The Block Party
By Jamie Day
St. Martin’s Press,9781250283191, July 2023, 384 pp.

The Short of It:

If you like neighborhood drama, in that “train wreck” can’t look away category, The Block Party is your book.!

The Rest of It:

The folks on Alton Road are about to host their annual summer block party. The anticipation is palpable as the neighborhood prepares their dishes, opens up the wine, and settles in for a lovely evening. What they don’t anticipate is the sound of sirens blaring through the neighborhood. You see, there’s been a murder.

The author takes us back to Alton Road a year before the murder. As a reader we are introduced to each household and all of their secrets. There’s an alcoholic in denial, paternity questions, teens battling depression and worse. As a reader, I had the feeling that I was listening in on private conversations. It’s deliciously wicked and at times so stressful! I was wondering how the author would carry that pace throughout but Jamie Day does! I could not put the book down. Every time I picked it up it was like returning to a favorite show.

The Block Party was just what I needed. Flawed characters. Secrets. Beautiful people with a lot of insecurities. All living in gorgeous homes with manicured lawns. It’s as if someone lit a match and set the neighborhood on fire because it is non-stop drama. I loved it.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
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