book reviews of the it girl by ruth ware

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THE IT GIRL

by Ruth Ware ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 12, 2022

Delightfully readable fiction, but the mystery disappoints.

Ten years after having discovered her Oxford roommate’s dead body in front of the fireplace in their room, a young woman struggles with the realization that she may have helped send the wrong man to prison.

Hannah Jones arrives at Oxford hardly believing that she’s been accepted into this haven of learning and wealth. Sharing a picturesque set of rooms with the flamboyant and beautiful April Clarke-Cliveden, she divides her time between rigorous studying and energetic socializing with Emily Lippmana, Ryan Coates, Hugh Bland, and Will de Chastaigne, with whom she shares an attraction even though he's April’s boyfriend. It’s a good life except for the increasingly creepy interactions she has with John Neville, one of the porters. When Hannah finds April dead one night just after she’s seen Neville coming down the stairs from their rooms, it’s her testimony that puts him in jail. Ware divides the novel into alternating “before” and “after” chapters, with the narrative of Hannah’s college experience unfolding parallel to the events of her life nearly a decade later, when she’s married to Will and pregnant with their first child. Then Neville dies in prison and Hannah hears from a reporter who thinks he might actually have been innocent. Hannah begins to wonder herself, and she plunges back into the past to see if she can figure out what really happened that night. As usual with Ware, the novel is well crafted—the setting, characters, and dialogue are all engaging—but it lacks the author's signature sense of urgent and imminent threat. The novel unfolds smoothly, providing a few twists and turns, as the reader might expect, but not really delivering any true suspense. It also lacks the contrast between a luxurious background and the characters’ fears that Ware has often played to great effect. She does offer a deeper dive into the trauma of the survivors than she usually does, but this isn't the breathless page-turner one has come to expect from Ware.

Pub Date: July 12, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-9821-5526-1

Page Count: 432

Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: April 22, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022

SUSPENSE | THRILLER | SUSPENSE | PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | GENERAL FICTION

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HOME IS WHERE THE BODIES ARE

by Jeneva Rose ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 2024

Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.

Three siblings on very different paths learn that their family home may be haunted by secrets.

Eldest daughter Beth is alone with her fading mother as she takes her final breath and says something about Beth’s long-departed brother and sister, who may not have disappeared forever. Beth is still reeling from the loss of her mother when her estranged siblings show up. Michael, the youngest, hasn’t been home since their father’s disappearance seven years ago. In the meantime, he’s outgrown his siblings, trading his share of the family troubles for a high-paying job in San Jose. Nicole, the middle child, has been overpowered by addiction and prioritized tuning out reality over any sense of responsibility, much to Beth’s disgust. Though their mother’s death marks an ending for the family, it’s also a beginning, as the three siblings realize when they find a disturbing videotape among their parents’ belongings. The video, from 1999, sheds suspicion on their father’s disappearance, linking it to a long-unsolved neighborhood mystery. Was it just a series of unfortunate circumstances that broke the family apart, or does something more sinister underlie the sadness they’ve all found in life? In chapters that rotate among the family’s first-person narratives, the siblings take turns digging up stories and secrets in their search for solace.

Pub Date: April 30, 2024

ISBN: 9798212182843

Page Count: 270

Publisher: Blackstone

Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024

SUSPENSE | THRILLER | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | SUSPENSE | GENERAL & DOMESTIC THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE

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by Jeneva Rose

THE HOUSE ACROSS THE LAKE

by Riley Sager ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2022

A weird, wild ride.

Celebrity scandal and a haunted lake drive the narrative in this bestselling author’s latest serving of subtly ironic suspense.

Sager’s debut, Final Girls (2017), was fun and beautifully crafted. His most recent novels— Home Before Dark (2020) and Survive the Night (2021) —have been fun and a bit rickety. His new novel fits that mold. Narrator Casey Fletcher grew up watching her mother dazzle audiences, and then she became an actor herself. While she never achieves the “America’s sweetheart” status her mother enjoyed, Casey makes a career out of bit parts in movies and on TV and meatier parts onstage. Then the death of her husband sends her into an alcoholic spiral that ends with her getting fired from a Broadway play. When paparazzi document her substance abuse, her mother exiles her to the family retreat in Vermont. Casey has a dry, droll perspective that persists until circumstances overwhelm her, and if you’re getting a Carrie Fisher vibe from Casey Fletcher, that is almost certainly not an accident. Once in Vermont, she passes the time drinking bourbon and watching the former supermodel and the tech mogul who live across the lake through a pair of binoculars. Casey befriends Katherine Royce after rescuing her when she almost drowns and soon concludes that all is not well in Katherine and Tom’s marriage. Then Katherine disappears….It would be unfair to say too much about what happens next, but creepy coincidences start piling up, and eventually, Casey has to face the possibility that maybe some of the eerie legends about Lake Greene might have some truth to them. Sager certainly delivers a lot of twists, and he ventures into what is, for him, new territory. Are there some things that don’t quite add up at the end? Maybe, but asking that question does nothing but spoil a highly entertaining read.

Pub Date: June 21, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-593-18319-9

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022

PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER | SUSPENSE | THRILLER | SUSPENSE | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | GENERAL FICTION

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Glamour, Lust and Murder in the Hallowed Halls of Oxford

In Ruth Ware’s “It Girl,” a woman whose college roommate was murdered decides to reinvestigate the case.

Credit... Doeun Choi

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By Sarah Lyall

• July 20, 2022

Nuclear Armageddon, killer viruses, massive tidal waves, alien attacks, apocalyptic space debris — there are so many ways it could go wrong for our battered little planet. In AURORA (Harper, 292 pp., $27.99) , David Koepp offers a new unpleasant scenario, a solar storm called a coronal mass ejection that summarily knocks out most of the world’s power. (In a neat trick, the cataclysm barely touches the countries nearest to the Equator, which immediately offer humanitarian aid to the struggling nations of Europe and North America.)

