Good page turner
3 stars
Psychological thriller / murder mystery
English language
Published Nov. 30, 2022 by Cengage Gale.
It Girl
by Ruth Ware
4 stars
(8 reviews)
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.
barbara fister reviewed The It Girl by Ruth Ware
Review of 'The It Girl' on 'LibraryThing'
A small town girl, Hannah, is delighted to be accepted to Oxford, where she feels like a fish out of water but soon makes a cluster of good friends, including her best friend, a glamorous and rich roommate - who is murdered. A creepy porter who seemed to be stalking Hannah is found guilty, largely based on Hannah's eyewitness account of seeing him leave her lodgings at the time of the crime. Years later, Hannah has been traumatized by the publicity around the murder, is expecting a child when she learns the guilty man has died in prison, still protesting his innocence. Was her testimony flawed? If so, who could have committed the murder? returnreturnThis novel didn't work for me. While it's pleasant to spend some time at Oxford, the drama among a cluster of friends, it all felt artificial to me, and the drama of pointing the finger at …
A small town girl, Hannah, is delighted to be accepted to Oxford, where she feels like a fish out of water but soon makes a cluster of good friends, including her best friend, a glamorous and rich roommate - who is murdered. A creepy porter who seemed to be stalking Hannah is found guilty, largely based on Hannah's eyewitness account of seeing him leave her lodgings at the time of the crime. Years later, Hannah has been traumatized by the publicity around the murder, is expecting a child when she learns the guilty man has died in prison, still protesting his innocence. Was her testimony flawed? If so, who could have committed the murder? returnreturnThis novel didn't work for me. While it's pleasant to spend some time at Oxford, the drama among a cluster of friends, it all felt artificial to me, and the drama of pointing the finger at various old friends got old. The denouement seemed manipulative - which may be a feature of thrillers, but I found myself rolling my eyes. returnreturnEvidently mine is a minority opinion, but I was disappointed and glad when I finished the book.
