish stories was odd? The book was already moving a bit slow for my taste

This is a story about pretty houses that hide terrible people.

Let me start by saying that this book is very well written & the many characters are fleshed out. The author is obvious really talented, and I’ll totally check out future works.

… and I hated this book. It was wildly depressing & I’m really not sure what the moral of the story was, other than power and privilege trump truth. I’m aware that it’s reflective of reality, but I’m disinterested in that angle in my fiction- I want fictional worlds to be better.

Thank you so much @netgalley @celadonbooks & @macmillan.audio for the e & audio arcs! The audio was excellent.

I want to thank the published for both an E-arc and Audiobook ALC for this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a lot of the elements i loved in it twisty story and a small town with a lot of secrets. Although i felt the character kinda feel a little flat for me personally overall. Other than that this story was good a lot of elements you expect in affluent neighborhoods murder.

| About|

On the surface, Emerson, Massachusetts, is just like any other affluent New England suburb. But when a young woman is found dead in the nicest part of town, the powerful neighbors close ranks to keep their families safe. In this searing novel, Eden Perry’s death kicks off an investigation into the three teenagers who were partying with her that night, each a suspect. Hannah, a sweet girl with an unstable history. Jack, the popular kid with a mean streak. Christopher, an outsider desperate to fit in. Their parents, each with motivations of their own, only complicate the picture: they will do anything to protect their children, even at the others’ expense.


| Thoughts |

The amount of backstory they were able to provide the massive amount of characters was so much that I could see them as real people. Scary good! The plot, the mystery and the way it all is all set up was very intriguing. I didn’t want to put it down. I really was invested and had to figure out what was happening. It had me going in so many different directions with my thoughts. I for sure thought I knew pretty early on what was going on and who was to blame. The twists whew! So good! It really grabs you from the very beginning.

I have a difficult time with stories that paint the police as corrupt. I know minorities are often locked up unfairly, while white criminals go free, but this seemed a stretch too far. An ambiguous ending left this reader feeling cheated.

Good premise and skillful writing, but the ending was disappointing.

LOCAST LANE by Stephen Amidon had my nerves screaming from the first sentence. Patrick was driving and hit a dog. Yes, he swerved, just clipping the backside of the dog. When he got out to check on the dog, he thought he saw a figure in the woods. But he couldn’t be sure since he’d been drinking. The tone is set for a tense story, the reader is roped in, and the rest of the time is spent trailing bread crumbs.

Over the course of eight days, a mystery involving a shocking murder of a teen-ager, Eden, unfolds. The three young suspects all from good families, and the reader watches well-meaning parents who try to solve the mystery and still protect their own young. An interesting part to me involved the backlash caused by the influence of social media. This story is organized and well-written with unsuspecting turns and twists. It’s a completely believable story, one that could happen in any of our neighborhoods. The author has penned an action-packed tale that never slows down. And you’ll never guess who did it!

Absolutely loved this story. Read in 24 hours and couldn’t put down. I’ve raved about this on my page. Highly recommend.

Locust Lane by Stephen Amidon sounded so good, but unfortunately it was a huge miss for me.
I found the last 20 percent or so to be quite interesting but, I wish we had heard from Hannah, Jack and Christopher instead of or in addition to their parents.
When the truth came out, I was shocked.

While this one wasn’t for me, if you like slow burn thrillers with lots of family drama, I’d recommend this for you!

Thank you to Celadon for sending me an advanced digital copy via NetGalley in exchange for review!