Seaview Road

by Brian McMahon

After nineteen-year-old Katie Murray witnesses the shocking coverup of a crime that could implicate Eric Clarke, the estranged son of her neighbors, she struggles with how much to divulge. The two families spend their summers in an upscale Cape Cod locale where adults prioritize appearances and, as the opioid crisis wreaks havoc, steer clear of the inhabitants of the blue-collar town next door. Driven by an overpowering urge to protect the downtrodden and infuriated by the complacency of the people around her, Katie makes decisions that could carry dangerous consequences for everyone involved.

Insightful, heart-wrenching, and peppered with wry observations, SEAVIEW ROAD is a story of family and alienation, of apathy and loyalty, of parent-child communication and the agony of missed connections.

Genres: Fiction

258 pages, Paperback

First published May 12, 2020

About the author

Brian McMahon is the author of THE FALL WILL PROBABLY KILL YOU! (A LOVE STORY) and SEAVIEW ROAD. He received his MFA from Columbia University. He lives outside of Boston with his wife, their baby, and two dogs. You can connect with him at BrianMcMahonWrites.com or on Instagram @brianmcmahonwrites.

Reviews

[Brian McMahon]

Enjoy if you can.

[Lance Tucker]

Seaview Road captures the essence of coastal community summer life. McMahon carefully crafts a rich set of characters for us to follow. The writing style is visual and the characters are introduced to us in great detail. The dichotomy between tourists and locals, a topic too taboo for the characters to verbalize, serves as the backdrop for the novel's underlying tensions. As the plot develops and life events begin to unravel, McMahon asks us to choose sides, but leaves us uncertain with our decisions. Do our own prejudices influence how we want this tale to resolve or do the troubled figures command our sympathy, tugging our hearts away from the protagonist?

Vacation dwellers seek refuge but often share their environment with others less fortunate. The Cape has long been chronicled as a place where luxury living and million dollar beach homes neighbor with locals experiencing a much different life. The latter includes murders, violence and a pronounced, and very sad, opioid epidemic. The Cape’s physical beauty gets the attention while the problems stay shadowed. Good for business, some might argue. The "other side of the tracks" are always within sight, whether acknowledged or ignored. Those who cross the tracks can become heroic, or destroyed. Those who stay back, lose our respect. Those who fall on the tracks, we understand. Seaview Road explores this complex intersection of life through people we all know.

[MV]

Nice writing overall, and I loved the scenery and discussions of Cape Cod summers past and present. I can't travel right now, so I appreciate getting the feel for another place through the pages of a book. (I've never been to Cape Cod, either!)
I would've liked more action and suspense. I also feel like I could've gotten to know some of the characters better than I did.
There's a lot of discussion of family relationships and conflict, which I thought was well done.

[Mahrukh]

Read this for my work book club. First half of the book was slow and very descriptive and felt like nothing was going to happen. I found the description of sports like golf really boring because I have no interest in that. It did get more interesting in the latter half of the book but I felt unfulfilled with the ending. I would have liked more character development too. I didn’t feel like I saw any progression or change in Eric’s character. He stayed the same from the beginning to the end. Danny did seem to come to the realization that what he had done was wrong. Overall, a fast and easy summer read.

[Mack Jones]

Perfectly placed, beautifully written, and a story that will resonate with Cape Cod residents and summer-weekend-warriors alike. Seaview Road makes us think about our vulnerability, or lack-there-of, with the people we love most and how seemingly simple choices craft our lives.

Having grown up frequenting the Cape, I found myself immersed in the world of a novel I knew all too well. From Squall Lane to Monomo Dunes Country Club to the Cape Cod Baseball League Whalers, Seaview Road captures the Cape Cod summer with vivid language and calming prose. However, the disparities between upscale South Monomo and neighboring blue-collar Worona emerge as Katie Murray, our intelligent, fiery, and kind-hearted protagonist, won’t let them be pushed aside like the rest of us. In doing so, we are prompted to contemplate the issues that lie actively or subconsciously untouched in our own worlds.

Furthermore, as the novel unfolds familial relationships take center stage with Katie critically questioning the irony of the world she grew up in; a world in which expectations and appearances take precedent over vulnerability and love. Yet as she pulls us deeper into the estranged relationship between the neighboring Clarke family and their son Eric, we catch a glimpse into the missed connections within Katie’s own life. The intricacies of the parent-child relationships in Seaview Road feel raw and familiar.
.....
But just sitting there sounded nice. If they sat there long enough, Katie propped up against her pillows and Beth leaning against the railing at the foot of the bed, they might talk, maybe even about the complicated things.

“That’s okay, Katie. You should get your rest. I’ll check in again soon.”
.....
As a good novel always does, Seaview Road forces us to look in the mirror, to evaluate our own relationships, and take an honest look at the bubble we created for ourselves.