Society’s fabric quickly unravels, as it tends to do in stories that dance at the edges of apocalypse. But Koepp, a screenwriter (“Jurassic Park”) and novelist (“ Cold Storage ”), focuses less on global problems than local responses. His book spares us heavy scenes of mass violence and rotting bodies, sticking instead to the stories of a few people trying to find their way through it all.

Thom Banning, a tech billionaire who has grimly anticipated the end of days by building a vast underground bunker in the Utah desert, moves in with his family and a large staff that includes a pilot, a yoga instructor, two chefs and a dentist. (Can money insulate a person from the collapse of the world? Discuss.) In a homage to the eerie “Twilight Zone” episode “Time Enough to Last,” he’s also stashed 12 extra pairs of prescription glasses in his bedside table.

Several states away, in Aurora, Ill., Thom’s sister, Aubrey, has her own preoccupations — a surly stepson, an elderly neighbor, a nefarious ex-husband, the need to persuade the guy who used to grow weed to switch to vegetables. For reasons that will be explained later, her relationship with her brother is fraught, and their different disaster-management approaches only make things worse.

There’s some violence and a bit of mayhem as it all shakes out, but this is mostly disaster lite, the doom leavened by the knowledge that power might be restored in a year or two if the governments of the world get their acts together. As always in books of this kind, I found myself considering how I might fare in such a scenario. (Hoping that everything works out OK, my usual go-to response, seems to be an increasingly poor strategy.) “Aurora” offers some neat ideas, should this particular disaster befall us next.

There’s something unusual about Marshall, Texas. This tiny town, the seat of the federal courthouse for the Eastern District of Texas, is the go-to spot for intellectual property litigation in the United States, awash in out-of-staters engaged in multimillion-dollar patent disputes.

But in Joey Hartstone’s terrific new legal thriller, THE LOCAL (Doubleday, 309 pp., $28) , a Marshall lawyer named James Euchre finds himself embroiled in a tougher sort of case. His latest patent client, a hotheaded tech entrepreneur named Amir Zawar, has been accused of fatally stabbing a federal judge — a man he threatened to kill during a contentious hearing earlier that day. Euchre takes the case. But he’s torn — the judge was like a father to him, and Zawar’s innocence is not at all certain.

This is the first novel for Hartstone, a TV writer currently working on the series “Your Honor,” but he writes with verve and affection about the things that divide and connect the characters in Marshall’s insular criminal-justice community. The characters are vivid and worth rooting for, and the plot is just complicated enough to be interesting without being overwhelming.

Is “D-Cal,” the nickname of the local district attorney, a deliberate nod to “Delay,” the nickname of the D.A. in Scott Turow’s masterpiece, “Presumed Innocent”? The jury is out.

Being THE IT GIRL (Scout Press, 422 pp., $28.99) at Oxford University sounds like so much fun, what with the heedless glamour, the wild behavior, and the envy and lust you inspire in others. “She had the kind of beauty that hurt your eyes if you looked at her for too long,” Hannah Jones, the dull-by-comparison main character of Ruth Ware’s new book, says of her rich, unpredictable roommate, April Clarke-Cliveden.

Sadly for April, she never gets to graduate, on account of being murdered by a creepy college porter named John Neville.

But did he really do it? Neville protested his innocence until his untimely death in prison, and now journalists are asking tough new questions. In “The It Girl,” the always reliable Ware takes us on an anthropological expedition into the past, with mostly exciting results. Haunted by “the messy, wriggling, unfinished ends putrefying beneath the surface of what happened that night,” and rived with guilt because her testimony led to Neville’s conviction, Hannah decides to reinvestigate the case.

Complications abound. April’s then-boyfriend, the hunky Will, is now Hannah’s husband. Hannah is pregnant and often feels faint. And as it turns out, April was kind of a jerk and if someone in the book hadn’t killed her, you, the reader, might be tempted to do it yourself.

It will take all of Hannah’s sleuthing (and survival) skills to crack the case. As always with thrillers like this, Ware makes college sound far superior to real life — an endless bacchanalia of drugs, alcohol and sexual hedonism only slightly marred by the unfortunate addition of murder.

Sarah Lyall is a writer at large, working for a variety of desks including Sports, Culture, Media and International. Previously she was a correspondent in the London bureau, and a reporter for the Culture and Metro desks. More about Sarah Lyall

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Book Review: The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Jul 20, 2022 | Book Reviews , crime fiction , mystery , Thriller | 14 comments

When a Ruth Ware books lands on my doorstep, I get excited. I’ve read every single one of her books published , and really enjoyed all of them. Because she’s writing in such a crowded genre, I’ll recognize certain tactics of suspense, or a stretch in truth or reality here or there, but overall I can safely say Ware is one my ‘ read everything’ authors . This latest release The It Girl is definitely one of her best because I was quite shocked to discover who the murderer was – which is always a sign of a well-written mystery, and will guarantee her readers will continue coming back for more.

Plot Summary

Hannah has just started at Pelham College in Oxford – one of the most prestigious at an already prestigious university, so she finds herself surrounded by private school graduates with impressive families to match. Her roommate April is no exception – beautiful, incredibly wealthy, and able to score good marks despite her wild side and pattern of hard partying. They quickly become best friends, but at the end of their first year, Hannah finds April murdered, strangled to death in their room. The book moves between before April’s death, and after, when we meet Hannah ten years after the murder, pregnant and happily married to a young man named Will, who also happened to be April’s boyfriend at the time of her death. Hannah’s testimony is what led to the conviction of an employee of the university being sentenced for April’s murder, but Hannah always had suspicions about what she saw that night, and is wracked by guilt that her words may have condemned an innocent man to death. By giving us glimpses into the before and after of this traumatic event, Ware gives readers the opportunity to form their own theories about who killed April, offering us the chance to become our own detectives in real time.

