The Block Party by Jamie Day

Hello my lovely readers!

It's been a long time and I apologize!

I'm currently pregnant and was in my first trimester the months of August and September. As a first time mother, I had no idea how tired and nauseous I would be all the time! Needless to say, I didn't pick up nary a book or audiobook for weeks and I only managed to finish the three books I did read in August while in a first trimester haze.

Now that I'm safely into my second trimester, I've gained more energy and FINALLY got back into reading. I played it safe and decided to go with the thriller The Block Party by Jamie Day on audio.

Unfortunately....this book did NOTHING for me. At least I'm reading again, though, right? Let's get into it!

SYNOPSIS

The residents of the Alton Road cul-de-sac are entangled in a web of secrets and scandals that are unknown to the rest of the world and each other.

Then on the night of the annual summer block party, there's been a murder.

But who did it? Why? Those answers will take the reader back to a year earlier as rivalries and betrayals unfold and when everyone discovers that nothing and no one is ever as it seems.

MY THOUGHTS

I've read a lot of thrillers in my life and this was just plain awful.

To start, we don't even know WHO has been murdered or WHY until the book is nearly over. I honestly thought I missed something while I continued to read the book. I thought I had missed the murder or the identity of the person who was murdered, but nope, the author decided to drag us along this convoluted timeline for what seemed like AGES.

I think if I knew who was murdered up front I'd be more engaged with this story, but I felt nothing while reading it, aside from annoyance. 

Then we're taken back one year prior to the murder and learn about the mother-daughter duo Alex and Lettie and their different points of view on their lives on Alton Road. These were perhaps the two worst characters to have be the protagonists of the book. They added absolutely nothing. 

There were so many characters it was hard to keep up. It really felt like there was nothing going on the entire book. I should've DNF'd so many times, but I didn't know who was killed or why and I wanted some resolution.

I'd recommend I Know What You've Done by Dorothy Koomson over this book. It's the same kind of premise with a neighborhood full of secrets and a murder, but it's loads better than this book. Sorry Jamie Day.