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A review by amr316
Locust Lane by Stephen Amidon
3.0
Rounded down from 3.5 stars. This is a slow burn mystery that’s less of a thriller and more of a character study.
I enjoyed the plot setup, the world-building, and the attempt at a twist.
However, the ending left me deeply unsatisfied and the slow burn felt repetitive near the end (essentially the teenagers keep revealing what really happened, rinse and repeat for 75% of the book).
What frustrated me most, though, was the author’s heavy reliance on racial and class based stereotypes. The white kids were privileged but troubled. The one Latina was only present because of an “Upward Bound” style program, and to share without spoilers, I’ll just say her plot line wasn’t very uplifting. The Lebanese Catholic family (who, as we are reminded over and over, are not Muslim) are constantly trying to be perfectly behaved as to not disrupt their chances of “making it” in America. The wealthy dad of a wealthy drug-addicted girl is an addict who can’t get over her death. The murdered girl is a “townie” from the next town over whose mom is typecast as poor/trashy. The WASP mom was treated badly by her father and will protect her kids even when they’re assholes.
Every one of these characters felt deeply one-dimensional and like they were mad-libbed out of a character generator. I wish we could’ve gotten the teens’ perspectives because they seemed so much more multi-dimensional. Alice Hill was the most interesting of the lot but even then, we only got her perspective for approximately 20% of the book.
I would’ve preferred fewer perspectives and more interesting, well-developed, unique characters. These stock ones were not it.
I enjoyed the plot setup, the world-building, and the attempt at a twist.
However, the ending left me deeply unsatisfied and the slow burn felt repetitive near the end (essentially the teenagers keep revealing what really happened, rinse and repeat for 75% of the book).
What frustrated me most, though, was the author’s heavy reliance on racial and class based stereotypes. The white kids were privileged but troubled. The one Latina was only present because of an “Upward Bound” style program, and to share without spoilers, I’ll just say her plot line wasn’t very uplifting. The Lebanese Catholic family (who, as we are reminded over and over, are not Muslim) are constantly trying to be perfectly behaved as to not disrupt their chances of “making it” in America. The wealthy dad of a wealthy drug-addicted girl is an addict who can’t get over her death. The murdered girl is a “townie” from the next town over whose mom is typecast as poor/trashy. The WASP mom was treated badly by her father and will protect her kids even when they’re assholes.
Every one of these characters felt deeply one-dimensional and like they were mad-libbed out of a character generator. I wish we could’ve gotten the teens’ perspectives because they seemed so much more multi-dimensional. Alice Hill was the most interesting of the lot but even then, we only got her perspective for approximately 20% of the book.
I would’ve preferred fewer perspectives and more interesting, well-developed, unique characters. These stock ones were not it.