The It Girl
Fiction
Simon and Schuster
July 12, 2022
Hardcover
432
Purchased
April Coutts-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford.
Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the second, April was dead.
Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide…including a murder.
My review:
3.5 stars
This was an enjoyable and solid thriller that has some buzz worthy details, dark academia and murder. At the heart of the story is the woman whose testimony put an Oxford porter behind bars. Now there is a journalist who has theories ten years later (after the man has died in prison) that he may not have been responsible. All of this adds up to Hannah getting in touch with her old college friends to figure out what really happened the night April died. Did she jump to the wrong conclusion? I was invested in the story throughout. Ware does a good job of writing the back and forth past and present chapters, as well as keeping you guessing as to who dunnit? I did think it was a tad too long for a thriller, it seemed to take forever to find out the answers. It was fun going back to Hannah's college year with April (the It girl), who really did take a liking to her underprivileged roommate.
A good thriller that probably won't stick with me, but certainly kept me entertained while reading. My favorite of Ware's books is The Death of Mrs. Westaway, but that is not the favorite of most readers, I think that honor goes to The Turn of the Key. If you like this author's previous books, I think you will enjoy this one. If you've read from her before and not enjoyed her writing, this is probably not going to change your mind.
