“Every page is filled with wise insights about social class and the human heart.” –Bonnie Jo Campbell, National Book Award finalist Corey Halpern, a local high schooler, grew up working class in the Hamptons and is desperate to leave his home-town and start anew somewhere else. The summer before college, he finds escapism in sneaking into neighboring mansions and pocketing small items. … pocketing small items.
One night just before Memorial Day weekend, he breaks into the wrong home at the wrong time: the Sheffield estate, where he and his mother, Gina, work. Under the cover of darkness, Leo Sheffield, patriarch and billionaire CEO, arrives unexpectedly with a companion. After a shocking poolside accident, Leo is desperate to cover up what happened before his family and friends arrive for the holiday weekend. Unfortunately for him, Corey saw everything, as did other eyes in the shadows.
Secrecy, obsession and desperation dictate each character’s path in this spectacular debut. With an ending as explosive as the Memorial Day fireworks on the island, The East End is an unforgettable debut about class, family secrets, and the desire to belong.
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This riveting novel by Jason Allen is the perfect summer read. It’s fast and suspenseful and written with an eye to fully realized, interesting characters. I highly recommend this stellar debut.
An intense, heart-pounding experience from the first page, with brilliant, complex characters more real than people I actually know. I challenge you to put this novel down once you start reading.
What a delicious pot of trouble Jason Allen has cooked up in this debut novel! He’s a hell of a writer, negotiating deftly the psychological landscape of his of characters as they struggle to make the right decisions under pressure. Every page is filled with wise insights about social class and the human heart.
I’m very conflicted on how to rate The East End by Jason Allen. I was fascinated by the synopsis and anxious to read an ARC. Unfortunately it was almost like bait and switch, in my opinion. The book did not really live up to the excitement that the synopsis promises.
I didn’t feel that there was an explosive ending. I will say that I wanted to find out what was going to happen so I kept reading, but a good portion of the book was filler, going over mundane daily tasks and interactions that didn’t do anything to move the plot forward.
I believe that this is the author’s first book and I would definitely read other books by this author in future. I think he needed a little coaching and some better editing and this could have been a very good read. I think the bones are here and the character development also, it just needs to move quicker and wrap up loose ends that seem to be brought up and left to wither. I do realize that this seems to be a book that you either love or dislike, with not a lot of middle ground. Evidently I’m smack in the middle – one of the few. I would rate this 2.5 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for approving my request for an ARC. My thoughts in this review are my own and freely given.
After reading the mixed reviews, I was hesitant to read this story but glad I did. The character are flawed but have goodness still in them. The story moved quickly and was interesting.
The East End was a gripping novel. I enjoyed the way the story was so intense that it was hard to put down. The Sheffield family and their invited friends all spend the summer at their Hampton estate. But the night before everyone is supposed to arrive, there are five people at the estate early. Leo Sheffield is there with his secret lover. Leo’s daughter is there as well with her best friend. Corey, who works for the Sheffields as well as his mother, happens to be at the house as well. Something happens this night that turns into a nightmare situation. Leo’s lover Henry dies. Leo decides to hide his death from everyone and he hides his body. Corey’s mother Gina is involved in her own private battles with her abusive husband and her drinking. The story is about the turmoil that everyone goes through in the few days after that first terrible night.
This is a book about the differences between the haves and have-nots and resentment of one against the other. It is about drugs, alcohol, and illicit relationships.
This was a well written debut novel, good but not great. It read quickly, but I don’t know if it was completely believable. I found it hard to believe that a CEO of a Fortune 500 company would be so weak and not be vicious and cunning trying to manage the circumstances of the weekend.
Corey seems wise beyond his years, but also does some stupid things – typical of a teenager.
#TheEastEnd #JasonAllen
This book pulled me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the very end. Very intense plot and strong characters. They made some hard choices that will keep you guessing until the end. I hope to see more from this author.
This really has three stories going on at the same time.
One: Corey getting ready to escape the Hamptons because he feels trapped when his little escapades of breaking into the rich people homes as a prank get him more then what he bargained for.
Two: Corey’s mother Gina working for Leo Sheffield. Dealing with an abusive ex-husband and having severe dependencies on alcohol and medications.
Three: Leo Sheffield dealing with an unhappy marriage and his own sexual preference.
These three character are well developed an as you reading the book you feel that you get to know them and their feelings and frustrations.
This isn’t an easy book to read but well worth your time. If you are looking for all happy endings this is not the book for you.
The East End by Jason Allen is a great debut of suspense, family drama, culture clashes and power shifts!
I read this book right after I finished ‘Appearances’ by Sondra Helene and the contrasting events were super pronounced/similar to me-if that makes any sense.
Every single character is hiding huge lies and as the book goes on there is a lot of deception, redemption and clarity.
This book moved fast! Like everything takes place in 72 hours.
In the author’s bio you learn that he grew up in the Hamptons and worked for the rich. I can see how his memories and thoughts drove him to write this novel.
