4.5⭐️
Family first!
Within Emerson Massachusetts, is an upscale neighborhood where parents constantly striving to “keep up with the Jones’” Kids studying hard to get into the best colleges. Just another day in paradise.

But that’s only a well-crafted façade. Now we’re about to be exposed to a big dose of reality.

I absolutely love neighborhood thrillers, don’t you? This one delivered everything and more of what I hope for when I pick one up! As the storyline unfolded I became more and more enthralled. And couldn't wait to make my way back to the audio whenever I had to step away.

When a young woman is found dead the police have questions for the group of teens who were last seen with her. The parents close ranks and will do whatever it takes to protect their own.

Who could have killed the young woman? Who has the most to lose? What family secrets are about to be exposed?

I had both the physical and audio versions of this book. Cassandra Campbell did an outstanding job with the narration.

A buddy read with Susanne that we both really enjoyed!

Thank you to Celadon Books and Macmillan Audio

I’ll be honest, this book has been sitting on my shelf for a while now. I received the ARC from Celadon books and hadn’t had the chance to get to it yet. BOY DO I REGRET IT!

From the prologue to the epilogue there are jaw dropping moments. There was tension and suspense throughout the story. It touched on a little of everything, social status, affairs, racism, murder, romance, and of course, family drama. If you like ANY of those subjects in a book, I’d recommend this one.

Truly surprised by how much I loved this story. A bit repetitive in some areas. I part listened to the audio provided by Macmillan audio and felt like I had accidentally backtracked at times. I was glad to have the physical copy of the book to switch back to.

Definitely a must read though!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for Celadon books for the ARC

i couldnt stop once i started i never have done a audio book. i love to read but i find it easier to listen while im at work and this one had me from the first. I love the way the story was told and how it was always clear who was speaking what. i especially love the fact that it was not a really detailed drawn out story like trying to describe the forest or night in 40 words it was what it was night and a forest. i was hooked and intrigued by all the reallistic senerios. this was a book that you could mentally see played out in your mind as your listening to it being read. not sure if it was because it was a audio book that it ended the way it did or if thats how the ending ended with danielle not reading the note left by alice but it left me wanting to find the 2nd book to this story to find out what the outcome if any took place once she read the note. very well put together and love how it expresses real life, you can almost phantom the idea that this is a true story played out in everyday life around the world.

-At first the amount of characters in this novel was intimidating but Stephen Amidon does a phenomenal job with background and details to make each character unique.
- Multiple POVs which I loved for this book.
-A whodunnit novel that will keep you guessing.
-So many family secrets in this novel what just helps build the novel. I could not put this one down!

I highly recommend this novel to all. A great thriller that will keep you guessing til the end!

The narrator, Cassandra Campbell, did a fantastic job. I did not want to stop listening!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Huge thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the eALC 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.

I thought the narrator did a really great job, however. Who would've thought you could have a specific type of voice for a privileged middle-aged housewife?! And she did a great job with various accents.

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.

The premise for this story was good, but the telling of it lacked direction. I got lost in the many different POVs presented with underdeveloped characters. The narrator did a decent job, but I spent a lot of time trying to figure out which character was which and where the plot was taking me.

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 Macmillan Audio for the alc in exchange for an honest review.

Locust Lane by Stephen Amidon

The story takes place in Emerson Massachusetts an affluent New England suburb. A young women is found dead and everyone in this wealthy community close ranks to protect their privilege. Three kids are in the center of it all they where with the young girl the night she died. The three families want to protect their children. Jack who has a mean streak. Hannah is sort of unstable but sweet and Christopher who wants to just fit in. Christopher is charged with the murder of the girl. He first denies everything with the girl he had real feelings for her. Then as the story unfolds we find out some not so flattering truths that Christopher finally confesses. Christopher is a typical fall guy type character he is foreign and he does everything to just belong.

I really liked how much Christopher father does to try to protect his son and try to get him out of the mess he is in. Low and behold Christopher is having an affair. Everything is messy in this town and everyone wants to basically keep their secrets to protect their family. In the end everything in Locust Lane is not what you expect.

Their is so much happening with the families I felt mostly for Christopher he got himself with the wrong group of people and falls for a trap because he had a crush on Eden the dead girl. The twists in the end surprised me a bit I was not expecting the person who ended up killing young Eden.

If you like complex messy stories involved in affluent neighborhood with a mystery then this book will be for you. If you where a fan of Little Fires Everywhere then you should like this one too. the book was narrated by Cassandra Campbell she did a great job giving everyone their own voice. This is a four star read for me.

