Stephen Amidon

Brief story, then review) I was at the airport a few weeks ago and sitting by me were a mom, dad, and three grown boys. Two were older, beefy in tight t shirts, and the mom was chatting with them about what their college coaches should be sending to scouts - I think it was baseball stats - and she was clearly in charge. The third son was younger, not as buff, smaller, quiet, and basically ignored by the mom. The dad stayed on his phone and was silent. This family unit sprung into my mind as show more I read the worthy domestic thriller Locust Lane, deserving of comparisons to The Ice Storm and Defending Jacob. The novel features five family units - a very wealthy family, similar to the one I observed in the airport; a dad and stepmom dealing with an unhappy daughter who cuts herself but has recently fallen in love with the third son of the first family (stay with me); a single mom whose daughter was sent to live with wealthy relatives in the same wealthy suburban Massachusetts town, a la Lincoln/Weston/Wellesley; the fourth family consists of a chef-owner of an up-and-coming restaurant, a widower with a teenage son; the fifth is a floundering divorced dad whose daughter, a long suffering addict, had overdosed in a MacDonald's restroom. The families intertwine in surprising ways and the result is two unexpected deaths. The plot is intricate and fascinating, and all the characters are realistically portrayed. I raced to the finish and then reread the denouement again because I'd devoured it too quickly the first time. Highly recommended. show less

We all know the suburbs are safe, right? Of course. Safer, cleaner, nicer in every way than the city. Well, maybe not. In the author’s own words, “In the suburbs, it was more of a crime undertow than a crime wave. This lawlessness tended to happen behind the locked doors of split-level homes." His amazing novel Locust Lane drives that point home without any doubt. Gripping doesn’t even begin to cover it. It becomes clear from the very first page that the seemingly idyllic town of show more Emerson is divided into haves and have-nots, powerful and weak, accepted and outcast, and those somewhere in-between who are allowed to remain members of the Very Important People group as long as they don’t mess up. For the truly powerful core, messing up doesn’t matter. They’re in, and they will never be out. And the so-called safety of the suburbs doesn’t necessarily apply to all.

Three teenagers are partying with a fourth. The three reside on varying rungs of the accepted ladder but the fourth is just fun to party with. So when she ends up dead it’s more a problem to be dealt with rather than the tragedy it would be if someone who truly matter was killed.

Is the investigation a search for justice? Not really. Emerson doesn’t appear to be corrupt, but there are biases and influences and although each of the three teenagers is questioned and considered a suspect at some point, conclusions have already been drawn. You know that instead of a search for justice what is really happening is a miscarriage of justice, but you can’t quite figure out who is to blame, who is letting it happen, who may be making it happen, and you start to become very pessimistic about a happy ending.

Emerson’s power population is made up of an interesting set of characters. It seems everyone has a past they don’t want exposed, or issues or problems or who knows what. Most of them are not very pleasant and they are quick to turn on each other. It’s commonly believed that parents will do anything to protect their children. Sounds right, sounds admirable, who wouldn’t, but what these parents are capable of will make your skin crawl.

Locust Lane is compulsively compelling and suspenseful. Your suspicions bounce around with each twist and clue. Some of the suspects seem tailor-made for this horrible crime but just when you are ready to declare you know who did it, somebody else makes a move or another fact is revealed. You keep wondering who to root for, who to feel sorry for – or maybe just who to dislike the least. The ending is stunning. It seems there is no limit to what people will do to protect themselves, their loved ones, their standing, no matter the cost to others. And just one look at the headlines for politicians, the rich, the famous will leave you no doubt about the answer to the question, “Could this really happen?”

Thanks to Celadon Books for allowing me to be a Celadon Reader and providing me with yet another fantastic book. I received an advance copy of Locust Lane and am voluntarily leaving this review; all opinions are my own. I highly recommend this thrilling book – it will keep you thinking, thinking, thinking and surprise you more than once. show less

I’ll say it right up front: LOCUST LANE is a can’t-put-it-down book. It is a well written, character-driven story with a plot (which so many character-driven stories seem to lack).

And if you think this is a young-adult book because you’ve heard it is about teenagers—WRONG. First, it’s not YA. Second, while at the center of the story is a crime that was probably committed by one or more of the teenagers, LOCUST LANE isn’t about them as much as it is about the reactions of the show more adults around them.

A teenage girl, Eden, has been murdered after spending the evening with three other teenagers, Hannah and Jack and Christopher. Hannah and Jack are girlfriend and boyfriend. Christopher has a crush on Eden. Christopher is a suspect from the start. But it is their parents and their reactions and the drama of their lives that are the story.

Of course, they want to protect their children. But that issue is complicated. For example, Hannah‘s mother is actually her stepmother whose marriage to Hannah’s father isn’t going well. So she’s having an affair with Christopher's father.

More drama: Hannah’s stepmother and Jack’s mother are friends who become enemies when Jack’s mother learns of the affair. After all, she wants to protect her own child, not Christopher.

Eden’s mother also has a place in this story. And so does the man who hits Eden’s dog with his car in the Prologue.

Oh, I know, this description makes LOCUST LANE sound like a soap opera. Honestly, though, this is so suspenseful! I was surprised and couldn't turn the pages fast enough. You won’t either.

Warning: you may hate the end and you may find the Epilogue hopeful. You certainly will see how far some parents will go. show less

This great novel is suffused with white suburban hedge fund evil from start to finish. It is a stirring rallying cry to change what we do, especially to our children, in the name of wealth and status pursuit. In order to maintain his position in Totten Crossing (a/k/a Greenwich, CT), Drew Hagel invests funds he doesn't have with the dominant financier Quint Manning. Hegel's daughter Shannon, the ex-girlfriend of Manning's son Jamie, rescues him from a drunken party and tragedy ensues for her show more new boyfriend Ian, a mentally disturbed patient of Shannon's stepmother, a psychologist. The family connections are diminished by the fraught business webs of cheating and deceit. The sad tale is told commandingly by Amidon, who gets deeply into the guts of each character and is able to generate sympathy for them all. The book reminded me of the classic "The Ice Storm" by Rick Moody, which spawned an excellent movie. An Italian movie of Human Capital came out this year - here's a great interview with the author: http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2015/02/07/stephen-amidon-discusses-film-... show less