TEE deals with a lot of moral questions and is a great glimpse of the differences between people who just visit The Hamptons, throw swanky parties and are considered wealthy and elite and those who live there year round and are thought of ‘blue collar’.
Favorite Quotes:
Time passed as Leo sat cockeyed on one of the lounge chairs beside the pool with an elbow on one knee and the bag of ice pressed to the back of his head, staring at the water, his vision like that of an old television set with poor reception, blurring between two channels.
They stared at each other, locked in that tension like animals at a watering hole— one predator, one prey, but who could say which was which now?
The water kept on running, the pills still cradled in her palm. This loneliness, she thought, should be classified as a disease.
The thing about regrets, Corey— it’s much better to regret something you have done than something you haven’t done.
My Review:
I am in need of a spa day after reading this brilliantly crafted suspense/thriller. It was masterfully written, taut with tension, devilishly paced, and cast with an intriguing set of deeply flawed and fractured characters who were reaching a peak period of crisis or transition, and I couldn’t help but root for them. Each riveting storyline was thrumming with stress and the disses – dismay, despair, discontent, and distress. This tale had a bit of everything; abuse of all types from people to substances, a gamut of personality disorders and vices, blackmail, adultery, bribery, rich vs. poor, and a closeted gay who had more than that one skeleton in his closet.
The writing was simply stellar. Mr. Allen’s writing style was lushly descriptive with evocative and emotive word choices that conjured keen visuals and kept me on edge. I was chewing my lower lip and feeling rather conflicted as while I wanted to savor every well-chosen word, I also felt as if I couldn’t read fast enough as I sensed the build-up to a shattering crescendo. I am doubly impressed since noticing this was his first novel. I hope the cunning Mr. Allen isn’t easily frightened as he now has a rather rabid fangirl…
Not even 10% into this book and I found myself itching for a glass of wine, something, anything to cut the nerves that Jason Allen rattled. But reading and wine don’t always get along in my reading world so I had to push the desire away. This story is a must read suspense built with complex characters who are, right or wrong, defined by the zip codes that they reside in.
Allens’ storytelling pulled me right in and made this a hard book to put down when real life required my attention. The story opens with one of the main characters, Corey Halpern contemplating the next steps he’ll take with his latest “hobby”, playing pranks on the city people who vacation in the Hamptons. From there, what occurs in the following 48 hours will flip his world and that if his mother Ginas, and his employer Leo Sheffield’s, upside down. In this domestic thriller, Jason Allen manages to pick at the seams of the haves and the have nots, and of good versus evil.
The drama unfolds as Leo’s secret life collides (by his making) with his family life. I felt empathy him, as I did for Gina. Their lives are filled with tragedy; unhappy marriages, addictions, and abuse. They’ve been victimized throughout their lives and just don’t seem to have much to hope for. Corey, on the other hand, has so much potential. But it’s gonna take escaping the seaside hamlet for him to have a chance at success. I really love being in Corey’s head. I enjoyed his insight into his own actions, into Leo’s and his mothers, as he makes both good and bad decisions and reflects in his past and plans for the future.
The East End is so well constructed; the descriptions and details made me feel like I was in the scene, I could smell the salt water and feel the sand in my toes. It’s a book I highly recommend, especially for readers of suspense. 5 Stars!!
Allen has created a fascinating, kinetic, and insightful look at America’s unspoken caste system of class, where great wealth and poverty both come with deep emotional roots. Characters bound by family, defined by place, and divided by great fortune converge in The East End with all the friction of envy and deep longing. I was constantly surprised by the psychological depth of each character and how quickly my sympathies widened to take them all in.
Allen is masterful in creating believable, original characters-rich and blue collar. Each is compelling in their own way. Allen’s plot twists are deft and amazing. With Corey Halpern, he gives the readers a perfect blue-collar antihero for the Twenty-First century.
First, I would like to thank ParkRow publishing for inviting me to read a free Kindle ARC edition of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The entirety of the novel is contained in a single, tumultuous weekend. Thursday night, when no one is supposed to occupy the Sheffield’s Hamptons mansion, tragedy strikes, and the witnesses of this event struggle with their morals and their desire for financial security in considering whether or not to report the accident. Guests begin to arrive Friday morning for the Memorial Day weekend party, completely unaware of the whirlwind of events that occurred on the property and the evidence that is loosely buried there.
The characters of the novel were well-written. Corey, rather immature in his hobby of breaking into houses and pranking the occupants, is a well-intentioned teenager with a heart of gold. Gina, his mother, is a fall-down drunk attempting to escape an abusive husband and take charge of her sobriety. Mr. Sheffield, attempting to conceal the events of the night before, never wavers in his resolve to do the right thing by his family and employees.
