The It Girl
“She had the kind of beauty that hurt your eyes if you looked at her for too long, but made it hard to tear your gaze away. It was, Hannah realized, as if a different kind of light were shining on her than on the rest of the room.”
I know that the autumn solstice isn’t until later this month, but in my mind, fall begins the day after Labor Day. And, I couldn’t be more excited. I can’t get enough spooky reads and dark academia, and being in Oxford, England, this month makes this fall even more special. When I saw that The It Girl by Ruth Ware was published this summer, I knew it would be a perfect read for this trip. Murder mystery. Check! Set in Oxford. Check! Main character works in a bookstore. Check!
Hannah Jones is a new student at Oxford University, feeling unsure of her abilities but excited for her studies. The first person she meets is April Coutts-Cliveden, the “it girl” on campus and Hannah’s roommate. They become fast friends, and Hannah is welcomed into April’s friend group and pulled into April’s fabulous life, up until she is found dead by the end of their second term.
Ten years later, Hannah has mostly moved on. She’s married, working at a bookstore, and expecting her first baby. But, her past comes back to haunt her when John Neville, the creepy porter and man convicted of April’s murder, dies in prison. The news of his death raises questions about his innocence. But if John didn’t do it, who did?
The murder mystery in this one was well crafted because I didn’t guess whodunit until the very end. I also appreciated that Hannah was smart and took initiative throughout despite being pregnant. That said, I didn’t always agree with her thoughts and actions from when she was a student at Oxford, especially when it came to John Neville’s obsession with her. I wish it were more clear that even if he was potentially innocent of April’s murder, his behavior towards Hannah was inappropriate and creepy.
Despite that, I really liked Ruth Ware’s writing. Hannah works at a bookstore in the present-day, and Ware makes references to books and storytelling throughout. I could tell that they bring Hannah a lot of comfort, especially during dark times, which I can really relate to.
“In books, a bad thing might happen on page 207, that was true. But it would always happen on page 207, no matter what. And when you reread, you could see it coming, watch out for the signs, prepare yourself.”
Overall, I’d recommend this book if you’re looking for a dark mystery set on a campus. It’s a great read for a fall day, and while I don’t always suggest a glass of champagne with your book, it’s what April would want.
If you liked The It Girl, you might like these!
For another thriller with dark academia vibes set at a British university, you could try The Maidens by Alex Michaelides. Fair warning, I wasn’t happy with the end, but I appreciated all the Greek and Roman references as a former classics scholar.
This book reminded me of another thriller that came out earlier this year, Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner. The heroine is also pregnant in this one, and she finds herself in a lot of suspicious situations when she forms an unlikely friendship with a woman in her prenatal class.
