Title: On A Quiet Street
Author: Seraphina Nova Glass
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
First published: May 17th 2022
Publisher: Graydon House
Finished reading: May 23rd 2022
Pages: 302

“When you walk down the sidewalks of Brighton Hills, it’s green and tidy and… a lie.”

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Graydon House in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

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I have to be honest and say that I wasn’t sure if this book would be for me, because I’m usually not a fan of a cheating angle in my stories… But after reading this review by Jonetta I simply couldn’t resist getting a copy of On A Quiet Street anyway, and especially because I’ve enjoyed Seraphina Nova Glass‘ writing in the past. And I’m glad Jonetta brought this book back on my radar, because I ended up having a strangely excellent time with this domestic thriller filled with basically unstable and unreliable characters!

On A Quiet Street is set on, what the title already suggests, a quiet street in an exclusive community on the Oregon coast. It seems to be the place where nothing ever happens, but nothing is as it seems behind closed doors… Something that we will learn soon enough once we get to know our three narrators. The story is told using a three-way POV structure, where we switch between Paige, Cora and Georgia. Every single one of them has that unreliable narrator feel and they are without doubt very flawed and sometimes even erratic characters. You are left wondering if you actually like them or not, but there is no denying the fact that they spice up the story considerably. And they all have plenty of secrets to hide!

I don’t want to give away too much of the plot to avoid spoilers, because there is one thing for sure: On A Quiet Street has more than one major plot twist hiding between the pages. Nothing is as it seems and while you switch back and forth between feeling sympathy and disliking each character, it’s also very easy to appreciate the full story as it unfolds. True, there really is an overload of cheating and love triangles everywhere, but somehow strangely enough I wasn’t too bothered by that. I think this has a lot to do with both the strong writing, plot and the fact that you are distracted by seemingly more important things happening in the story.

Apart from the cheating and love triangles, the story also focused on heavier topics such as grooming, abuse, gaslighting and grief. Each topic was incorporated in a solid way and the different characters helped bring life and credibility to each. Especially Georgia’s situation was shocking to be honest; and not in the least because it’s all too plausible… The gaslighting and manipulation was also really well done. I do have to say that the whole cheating overdose could have done with some scaling down as it would have helped me enjoy the story even more… But that is just a personal pet peeve.

In short, if you enjoy a well written and twisty domestic thriller and don’t mind having a bunch of unreliable and sometimes even erratic characters at the helm, On A Quiet Street is an excellent choice.

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