The It Girl by Ruth Ware
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 12th August 2022
Published: 4th August 2022
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
EVERYONE WANTED HER LIFE. SOMEONE WANTED HER DEAD.
April was the first person Hannah met at Oxford.
Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It Girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit, along with Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily. By the end of the term, the six were fast friends. By the end of the year, April was dead.
Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, John Neville, has died in prison. But Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking with evidence that throws everything in doubt, and Hannah is forced to ask, did her testimony put an innocent man in prison?
She needs to know the truth.
Because if the killer wasn’t Neville, it’s someone she knows…
A new page-turning thriller from the international number one bestselling author Ruth Ware.
MY THOUGHTS:
April Clark-Cliveden is THE IT GIRL. She has looks, brains, confidence and money and is everything that anyone could want to be. And she was privileged enough to grace the presitigous halls of Oxford's Pelham College. But was it her brains that got her there? Or the substantial donation her father made to their library? Maybe a bit of both but April was definitely no ditzy blonde, despite the colour of her hair. She attracted people to her like bees to honey with her magnetic personality and despite her penchant for pranks, people loved her.
Hannah Jones couldn't believe she was at Oxford! The first of her family to do so and she had dreams of what this opportunity could mean for her...and the doors it would open. Oxford alone was prestigious and would therefore look good on her CV after graduating. She was shown to her digs on the fifth floor of staircase 7 where she walked in...and met April, who had already made herself right at home. Naturally April had claimed the largest of the two bedrooms (first come, first serve and all that) but Hannah was happy with her's which was far larger than the one she had at home anyway.
The girls fell into a friendship as April introduced her to friends already made prior to Oxford - Will and Hugh - with them made new ones in funny Ryan and spiky Emily. It was clear early on that April and Will became an item but Hannah couldn't deny the spark she felt whenever she looked at him. Despite this, Hannah loved her time at Pelham. The only drawback was a porter called John Neville. He was creepy and seemed to have an unhealthy interest in both Hannah and April.
And then one night, Hannah walks into their rooms and discovers April laying dead on the floor. And from that moment on, Hannah's life changes.
Fast forward to the present day ten years later and Hannah is now living in Edinburgh, married to Will and expecting their first child. After April's death Hannah never returned to Pelham, wanting to escape as far as she could and therefore never completing her degree. But she has found contentment working in a little bookshop that pays little but it's Will's job as an accountant that puts a roof over their heads and pays the bills. But Hannah likes it there.
Then she receives the news that John Neville, the college porter convicted of April's murder, has died in prison. Bringing with it, a journalist friend of Ryan's who contacts her and is investigating the possibility that Neville could have been innocent. And suddenly all the memories of the past resurface and Hannah begins to question if she had got it wrong ten years ago. Did Neville really kill April? Or had she just wanted to believe that because he was so insidiously creepy? But she had seen him come out of their building just moments before she discovered April's body.
Hannah's husband Will is far from happy that she is digging up old ground. As far as he's concerned, Neville was found guilty and convicted. Added to the fact that Hannah is six months pregnant and all her stirring up the past is causing her blood pressure to spike and Will worries it may harm her and the baby. But Hannah cannot let it rest. If Neville IS innocent then she owes it to him to uncover the truth...after all, it was her testimony that convicted him.
Her journey into the past leads her to York and back to Pelham itself before she can finally unravel the long-buried secrets of that night ten years ago. And more than that, could one of her friends be responsible for April's death?
A complex and engaging psychological thriller, THE IT GIRL throws us a trail of red herrings with twist after twist as we try to unravel the mystery before Hannah can. I thought I had it figured out but even I was hoodwinked until just before the final reveal when it began to fall into place and, despite its relative impossibility, I had then worked out the how and when but the why was a mystery. Until it wasn't. And then it all made an April-esque kind of sense.
The story is incredibly atmospheric with its Oxford setting and a slow burning build that goes a little bit too long, in my opinion. The book itself is a tad too long and many scenes were far too drawn out as if every last drop is being squeezed out. The format of alternating chapters BEFORE and AFTER did keep the pace going, but dragged it out a little on occasion as well. And yet it's this format that plays the story out best as events gradually unfold and we are drip-fed bits and pieces whilst trying to piece it all together.
The characters are well developed. It's easy to dislike April, which I did from the start. She comes across as privileged and entitled and expects everyone to follow her lead. She calls the shots and very pointedly too, I might add. She loves to play pranks on people, no matter the consequences and barely stops to put herself in others' shoes when she does so. She has a purpose behind every prank and that I find is incredibly cruel. I cannot believe Hannah could be friends with someone so shallow and often vicious. The other unlikeable character was of course, John Neville. He gives you the creeps from the start, always lurking, watching, stalking. He is patronising and creepy but does that make him a killer? That's the question Hannah finds herself faced with. I didn't like either April or Neville. Ruth Ware has drawn each of the characters carefully, giving us the right vibes we garner from both April and Neville. We are not meant to like them.
Overall, THE IT GIRL is a clever complex mystery that I enjoyed once I got into it though I did feel it dragged a little too long. The ending was a touch of class that brought everything to a satisfying conclusion.
If you enjoy Lisa Jewell, then you will love Ruth Ware.
I would like to thank #RuthWare, #NetGalley and #SimonAndSchusterUK for an ARC of #TheItGirl in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Before her writing career, Ruth worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language, and a press officer before settling down as a full-time writer.
She now lives with her family in Sussex, on the south coast of England. She is the #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail (Toronto) bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood; The Woman in Cabin 10; The Lying Game; The Death of Mrs. Westaway; The Turn of the Key; One by One; and The It Girl.
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