Sorry, this one just wasn't for me. Thanks for letting me try it!

As I read the first chapter of this book, I didn't really know at first what to expect. The title didn't give any hints as to what went down in the story, and the characters seemed so realistic, it was like every day situations took on a new meaning as each one headed into unknown adventures while moving through their daily lives. Then the story developed and things became more complicated as hatred, cruelty, sadness, envy, along with jealousy began to take action. Will the warning signs be ignored? Will action be taken to avoid harm, or will it come too late? A well thought-out plot! A good way to arouse curiosity; especially when it comes to teenagers in these days and times. THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE ON EARTH by Lindsey Lee Johnson was fascinatingly different. Her skills as a writer will show through as this tale leads the reader, along with a group of students down a path of intrigue. A must read! Especially if you have teenagers.

How to even begin to gather my thoughts on this book...

I kept thinking, I wish this book with its adult themes and real problems (suicide, bullying, social media, cliques, drinking/driving, cheating, student/teacher relations, etc.) could be required reading. The problem is, what age is it appropriate to say that for? Freshman?

The title is so fitting, Johnson literally hit every point of why high school is so tough. Even the kids who seem to have it all still have real issues. Because if it's not grades, its parents. While the book is set in a town in CA near San Fran where the students are considered privileged, it hits home to many high school students. Heck, I went to high school in WI and many of these themes were a large part of our lives.

This book outlines the lives of several different students and center around a new teacher, Miss Nicholl. Miss Nicholl seems seduced by the students' lives, almost like she wants to be one of them. It's clear she didn't have the same high school experience they are having and wants to feel apart of it. She oversteps her boundaries many times, but I think back to my own teachers and often these were the teachers I liked best. The teachers I connected with and felt they actually cared about me. Double-edged sword I guess.

What makes this story so compelling is how realistic it could all be. Sure, it would be a bit intense where all these scenarios happen but in a larger high school, they could. Thinking about my own time, about 11 years ago, most of these things DID happen. Which is pretty nuts if you ask me. Social media and cell phones were kinda just beginning to be a thing, so I imagine how much worse it probably is now.

It was such a quick read due to the nature of the subjects, definitely worth a read! It will have me thinking about it for some time.

For fans of Megan Abbott. A dark look at today's HS students and their lives. I enjoyed this book, while also (occasionally) being shocked by what is (potentially) the life of today's teenager.

Meh.. Just didn't do anything for me. I didn't like how it branched off into differant stories

Random House and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Most Dangerous Place on Earth. This is my honest opinion of the book.

The Most Dangerous Place on Earth was, unfortunately, a big disappointment for me. The story never came together in a meaningful way, with a premise that promised more than the author delivered. Following a group of kids from a pivotal moment in eighth grade to their later years in high school, the book shows how the lives of these teens were forever changed. The characters, as there were too many individual stories that jumbled together in a big heap, were mostly flat and uninspired. Had the book been written from one person's perspective, perhaps the plot would have flowed better. The problem was that there was too much going on, yet not enough at the same time.

The oversharing on different media outlets is realistic and points to a real-time social problem, but the rest of the book is a simplified look at life in high school. The Most Dangerous Place on Earth just did not grab my attention and, therefore, I would be reluctant to recommend it to other readers.

God damn can Lindsey Lee Johnson ever write beautifully raw, and fully fleshed out characters. The Most Dangerous Place On Earth is an incredibly unsettling look at the high school lives of a group of teenagers. The author does a phenomenal job of getting in their heads, showing the rudderless movement of their thoughts, emotions and actions, and all the attendant horrible consequences. These are privileged teenagers, caught up in parental and social pressures. It's heartbreaking to watch them, because they're so quick to hurt each other, to be careless with each other. It's painful to watch them because they don't have a clue about their place in the world or the effects of their actions. These characters are all vain, entitled, and technology-obsessed, but these qualities never became their entire identity. It's the instances where their intelligence, passion, emotions, and determination to succeed really make them shine.

This is not a book for readers who prefer likeable characters or stories of redemption, as the novel is full of pain and heartbreak all the way to the end. What makes this book worthwhile is Johnson's prose, which is incredibly strong, and at times stunning -- there's an almost unbearable written account of a teenage party. And the instances of bullying and humiliation are brutally relentless.

The Most Dangerous Place on Earth is certainly not one of my favourite books, but I couldn't help being drawn into the journey that it took me on.

This book is extremely dark and depressing. As a parent and an educator, it's very difficult to read. It's well-written, just not my cup of tea.

What a great read. Interesting characters, developed plot points ... not just a book about/for kids.

