Next To Heaven
A Novel
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3.8 • 195 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
"NSFW Gatsby." —Book of the Month
"A sizzling beach read about the misdeeds of the rich." —Wall Street Journal
"The novel on every beach towel this summer, all summer, everywhere." —Esquire
America's most perfect town hides its darkest secrets in this "lurid" and "propulsive" novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author James Frey (New York Times Book Review Podcast) — a world where privilege, sex, scandal, and murder lurk beneath a flawless veneer.
New Bethlehem, Connecticut. Picture-perfect lawns, manicured hedges, and multi-million dollar homes present a carefully curated facade. But beneath the designer yoga gear and country club memberships lies a darker reality.
In this world of excess, best friends Devon and Belle have it all—beauty, money, status. But they want something more. Something dangerous. Something that makes them feel alive. Their solution? A party—a meticulously curated gathering of New Bethlehem's elite, from a desperate ex-NFL quarterback to a hockey coach with a penchant for married women, and a ruthless Wall Street "closer" who wields his wealth like a weapon.
One night. An ultra-elite swingers party. Multiple betrayals. And a murder that will shatter New Bethlehem's carefully constructed facade.
Enter a world of troubled opulence and sharp betrayal that's reminiscent of "The White Lotus," "Your Friends and Neighbors," and "Big Little Lies"—a world of spectacularly badly-behaved rich people where money can buy anything. . .until it ruins everything.
An addictive page-turner where rich people behaving badly has never been so entertaining.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Frey (Katerina) strives for TV-worthy suburban drama in this no-holds-barred if trite sex romp. A group of wealthy friends are wilting on the vine in New Bethlehem, Conn., unsatisfied by their mates. Two of them, "glamorous WASP" Devon Kensington McCallister and former "Dallas debutante" Belle Hedges Moore, throw a swingers' party, appointing themselves as matchmakers in the partner-swapping. Devon wants ex-NFL quarterback Alex Hunter, while Belle picks Charlie Dunlap, the town's hunky high school hockey coach, who's dating their neighbor Katy Doyle. The next morning, Belle and Devon compare notes on their respective nights and speculate on how things went between Belle's impotent husband and Alex's "lovely" wife. Meanwhile, Katy wakes up distraught after a night with Devon's "fucking pig" of a husband. A mortal consequence to the friends' extramarital activity is hinted at throughout, and by the third act, one of them is revealed to be dead. Despite extraneous backstory, Frey never cuts below the surface of his characters, making the novel feel both padded and shallow. Still, he sustains the momentum with his signature clipped style (" tried to think through what happened. The party. The card. The room. The glass"). This one's strictly for the author's diehard fans.
Customer Reviews
Easy and not too serious
A light and easy read. Aside from every other word being F…. Interesting characters and satisfying ending
Kind of stupid
Definitely needs an editor. The lack of punctuation was annoying and served no discernible purpose. The plot was thin, the characters largely unlikable, and the women characters came across as very weak while the men were the stereotypical masters of the universe characters, and it was all rather tiresome instead of being clever. I don’t recommend this for discerning readers, not even as a beach read.
Fun! Fun! Fun! Read!
I loved the characters, the mischief and the way he wrote this! Total page turner and enjoyed it all!!