The Block Party was an enjoyable twisty domestic thriller in the vein of Big Little Lies. Every Memorial Day the residents of the fancy neighborhood of Alton Road throw an epic block party. This year's party is different though, because someone winds up dead.

The book opens with that party, focusing on Alex who is hosting the event. She seems to be drinking a lot. And her husband is not happy about it. After an embarrassing event with a kiddie pool, she goes to lie down. She waked up hours later to the sounds of police sirens on her street.

The book shifts to one year before, at the same block party. We are introduced to various neighbors, and Alex's realtor sister who brings potential clients (she is selling the house next door to Alice) to the party. It's really a big house for just the two of them and their 20 year-old-son, but the wife is determined to move in. Alex's spidey senses activate as she observes her potential new neighbors, the husband seems to exhibit controlling behavior.

The book alternates between Alex's point of view and her daughter Lettie, who is grounded for the beginning of the summer. We come to find that this picture perfect neighborhood has lies, cheating, and overall bad blood simmering just below the surface.

If you like BLL and suburbia gone bad, The Block Party will hit the spot for a summer thriller. Thank you to St. Marten's Press and NetGalley for the ARC for my honest review.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book of fiction featuring a crime in suburbia, and the tensions that keeping up appearances has on a private community.

My small little neighborhood has become very social media conscious these last couple of years. Almost everyone is on Nextdoor, sharing tales of tag sales, people not doing their lawns, or dogs doing business. Or they have a Nest doorbell sharing pictures of delivery people doing their jobs, to comments, dogs again doing their business, to comments, and kids riding bikes, to even more comments. Our business is not our own anymore, and there is a very large business making money off of stuff that a person used to whisper over a fence to another neighbor. Now they comment online to the whole community. Instead of bringing people together, this makes us want to be apart. A dog's business on a lawn is a chance to freak out, a kid on a bike touching a driveway, worth an angry letter. And slowly this pressure builds, till on a otherwise happy day, something happens, and suddenly things go dark fast. Welcome to The Block Party by Jamie Day, a story about a neighborhood full of snooty people, and wanabees, and the sudden act of violence that changes everything.

Alton Road is THE cul-de-sac in the town of Meadowbrook, in an exclusive area of New England. The annual block is the biggest affair of the season, a chance for the neighbors to show how they are beating all the other Joneses with their success, travel plans, kitchen redos and more, while slowly hating themselves, their family, and in some cases barely hanging on. The odds are high that something will happen at the party, something always does, a drunken spat between spouses, a kiss in a bouncy house, a near drowning from a stoned child, or even more embarrassing. However this block party is the scene for the first murder in forty years. And it might not be the last.

Talking too much about the book will give a lot away, and there are a lot of twists and turns in this book, and some surprising revelations, a final twist that is almost on the last page. Yes there is a certain amount of disbelief that has to be suspended, and frankly none of these people are worth living next to. The story is a slightly familiar one, being rich is burden and what it does to people, but Day does have a gift with characters and even when they are annoying one still wants to see where they are going, and what might be next. A very clever story, with a good use of satire to make the story come to life.

Recommended for fans who like twists, turns and annoying characters sometimes getting their due. This is a perfect book for the beach, because one will think wow pleasant it is not to look out the window and see the neighbors who seem so similar to characters in the book. Just stay off your doorbell apps.

I am not usually a fan of books that go back and forth between characters to tell the story, but it totally works and is necessary for this one. Who doesn't like a little neighborhood drama? This book has it all. It will keep you on your toes until the very end. I don't want to give away any spoilers. Each character is well developed through out and everything will come out in the end. It definitely does not disappoint.

The Block Party is so much more than just an annual block party and the murder that happens. The neighbors who attend this annual party are filled with secrets and drama. This book is addicting from the opening chapter.

The book opens at the present day block party, and we know someone has been murdered. We get introduced to the neighbors. We then go back a year and start to learn more about the residents of this neighborhood through a mom’s and teenage daughter’s perspective. I love this book because there is so much more going on than the murder. I got lost in all the neighbor’s drama that I would forget sometimes someone had even been murdered since I got wrapped up in everyone’s storylines.

The Block Party has plenty of surprises and ultimately I did not come close to having the ending figured out. The pacing was great and never felt rushed, especially the ending like some books can do. The conclusion was ultimately satisfying and surprising.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Jamie Day, and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advanced reader’s copy. This is a great debut novel!

Thank you for the opportunity to review.

I was hopeful that I would love this book as much as I did other neighborhood murder mysteries, but this one fell a little short. I had trouble connecting or caring about any of the characters. It was slow going, but a few nice twists.