Another well crafted literary work but one that left me cold & disinterested

Wow... the first of these interconnect stories blew me away.

I've spent a bit of time in the "trenches" of public ed, and when I come across a book about the junior high/high school experience entitled "The Most Dangerous Place on Earth," my little antennas perk right up.

I suppose you could say that some of the narrators/character choices for these stories are stereotypical--the hot girl, the smart girl, the drug dealer, etc., but what I'd admired was the way that these stereotypes were revealed as facades. Johnson got to the heart of what the characters loved and feared and wanted, which for me made them universally appealing, rather than mere cliches. (less)

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

This book is about teenagers, but is definitely an “adult” book: it shows the gritty, seedy underbelly of a world where everyone looks ok on the surface, but underneath, is a complex personality filled with conflict.

The book loosely follows a first-year teacher at Mill Valley High School, an upper-class SAN Francisco suburban high school where her core group of students seem to have it all: from the material to good looks, bright futures, etc. But each of them harbors an intense secret – all strung together by one tragedy in eighth grade. As Miss Nicholls tries to understand her students, she is pulled into a world where nothing is what it seems.

The book is set up so that Molly Nicholls, the teacher, narrates every other chapter, while one student tells theirs in the alternating chapters. It’s an interesting approach, but the timeline gets really confusing. There’s a couple of events which center the narrative, but it’s really all over the place.

Also, if you’re looking for happy endings, this book is not it. It’s very short in good feelings. But it did keep my attention until the end. I really wanted to know what happened to these kids, good or bad. The story was good, if a little (ok, a lot) depressing.

Perhaps if there had been some overarching positive ending to take away, I might have rated the book higher. But in the end, while I did want to know what happened, when I found out, I was really bummed. Like, there’s not a lot to grasp onto here.

I mean, I get that it’s a cautionary tale, but Jay-sus.

I would definitely read this author again, she very clearly has great storytelling skills. I just wish this book had been slightly different.

I feel like I'm being stingy with my 3 star rating, but good is not a bad thing. This novel was engaging and I really enjoyed Johnson's writing. It just didn't go anywhere exciting and nothing pulled on my heartstrings or shocked or even disgusted me. Rich kids are brats, social media bad, being lonely in school is a thing and so on. It might just be me but I don't feel like it all came together as dramatically as I would have liked. That's probably because everything was laid out there from the beginning so there were no twists or conflicts or any juicy bits. Even the affair with the teacher was pretty boring.
I'd say good not great.

For some the title of this book may seem misleading at first. Can a school set in an affluent California neighborhood be considered the most dangerous place on earth? When I think back to my foray through middle school and high school in a small Texas town, and put myself back into my thirteen year old mindset, I can completely agree with the title. The smallest decision or mistake can make or break you when you're in an environment where every move you make is being watched by your peers, parents, and teachers. This is the environment we find Lindsey Lee Johnson's characters in, but multiplied with privilege, part-time parents, and the unapologetic honesty of social media. Written with mesmerizing details and strong but flawed characters, this novel had me hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

Here’s another book that I’ve just been waiting and waiting for Pub Day for so that I can tell you about it! I got it on Net Galley months ago and read it in a day.

Now to be honest, I’m not sure I’d compare it to Celeste Ng’s novel (which I loved) and I guess it can be like PREP as it’s about wealthy kids in high school. I also wouldn’t say, as someone does, that it reads like Jane Austen. I, however, found it fascinating because you can watch the trajectory that this teacher is on in terms of her behavior and her actions and even her motivations and you just want to stop her because things are headed for a cataclysm.

If you’ve forgotten what high school was like (really? can anyone, ever?) or if you want to revisit it, especially through the eyes of a young and impressionable (though well-meaning but naive) teacher, pick up this book!

I didn't love this book. It seemed the author was trying to hit every number on a laundry list of high school traumas, including bullying, suicide, child molestation...you name it, it's here. Middle school and high school students would probably eat it up, but the foul language element would prohibit most teachers from putting it on recommended free reading lists.

There are some truly beautiful sentences and passages in this book -- I was constantly amazed when I'd remember this is her debut novel! Great book.

After reading some thought-provoking comments/reviews on what I'd found to be a powerful, highly entertaining debut novel, I began to notice that most of the comments were from readers who either have children, educate children, or both; many of them seemed to suggest that Ms. Johnson's story was a little overblown, exaggerated, and only relevant to the type of rich kid, private school society that is portrayed in the novel. Others were "shocked" and "unable to imagine that this is what goes on in high school these days!" I had to take a step back and think about my own experiences and how they contribute to my view, which is exactly the opposite.