My Thoughts

As I continue to read more Ruth Ware books, I realized that the reason I, and so many other readers enjoy her writing is how adept she is at building suspense. There are so many elements that have gone into this one book to ratchet up the tension; a creepy man who is clearly disturbed but may be innocently put in jail, the secrets between friends that can swing wildly between harmlessness to deadly, the bouncing between time periods that casts doubt on events previously determined as straightforward, an impending pregnancy with a man that has flashes of unwarranted anger, the numerous suspects with both motive and means to murder the ‘it’ girl. Many books that layer these issues on top of one another tend to be unbelievable, but I can happily assure you this is not one of those cases – I was too invested to question whether something was realistic or not, and I never found myself rolling my eyes at some revelation or twist, so the progressions felt authentic.

A few months ago I wrote about the fact that certain mysteries appear to be geared towards men rather than women , but in this case, I can safely say Ware’s books generally appeal to the female reader more often than not. This is because her protagonists are always quite similar; young sympathetic women who harbor dark secrets, always with a question mark hanging over their heads but still kind and good enough to be a likeable character.

As in her other books, wealth continues to be a factor in this latest story as well; April was incredibly wealthy, while Hannah comes from an average household. She can hardly believe this is her life as she poses for photos with April in private clubs or in their room filled with custom décor. Despite these differences, they are best friends which is why Hannah is so haunted by her death, unable to continue with her Oxford education she falls back on her love of books, living out her days as a bookstore clerk, but excited about her future with Will.

The issues dealt with in her books tend to be fairly safe, no political references or controversial subjects. But in this novel she touches upon the issue of female harassment, hesitance to disclose and victim blaming. Hannah is being stalked by one of the school porters (who is eventually convicted for April’s murder), and he both speaks to her, and treats her inappropriately. But another male, Dr. Myers is also portrayed as a dangerous man, however he is a professor with a much better reputation, and when Hannah approaches him about her concerns with the school porter, he immediately dismisses her concern, vaguely threatening to speak to the porter himself which would of course make the situation worse for Hannah. When Hannah revisits the school later, Dr. Myers continues to be promoted within the institution, regardless of his bad behavior and inappropriate relationships with students. Class and gender imbalance are dealt with a lighter touch, but it’s still a current that runs through this and her older novels, once again adding that suspense she is so well known for.

As I mentioned above, I flip-flopped over who I thought April’s murderer was, which is half the fun of this book. Yet another winner from Ruth Ware to add to the pile!

Spread the Word!

14 comments.

I skimmed your review a bit since this one is sitting on my TBR and I should be getting to it soon, so I’m delighted to hear you think it’s a winner!

I’d be interested to hear what you think of this one FF! You’ve read Ware before right? Once or twice? I think she was a hit and miss for you but I can’t remember

You have a great memory! Yes I loved one of them and then wasn’t so enamoured by the next one that I tried. But I think that was during that terrible slump that I had when Covid kicked off, and I really feel that a lot of books didn’t get a fair chance from me at that time, so I’m giving the authors another chance to impress me now that life is back to something approaching normal!

It’s funny how the time/headspace we are in while reading can so greatly affect our opinion of a book. Ware will no doubt have many more books for you to test out!

It’s been a few years since I read In A Dark, Dark Wood, but isn’t there something in that novel too about one woman ending up with a man who used to go out with the other lead woman? I do really enjoy Ware’s mystery and plots, but her pacing drives me bonkers. She has a past and a present timeline, and just as the past timeline is about to reach the conclusion, she puts us in the present and drags her feet, withholding the conclusion for (in my opinion) far too long. However, I’ve never read a Ware text, just audio, so perhaps the “feet dragging” only feels that way because audiobooks are always slower (unless you speed them up, like my mom does!).

Does your Mom press Fast Forward? How does she speed them up?

Yes I’d try reading Ware, see if you feel any differently. Lots of ppl are sick of her by now, but for some reason…I just can’t get enough!

She has the Libby app through her library, and I guess you can change the speed settings to 1.5x the speed or 2x the speed, etc. I tried it once and was immediately overwhelmed!

Oh wow, I had no idea you could do that. I could see why that would be overwhelming absolutely

I’m behind on my Ware books. She’s a fun author though!

I thought this was a fun read too, but I must say I didn’t find Hannah to be very likeable myself.

Actually I agree with you, she isn’t all that likeable, so many of Ware’s characters rarely are!

I too am a lover of Ruth Ware’s writing, however The It Girl, in my opinion is the worst one I have read. It was clear to me from the outset who the murderer was (although not why, admittedly) so for me it lacked any of the usual suspense.

I’ve heard some people say her books are uneven for sure. I’m looking forward to reading her next one, Zero Days. It’s on my shelf!

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Review: The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Editorial note: I received a copy of The It Girl in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

The It Girl by Ruth Ware is an entertaining mystery. One of the best I’ve read in a long time!

Ruth Ware is one of the most popular mystery and thriller writers out there today. I haven’t read much of her work, just One by One , which I thought was fine but didn’t really stand out to me. However, The It Girl is really well done! It’s a good combination of an interesting character study as well as a murder mystery.

Before becoming a mom, this is the type of novel I would have flown through and read in one sitting. It has that addictive, you have to know what’s about to happen, kind of feel. But I don’t have the time to read a novel in one sitting with an 18-month-old who is always on the move! So I took my time with it and I’m actually really starting to enjoy the slower pace style of reading. I find myself thinking about the novels more and especially in a mystery, wondering—who did it ?

What’s the Story About

We read the story entirely from the perspective of Hannah Jones—both during her freshman year at Oxford and in the present. When she arrived to Oxford, the first person she met was the outgoing April Clarke-Cliveden. April came from wealth and has that ‘it’ girl quality. She could be a brat, selfish, mean while at the same time, caring and thoughtful.