What a crazy ride with a lot of dysfunctional families in one culdesac. It was hard to keep the families apart at first and everyone had an issue, even the teenagers. Definitely a crazy ride with several twists that had me intrigued. Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the ARC

“Neighborhood drama” – I’m a sucker for these when they are well done. And Jamie Day’s The Block Party is REALLY well done! It is a fast read, there are memorable characters, and the plotting is terrific.

The story begins at last year’s block party and then the multiple residents/families who live on the block are introduced. There are multiple conflicts, relationships, and the murder mystery at the center of the story. As usual, I didn’t guess the ending, but I had a great time trying to figure it all out.

I live on a cul-de-sac which has had a neighborhood block party on July 4th since the early to mid-1980s, and while our neighborhood isn’t quite as full of drama as this one, I still could relate to some of the drama. Four stars, and thanks to St. Martin’s and NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for this honest review.

4 summer party stars

Who doesn’t love a great Memorial Day block party? Alton Road in Meadowbrook, Massachusetts has an exclusive blockbuster party every year. Food, drinks, music, lots of kids – the works! Alex is planning it again this year even though hosting is supposed to rotate. We find out pretty early that this is someone’s last block party as a murder takes place.

The book then goes back a year in time as we get to know the residents of Alton Road. There’s Alex and Nick, she’s drinking a lot and thinking she is hiding it from everyone. We also get the perspective from her teenage daughter Lettie, and she was a refreshingly real character! Lettie is passionate about the environment and figuring out future college plans.

Alex’s sister Emily lives on Alton Road with her family; Brooke is the gorgeous widow, Willow and Evan are another couple, and there’s a new family too, the Kumars. This might be a first – there is a memorable pest control salesman too, “Bugman.”

As the book goes on, I wondered just who died at the block party and who is the murderer. The pacing was quite good and had some great female characters! There is a surprising amount of drama and secrets in the neighborhood, but this book certainly kept me engaged and reading! There’s a great conclusion in this one that wraps up the plot.

This debut novel will make for a great summer read!

This book was fine. It had a similar vibe to Big Little Lies, but not as good. The book seemed to move a little slow and have some tension, but not enough. There were parts when I was really engaged and others were… meh.

The book is a dual timeline story that comes back to the present. It takes place in a posh neighborhood with the present timeline being the Memorial Day block party.

There are quite a few characters – they’re not too hard to keep straight though (probably due to partially being in a teenagers point of view). Bugman made me so mad!

I thought the little excerpts from the broader neighborhood app were fun.

Dislikes:
There was no need to have the child drowning storyline..

I enjoyed this book. It took a bit for me to get super invested in it. Once I was though it was great. A shocking twist of an ending and some nice emotion.

Oh what a difference a year makes!

It’s the night of the annual BLOCK PARTY on Alton road, with fifteen families attending (despite three no-shows), and thirty something kids. As always, Classic rock blared from the speakers, yard games were being played, meat sizzled on the grill and red SOLO cups were everywhere.

But, for the first time in 40 years, there will be a MURDER in Meadowbrook-and the Community page will light up with speculation about why the sirens are racing toward the start of Summer party.

WHO didn’t survive?

And, WHO is to blame?

The book opens on Memorial Day, Present Day, from the third person POV of the party’s organizer, Alex Fox and then shifts to Memorial Day, One Year Prior.

Over the next four seasons, we will get to know the residents of Alton Road-and their SECRETS-many from the alternating, first person POV, of Alex’s 17 year old daughter, Lettie.

Often I struggle with a YA POV, but this time, these were my favorite chapters! Lettie is the kind of girl you would be proud to call your own-wise beyond her years, caring and sharing my “tongue in cheek” humor. Her father, Nick and their dog, Zoe, round out their family.

The other residents on the block are :

Alex’s sister, Emily Adair, her husband, Ken, and their son Dylan.
Willow Thompson, her soon to be ex husband, Evan and their daughter, Riley.
New neighbors Samir and Mandy Kumar, and their son, Jay.
And, the beautiful Widow, Brooke Bailey, who may or may not have pushed her husband overboard while on a cruise.

Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t include Gus Fisher, known as the “bug man”-and it’s not a term of endearment!

Despite the large cast, THIS TIME, character development is strong, and it’s easy to keep track of “Who’s Who” on Alton Road. These feel like characters who might be your friends and a part of your life.

We are kept GUESSING about who WILL NOT be at next year’s BLOCK PARTY until the last 20%, and in those final pages, all secrets are revealed and all questions are answered with a SURPRISING and SATISFYING conclusion.