Please indulge me this bit of contextual information: I grew up in a small town (population 7,400) with one high school, no private schools, and the only "rich" kids were the ones whose family had money passed down to them from previous generations...and there were two of them. Our parents were a little less "Tiger Mom" and little more community-oriented (most parents knew the other parents, they all attended community functions together, church, etc.); there wasn't as much pressure to "succeed" as students because the competition seemed a little less fierce back then (this was in the early '90s). Our parents thought that they knew what we were up to and, of course, they had no idea.

"Mill Valley sports ran on an unspoken rule: Don’t favor the kids who are talented, because this will make the untalented kids feel bad. Despite this bid for equality, this enthusiasm for mediocrity, the untalented kids always knew who they were. The whole thing was pointless, maddening."

None of the situations that are described in this novel shocked or surprised me; with the exception of social media, which had not yet been conceived during my high school years, all of these things were going on while I was in high school: the cool kids bullied the not-so-cool-kids (in some pretty horrific ways, as I remember it); most students drank to excess and many were enjoying their discovery of illicit drugs; kids were having sex - everywhere; teachers were having affairs with other teachers (married or not); and we were all trying to make sense of these things as best we could.

"In some ways, her students knew so much more than she did, possessed vast, secret stores of information, codes and connections, that she felt helpless to understand. What were they doing? she wondered. What lives were they living on those little screens?"

Sadly, many years have passed and, even though the novel is new, the stories are not; they are simply different. I don't have children and I'm not planning to have any in the future; my experience with teenagers is limited to the work I've done with youth groups, the teens I encounter in my work as a hospital chaplain and the stories I hear from friends. I am not qualified to fall back on time-honored clichés about "the way we're raising our children these days."

As I reflect on the stories from this novel, though, one thing really stands out: these kids, and the ones I grew up with, are all experiencing tragedy, grief and loss, very emotional events, with no knowledge of how to incorporate them into their lives. Parents certainly care about what their children are experiencing, but are unable to comprehend/acknowledge the magnitude of what's happening behind the scenes; their kids aren't sharing all of the story.

"What Cally felt then was more than guilt or sadness. It was like the pleasure-pain that Abigail had shown her, a connection that cut you and thrilled you, a sharp, exquisite opening."

While The Most Dangerous Place on Earth may not be a hit with parents and teachers (it's tough when the truth smacks you in the face and you're not prepared for the sting), Johnson eloquently describes the chaos of adolescence and illuminates the raw emotion that, left unchecked, can prove deadly. A remarkable debut novel that I will certainly recommend to many readers; even the ones with teenagers.

This is another one of those books that presumably exemplifies the adage: write what you know. As with most books that are usually debuts and start with this adage: this is about whether you can ever grow out of, or escape, the place in which you are raised and whether you should even want to leave. We enter Mill Valley, California and its high school filled with spoiled and wealthy teenagers. This one was told in an interesting manner - starting big where we get a flash of the characters to come and then devoting various chapters to different characters throughout universal events and moving forward between Junior and Senior year. It's a fast read and mostly I enjoyed it. It felt a bit heavy handed at times if only because it is definitively about #whitepeopleproblems. I am very familiar with Mill Valley and have been many times - this is likely an accurate depiction of current teenagers in this place but I'm not sure it is a place that should be romanticized or idealized, especially given so many other, diverse stories being written.

The Most Dangerous Place on Earth came out last week on January 10, 2017 and you can purchase HERE. I definitely recommend this one if you like a novel that feels a bit like a collection of short stories and/or those books we all know that challenge the place in which we grew up - this reminded me of a great debut from last year, Desert Boys, in both respects.

In some ways, her students knew so much more than she did, possessed vast, secret stores of information, codes and connections, that she felt helpless to understand. When she circled the room, she'd peer over their shoulders at the phones in their palms, catching flashes of photos and texts. What were they doing? She wondered. What lives were they living on those little screens?

The Short of It:

From the first few pages I was immediately drawn in.

The Rest of It:

The title is very dramatic, isn’t it? Dramatic, but fitting because the most dangerous place on earth is…

High School.

This story is about a high school in a very affluent neighborhood on the outskirts of San Francisco. For the most part, the kids are well-off and smart but Johnson puts all of their flaws on display. The need for acceptance is front and center but there is a thick layer of regret within these young students which the author explores one by one.

Johnson does not spare the adults in this story. The teachers, the parents, the administrators are also included and have their own battles surrounding acceptance and fitting in. Some of their situations literally had me squirming from the inappropriateness of it all but man did it make for good reading.

I loved this book. Johnson absolutely nails the pressures of high school and pending adulthood. I would not classify this as YA in case anyone is wondering. I hope you pick it up because it was really good.