It doesn’t take longer for Hannah to be sucked into her orbit and soon enough, they develop a crew with a couple other classmates—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead.

Now it’s a decade later and Hannah and Will are married and expecting their first child together. The man convicted of killing April, porter John Neville, has died in prison. But instead of closing the door on the painful memories, a journalist investigating the case, reopens old wounds. And has Hannah questioning if John was indeed the killer? And if he wasn’t, who was?

Hannah goes on a journey to find out the truth and as she reconnects with old friends, she starts to question everything she thought she knew.

Hannah’s Journey

Overall, I thought Hannah is pretty compelling. I do think her being pregnant added more tension to the story especially as she goes deeper and deeper into the investigation. I liked reading about her past at Oxford and relationship with April. Their friendship is interesting—initially it seemed stereotypical with rich girl/shy girl dynamic but there’s much more there. I do think Hannah saw something different in April than anyone else did.

While I do like Hannah, I will say I think this story could have used a multi-perspective approach. I was curious to learn more about the friendship group and we could have used their perspectives as well. We get it a little bit through Hannah’s interactions but I would have liked to have more.

That’s probably my only true criticism of the story—that it was a bit too much focused on Hannah, when the other friends seemed interesting too.

The Mystery

When I worked as a trade journalist, I used to enjoy listening to true crime podcasts during my travels. I’ve since gotten away from those but I do like when fiction stories feature a journalist trying to find the truth about previous cases through the podcast format. While the journalist in the story is not the smoothest operator, he definitely opens up a can of worms for Hannah as she slowly discovers there’s much more to the case than realized.

I found myself pointing the finger at many of the characters— I think trying to solve the mystery is part of the fun of reading these stories.

I found this to be an engaging and even insightful story about image, perception, friendship and more. My favorite mysteries do a deep dive on the characters and this more than delivered on that front. While I do think it would have benefited to have more characters give their input, I still very much enjoyed the novel.

If you’re looking for a solid mystery, this is a great choice for you. For book clubs, check out my questions here .

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Review of The It Girl by Ruth Ware

07.11.2022 by Jen Ryland // 1 Comment

I have enjoyed many of Ruth Ware’s books, and The It Girl was one of my most anticipated summer reads. What did I think? Check out my Review of The It Girl by Ruth Ware

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

To be published on July 12, 2022 by Gallery/Scout Press. Thanks to the publisher for providing me an advance copy for review.

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

What Else Has Ruth Ware Written?

She first wrote young adult books (I didn’t know that!)

Her first adult thriller was In a Dark Dark Wood (2015).

Then she wrote The Woman in Cabin 10 (2016)

The Lying Game (2017)

The Death of Mrs. Westaway (2018)

The Turn of the Key (2019)

One by One (2020).

Which is her best book? Check out What’s The Best Book by Ruth Ware?

I put The It Girl on my Ten Thrillers I’m Dying to Read This Summer – check it out! Most of my picks are proving to be awesome!

I am a big Ruth Ware fan. She writes classic British mysteries in the vein of Agatha Christie. One by One was clearly inspired by And Then There Were None. The Turn of the Key was an interesting modern Gothic. And The It Girl also had some Christie trademarks: a long-ago murder and a diabolically clever solution.

Dark Academia: one of my favorite genres!

I’m a huge Dark Academia fan and when I saw that part of The It Girl takes place at Oxford, I was excited.

On the other hand, I was a bit nervous about the whole “normal girl/guy gets pulled into the orbit of a dazzling rich girl/guy” trope. This is a trope that worked for me in The Great Gatsby but often turns too Manic Pixie Dream girl for me.

BUT … I really loved The It Girl . Here’s why:

First, the Dark Academia vibes were strong . The It Girl has a past/present format, in which main character Hannah reacts to a reporter contacting her (in the present day) about the death of her Oxford roommate, April, ten years ago. Chapters alternate between present-day Edinburgh, and the 2010s at Oxford.

Oxford is a fascinating place (to me) with an illustrious history and lots of quirky traditions, and I loved that aspect of the story. Hannah is a regular middle-class girl who is somewhat dazzled by it all. Same!

Second, and this may sound weird, but twenty-something Hannah was giving me all the Miss Marple vibes . I was listening to an Agatha Christie podcast (serious mystery nerd here) that had an interesting discussion of Miss Marple.

The hosts and the guest (who I think was Ruth Ware) discussed how Miss Marple’s age made her a constantly underestimated character, and that her age also gave her physical limitations as a detective.

Hannah, the main character, is nearly six months pregnant in the book, and decides to re-investigate the murder of her roommate if only to prove to herself that her testimony in the case was accurate. Hannah has all kinds of pregnancy-related ailments that make her more vulnerable: high blood pressure, achy joints, heartburn.

Do you love a good “group of friends” book?

The It Girl is a Group of Friends Book . Or, more specifically, one of those “group of friends at school and one of them gets murdered” books, like The Secret History , In My Dreams I Hold a Knife , or quite a few other books .

My worries about the April-Hannah dynamic were unfounded. I couldn’t help but like April. Yes, she lent Hannah expensive shoes and told her that her Boots lipstick was crap, but she was also really smart and constantly underestimated because she was blond and pretty.

It Girl’s mystery was quite diabolical.

There were SO many suspects (if you want to discuss them all, come over to my Spoiler Review of The It Girl ) and I kept going back and forth and around and around on who was to blame.

The ending was truly devious and surprising, Agatha Christie style. I think Agatha would have been impressed by this one. I did not come close to figuring it out!

So, if you love a Dark Academia vibe and a classic-style mystery without too much violence, I absolutely urge you to pick up The It Girl. It’s a great mystery and a really fun summer read.

