BOOK REVIEW: The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Rating

Title: The It Girl
Author: Ruth Ware
Publication: March 28, 2023
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Genre: Thrillers, Psychological Thriller
Pages: 464

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SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)

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.

REVIEW:

When we were picking out books for our book club for the year I knew that I wanted to do a Ruth Ware for the Thiller/Mystery section.  We have done several of her books for book club and she is always a winner, she keeps us guessing the whole time.  A big thing for the one we picked was the fact that I had it sitting on my shelf to read anyway. I was excited to start, I actually used my free monthly credit to purchase the book so I could listen to it instead. 

Hannah is pregnant and married to the love of her life. She has successfully managed to keep things at bay that happened 10+ years prior.  That all changes when the prime suspect to her friend’s death dies in prison.  She begins to question if she really remembers what she thought she did. She makes it her goal to figure out what happened, whether it stresses the baby out or irritates her husband who was in the same circle of friends that she was.  Will she find out what actually happened or will she be haunted by what happened for the rest of her life?  This book really messed with my head.  One second I think that I have the whole thing figured out and the next bam what I thought that I knew was nothing but a fleeting idea.  My biggest complaint about the book and it wasn’t even about the book but I couldn’t stand the audiobook narrator. That isn’t even an issue about the book it is just how I felt.

I spent half the book irritated with the main character for constantly putting herself and her unborn child in danger.  She is galavanting around Scotland looking for her friend’s killer risking everything.  But that didn’t lower my opinion of the book any.  I still loved the guessing game and the plot line.  Her husband was annoying because he acted like he didn’t care really.  He just let his wife do whatever and kind of poopooed her ideas and thoughts, even though he was right there along with them since the murdered friend was a mutual one and his ex-girlfriend.  The friend group was well-rounded.  It hit on all the major friend categories.  You had the quiet one, the rich one who was annoying, you had the slightly snooty one,  and you had the studious one.  I highly recommend you read this book.  The author knocks another one out of the park in my opinion.  I’ll certainly be reading the other books that I have on my shelf by her to get my mystery fix on.  

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