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Bad Summer People: A Novel Hardcover – May 23, 2023

by Emma Rosenblum (Author)

3.9 14,047 ratings

Editors' pick Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

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NATIONAL BESTSELLER * 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.

"This roiling beach community satire serves up wicked, clever fun that is White Lotus sharp." ―Kevin Kwan, New York Times bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asians and Sex and Vanity

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF SUMMER 2023: Bustle, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, PopSugar, Bloomberg, Vogue, and more!

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.

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Popular Highlights in this book

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Women always complimented each other’s shots, gave supportive advice, told each other how cute they looked in their outfits. But just below the surface, they all wanted to kill each other.
Highlighted by 269 Kindle readers
She didn’t need a therapist. She just needed someone to help her carry all this cheese.
Highlighted by 250 Kindle readers
“Happiness isn’t always what you think it will be,” said Jen. “At least that’s what I tell my clients.”
Highlighted by 203 Kindle readers

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of May 2023: Bad Summer People is the sharp, funny, juicy read you didn’t know you needed. We loved this Big Little Lies-with-attitude meets Real Housewives of the One Percenters (I made it up—you’re welcome) whodunit, set in an elite summer enclave near Fire Island. It’s a world of million dollar plus bayfront homes, yacht clubs, and tennis pros. Bad Summer People lives up to its name, gleefully showing wealthy residents at their worst, with their backstabbing, one-upmanship, infidelities, and gossip. Oh, and murder. When a local woman is found dead, face down by the boardwalk, the main concern is what it will do to property values. Running a distant second is the question of who did the deed. And there are plenty of suspects. Rosenblum starts with a delicious set up—readers will love to tut at these people and their shenanigans—and she rides it like a bike, Sperry boat shoes perched on the handlebars, to a deeply gratifying conclusion in this stylish who's-guilty pleasure. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor

Review

"Delicious...[An] addictive thriller of manners...[Rosenblum is] a keen observer of small, telling details." ―New York Times

"A novel of family and romantic foibles, with a murder mystery thrown in to boot―juicy in more ways than one." ―Vogue.com

"A smart, slyly observed take on power and privilege."―Town & Country

"Come for the twisted murder mystery and stay for the guaranteed drama amongst the group." ―ELLE

"The Real Housewives has nothing on all these families' personal drama." ―Cosmopolitan

"A beach-book blockbuster....[Rosenblum's] debut novel has it all: wealth, gossip, unhappy husbands and even unhappier wives, infidelity, still more gossip―and murder...Expect to see it on beach towels up and down the Eastern Seaboard." ―Bloomberg

"[A] seductive summer debut." ―PopSugar

"[A] scintillating debut... Wickedly entertaining." ―Publishers Weekly

"A delicious, dishy trip of a novel." ―Bustle

"A heck of a beach read." ―Kirkus (starred review)

"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

"Bad Summer People is a great summer page-turner packed with sun-soaked secrets, outrageous scandals and salacious gossip. Its cast of gloriously terrible one-percenters and the caustic wit dripping from each page make this a perfect rich-people-behaving-badly beach read. Loved it!" ―Ellery Lloyd, New York Times bestselling author of The Club

“Delicious: such gossipy, naughty fun. Cancel all plans while reading―I inhaled this darkly hilarious book over one weekend and resented everything that kept me away from it." ―Lucy Foley, bestselling author of The Paris Apartment

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Flatiron Books (May 23, 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250887003
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250887009
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 0.9 x 9.6 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #13,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #523 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
- #816 in Contemporary Women Fiction
- #823 in Women's Domestic Life Fiction

Customer Reviews:
3.9 14,047 ratings

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Emma Rosenblum

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Emma Rosenblum is chief content officer at Bustle Digital Group, overseeing content and strategy for BDG, including Bustle, Elite Daily, Romper, NYLON, The Zoe Report, Romper, Scary Mommy, Fatherly, The Dad, and Inverse. Prior to BDG, Emma served as the executive editor of ELLE. Previously Rosenblum was a senior editor at Bloomberg Businessweek, and before that a senior editor at Glamour. She began her career at New York magazine. She lives in New York City, with her husband and two sons. She is the author of Bad Summer People and Very Bad Company.

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3.9 out of 5

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Brenna Marie Graham

Everyone is hiding something

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2024

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It was a really good read it wasn't too laborious. It was a quick paced read that Only fell a little annoyed because everybody had a chapter. To make up for that there was the vantage point that was told about a similar event from that individual. It was a nice whodunit? And just when you think you know what's gonna happen to who, you find out you don't.

Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2024

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I liked the book very much ...What a bunch of privileged character's with something always going on ....Including a mystery...." Who done it"! It was a fun read quirky situations and an ending I didn't see coming...Thanks for an enjoyable read ...M.L.🙂

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J. Thornberg

Rich people behaving badly

Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2023

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I went into this one with high hopes with the gorgeous cover that screams juicy beach read and the Fire Island setting, which seems to be the hot place for summer novels this year, and a special favorite of mine as my husband grew up as a year rounder in the town next to Saltaire so I’m familiar with the area, if not the summer people themselves. I ended up liking it, but not loving it.

The story takes place over the course of a summer, when the city people flock to their Fire Island houses for a few months of idyllic relaxed beach life, biking around town (no cars allowed, one of my favorite island features!), drinking freely, and in the case of this story, behaving very badly. It starts with a dead body, and then veers off into the gossipy group for so long you sort of forget someone dies until you get to the end and the plot heads back in that direction.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of, and the story alternates between a lot of different perspectives so it gets a bit confusing. And they are basically all doing some form of lying, cheating, and stealing throughout, not a redeeming quality in sight. It also overlaps the timeline to share the story of the same occurrence from different perspectives, which took me a bit to pick up on. But still, I wanted to see how it all played out, and I did like that all the questions were answered by the end.

Pick this one up if you like beach reads with a large dose of scandalous behavior, skip if if you’re not a big fan of cheating and lying themes.

26 people found this helpful

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potts

entertaining read

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2024

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A glimpse into the sad lives of the wealthy; showing money can’t buy happiness. I liked all the different perspectives even though it was hard at first to keep up. Well written.

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2024

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Characters were captivating. Not particularly likable people but good story with some twists. The setting was part of the story/plot. Added to the book. Good fast read

Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2023

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“Bad Summer People” is difficult to classify. Originally marketed as “a steamy beach read,” the novel is a murder mystery set in the town of Salcombe on Fire Island.

The action begins with the discovery of a body, at the end of the summer, and then author Emma Rosenblum shifts the narrative back to June and elaborates the events that led to the death.

Lauren Parker, Robert Heyworth, Rachel Woolf, Jen Weinstein, Susan Steinhagen, Jason Parker, San Weinstein, Larry Higgins… “Bad Summer People” is told through multiple points of view and, therefore could fit into the mystery subgenre “cozy.” Because there’s a lot of sex, let’s settle on “kinky cozy.”

Switching from one narrator to another is a distraction. Particularly since none of them is appealing.

“Bad Summer People,” a kinky cozy murder mystery, where the sanest person is the one who dies.

One person found this helpful

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BooksAreWings

Plotless and unsatisfying....Not worth your time. Even beach time.

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2023

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Disclosure: bought the book because I love Fire Island and wanted to read a novel set there, plus, all the rave reviews. Let me save you the time I just wasted.

Wow, what a disappointment! Sure, Bad Summer People gives an overview of life in one of the preppiest towns on FI, Saltaire (here called Salcombe). Other than that...nada.
This is one of those books where every character is despicable: arrogant, posturing guys; vapid, wealthy women; desperate social climbers (everyone).
BSP opens with the discovery of a body and then jumps back in time several months.The first 3/4 or so of the ENTIRE BOOK is waiting to find out who died (the cleverest part of this book is the teasing of possible murder every time a character is walking home alone- unfortunately all cleverness stops there).
There is literally zero further plot. People gossip, do bad things, drink a lot. There's a lot of brand name dropping (not in the fun way), and weirdly ageist/misogynistic stuff like describing 35-year-old women as "well-preserved" and milking a sad, desperate singleton character who's all of 42. (Admittedly the author is pretty savage on the guys as well.)
There is no whodunit here, no suspense, and basically no fun. (Also no copy editing - the grammar is messy to the point of atrocious.) The ending is as meh as meh can be.

This is not the entertaining beach read it's sold as; it's a quick and boring slog through the world's dullest mean beach town. You are better off with a frosé and a tabloid than Bad Summer People.

17 people found this helpful

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Taylor Botelho

3.5-4 Stars

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2024

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If I didn’t read the epilogue - 3.5 stars, but the twist in the epilogue made it worthy of 4 stars.

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Hana

Longwinded story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 13, 2023

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I felt the story fell apart in the middle, but I finished the book in a hope it would take an unexpected turn or have an interesting twist. Unfortunately, I found the ending disappointing. It seemed farfetched and unimaginative.

2 people found this helpful

LadySausage

Captivating summer read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2023

Verified Purchase

Didn’t know what to expect but really enjoyed the writing style, plot and the interconnection of the characters. Super.

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