The plot started off slowly, following Corey on his escapades Thursday evening. He spends the entire night lurking, watching. Despite the short time window of the novel, the plot seems to drag as the reader experiences the days through three points of view. I would not classify this novel as a thriller so much as a psychological novel. The characters make decisions that are believable, and they struggle immensely with their vices. I just would have liked to have seen more character development in the other prominent characters such as Mrs. Sheffield and Angelique. Overall, The East End is a good book, but is not a stand-out novel.
#netgalley #theeastend
The East End is an outstanding read that grabs you from Page One.
Starting from the beginning that looks back at Corey’s break-in at the Hamptons estate to the incredible ending, I enjoyed the complex characters the author has crafted.
This novel touches all the points for me. Very timely. When socio economic classes collide in such a turbulent way and the outcomes for all involved is surprising not only to the reader but to the characters themselves. The disparity of the the social classes residing in these mansions whether labourers or residents both have to deal with circumstances and events from their pasts.
This book is brilliant. Memorable characters and twists and turns like no other.
A debut novel not to be missed!
Although this book started out as promising, I have to say that it was just not my cup of tea. Along with the foul language and the tired old plot of hiding a homosexual affair, the characters all had such flaws that none of them was likable. Corey Halpern is a “have not” living in the wealthy enclave of the east end where his mother works as a maid for the super wealthy Sheffield family. Corey is bored and rebellious and breaks into the local mansions as a prank. Unfortunately for him, just before the summer season begins, he decides to break into the Sheffield mansion and there witnesses the horrible and accidental death of Leo’s partner Henry. Leo, a scion of a family and CEO of a company, could have easily called his lawyers and the story would have ended there. But, predictably, Leo decides to cover up Henry’s death and therein lies the conflict of the plot. The characters in this pseudo-thriller are desperately seeking happiness; Leo and Henry in their relationship and in drugs and alcohol; Gina, Corey’s mom, in alcohol and a destructive relationship; Tiffany, the Sheffield’s daughter, seems to lack any love or parenting and seeks solace in drinking, also. None of the characters has particularly redeeming characteristics since none seems able to really help themselves seek solutions to what they deem as their life’s problems. There was a lot of action but it all seemed to go too fast without much background information. This was meant to be an intense story with a great deal of social commentary, but for me it just never reached a level of satisfaction that would cause me to watch for this author’s novels in the future. The theme seemed to be one of total debauchery and a desire to forget your station in life, no matter what it was. Fans of thrillers might enjoy this book because it is a fast read.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
This page-turner set in the Hamptons perfectly illustrates that adage that money can’t buy happiness and of how quickly lives can become intertwined due to a single incident. I thought that the perspectives of the characters and how each of them reacted to their situations was extremely well-done. The character studies were a fascinating juxtaposition of roles: in some cases, the people who usually felt powerless held the most power, while the people who usually controlled everything completely lost control. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. Visit my blog at Fireflies and Free Kicks Fiction Reviews for some deeper thoughts on the book. This review was written based on a pre-release digital ARC provided by NetGalley.
Corey is a high school senior living in the Hamptons with his mother. Together they live a modest life supporting the millionaires who frequent the area. They are currently employed by the Sheffield family maintaining their summer house. Corey has an unusual habit of breaking into vacant homes and snooping through rooms then launching pranks on the unsuspecting residents. He is driven by his hate for the disparity between the rich and working-class people. He cannot wait to leave Long Island.
The night before Memorial day, Corey breaks into the Sheffield home. He believes it is empty but finds the Sheffield daughter, Tiffany, and her best friend enjoying the house before her parent’s arrival. Later that evening the patriarch of the family, arrives with a much younger gentleman. Leo and his secret lover are spending one last evening together while indulging in drugs. Eventually, an accident takes place that shifts the balance between the two social classes.
The East End is a debut novel by Jason Allen. It is suspenseful and tense book with a unique view of social distinctions. Regardless of your roots, no one is immune from dysfunction and drama.
The East End is a little out of the norm for me, but the blurb piqued my interest so here I am. The thing is I still don’t know exactly what it was about the story that kept me turning those pages. It’s not really what I would consider a thriller – things happen but not anything that would keep me on the edge of my seat. In that same vein, it’s not a romance, and while there is some level of suspense, it’s certainly not a mystery either. Then we have the characters who aren’t particularly likable, some less so than others, but our main players do inspire at the least some level of empathy. At its core, the story is one of the haves and have nots along with those who ride the middle, not really part of either world. While we do see the vast differences in social class, the author doesn’t get preachy, and we also see that everything isn’t always so cut and dried – money doesn’t always mean security, and the secrets a person hides, the regrets they have, and the lives they live don’t necessarily have anything to do with economics. The story runs at a fairly steady pace for most of the book with a ramp up toward the end, and the one constant for me from early on was the thought that this would make a movie that I would watch. That’s a rarity for me as I tend to lean toward books over movies, but this one could easily make the cross over to the big screen. As I said at the beginning, I still don’t know exactly what it was about The East End that kept me interested, but it certainly did. Jason Allen definitely knows how to weave a tale and I will be watching for whatever he does next.