Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published May 2023
272 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
Emma Rosenblum's Bad Summer People is a whip-smart, propulsive debut about infidelity, backstabbing, and murderous intrigue, set against an exclusive summer haven on Fire Island.
None of them would claim to be a particularly good person. But who among them is actually capable of murder?
Jen Weinstein and Lauren Parker rule the town of Salcombe, Fire Island every summer. They hold sway on the beach and the tennis court, and are adept at manipulating people to get what they want. Their husbands, Sam and Jason, have summered together on the island since childhood, despite lifelong grudges and numerous secrets. Their one single friend, Rachel Woolf, is looking to meet her match, whether he's the tennis pro―or someone else's husband. But even with plenty to gossip about, this season starts out as quietly as any other.
Until a body is discovered, face down, off the side of the boardwalk.
Stylish, subversive, and darkly comedic, this is a story of what's lurking under the surface of picture-perfect lives in a place where everyone has something to hide.
"Herein is a wonderful experience of schadenfreude. These characters are so readable and so terrible. They think highly of themselves but consistently have the worst impulses, and, as the book wears on, it becomes delightfully clear that they are incapable of resisting. A heck of a beach read." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Rosenblum does a terrific job of establishing the setting and atmosphere, and adds complexity to the plot by revisiting events from various points of view. This is wickedly entertaining." —Publishers Weekly
"Rosenblum is a master of understated social satire, and her gift for capturing human follies and the dark, emotional depth of her characters through artfully rendered details make Bad Summer People a seriously compulsive read." —Shelf Awareness
"This roiling beach community satire serves up wicked, clever fun that is White Lotus sharp. Emma Rosenblum gets to the comic heart of these nasty, nasty people. When I say she is unsparing and they are dreadful I mean it as the highest compliment. It is sinfully good like a summer cocktail you want to keep refilling. I found myself laughing out loud as I read and staying up way too late with this fabulous book." ―Kevin Kwan, New York Times bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asians and Sex and Vanity
"I am 100% invested in all the petty (and not-so-petty) drama of the delightfully messy residents of Emma Rosenblum's Fire Island. I like my beach reads either twisty, steamy, or funny and―lucky me―this was all three. Bad Summer People will absolutely be the book I push on all my friends this summer." ―Chandler Baker, author of Whisper Network and The Husbands
"Like a tidbit of gossip flowing by on the sea breeze, Bad Summer People is irresistible. Funny, sexy, and scary, it made me eager to eavesdrop but glad not to be entangled in the vacation scandals dreamed up by Emma Rosenblum in her juicy debut." ―Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, New York Times bestselling author of Bittersweet and Fierce Little Thing
This information about Bad Summer People was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Emma Rosenblum is Chief Content Officer at BDG, overseeing content and strategy for Bustle, Elite Daily, Nylon, The Zoe Report, Romper, Scary Mommy, Fatherly, The Dad, Inverse, and Mic. Bad Summer People is her first novel.
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