They Wish They Were Us

By: Jessica Goodman

Narrated by: Kristen Sieh

Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

TV Adaptation The Players' Table Starring Halsey and Euphoria's Sydney Sweeney Coming to HBO Max

“A pristine infusion of Gossip Girl and Netflix's Elite, this prep-school thriller has it all: plaid skirts, secret societies, and a gripping murder mystery, but paired with an adept critique of the powers and privileges that goeth before the fall.” (Elle)

In Gold Coast, Long Island, everything from the expensive downtown shops to the manicured beaches, to the pressed uniforms of Jill Newman and her friends, looks perfect. But as Jill found out three years ago, nothing is as it seems.

Freshman year Jill's best friend, the brilliant, dazzling Shaila Arnold, was killed by her boyfriend. After that dark night on the beach, Graham confessed, the case was closed, and Jill tried to move on.

Now, it's Jill's senior year and she's determined to make it her best yet. After all, she's a senior and a Player - a member of Gold Coast Prep's exclusive, not-so-secret secret society. Senior Players have the best parties, highest grades and the admiration of the entire school. This is going to be Jill's year. She's sure of it.

But when Jill starts getting texts proclaiming Graham's innocence, her dreams of the perfect senior year start to crumble. If Graham didn't kill Shaila, who did? Jill vows to find out, but digging deeper could mean putting her friendships, and her future, in jeopardy.

©2020 Jessica Goodman (P)2020 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"Goodman deftly explores the complex nature of friendship, privilege, grief, and the often crushing expectations placed on teens, all of which dovetails neatly with a twisty murder mystery...A sophisticated and suspenseful debut." (Kirkus Reviews)

"This debut murder mystery is filled with twists and turns that will keep its pages turning." (Booklist)

“Seductive and slick, They Wish They Were Us is a searing novel about power, privilege, and the dangerous pursuit of perfection. You’ll remember the girls of Gold Coast Prep Long after the last page.” (Jessica Knoll, New York Times best-selling author of The Luckiest Girl Alive and The Favorite Sister)

Ok- it would not recommend

It was ok, would not recommend to anyone. A fine way to pass the time, but very predictable and at the same time slow moving. They should have spent way more time on the mystery-which is the only interesting part. The rest is just a ridiculous club run by teenagers. It has potential and a good premise, but this was not it.

Addicting

Easy to listen and become addicted! Great book and I can’t wait for the series!

Predictable

I knew pretty early on who the killer was, it was very predictable. And so was the ending. Wanted to like this book so much more but unfortunately it wasn’t that great.

Interesting ya read

Mystery was obvious but the character development and atmosphere was excellent. entertaining ya novel.

All the HS prep school drama

This was an entertaining listen. The story was fun & twisty, and the narration was good. I’ll look for more from Jessica Goodman.

Held my attention the whole time!

Never a boring moment. Really enjoyed listening and kept me on my toes. Would recommend

Decent way to pass time

Nothing unique in here. Predictable but executed decently. Wish there had been more development. No heroes here, but flawed people portrayed realistically. Comparisons to Elite are not accurate, Elite builds up its cast from different perspectives and has good character development.

PREDICTABLE!!!

It wasn't BAD, just completely and totally predictable - had the whole "who dun it" aspect figured within the first few chapters! Having said that, the characters, although stereotypical, were pretty well written, the dialogue was typical but believable, and the story was overall okay. If you want an easy read/listen where you dont have to think, this is for you! I've read/listened to some smartly written YA novels before, but this isn't one of them.

B plus

A pleasant listen overall.
The story is a bit worn out and the characters were not relatable to me. However there were some plotlines throughout that kept me intrested.
The performance was solid.

A fun YA mystery with all of the high school drama you’re (not-so-secretly) yearning for!

So, I am somewhat addicted to suspenseful mysteries where women (in this case, an especially smart teen girl) solve mysteries surrounding other women. This is a YA riff of that same archetype, but I have to say that setting it in a wealthy private school with a secret society In The mix gave it lots of enticing twists. It definitely kept me reading and guessing and, even though you might figure out whodunit earlier than I did, you will still enjoy reading how these young women didn’t give up and empowered themselves to foil the murderer. Realistic? Probably not! Satisfying? Hell, yeah. I Definitely recommend if you are a mystery-lover, strong female character-lover, high-school-drama-lover, etc. it’s basically Prep with a suspenseful mystery thrown into it! The reader’s performance was on point and the writing lent itself well to listening to this book. A fun and perfect summer read (listen)!