If you read and loved this one and want two books with a similar vibe, try:

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Flynn

About Jen Ryland

Over 12 years of book blogging and reviewing, I have read over 1500 books. A fair and honest reviewer who loves book discussions, I'm here to help you find a book you'll love to read AND give you a place to talk about it and ask questions. Find me on Instagram and Pinterest as @jenryland!

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The Best Fiction Books » Mystery

The it girl, by ruth ware.

A brutal murder in an Oxford college is the theme of Ruth Ware’s latest psychological thriller. The story is told ten years on by her roommate and best friend, whose life has fallen apart since the crime.

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We’re Ruth Ware fans here at Five Books so it’s not a huge surprise we’re including her latest, The It Girl , on our mysteries of 2022 list. It’s set in a fictional Oxford college and involves the murder of a student. The story is told through the eyes of her roommate and best friend, ten years on and now married to the boyfriend of the murdered girl. The how and who of the murder is possibly a little quick to become clear to the reader—leading to a slight frustration with the main character—though the why remains a surprise.

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Other books by Ruth Ware

The turn of the key by ruth ware, one by one by ruth ware, the lying game by ruth ware, the death of mrs westaway by ruth ware, the woman in cabin 10 by ruth ware, our most recommended books, the big sleep by raymond chandler, the tokyo zodiac murders by ross and shika mackenzie (translators) & soji shimada, the detective stories of edgar allan poe: three tales featuring c. auguste dupin by edgar allan poe, the murder wheel by tom mead, a murder is announced by agatha christie, all the sinners bleed by s.a. cosby.

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The It Girl : Book summary and reviews of The It Girl by Ruth Ware

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The It Girl

by Ruth Ware

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Published Jul 2022 432 pages Genre: Thrillers Publication Information

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About this book

Book summary.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the "claustrophobic spine-tingler" ( People ) One by One returns with an unputdownable mystery following a woman on the search for answers a decade after her friend's murder.

April Clarke-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 year, 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. "The Agatha Christie of our generation" (David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author) proves once again that she is "as ingenious and indefatigable as the Queen of Crime" (the Washington Post ) with this propulsive murder mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

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"This exceptional psychological thriller from Ware probes how much one can trust others—and one's self...Alternating past and present chapters build toward a gripping denouement as nicely chosen details bring each character vividly to life. This showcases Ware's gifts to the fullest." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Ware develops both the reader's doubts about and concern for Hannah as the suspense builds gradually under a masterful barrage of red herrings...Riveting." - Booklist (starred review) "[T]his isn't the breathless page-turner one has come to expect from Ware. Delightfully readable fiction, but the mystery disappoints." - Kirkus Reviews "Every Ruth Ware novel is a unique and unexpected gem and this one is no exception. A heady, tense, slowburn dream of a book, multi-layered and steeped in atmosphere and peril. I loved every page." - Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone

Author Information

Ruth Ware 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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REVIEW: The It Girl by Ruth Ware

I was alerted to this book by a friend who knew it was in my suspense wheelhouse. I’ve read probably half a dozen books with similar descriptions: dual timelines that start with a group of friends in college, one ends up murdered, and years later the protagonist tries to unravel the truth behind the murder.

Despite the fact that the execution of the books I’ve read has been spotty, there’s something I love about this plot. I tend to like dual timelines anyway (more than the average reader, I think), and I also tend to like college-set stories (my fondness for New Adult romance series set in faux-Ivy-League schools is strong evidence of this). Also, I had heard good things about your books, so I was jazzed to try The It Girl .

Hannah Jones arrives at Oxford as an overachiever, the only child of a single mother. As with many of these type of “dark academia” books, she’s a fish out of water, intimidated and awed by the rich and beautiful people she immediately encounters.

In this case, the first person Hannah meets is her roommate, April Clarke-Cliveden. April is indeed rich and beautiful. She’s an early adopter of Instagram and a sort of baby influencer. Hannah is drawn into a circle that forms her first night at school: besides her and April, there are Will and Hugh, who Hannah knows from the posh school they all attended, as well as the more working-class Ryan and Emily. The group bonds over a game of strip poker, and Hannah becomes enamored of Will when he saves her from the embarrassment of having to take off more than she’s comfortable with. Hannah quickly discovers that April and Will have a thing going on, to her disappointment.

Before the school year is over, Hannah will have found April dead in their suite, strangled.

In the present day, Hannah is about 28, living in Edinburgh and expecting her first child with her husband, Will. After April’s death, Hannah was unable to return to school, and now she works at a bookstore. She is jolted by the news that former Oxford porter, John Neville, who was convicted of April’s murder, has died in prison. When a journalist contacts Hannah to try to discuss evidence that Neville may *not* have been guilty, Hannah’s equilibrium is further thrown off; it was largely Hannah’s testimony that convicted Neville.

Neville appears as a creepy possible-stalker of Hannah from her first day at Oxford, and he denied and then admitted being in Hannah and April’s suite shortly before the murder. Hannah identified him as the person she saw leaving the building immediately before she went up and found April. The significance of Hannah’s IDing seemed overblown to me, given that Neville eventually admitted he was there. But Hannah begins to question everything she thought she knew about that night and April’s death.

Back in the past, Hannah and April grow close in spite of April’s capriciousness and “pranks”, the latter of which alienate some in the friend group. April is the prototypical poor little rich girl, wealthy in material comforts but lacking a stable, loving family. Her relationship with Will is shaky, and more than once Hannah has suspected that April is entertaining someone other than Will in her bedroom. Since Hannah is still hung up on Will, this causes her more than a little ambivalence. It’s a credit to Hannah’s character (and maybe to April’s charisma) that Hannah doesn’t resent April more. As the school year goes on, it becomes apparent that the attraction between Hannah and Will is mutual, complicating things further.

