The It Girl

The It Girl, by Ruth Ware, was a one-sitting read for me. I knew I’d like it going in — I always love Ruth Ware thrillers for twisty, not-gory, page-turning suspense stories like One by One and The Turn of the Key. And I almost always love Oxbridge settings, too, like in The Maidens or Gaudy Night.

The It Girl is told in two timelines, Before and After. In the Before storyline, freshman Hannah arrives from her state school, and finds Oxford full of freshman who were all the top of their year. Fortunately, she’s assigned a room in a set, two bedrooms with a shared common room, with beautiful, wealthy party girl April Clarke-Cliveden. Hannah is pulled into April’s circle, and they’re basically always drinking champagne and show more having wild times, when they’re not heads-down studying. It is Oxford, after all. Sure, April’s pulled some pranks on the others, and some of the pranks haven’t been completely fun for the victim, but it’s all part of the Oxford hijinks!

The dividing event is the murder of April Clarke-Cliveden, which separates Hannah’s whole life into before and after. At a party in their second semester, April went upstairs to change her clothes, and when she didn’t come back Hannah went looking for her. Hannah found her roommate and bestie April dead on the floor of their shared living room. It’s a typical Ruth Ware murder, so it’s suspenseful because you’re desperate for more details and rereading for clues, but it’s not actually a gross scene. (That’s my favorite kind of thriller!)

In the After storyline, Hannah, now married and pregnant, begins to doubt her own memories and wonder if something else really happened. You can see how the trauma has affected her, she now works a quiet job in a book shop in Edinburgh. It’s pretty far from the path she seemed to be on in the beginning of her freshman year at Oxford. As she investigates, readers can see how the murder has affected the others in their friend group, too.

Although the murder’s already been solved in the After storyline, the convicted murderer has died in jail, still insisting that he’s not the killer. Prompted by a journalist, Hannah begins to reexamine what she remembers and what else could have happened, because if the wrong person was convicted, that means the real killer is still free.

If you’ve already read it, and you’re dying to talk about the ending, me too! I have a lot of spoiler-ific comments on The It Girl here. But don’t click until you’ve read the book. You’ll want to discover this suspenseful story without any hints. show less

April’s murderer has passed away in jail. This starts a whole new frenzy about her murder. But, when a journalist blindsides Hannah at work and informs her of some new evidence, Hannah immediately begins to question everything she knew about that horrible night and everything she knew about April.

I will always read this author. I love the chase in her books…The who done it! She is a master of manipulation of the reader. I swear! I changed my mind 5 times. But, I do find her books a bit on the wordy side. She could cut a good bit out of all her books and I would be happy!

Now, that I got that out of the way…Hannah is a character I just loved! I found her warm and cautious at first. Then, when questions started to arise about the show more murder of April, I discovered she had intelligence and courage to possibly correct an egregious wrong.

I also enjoyed the format of this book. The chapters were labeled Before and After. Before was when April was alive and they were all in college. The After chapters are what all of them are experiencing in present time, after April’s murder. This really helped to understand some of the thought processes and why it all happened.

This is definitely a story I will not soon forget!

Need a good whodunit! THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review. show less

Ruth Ware's latest novel is an engrossing dark academia mystery that centers around the murder of Oxford "it" girl April Coutts-Cliveden. Hannah Jones became BFFs with the wealthy, clever, and sometimes cruel April, after they're paired as roommates freshman year. But, before the school year ends, April is dead, and a creepy porter will be convicted of the crime based on Hannah's eyewitness testimony.

Fast forward a decade, and Hannah is still haunted by April's death, in part because the porter has died in prison, maintaining his innocence until the end. Then a journalist contacts her, claiming that new evidence suggests the police got the wrong guy. Hannah's life is once again in turmoil. If it wasn't the porter, then who killed show more April?