The story comes full circle, returning to MEMORIAL DAY, PRESENT DAY, with an epilogue of sorts which is MEMORIAL DAY, one year later.

I love “neighborhood stories”, and the only reason that this DEBUT gets 4 stars instead of 5, is that at 384 pages it started to feel just a tad long for domestic suspense. But, if you enjoy these stories as well-I have no qualms about recommending this one!

AVAILABLE just in time for a hot Summer Day read-July 18, 2023.

Thank You to St. Martin’s Press for the gifted copy provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

Thanks for an early copy of The Block party.

This is your typical neighborhood drama but boy is there a lot going on. Everyone on Alton street looks forward to the annual Memorial Day Block Party but this time there’s murder.

So the story starts out with the incident and good backwards to lead us to what’s going on now.

Povs of Alex and her daughter Lettie. I’m not sure Lettie’s pov was necessary for me, but I liked her character the best. All these people are not good people and of course I loved to hate them all.

Most of this was fairly easy to figure out for me but that didn’t take away the fun for me either.

I enjoyed this one and if you like domestic suspense reads, you will most likely enjoy it too. It’s a fast read and groundbreaking in any way, but I didn’t enjoy it overall and would def read this author again! 3.5 ⭐️

Block parties are supposed to be fun.
This was is filled with alcohol, food, games, and revenge for desert.
The characters and storyline had me hooked from the first page.
Great twist and a great read.

Wow! That was some intense neighborhood drama! The story opens at the annual Alton Road Block Party, told from Alex's wine-soaked POV. Things start to go badly, but before we can see what happened it jumps back in time to the previous year's party so we can follow all the Alton Road drama leading up to the tragic present day events. Alex's daughter Lettie has her own chapters to show us the teenage side of the story. Both main characters are somewhat annoying and they make some pretty terrible choices. Lettie lectures everyone about her various causes in a condescending way and Alex sticks her nose in everyone's business and gossips about them. I was definitely entertained by this mystery though, and surprised by the ending. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and I think adding a map of Alton Road with their names on their houses to the finished copy would be great.

The Block Party exceeded my expectations. I love a good mystery but lately the ones I’ve read can feel formulaic. This did not: I was invested in the storyline as well as the characters. I will admit in the beginning I had a bit of hard time keeping all the characters straight but as the story developed I was all in!

✨ 3.5 rounded to 4 ✨

We’re all just one secret away from feeling like an outsider.

🍾🪁☀️🩴🕶️ 💀

Alton Road holds an annual summer block party which is usually quite fun and light, however the upcoming year is sure to be one for the books with all the neighborhood drama what with stalkers, new mysterious neighbors, and secrets and lies. Someone will be dead by the end of the night - who will it be? 🫣

This novel had great character and plot development, with a multitude of secrets woven through the neighborhood which kept me guessing what the outcome was going to be. I felt that with all of the evolution and expansion of the story line there would be a large investment in the actual block party itself but that only encapsulated a small portion of the end of the book. The end was quite unexpected regarding the actual events that took place at the party and how plot lines came together.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced review copy!

I really enjoyed reading this book. It had a mixture of things going on which lead to an interesting and intriguing read. Enough mystery to keep you guessing and a surprise at the end. It was an easy to read book. I will read more from this author.

3.5 stars from me, but rounding up to 4

"My mom is fond of saying that if everyone threw their problems up in the air, people would race to catch their own."

There's been a murder on Alton Road. Who's the victim? Who's the killer? It could've been anyone. They all have a motive to kill one of their neighbors. Plus, they've all said they wanted to at one point or another. Told from the view points of Alex Fox and her daughter Lettie, follow a year in the life of the Altonites, and see if you can put all the pieces together yourself.

I'd say this book is most similar to Big Little Lies, style wise. Loved the Meadowbrook Community Page spread throughout the book adding speculation. Jamie Day did a wonderful job of keeping me guessing throughout this book! It's dramatic, it's enticing, It's scandalous.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the Advance Reader's Copy of this book.

The Block Party was a riveting domestic thriller. It was so interesting to see the secrets blooming between this family and their neighbors and the way that affects their interactions.

Enticing read! It goes a bit against the classic elements in a murder thriller by playing it out more a classic “who done it” and also who was the victim. I loved the setting on a quiet street where everyone has a secret. I also found the character Letty, hilarious. She’s a teenager and the author does a great job a poking fun at the lack of self-awareness and sense of false importance at the age. A lighthearted murder tale if such a thing exists!