Spoiler : Show

Hannah then discusses the events with Hugh, who also lives in Edinburgh, and Emily, who she goes to visit at Oxford, where Emily now teaches. Her meeting with Emily leaves Hannah wondering if Emily’s apparent hostility towards April could have been more serious than she’d realized.

Aside from Neville and the friend group, the only other viable suspect is a skeezy professor of Hannah’s who happened to have rooms across from Hannah and April’s suite (which seems weird, but I guess maybe they do things different at Oxford). Most of the suspect appear to have alibis: Ryan and Emily were in the bar that Hannah left with Hugh right before she found April; Will was not even at Oxford that night. It’s not quite a “locked room” mystery, but as the story progresses it has some of the hallmarks of one: not just who killed April, but how ?

As it happens, I figured out the former at the 80% mark, which isn’t bad for me. Let’s just say that the person the protagonist is sure is the murderer definitely isn’t the murderer when there’s still a fifth of the book to go. From there, for reasons too spoilery to get into, it was pretty obvious who did it. The “how” wasn’t something I could have figured out without it being explained, and it felt faintly absurd. To be fair, in my thriller reading, merely “faintly absurd” is actually a compliment. Also, the more I thought about it, maybe it was kind of genius? I’m not sure. (The why ended up being a bit anticlimactic, though.)

Overall, The It Girl was a diverting and entertaining book; I’d probably give it a B+, but for the fact that Hannah was a bit bland and a couple of weeks after finishing it, the story hasn’t really stuck with me. My final grade is a straight B.

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has been an avid if often frustrated romance reader for the past 15 years. In that time she's read a lot of good romances, a few great ones, and, unfortunately, a whole lot of dreck. Many of her favorite authors (Ivory, Kinsale, Gaffney, Williamson, Ibbotson) have moved onto other genres or produce new books only rarely, so she's had to expand her horizons a bit. Newer authors she enjoys include Julie Ann Long, Megan Hart and J.R. Ward, and she eagerly anticipates each new Sookie Stackhouse novel. Strong prose and characterization go a long way with her, though if they are combined with an unusual plot or setting, all the better. When she's not reading romance she can usually be found reading historical non-fiction.

Thanks for an excellent review. I love when people identify their catnip, and this is one for many readers; for me, it feels like once is enough. I usually avoid such stories, same with the “and then there were none” plots. The exception, IMO–and I really hesitated to read it–was Simone St. James’ THE BROKEN GIRLS. The relationship between the girls/women was refreshingly different and made the book exceptional. If you have recommendations for others, I’m all ears.

@ Darlynne : I looked at the blurb for THE BROKEN GIRLS – it looks interesting! I may check it out.

The ones that I usually think of are two I read last year, but I don’t recommend them unreservedly – THE GIRLS ARE ALL SO NICE HERE and IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE. I gave the former a B and the latter a B+. The main protagonist of TGAASNH was just too unlikable, and the ending was too downbeat, otherwise I probably would have given it a B+ as well. The protagonist of IMDIHAK was also somewhat morally compromised, but less so, and I liked the ending better. Both books are probably not for someone who doesn’t like that plot, though. I found them both really compelling and readable, though – maybe a tad more than THE IT GIRL.

@ Jennie : Thanks, this is helpful. I will look at IMDIHAK, partly because I like the visual the title conjures (don’t know what that says about me), also because morally compromised is not a deal breaker at all. I do recommend THE BROKEN GIRLS quite highly.

@ Jennie : Didn’t you give Girl A by Abigail Dean an A- last year? Or are you mentioning only the other two books because they seem to fit Darlynne’s taste better?

@ Darlynne : It’s a very evocative title! It’s actually less dark than TGAASNH, but the knife definitely comes into play. :-)

@ Janine : I did consider Girl A – it’s a very good book (again, very dark). I think I hesitated only because it’s a slightly different kind of thriller – there is a dual timeline, but it involves a family (look up the Turpin family, for anyone who is interested in story with some parallels) rather than classmates. Also, it’s a more cerebral thriller – not so much whodunit, as “what actually happened because the present day storyline is definitely leaving something big out.” But it’s really good – I still think about it today.

Another one that comes to mind that I read a few years ago, The Luckiest Girl Alive. Again, dual timeline, set in a high school in the past, and the protagonist is a bit of a hard case. It’s another one that’s not so much “who killed person x?” but “what happened in high school because there’s a story there and the protagonist is not giving it up?” (Which is a conceit that can be a bit irritating to me as a reader – when I’m aware that the main character knows something but it isn’t revealed until late in the book. Like, it feels contrived unless my attention is grabbed so much that I can’t think about the fact that it’s contrived.)

@ Jennie : Thanks for explaining.

I am Ruth Ware fan, but didn’t like this book. Found 2 main characters not likable. Didn’t care one was murdered and was wishing other character (Hannah) was knocked off just so she would stop whining

@ Carmel : Do you have a Ruth Ware that you particularly recommend? I read a sample of The Lying Game and was intrigued.

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THE IT GIRL

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.

“Every Ruth Ware novel is a unique and unexpected gem and this one is no exception. A heady, tense, slowburn dream of a book, multi-layered and steeped in atmosphere and peril. I loved every page.”

Lisa Jewell, author of The Family Upstairs

Read the First Chapter HERE

Signed, personalised copies are available from Ruth’s local independent bookshop, City Books

Signed, personalised copies are available from Ruth’s local independent bookshop, City Books.

LISTEN TO A SAMPLE OF THE AUDIOBOOK

How I Write

…or rather, how I wrote The It Girl

One of the questions I get asked most at events and talks is how I write – how I plot, how I come up with ideas, what an average writing day looks like.

Writing a World You Don’t Know

You’ve probably heard the writing advice “Write what you know.” It’s one of the first maxims handed out to would-be novelists. And there’s a seductive logic to it – if you’re writing a world you know intimately, you can immediately put aside concerns about research and authenticity and just get on with crafting the story.