I enjoyed this slow burn whodunit that showcases Ruth Ware's talent for weaving a twisty story. Though unique from her other books, I would say THE IT GIRL's atmosphere is closest to THE LYING GAME (less drama though). Not exactly Gothic or thriller, but suspenseful and keeps you guessing. Lots of red herrings and possible suspects had me changing my mind often, and I was shocked when the truth was revealed! I'll be buying a copy for my keeper shelf!

Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

The It Girl by Ruth Ware is a very highly recommended, outstanding psychological mystery/thriller that begs you to consider how much can you trust others as well as yourself?

Hannah Jones’s Oxford University roommate, April Clarke-Cliveden, has it all. April is beautiful, wealthy, and sophisticated. She is the ultimate "It" girl, so Hannah is thrilled when the two immediately become best friends. Hannah becomes part of a close group of friends including April, Emily, Ryan, Hugh, and Will. What she could never portend is that April would be dead before the end of the year. This event changed the entire course of Hannah's life.

Ten years later, Hannah and Will are married, living in Edinburgh, and expecting their first child. The man who show more was convicted of killing April, Oxford Porter John Neville, has just died in prison. His death brings the trauma a decade earlier to the forefront again along with reporters and media contacting Hannah. When one young journalist who is a friend of Ryan presents some new evidence that suggests Neville might have been innocent, Hannah, whose testimony sent Neville to prison, begins to question what she believed to be true about April's murder.

The plot unfolds through Hannah's point-of-view in alternating "before" and "after" chapters. The "before" chapters follow Hannah's arrival at Oxford, her socializing with her friends, and memories of Oxford leading up to April's murder. We meet the group of friends, see their personalities, and observe their interactions with each other through Hannah's eyes. "After" chapters follow Hannah in the present day, her life with Will, her pregnancy, and the growing doubts concerning what she thought was true. She becomes obsessed with trying to uncover what really happened to April.

The It Girl is very well-written, intriguing, captivating, and utterly compelling. I was engaged from beginning to end in this even paced novel. Ware provides details that bring to life the characters and settings. The alternating timelines work remarkably well in the narrative and help to gradually create even more suspense and tension. Every one is a suspect at one time or another as Hannah tries to figure out what happened and if her observations were accurate. I was engrossed right up to the denouement, which was a shocking surprise.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Gallery/Scout Press.
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April and Hannah meet on their first day of Oxford. April was posh and sophisticated, but also manipulative with a mean streak. April, at the end of their first year, winds up dead in her and Hannah’s rooms and Hannah’s testimony puts the porter, John Nevill, behind bars for her murder. Almost a decade later, Hannah is married and pregnant when she gets notification that not only has Neville died in prison, but there is doubt of his guilt. Hannah cannot let go of the fact that she may have put an innocent man in prison and thus sends Hannah down a rabbit hole of lies, mysteries and murder. Told in alternating viewpoints - Before and After.

A compulsive read with a slow start - the reader is drawn into both April and Hannah’s show more world. Following multiple theories and leads, Hannah has no idea who of the friends she and April made at Oxford she can trust, and thus the reader doesn’t either. I was left questioning everything up until the very end. show less

Well color me shocked. This may be the second Ware book that I have liked. The main reason why I gave this just four stars is I really didn't enjoy the retconning of one character. I won't get into it since it would be spoilers, but it just felt off based on what we read about what was going on between this person and Hannah while at school. The book does a great job of showing the "before" and "after" and even manages to do a nice job with showing the fallout from not just the media, but true crime enthusiasts when a murder happens. I had a fun time of guessing who was the person who murdered April.

"The It Girl" follows what happens to a group of students (Hannah, Will, Emily, Hugh, and Ryan) after their school friend (April) is found show more strangled and murdered while they were at Oxford. Hannah at the time was being stalked by a school porter at the school (John Neville). She sees him leaving from where she and her roommate April lived and when Hannah and her friend Hugh find April dead, they realize that only John could have done it. The main character we follow throughout via first person point of view is Hannah. We get to follow Hannah before and after and see how her life is derailed after April was found dead.