[Jared Ison]

In his debut novel, McMahon is able to capture a specific place, Cape Cod, with great detail, so well that even people who have not been there like myself can be transported there for 250 pages. More than that, McMahon's novel provides even greater insight into the challenges that test all communities and families, concerns about the future, about wealth, and about the places we call home. This book pulls you in early and keeps hold of you until the very last page, and McMahon was skillful enough to keep me guessing about the direction of the plot the entire time. In addition to a detailed setting and valuable social commentary, McMahon's characters are rich and diverse, adding to a book that would already stand out for its thrilling plot and beautiful prose. In the mold of F. Scott Fitzgerald, McMahon has created an entertaining and accessible summer read that tells a lot about the American experience and helps the reader to reflect on their own life in greater detail. All told, an exemplary debut that you will not regret picking up, and one with enough substance that it is worthy of many re-reads.

[Chris]

Seaview Road captures the true essence of summer in Cape Cod while beautifully depicting the complex relationship between two neighboring families. Whether you have spent summers down on "The Cape" is insignificant in enjoying the novel because by the end of the 250 pages you will have a rich understanding and visualization for the landscape and underlying truths of the vacation hub that are detailed in the novel. The juxtaposition between the neighboring towns, and the people that live in them, drives captivating story lines that are truly unpredictable making it a very difficult book to put down.

The strength of McMahon's novel is in his character development. McMahon brings these characters to life in an authentic way that creates a level of investment for the reader in the characters and their outcome of the novel The core group of characters all face challenging life decisions as it pertains to maturing as a young adult or handling the difficult balance between parenting children without tarnishing one's reputation in an upscale community.

[Sheila Tucker]

Seaview Road by Brian McMahon is a wonderfully descriptive tale of summer life in a seaside community that leaves you feeling unsettled as a grim second story slowly and methodically unfolds. Anyone who grew up summering in a beach community will be captivated by McMahon’s Murray family and their South Monomo Beach neighbors and insist the main story is their own. Yet, the naggingly haunted narrative voice that tells the other story, the troubled, grisly one, will leave the reader with a sense of creeping dread. It was tempting to read the main story faster to rid the uneasy feeling that was building from beneath, but to speed read ahead would have meant missing McMahon’s delightful character descriptions and storytelling about life on Seaview Road. McMahon’s stylistic approach to telling two alternating tales works well and in the end the reader will realize that the two worlds of Seaview Road are not so separate. Seaview Road feels like spending time with an old summer friend who surprises you with a secret tale to tell.

[Anne Mcshane]

One of my favorite high school teachers told us that one of the ways to judge good writing is to answer the question, "Do I care what happens next?" In Seaview Road, Brian McMahon has done an excellent job of keeping the reader on edge and definitely caring about what happens next. The Cape Cod setting - lovely homes, beaches, golf courses - sounds like the backdrop for a languorous, relaxing summer in a land of privilege. The two main families appear to be perfect from the outside, but, of course, that is never the case. And, from the beginning, we hear another more disturbed voice whose owner does not seem to belong to that same world. As the events of the summer unfold, you wonder how much these two worlds will intertwine. McMahon writes beautifully, and I can't wait to see what he does next!

[Jack Coaty]

I thoroughly enjoyed McMahon's Seaview Road. Whether or not you are familiar with summer in New England, McMahon's writing transports you to the Cape where you read descriptions of specific nights in great detail while simultaneously identifying with the characters' feeling that the days blend together between Memorial and Labor Days.

The book is experienced in two parts; the first hundred-or-so pages familiarizes you with the entangled sea towns and the roads, residents and gossip that link them. These details are quickly recalled as you progress through the novel, the unfolding of the plot becoming quickly immersive since you're so acquainted with Seaview Road and it's surroundings.

For a debut novel, it reads like a work written by an experienced author. I look forward to McMahon's next novel and will likely re-read Seaview Road next time I'm in a beach town.

[Lisa]

The writing was smooth. I could have used a bit more scenery as most of the scenes were relegated to the personal feeling of the character., like family feelings that were intertwined with moments.
Some of the characters seemed flat. Danny could have been quite strong. Eric had a short moment that was really well done when he took a moment to work through some feelings.
Despite the turmoil of boxes or "brochure life," the book felt a little like that for me. Secrets were able to be held and there was little commotion in places that I would have anticipated more. In some cases that seemed OK but in others I wanted to feel the rawness and the pain.
A solid read. I would look forward to some stronger emotions. There was a lot of acceptance that could have created a bit of drama for the better.

[Jamie]

Friend of a friend gave me the opportunity to be an early reader, and I was definitely apprehensive about a new author's first book - but wow, McMahon seems to have a knack for beautifully descriptive writing. As someone who grew up spending more time in the mountains than at the Cape, I still felt welcomed right in to the yards and bike rides of the characters. The characters whom I felt I could very strongly relate to, even in the painful or uncomfortable moments that are often hard to describe or talk about in real life. McMahon tackles some truly interesting and relevant aspects of family and relationship dynamics. Hats off to him on this first book, and I'll be curious to see what he does next!