Dark Academia

A closed community. Passionate friendships. The pressure-cooker stress of academic success… or failure. It’s no wonder that boarding schools and universities make some of the best settings for murder – in fact it’s surprising to me that there aren’t more whodunnits centred on colleges….

“Before: cool, calm, chilled. After: What? No! OMG! A wild ride that’s deliciously twisting, with countless gasp-out-loud moments.” 

Janice Hallett, author of The Appeal

“ The It Girl is brilliant. Ruth is the master of the fiendishly twisty, yet completely believable, plot.”

Elly Griffiths, author of the Dr Ruth Galloway mysteries.

“If you ever idly wish that Agatha Christie would write a new book, Ruth Ware has got you covered. The It Girl has all the clues, twists and red herrings you could wish for, in a thoroughly modern setting. An impeccably constructed mystery from start to finish.”

Jane Casey, author of The Killing Kind

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“The It Girl” by Ruth Ware – Book Review

Hannah Jones – from a middle class background, is thrilled to be studying literature at the infamous Oxford University. April Clarke-Cliveden – beautiful, wealthy, popular, stylish, a gifted actress, and prone to practical jokes. The type of vivacious stunner that seems to excel at whatever she attempts with little effort on her part. April was murdered her first year of uni. Will de Chastaigne – April’s boyfriend at Oxford, but he knew her from school before that. Now working as an accountant Will is married to Hannah. Hugh Bland – Will’s best friend since prep-school who studied medicine at Oxford. Single, Hugh is now a doctor working in Edinburgh. Ryan Coates – Emily’s boyfriend at Oxford. Now married to someone else and the father of two small girls. Ryan suffered a stroke after university which left him wheelchair bound. Emily Lippman – dated Ryan at Oxford and studied mathematics. Emily is somewhat brusque and sardonic. Now she works as an academic in her field.

I loved the dual timeline and settings in this one with part of it being set in Oxford University and the other part set ten years later in  Edinburgh, Scotland.

Hannah Jones gave evidence against one of the Oxford College porter’s for the murder of her best friend and roommate.  Now, a decade later, that man has died in prison and Hannah is approached by a journalist who posits that the man was innocent. Hannah, never really without her own doubts as to what happened that fateful night, begins to wonder if perhaps the journalist is right. Did she make a tragic mistake?

“ The It Girl ” of the title was Hannah’s friend, April Clarke-Cliveden. She was beautiful, wealthy, popular, stylish, a gifted actress, and prone to practical jokes. Sometimes her ‘jokes’ turned out to be cruel, hurtful pranks. When she is murdered the night after her successful play, it changes Hannah’s life forever. She drops out of university and moves to Scotland where she eventually marries Will, April’s old boyfriend from Oxford. Now they are expecting their first child. Haunted by her friend’s death and her part in the apprehension of the man who purportedly murdered her, Hannah has never been able to put the tragedy behind her. Now, alternating between the past and the present, Hannah revisits the time leading up to April’s murder.

With authentic characters that come alive to the reader, Ruth Hare has written another novel that is bound to be enjoyed by many – locked-room mystery lovers and thriller lovers alike.

This psychological thriller covers themes of guilt, jealousy, social acceptance, loyalty, and friendship. The narrative is skillfully rendered with an exciting denouement and more than one plot twist. Recommended!

Publication date: July 12, 2022 Publisher: Scout Press – Simon and Schuster

You can follow her on Twitter @ruthwarewriter

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9 responses to “the it girl” by ruth ware – book review.

loveee ruth ware

I’m a huge fan too Erin. 👍😍

Ooooh, this sounds like it lands in the Venn diagram between The Girls Are All So Nice Here and The Secret History. Is that the vibe?

Like Liked by 1 person

I cannot compare Sheree as I haven’t read those two titles. I can tell you it was a really good read. 👍📚

I just started this one. So far, so good!

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did Joyce.

I can’t wait to read this one Lynne I’m on the blog tour next month for it!

I took a look at the About Ruth section of her website. Here’s a funny sentence from it: “I’m writing this at my desk in my office-slash-guestroom, so there is a bed to my right, which is very tempting when work is going badly.”

Love it! ❤️ Thanks for pointing that out Neil.

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The It Girl

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Table of Contents

• Rave and Reviews

About The Book

About the author.

Ruth Ware 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 ; The It Girl ; and Zero Days . Visit her at RuthWare.com or follow her on X @RuthWareWriter.

Product Details

• Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press (July 12, 2022)
• Length: 432 pages
• ISBN13: 9781982155261

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Raves and Reviews

"So many flawed friendships, so many promising red herrings. . . . The pages just turn themselves." —People Magazine

“Ware once again demonstrates her literary claim as the 21st century’s answer to Agatha Christie with this ingeniously crafted puzzler . . . Fans of Golden Age mysteries like Dorothy Sayers’s Gaudy Night will love the book’s Oxford setting, while readers of trendy dark academia suspense novels, in the manner of Alex Michaelides’s The Maidens , will feel right at home. Top-drawer entertainment from a modern master of mystery.” —Library Journal (Starred Review)

"Ruth Ware’s richly-textured The IT Girl is at once an engrossing murder mystery while also a perfectly crafted and haunting examination of lost youth and the compromises of adulthood, as a woman unpicks the past secrets of her university friends to finally lay to rest her murdered best friend, the dazzling April. Reminiscent of The Secret History, Ware has surpassed herself with this gripping, absorbing whodunnit. I loved it! All hail the Queen." —Sarah Pinborough, New York Times Bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes

"Deliciously dark and utterly addictive — my favourite Ruth Ware yet!" —Lucy Foley, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Apartment and The Guest List

“Every Ruth Ware novel is a unique and unexpected gem and this one is no exception. A heady, tense, slowburn dream of a book, multi-layered and steeped in atmosphere and peril. I loved every page." —Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone

