The It Girl

By: Ruth Ware

Narrated by: Imogen Church

Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

“The pages turn themselves” (People) in this white-knuckled mystery following a woman on the search for answers a decade after her friend’s murder from #1 New York Times bestselling author Ruth Ware.

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) presents a “deliciously dark and utterly addictive” (Lucy Foley, New York Times bestselling author) 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

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!

Echo? Anyone???

I feel like this was read from inside a bathtub. I almost had to turn it off but I really enjoy Ruth Ware so I just kept trudging through.

Anguish of a friend

This story centers on the murder of a college roommate. The friend circle of this girl have all been affected. Her roommate anguishes over her involvement in getting a conviction of a school employee for the murder. When he dies it sets her off to find out what really happened.

Screaming at the Stereo

While Ruth Ware weaved an excellent story full of twists and mystery, her main character fell a little flat. Hannah Jones seems to be a bit dim witted, to the point of actually yelling at my car stereo to “Come Oooooon Hannah!”. She comes across as whiney and weak, not the typical strong heroine of Ware’s usual books. As to the “IT Girl” herself, April is HIGHLY unlikeable. I found myself sympathetic towards the killer, as April seemed to be an entitled, petulant child. While the characters leave much to be desired, the mystery, though simple, was a fun read. Imogen Church blew the narration out of the water as usual, giving a remarkable performance. Looking forward to Ware’s next book, and hopefully, characters that aren’t lacking.

I’ve read every book of Ruth Ware to date, loved them, so disappointed when this novel bragged on and on…

Ware delved deep into survivors guilt, but I was left unsympathetic and bored with the obsessive nature of Hannah’s thoughts and life choices completely revolving around April. If it had been a life long friend or sibling- not a roomie of 9 months- I may have felt more empathy. The other characters were way more intriguing than Hannah- leaving me wishing Ware would have thrown in MPOV with the dual time line and this book could have been much more interesting. It wasn’t all snooze worthy- the ending finally got where it should have been sans about 200 pages.

Could use an editor

Do all successful authors begin to ignore their editor? When you have to listen to this book, you hear the tediousness of her descriptions and repetitions. It would help if her editor was a little more hands-on. I am not a big fan of the narrator either.

Good mystery

Good murder mystery but long winded. I think there was a little too much details in the story

Hard to love

I was looking forward to Ruth Ware’s new release! Sadly disappointed in the lack of spine In the characters particularly Hannah’s. Very repetitive regarding flushing of face and racking of fingers through hair. Pretty slow moving and whiny overall.

The story was twice as long as it needed to be.

I got so tired of Hanna’s whining, I nearly stopped listening. But I wanted to know how the author would put an end to my misery.

Repetitious

Hana got on my nerves!! She was so stupid, and tedious very tedious- just couldn’t wait to finished it