The ‘IT’ Girl by Ruth Ware
April Coutts-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford.
Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate itgirl, 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 realises that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide…including a murder.
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 and One by One have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the Sunday Times and New York Times. Her books have been optioned for both film and TV, and she is published in more than 40 languages. Ruth lives near Brighton with her family. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @ruthwarewriter or at ruthware.com
Review
‘The IT Girl’ is a dark academica novel at its best, it was thrilling, confusing, action-packed and kept me up waaay past my bedtime! Set in Oxford and full of all the locational details you need to be immersed into uni life there. Sometimes, I wish I had taken up my place there and it's books like these that make me regret it even more. Who wouldn't want to live in a ‘set’, wear robes to dinner and be involved in academic debate whilst making life long friends in the process?
When Hannah starts at Pelham college she has no idea what to expect and when she is introduced to her roommate April Coutts-Cliveden she is pulled into a brand new world. April is the typical ‘it’ girl of the period - attractive, beguiling, pots of money, intelligent and interesting. Hannah is pulled into her world where people went to private school, drink champagne and basically have the good life. But before the year is out April is brutally murdered and it was Hannah who found her body. Ten years later Hannah is in a relationship with Will from their group and when the man convicted of the murder, John Neville, dies in prison Hannah believes it is all now finally over. However, when a young journalist turns up saying he has evidence that John was innocent, Hannah’s world is rocked and she decides that she finally needs to get to the truth... with devastating consequences.
This was such a compelling read and although it was a slow build whilst we were introduced to the characters, the tension was nail-biting and it built to a spectacular ending! As the chapters swapped from Hannah’s viewpoint whilst she was at university and the present day it allowed the reader to get to know the characters and Hannah’s life both then and now. I felt very drawn to Hannah as she reminded me a lot of myself. I also suffered a trauma whilst at University as my mother died of cancer and that sent me into a head spin and I feel as it I didn't make the most of my potential. I'm now at peace with that but it made me relate to Hannah and her life. This was a multilayered story, where every character could have had a motive and there were red herrings everywhere you looked.
Loved this one! Let me know if you read it!
