The Block Party drew me in from the very beginning. This reminded me of Desperate Housewives which I would never miss an episode when it was on! Everyone on Alton Road gets together for a big neighborhood party once a year. Throw in a killing and it’s a wild ride to the end. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, so much to unpack. So much happened in The Block Party! I was drawn in from the first page but as the story progressed it started to get slow in the middle. The Block Party picked right back up for the last half and drew me in! If you liked the HBO show Big Little Lies this is the book for you!

Multiple families. Loads of drama. One block party. A block party you sure are glad you weren't invited to..or maybe you wanted to be so you didn't miss the drama. The best part was the Facebook page messages strewn into the storyline. So funny!

Thank you NetGalleyy for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Jamie Day for letting me read this book early. Pub date is July 18, 2023.

Now, I cannot think of any block party I’d least like to be at. TBH
The murder, the scandals, the blackmail and betrayals….

It was told through multiple POV’s and times but still easy to follow and understand which is a win. I finished in 2 days and honestly considered calling out of work to finish.

Solid addition to any collection. Characters and plot twists keep the reader guessing. Quick and easy read.

The Block Party by Jamie Day draws you into the lives of EVERYONE on Alton Road.. Everyone comes together once a year for the traditional, exclusive block party, on Memorial Day Weekend.. What goes with a neighborhood block party? Neighborhood SECRETS.. Everyone has a secret, from the teenagers who have grown up together, the men who meet for poker night each month, to the group of ladies who organize everything.. Every block party has some drama, but this year, drama is bubbling over and someone is dead… Exactly what kind of secrets has everyone been hiding? Who died? Was it murder? An accident? Suicide?

4.5 stars

“You’ll die if you miss it”

Oh my, this is going to be good. But first, what about this cover? It screams summer days in the backyard and is just so bright and fresh.

Okay, moving on. The timeline of this story was interesting. We have a look at a party gone so wrong in the tony neighborhood of Meadowbrook. A year ago. Now we get to see what happens in a year. The best of the best live here. And their picture-perfect lives are anything but perfect behind the front door! Affairs, drugs, rape, domestic violence, you name it and it is here.

After we hear sirens, not only does the FB page light up with gossip about who did what to whom in Meadowbrook. But the truth is going to be so much worse for all of them. As the town continues to speculate on social media, it is only going to get worse. For the first time in over 40 years, there has been a murder.

Everyone who lives on Alton Road is in trouble. They just don’t know it yet. But someone is stalking and someone may have already killed someone and all of them are keeping deadly secrets.

But one of them will die. And all of them will be forever changed.

So many red herrings in this thriller. And I bought into every one of them. So not much detecting here. I enjoy the style of writing and we all enjoy a good block party gone wrong!

NetGalley/ July 18th, 2023 by St. Martin’s Press

Gunshots? Police? The annual Memorial Day block party on the affluent Alton Street cul-de-sac is unfolding as an event that will be long remembered. The closets in the Alton Street homes are chock full of secrets, lies, scandals, deceit, and dysfunction!

The reader learns that there has been a shooting at the annual party during the first chapter, and then the story focuses on the previous year leading up to the party. The author takes us into the lives of 5 families who live on the street. Well-developed and believable characters play out relationship and family dramas that include lies, cheating, revenge, stalking and heavy drinking. Every one of the characters have motive to have been the shooter! Twists and turns abound and beg the question, "How well do we know our neighbors?"

This book would make a great binge-worthy TV mini-series! Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the Advance Reader's Copy in exchange for my honest review.

Where to begin? I loved this! Seriously. I had no clue what would happen. The catty postings by the neighbors at the end of the chapters added intrigue and humor. I'm not sure if I would want to live in the same neighborhood as my sister or any relative for that matter, but these neighbors seemed to get along. The new arrivals were a bit of a mystery. They don't really mesh with the camaraderie of the rest of the gang, but the reason for the aloofness is made clear. The author did a great job keeping the story moving and keeping the story fresh.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

For an ARC I picked up on a whim, I was pleasantly impressed with the entirety of this book!

The Block Party was suspenseful and twisty with a healthy dose of suburban gossip and a constant sense of whodunnit as you spent the majority of the book wondering who was going to die and who was going to kill them!

For the most part, I found myself liking the characters I was supposed to like and disliking the characters I was supposed to dislike, with one notable exception, who ended up being my least favorite character. I gather they were intended to be the morally grey character, but the epilogue had them get neatly wrapped up with getting their life together, and I felt like that seemed sudden, as if the author really wanted to leave you with an all around positive outlook on them so you wouldn’t feel weird about them being a love interest for one of the main POVs.