Hannah's life at times feels colorless as we follow her. She left a promising academic career and hid away after April's death. Now living in Edinburg, she hopes the scores of journalists and other true crime enthusiasts will one day leave her alone. She's expecting her first baby with [redacted] but still doesn't feel quite happy. But when John Neville, who was found guilty of murdering April dies in prison, a journalist comes along claiming he has evidence that proves John was innocent. Hannah of course goes into a tailspin. She already is dealing with lots of guilt about April, but to realize she could have been wrong about John Neville haunts her and she starts to remember what happened before and starts to get back in touch with her Oxford friends.

I think the smartest thing that Ware did in this one was for us to just follow Hannah. Her last book we had too many shifting points of view and I thought the story suffered from it. We also get to spend time with Hannah before and after. You can see how she was before April died and how much things have changed for her.

I thought the other characters were well written. Ware does a great job of bringing to life April, Hugh, Emily, Will, and Ryan. You feel at times you are back with them back in school and dealing with the stresses of exams and if that boy/girl you like, likes you too. You can even see why everyone gets pulled in by April at first, but how many people she had angered with her unending pranks and how she tended to seem to use some of them to make herself feel "bigger." I also like that there are so many potential suspects in this book. I don't know about anyone else, but my mind changed a dozen different times about who could have done it and the reason why too. There are enough threads there for you to follow and it makes sense when you get to the end I thought.

The writing was very good and so was the flow.

I thought the setting of Edinburg felt lonely the way Ware wrote it. And when we jumped back to "before" to the rooms that April and Hannah shared, it felt more real and alive. It definitely helps set the mood.

I really enjoyed the ending and the ultimate why behind everything. show less

I absolutely adored the rich setting of The It Girl by Ruth Ware in the fictional campus college of Pelham College at Oxford University.

Having visited Oxford in 2012 and 2018, I easily fell into the academic student vibe and wished I was among the characters fortunate enough to study there. Put it this way, I was definitely conjuring Dead Poets Society vibes as I was reading.

Our protagonist Hannah Jones is an impressive character and we pick up her story on her first day at Oxford. Later on, we find out more about her humble upbringing:

"I was the only person in my year at school to apply for Oxford. I'm the first person in my family to come here too. In fact, my dad doesn't even have a degree - he's a builder who left education when he show more was sixteen. I didn't volunteer to feed underprivileged kids in my gap year or spend my summer digging wells - I spent my summer working in a supermarket. As you may have guessed, I don't always feel like I fit in here. But I'm determined to prove I belong." Page 55-56

When Hannah moves into her accommodation on campus in Pelham College, she's surprised to be sharing a common room with April Clarke-Cliveden. April is charismatic, rich, confident, intelligent, beautiful and manipulative. April is the classic 'it girl' with a gaggle of loyal friends, Hannah, Will, Hugh, Ryan and Emily but by the end of the second term, April has been murdered.

The story unfolds in two timeframes, Before and After and both were compelling. At 420 pages in length though, I thought it was probably 50 pages too long. The After section takes place 10 years after the murder and we learn from the blurb that the man convicted of April's murder has died in prison. Hannah is married to Will and expecting their first child when this death occurs which sets off a chain of events.

Both time frames contained an element of mystery and suspense, although the ending was unexpected which is exactly what you want in a domestic thriller from Ruth Ware.

I do wonder though, if I've been spoiled forever after reading and loving my first Ruth Ware novel in The Turn of the Key back in 2019. That book went on to make my Top 5 Books of 2019 list and the ending was so amazing, it made me gasp out loud. Every time I've picked up a Ruth Ware novel since then (see my review for One by One by Ruth Ware) I'm hoping to have a similar mind blowing reading experience. The It Girl fell short of blowing my mind or making me gasp, and it won't be a contender on my Top 5 list for this year, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable 'whodunnit', that's for sure.

I recommend The It Girl by Ruth Ware to crime and thriller readers, campus novel enthusiasts and those with a special place in their heart for Oxford.

* Copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster * show less