[Tim]

McMahon blew us all away in his debut novel. Knowing the author through some friends and hearing of his professional (and athletic) background, it was hard to believe this was his first book published. I was quickly drawn in to the descriptive scene yet in a wealthy Cape neighborhood and families. As the story developed, so did the characters, dialogue and relationships. It was truly a page turner and intriguing story.

Katie Murray was a wonderfully developed character that I think many of us can relate to. Her relationship with her family and rebellious nature resonated with me as a reader and was an extremely well thought-out protagonist to steer the narrative.

Excited to see what is to come for this young author - keep him on your radar!

[Kerry]

I won Seaview Road in a Goodreads contest and I am not under any obligation to write a favorable review.

I normally finish a book no matter how boring or how uninterested I am in it but I started this in mid December and could not get into the plot. I have put this book down several times and read other books. I decided I would give it one more try since the reviews are good and others seem to enjoy the long descriptive details of this seacoast town and the long list of characters that McMahon has in Seaview Road . I, however, could not . I didn't even get to the "crime" that the main character Katie witnesses. Perhaps I have missed a great story by not sticking with this..... .
Thank you however for the opportunity to read this. I will pass book on to any interested family or friends

[Felicity Bortolan]

I was immediately drawn into this summer vacation, it felt like I was standing right there on the Murray’s family home deck. A typical Cape Cod summer is disrupted with a very real tragedy. The teens pull together and try to figure out their next moves. An excellent portrayal of the complex characters revealing their fears and flaws. Their loyalties are tested to the limit and the tension builds with neighbors who have been annual summer vacation friends. As the events unfold after the incident, the outcomes are unpredictable, a key ingredient of a great story and my favorite type of novel. I couldn’t put the book down!

[Elyse]

Seaview Road is not your typical town and gown mystery. A beautifully written book that will keep you reading. The story contrasts the lifestyle of the well-off Cape Cod summer residents, concerned with appearances, and the local residents. The protagonist, Katie Murray conceals information and places herself and others in a risky position.

[Caroline]

A great story written in detail about the summer residents of “The Cape” and the less fortunate year round inhabitants. The author draws us into the aftermath of a terrible tragedy. The story gets better and better as it moves toward its conclusion. Read Seaview Road this summer, you won’t regret it.

[Mark Superko]

A well written story which captures the charm and class divide of Cape Cod. A must add to your summer reading list. The beautifully descriptive book will make you feel like you are living on Seaview Road and watching the characters go by as the story is told.

[Suzanne Picher]

Drawn in by a storyline that is never fully revealing, in a well-done suspenseful way, the dialogue between characters is as authentic and engaging. Great first novel and looking forward to reading more books by Brian!

[Debbie Schiedel]

Thank you to goodreads! Well written story of characters from " opposite sides of the town" interacting with catastronic results. A lot of description of the Cape, although a true part of the story development, made for somewhat tedious reading at times. But on the whole it was enjoyable reading.

[David Picher]

Terrific read about summer family life on the Cape, siblings, teenager/parental relationships, tragedy and being true to one’s beliefs. Great character development-very engrossing.

[Debbie Forman]

30% in and the book is going no where. Drawn out details that meant nothing to form a story. Had to quit.

[Rupert Ashford]

Boring plot, waste of time.

[Janice Lambert]

I could have lived forever without reading this book. It was....OK.

[Barbara]

You can absolutely judge this book by its cover - the beautiful artwork on the outside draws you into a terrific debut novel filled with characters you feel you know, dialogue that is real and relationships that are genuine. McMahon’s seaside towns and gracious homes are painted beautifully but as the story unfolds you come to find that too much value might be placed on appearances. You may find yourself siding with one or two characters and rooting against some others, but you will want to see where the road is going to take them. Seaview Road is well worth a visit this summer.

[Jonny Colascione]

DNF wasn’t for me

[Bill]

I could not put this book down. The author has a wonderful and engaging voice as well as a descriptive narrative that made me want to binge-read the whole book. I find myself even now thinking about the characters from time to time. I want this book to be a movie!

[Sam Phillips]

McMahon creates a vivid world inhabited by familiar characters in Seaview Road. Familiar not in the sense that you have read them, but that you have met them, seen them, even spent time with them, or been one of them. It's these characters, brought together by the circumstances of summer, that drive the story. In putting this cast of characters through the unthinkable, Brian takes us there with them, forcing readers to confront the same questions the characters do.

[Frederick P Bluck]

Cruising the low-budget or free end of online books is a chancy business; for every worthwhile book, there are several others, pockmarked by bad editing or ruined from the outset with plots and characters that don't work.
"Seaview Road" is one of the exceptions, and I would probably have paid real money to read it. The easy stuff first - someone has edited it, and that someone did a pretty good job. The book itself is a well-observed picture of a summer at a beach where the demarcation between the rich and the rest is as clear as if accompanied by a badge. It's populated by characters who are credible, if a little too close to the archetypes they represent.
Most of all, the quality of the writing stands out, an author who can confidently move between plot and observation.