An excellent read for any and all readers! Author comes at you with both barrels and knocks you out of your shoes! Great job fleshing out all the characters. I give this book FIVE stars! Definitely recommend!

Another amazing story from one of my favorite authors. As always he gets you hooked from the first line. A big thank you to Netgalley and the publisher as well as Jame Frey for an eARC copy. All in all another crazy ride and a joy to follow.

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well dang james frey continues to show me that he can write a captivating story.

something i love about frey’s books is they feel like real stories of real people (they probably are). the characters are easy to connect to. the story feels like watching a reality show unfold.

i love how frey gives just enough information about the location (new bethlehem) to provide meaningful context to the story without making it boring.

also loved that i can see parts of frey in some of the characters (charlie).

i read bright shiny morning when it was released years ago while i lived on the east coast. i was moved by the story. i was devastated by the story. i was attached to the characters in the story. but i had no context for life in/around LA. i moved to LA years later and re-read the book and i couldn’t help but feel like james wrote about several people that he had experienced or known. and that’s how i feel about this book.

several times while reading, i had to actively remind myself that these were characters and not my friends.

james’ writing style has always been something that captivated me, so i deeply loved this book because his style and voice is once again so prevalent throughout.

and not to mention... the ending slaps.

6/5 stars

A huge fan of Frey’s writing style, I flew through this one and of course loved the thinly-veiled depiction of our little town in Connecticut.
The character development is spot on and the cast of characters runs the gamut from an imploding “small town hero” to a typical “closer” to a washed up “hockey pro”.

Since we moved here, I’ve always heard references to the “key” parties from the 1970s so I love that the culmination of these fractured relationships takes place at a not so random swingers party, full of booze, drugs, & sex.
With so many dominant personalities, layers of jealousy and revenge-no wonder it ends with a murder.
Dig in and hold on tight friends, you won’t be able to put this one down!

This was a fascinating read from James Frey, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed the feel of this. I thought the characters worked well in this universe and was everything that I was hoping for. It worked well and was invested in the story being told.

I love how Frey starts his story. Generally, it's rare for a quote to truly set the scene for me, but this one was just perfection:

"Behind every great fortune, lies a great crime."
— Honoré de Balzac

In Frey's fictional town of New Bethlehem, Connecticut, there’s incredible wealth, massive homes, and country club drama. He immerses us in this world, then peels back the layers to reveal its dark, twisted underside—highlighting a series of deeply flawed characters and the aftermath of an infamous key party gone wrong.

There’s no shortage of wild drama, power plays, and cat-and-mouse tension, but what makes Next to Heaven so compelling is its dark humor and absolute chaos. Frey leans into the absurdity of privilege and deception, crafting a story that’s equal parts entertaining, biting, and ruthless. If you love stories about the rich behaving badly—with a sharp, satirical edge—this one delivers.

#NextToHeaven #JamesFrey #AuthorsEquity