“Ware develops both the reader’s doubts about and concern for Hannah as the suspense builds gradually under a masterful barrage of red herrings . . . Riveting.” — Booklist (Starred Review)

“This exceptional psychological thriller from Ware probes how much one can trust others—and one’s self . . . . Alternating past and present chapters build toward a gripping denouement as nicely chosen details bring each character vividly to life. This showcases Ware’s gifts to the fullest.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“As usual with Ware, the novel is well crafted—the setting, characters, and dialogue are all engaging . . . Delightfully readable.” —Kirkus Reviews

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The It Girl: The deliciously dark thriller from the global bestseller Hardcover – 4 Aug. 2022

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'Deliciously dark and utterly addictive — my favourite Ruth Ware yet'  Lucy Foley Everyone wanted her life Someone wanted her dead It was Hannah who found April’s body ten years ago. It was Hannah who didn’t question what she saw that day. Did her testimony put an innocent man in prison?   She needs to know the truth.   Even if it means questioning her own friends. Even if it means putting her own life at risk.   Because if the killer wasn’t a stranger, it's someone she knows…   PRAISE FOR THE IT GIRL :   'An absolute belter. Could not put it down! I thought I knew who the killer was. Then I was CERTAIN it was another person! Then DEFINITELY another! Great characterisation, glamorous setting, all round FABALISS!' Marian Keyes  'A cracking read – and that ending!' Shari Lapena 'Every Ruth Ware novel is a unique and unexpected gem and this one is no exception. A heady, tense, slowburn dream of a book, multi-layered and steeped in atmosphere and peril. I loved every page' Lisa Jewell 'Absolutely brilliant murder mystery - seamless, flawless, perfectly clued and utterly gripping' Sophie Hannah 'Impeccably crafted and totally compulsive – you’ll be sad to reach the final page and realise you have to say goodbye'  JP Delaney 'Ruth Ware’s richly-textured The It Girl is at once an engrossing murder mystery while also a perfectly crafted and haunting examination of lost youth and the compromises of adulthood, as a woman unpicks the past secrets of her university friends to finally lay to rest her murdered best friend, the dazzling April. Reminiscent of The Secret History , Ware has surpassed herself with this gripping, absorbing whodunnit. I loved it! All hail the Queen' Sarah Pinborough 'If you ever idly wish that Agatha Christie would write a new book, Ruth Ware has got you covered. The It Girl has all the clues, twists and red herrings you could wish for, in a thoroughly modern setting. An impeccably constructed mystery from start to finish' Jane Casey 'It’s brilliant. Ruth is the master of the fiendishly twisty, yet completely believable, plot' Elly Griffiths 'Just finished The It Girl by Ruth Ware and now my life is divided in two: before and after. Before: cool, calm, chilled. After: What? No! OMG! A wild ride that’s deliciously twisting, with countless gasp-out-loud moments' Janice Hallett 'A new Ruth Ware is always a treat and The It Gir l is one of her best.  You can almost see her smiling as she feeds you the little morsels that should help you work everything out - if only you were as clever as Ruth! As sleek and chilling as a knife between the ribs' Sarah J. Naughton 'Clever. Compelling and with a terrific sense of place. Ruth Ware’s The It Girl grips to the end'  Jane Shemilt

• Print length 432 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Simon & Schuster UK
• Publication date 4 Aug. 2022
• Dimensions 15.3 x 2.95 x 23.4 cm
• ISBN-10 1398508357
• ISBN-13 978-1398508354
• See all details

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About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster UK (4 Aug. 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1398508357
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1398508354
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.3 x 2.95 x 23.4 cm
• 4,642 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
• 7,224 in Psychological Thrillers (Books)
• 7,969 in Women Sleuths (Books)

About the author

Ruth Ware is an international number one bestseller. Her thrillers 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 have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the Sunday Times and New York Times, and she is published in more than 40 languages. She lives on the south coast of England, with her family.

Visit www.ruthware.com to find out more, or find her on facebook or twitter as @RuthWareWriter

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The It Girl Paperback – July 12 2022

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• Print length 432 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Simon & Schuster
• Publication date July 12 2022
• Dimensions 15.24 x 3.05 x 22.86 cm
• ISBN-10 1982163267
• ISBN-13 978-1982163266
• See all details

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Canadian edition (July 12 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1982163267
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982163266
• Item weight ‏ : ‎ 408 g
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 3.05 x 22.86 cm
• #29 in Canadian Women Writers
• #44 in Canadian Detectives
• #800 in Psychological Thrillers (Books)

About the author

Ruth Ware is an international number one bestseller. Her thrillers 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 have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the Sunday Times and New York Times, and she is published in more than 40 languages. She lives on the south coast of England, with her family.

Visit www.ruthware.com to find out more, or find her on facebook or twitter as @RuthWareWriter

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The It Girl

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• in Benetech’s Global Certified Accessible Titles
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• by Ruth Ware
• in Literature and Fiction
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• Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
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The It Girl Paperback – March 28, 2023

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• Print length 464 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Gallery/Scout Press
• Publication date March 28, 2023
• Dimensions 5.31 x 1.1 x 8.25 inches
• ISBN-10 1982155272
• ISBN-13 978-1982155278
• See all details

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gallery/Scout Press (March 28, 2023)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1982155272
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982155278
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.6 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 1.1 x 8.25 inches
• #686 in Psychological Thrillers (Books)
• #795 in Literary Fiction (Books)
• #1,112 in Suspense Thrillers

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Customer Review: Great psychological thriller

Sheila Hirschauer

About the author

Ruth Ware is an international number one bestseller. Her thrillers 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 have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the Sunday Times and New York Times, and she is published in more than 40 languages. She lives on the south coast of England, with her family.

Visit www.ruthware.com to find out more, or find her on facebook or twitter as @RuthWareWriter

Customer reviews

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

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