I really liked this one. I like the different POVs and having separate secrets among the cast of characters. Kept me gripped the whole time, I only am giving it four stars because the ending wasn't as great as I had hoped. But to be fair, the epilogue was great. Would definitely recommend for domestic mystery/thriller. I listened to the audiobook version and the narration was wonderful! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

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 and I had to concentrate to pay attention during the audio rendition. 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.

Thank you MacMillan audio for the chance to listen to Locust Lane (review copy via NetGalley). This is a complicated audiobook for me to review, I thought Cassandra Campbell's narration was excellent, especially with so many characters and plot points, and a slow (too slow) burn pace to narrate. So a four+ star narration experience but... this book did not work for me at all as a read.

This was a slow burn with limited pay off until the last 20% of the story when there was some resolution to the story. It is much more insular family drama than mystery/thriller and while I am usually all in for that, the book was too much internal reflection and repetition that really stood out on audiobook (perhaps as I am someone who listens for an hour or more at a time when listening to a book).. The tone/creepiness of the opening scene fell away

The characters... At first I really enjoyed the story being from the adult perspective, esp the first opening scene that was creepy and appreciated some of the nuance. But I began to feel that the story, if a mystery/thriller, really needed the perspective of the teens. I also found it hard to keep track of all of the characters and their backstories and connections.

So despite strong narration this is an audiobook that did not work for me. Solid production and performance but limited by the plot and writing.

2.5 rounded to 3.

The premise sounded interesting and that cover is gorgeous.

I loved the audio narrator and how she tried to switch up her voice for the different characters. However, for this book I think having different narrators would’ve been a better fit since there are so many characters to keep up with, it would make it a bit easier to follow using different narrators.

Initially I had a hard time keeping the characters straight in my head but as the story progressed I was able to better figure out who was who. I would’ve liked more character development early on in this one since it was very character driven.

I thought about DNF on this one but I just didn’t want to give up on it because I saw so many great reviews and I hate giving up on ARCs.

When I got to the middle, especially the 2nd half of the middle the pacing sped up and I really started to enjoy the flow of the story.

The ending was a bit confusing to me, especially the epilogue. I read it twice and was still confused with the “mom?” part. So that was disappointing. I also hated the way things played out as far as who was the “bad guy” but I think that was sorta the point.

Long story short, keep me far away from Locust Lane and the people who act anything like the fictional characters who live there.

Thanks to Celadon for the opportunity to read this one and provide my honest review. The opinions on this review are my own.

I agree with other reviewers that this novel is more of a domestic thriller than a mystery.

Overall, the narration was great and it was really easy to distinguish between all of the characters.

The storyline had me hooked and I really didn't know where it was going to end up, but the overall ending left me wanting more. I don't know if it was supposed to be a critique of the way our justice system views immigrants vs wealthy white people, but I really wish we would have had a more complete ending.

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 was thrilled to get an advance audio copy of this book. I’m an avid reader and read several books a week. However this book was a bit confusing. It’s told in the POV of the parents instead the kids involved. Just following the book was extremely hard. I tried to listen to the book at least 5 times and it didn’t hold my attention. It’s rare that I start a book and do not finish it but unfortunately this is one added to the DNF list.

Thank you for the opportunity.

This was a mystery that I enjoyed but the ending wasn't quite what I expected!
A bit of a plot twist, which is fun.
The characters were well developed, and I definitely felt their pain and felt for them, they had been going through a lot. The build up to the end was good and then it just kind of finished. A little abrupt in my opinion, but I definitely enjoyed the book.

Was I at the right "Locust Lane"???

(What happened to my beloved GPS?)

Did I just listen to the same book that all of my trusted GR friends were raving about?

Yes, I was elated when I was approved by Netgalley to review this debut author’s release.

Not only did "Locust Lane" receive many laudatory reviews but it was narrated by Cassandra Campbell, one of my go-to narrators.

The book would have been a much better reading experience with multiple narrators.

Even though the book was told from 4 POVs, it was really told from 8 POVs, since all of the parents were speaking on behalf of their children.

With one narrator giving voice to 8 POVs, it translated into one hot mess.

Cassandra Campbell's voice tended to drone since she neglected to use different intonations to reflect different characters.

IMHO, Cassandra Campbell is a gifted narrator who does best with books told from one female's POV.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

2 stars rounded up.

Locust Lane by: Stephen Amidon is a definite slow burn psychological thriller. The story is told from multiple perspectives intertwining a couple of story lines. As I was reading this I was very confident it was going to be a four or four and a half star read for me, only losing points because it does not give the perspective of any of the people I would deem the most important in the storyline. My rating had to drop to a three due to an ending that was for me incredibly disappointing. One of my favorite narrators read the book as I was given an audio copy to provide an honest review which made this an extremely fast listen. I do not regret reading this book, however I did walk away feeling frustrated. Maybe that was the authors desired effect?