The Block Party
Jamie Day
384 pages
St. Martin's Press
From Goodreads: On the night of the annual Summer block party, the Meadowbrook community Facebook page lights up with posts reporting sirens descending on the desirable and exclusive cul-de-sac neighborhood on Alton Road. Bit by bit, the comments trickle in, some taking pleasure in their neighbors’ misfortune and others showing concern. The truth eventually comes out. It's not an accident, or a drowning, or a fire, as some had predicted. For the first time in forty years, there's been a murder in Meadowbrook.The residents of Alton Road—The Fox family, the core of the neighborhood but each with secrets of their own; the Adair Family, the seemingly perfect all-American family; the Thompson Family, on the brink of an explosive divorce; The Kumars, the mysterious "new neighbors"; Brooke Bailey, the "Black Widow"; and Gus Fisher, the quirky salesman— are entangled in a web of secrets and scandal unbeknownst to the outside world and even each other.Who was murdered at the block party? Who committed the murder? And why? As the night unfolds, the residents will discover that the real danger lies within their own block and nothing—and no one—is ever as it seems. Propulsive and layered, THE BLOCK PARTY will keep you guessing until the very last page.
What a delightful novel about a group of neighbors who get along splendidly and... just kidding. The Block Party takes readers on a journey through what seems to the outside like an idyllic, wealthy suburban cul-de-sac, but in actuality is a group of families that have so many secrets and desires for revenge, it's only a matter of time before the tension explodes into violence.
The book opens with the crime and then rewinds as we follow the neighbors through the whole year leading up. Collectively the families aren't very interesting, they seem white-washed and stereotypical, and I'm so bored reading about rich white people in general. Several times throughout the book a character says something like, "It doesn't matter, we have the money." In one instance $25,000 goes missing but the family doesn't suffer any financial repercussions. That makes it a little difficult to care about whether or not the husband is cheating, in my opinion.
BUT. I kept reading because the storyline involving the high schoolers was interesting and while they were pretty stereotypical themselves, they held my attention the best. As time goes on the storylines of every family, teens and adults, mingle together into a maze of mystery and the author craftily reveals main characters to be more complex than initial impressions. The sheer number of characters threatens to make the book confusing, but in the end all was well.
The Block Party is more mystery than thriller and though I wasn't at the edge of my sear until the very end, I was invested. If you like a good domestic mystery this would be a great summer read for you! The book releases July 18. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book; as always, opinions are my own.