I liked Alex as an unreliable narrator. You really felt her struggle slipping into alcoholism and having that cloud her judgement, but you could really tell that she truly cared for her neighbors and didn’t fall cleanly into the bitchy suburban mom category. All of the characters in the book had nuance and grey areas, and I really appreciated that they weren’t all just stereotypes.

I felt like Lettie’s endless crusade for the climate crisis was noble but also felt shoehorned in and didn’t really add much to the story other than setting up Lettie’s troubled situation, and the author attempting to write as a teenager was a little forced. Some of the verbiage that Lettie used in her internal monologue reminded me more of the quippy way adults make fun of teenagers, such as using up her allotted number of spoken words for the day and other moments like that. It definitely came across that the author really wanted us to know that Lettie was an angsty loner teenager, but the author could have done better with the “show, don’t tell” aspect of building Lettie’s character.

I do feel like there may have been a handful of plot holes and I definitely noticed a couple of typos (notably the usage of Brooke vs Brook).

On the whole, I loved a lot of things about this book, and I think it is a valiant effort in the suburban thriller genre!

The Block Party tells the story of the lives of a group of colorful characters who all live on the same street.

This book was less than stellar. All of the characters were over the top and cartoonish. The *mystery* was hard to follow because the reader isn't given enough facts to piece things together. It seemed like there was a big info dump at the end, which was very convenient in wrapping up the plot. I wasn't invested in the story.

I was given this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

The annual Memorial Day neighborhood block party is where it all begins. We get to know both new and old neighbors and the secrets they hide. The story alternates between the point of view of Alex, the wine drinking attorney and her teenaged daughter, Lettie. Dysfunctional families line the street and ultimately tragedy occurs. I didn't love the violence at the end, but I suppose it was a fitting way for The Block Party to end.

Thank you, NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review The Block Party.

This book was full of drama and angst, secrets and lies, and so much cover-up! It was a fascinating tale that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the story. I couldn't put it down. So many twists and turns and such an unexpected ending! I got all stressed out along with the characters and yelled at them when they did something foolish. I definitely recommend The Block Party. You'll never look at your neighbors the same way again!

Everyone wants to live on Alton Road - a quiet cul-de-sac neighborhood with an annual Memorial Day block party....or do they? On this famous block party day, a murder occurs. Who did it? Why did they do it?

This was a fun, quick read. I kept trying to figure it out as we went, but couldn't quite get there. I love that the teenage daughter gets her own chapters in her narrative; it added something a little special to the clarity of events that were happening.

The Block Party would be a great book club summer read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book by Jamie Day. I enjoyed this book; it read like watching a soap opera unfold. There are several main characters, and it is told in alternating voices and time periods. It centers around a group of neighbors and events that happen at an annual Block Party and some history as to the characters.

Wow! This one is wild! It’s so well written and thought out. There is a lot going on, but it all fits together and thankfully all mysteries are resolved. The setting is great and the multi voice narrative really helps see two different points of view.

Loved this one! Reminded me of Big Little Lies mixed with Desperate Housewives! It kept me guessing to the very end.

What a dysfunctional neighborhood in all the devious ways that make for a good thriller!! Twists and turns that I didn’t see coming make this one a sure summer blockbuster. Bravo, Jamie Day! I loved it!

Immensely enjoyed The Block Party. There were multiple twists and turns which kept me guessing- you don’t find out the identity of the victim until almost the end of the book.

My only qualm with the book were the way the #MeToo movement and climate activism (and activism in general) were mentioned. The way they were introduced felt a little forced.

Genre: Domestic Suspense
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pub. Date: July 18, 2023

In "The Block Party," the dysfunctional residents of a posh neighborhood take center stage. When a murder occurs at their annual party, we rewind with flashbacks to the previous year and discover the secrets each neighbor is harboring that could make them suspects. What we get is a community thriller that is a “Big Little Lies” wannabe. Just as in Liane Moriarty’s novel, the reader gets a heavy dose of lies, infidelity, violence, and a murder mystery. This tale is not as well written as Moriarty’s. However, this may be because the narrative is often in a teenager’s voice, which reads too juvenile for me, probably because I don’t usually care for YA. Still, I found the ending clever, which is when the author finally won over. Though not for me, this sort of escapism novel is a good beach read.

Sadly, this one wasn’t for me. I felt zero connection with anyone in this book. This writing style was irksome and the dialogue was stiff & underwhelming.
Thanks to Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.