The It Girl

By: Ruth Ware

Narrated by: Imogen Church

Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

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.

©2022 Ruth Ware. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved

Way too long and way too whiney - needed editing

I'm obviously in the minority here. Ruth Ware has proved she can conjure great suspense fiction. Imogen Church has proved she can bring a good book to life and make it better. HOWEVER - not this time. The book: I'll spare you all the ways it annoyed me. Here are the top 3: 1. The heroine is weak and whiney. 2. The "It" girl is someone anyone in their right mind would run away from as fast as they could. All the other characters say how charming and beautiful she is but she doesn't seem to have a single charming or endearing quality. She is so awful I thought the plot was going to resolve itself by having ALL the other characters do her in. 3. Someone please bring in an editor. The descriptive writing and conversations were so repetitive. I lost track of how many times different male characters raked their fingers through their hair so it "stood up like a hedgehog's." The narration: I wanted to return the book the first time I heard Imogen Church speak in the "It" girl's voice. And it just got worse and worse. I wanted to throw my phone out the window every time the sound volume plummeted and squawked to indicate people were having phone conversations. And there were a LOT of phone conversations. The best thing about this book is that Audible let me return it. And I didn't care "who dun it."

Reverb is distracting

I haven’t finished this title and because it’s brand new I’m hoping the audio can be fixed. I love Ruth Ware and adore Imogen Church’s narration but the reverb in the audio is obvious and wildly distracting. It takes me out of the story constantly. Like listening to someone since the star spangled banner at a stadium, but you’re right next to them. Fix the mix!!

Repetitive and way to Long.

To be Clear I'm a big fan of Ruth Ware and Imogin is certainly at her best! However... I found the main character to delicate and weak to be likable, how many times in 17+ hours did she pass out?? Please Oh Please don't be so stupid! It's my opinion that even if it were shorter Hannah would still be whining 🙄 so I wouldn't give it a better rating!

Narration is absolutely awful

I haven't finished the book. It's difficult to get a sense of this story because the narration is so overblown that I cringe almost every sentence. I've listened to other books narrated by Imogen Church and have not had such a negative experience. It's almost as if she were tasked to make it last twice as long!

Worst of Ruth

I like all of Ruth ware‘s books to one extent or another but this is by far the worst of the bunch. As other reviewer‘s have said, it sounds like the narrator is reading in a metal lined echo chamber with a lot of reverb. When the story involves someone talking on the other end of the phone it sounds like they’re actually talking on a CB radio from the 1950s. The book goes on and on and on. It definitely does not require 16 hours to tell the story. They could’ve easily cut out six hours of pointless details and descriptions as well as much of the backstory told in flashbacks. If this book is any indication of what’s to come I have no desire to hear another of Ruth’s books again.

Disappointed

Long, drawn out, stupid story. I purchased because I loved her other works. I fast forwarded through this one because I couldn’t stand any of the characters and the story never took off. Winey protagonists and weak storyline filled with the same thing every chapter. Save your money and pass on this one.

Annoying narrator

I just got more and more irritated by the way the narrator voiced Hannah - making her cringingly apologetic all the time. It wasn’t what I expected - I thought it would be more sophisticated and interesting

Hannah bugs!

The characters were well developed and the storyline is intriguing. Imogen Church is my all-time favorite narrator; she is so gifted.

I found the lead character Hannah obsessively reckless,. My irritation with her grew with each chapter. While I love everything Ruth Ware has ever written, this is my least favorite, only because Hannah bugs!

Could’ve been a slam dunk!

Ware + Church could only equal success- but unfortunately did not add up this time. The story - though great-seriously dragged & I wanted so badly to love it!

Yawning included

This story goes on sooooo much longer than necessary…it’s overly drawn out and the main character is tedious, insipid, boring, incapable of handling a bowl of cereal and dumber than a box of rocks…the other characters not much better…at some point you just want it to END! My high hopes were completely dashed for this one…great sleep aid though!