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.

>>>>> for some fun illustrations, check out my blog! <<<<<<

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 absolutely love this writer!

What a twisted group of people who are not happy with anything until they are and then they are not.
Fortune---Betrayal...Crime.... Murder. Does money ruin lives? It is a twisted story till the end.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy.

Another fantastic read by James Frey!

He always knows how to pull you in within the first few sentences of the book and doesn’t let you go!

It was a story I didn’t expect and it totally worked! Some characters were really messed up and some your heart ached for. You hated and you laughed too!

You always see the exterior lives of rich people and that is what they want to show you. But what goes on behind the scenes when they get bored or their marriages aren't what the facade shows is what always makes things a little more interesting.

The ending you think you see coming , but do you really?

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!

I’ve read three books by James Frey, so I was eager to read this advanced review copy. I couldn’t decide whether I loved it or loathed it, but in the end, I’ve settled on loving it—I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I think this is a sign of an excellent book! I disliked many of the characters, but I believe that was the point, as many of their conversations were superficial and materialistic. The book captures this shallowness brilliantly, making it a gripping read. I certainly wasn’t expecting a swingers' party!

Frey’s writing is what drew me in—it’s precise, punchy, and richly detailed.

I received an ARC from NetGalley, and this is my honest review.

A pure way to indulge in a novel. I was intrigued and into this story from the beginning. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. It's a five star book!

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

Five stars all the way! What a fun book about rich people behaving badly. The book comes from many characters’ point of view and is set in a small very upscale town in Connecticut. It’s definitely raunchy and has themes of sex, drugs, murder and infidelity. In other words a great beach read!