Security

'From Richard Yates's Revolutionary Road and John Updike's Rabbit series to American Beauty and Desperate Housewives, the soured dream of American suburbia has attracted writers for both page and screen . . . Stephen Amidon . . . situates [himself] firmly in this territory.' Adam lively, Sunday Times

There isn't much crime in Stoneleigh, Massachusetts. It's a college town, a mountain getaway for the quietly rich, where burglar alarms are typically set off only by foraging wildlife. So when Edward Inman, owner of Stoneleigh Sentinel Security, is alerted by a late-night alarm from the home of Doyle Cutler, one of his wealthiest clients, Edward thinks little of it – until a local student, Mary Steckl, claims that she was sexually assaulted at Cutler's house that same night . . .

Edward soon finds himself convinced by Mary's story, though the rest of the town doubts her. As he purses his investigations, much is uncovered that many in the town would prefer to remain hidden . . .

Security is a brilliantly observed and gripping story of adults and children, secret lives and civic culture, suspicion and sexual hysteria. It confirms Stephen Amidon as a master of the art of the novel and one of America's leading chronicles of modern life.

timely, wry, and riveting story of adults and children, secret lives and civic culture, suspicion and sexual hysteria. It confirms Stephen Amidon as a master of the art of the novel and one of the foremost chroniclers of American life today.