The It Girl by Ruth Ware BLOG TOUR #TheItGirl @RuthWareWriter @simonschusterUK @RandomTTours #BookReview

 

Everyone wanted her life

Someone wanted her dead

It was Hannah who found April’s body ten years ago.

It was Hannah who didn’t question what she saw that day.

Did her testimony put an innocent man in prison?

 She needs to know the truth.

 Even if it means questioning her own friends.

Even if it means putting her own life at risk.

 Because if the killer wasn’t a stranger, it's someone she knows…

The It Girl by Ruth Ware was published on 4 August 2022 by Simon & Schuster. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour

The It Girl is one of the cleverest and most compelling crime thrillers that I've read for a long time. With a fairly slow beginning, as the reader gets to know the characters, it soon turns into a dark and utterly compelling page-turner that left me frantically reading faster and faster, not quite knowing what to expect. 

Cleverly structured throughout, with chapters from 'Before' and 'After', allowing the author to show many viewpoints to the plot. I really enjoyed this style, it keeps the story fresh and raises question after question.

'Before' - Hannah was a regular comprehensive school educated girl from a small town where nothing really happened. Raised by her single mother, she's the first person from her school to get into Oxford. She's in Pelham House and is sharing a 'set' with it-girl April Clarke-Cliveden, a girl who is beautiful, talented and very rich. Hannah and April become unlikely friends, sharing a living space, clothes and a bunch of friends. 

'After' - ten years later, and Hannah has never recovered from April's death. Hannah found her brutally murdered in their living quarters. She's now married happily to Will (April's ex boyfriend), they are expecting a baby. Hannah learns that John Neville has died in prison. Neville is the university porter that Hannah's testimony helped to put him away for life. Neville has always claimed to be innocent, and after speaking with a podcast journalist, Hannah herself begins to wonder if she put an innocent man in prison. 

The reader gets to know everything about Hannah, April and their eclectic assortment of friends. The author reveals the intricacies of their relationships, their closeness, and also the bitter rivalries that simmer under the surface.

The setting of Oxford University is wonderfully done, with the totally unique world of the rich, the entitled and the people who find themselves a little out of their depth so beautifully created. Each character is richly described, from charismatic Will, to sharp talking Emily .... and it seems, each one of them could have a motive for murder. 

The 'After' setting is equally as gripping, as Hannah delves deeper into her past, alienating Will as she does and starting to suspect every one of the people who've been part of her life for years. The final scenes made my heart pound, and are quite terrifying in parts and for me, totally unexpected. Ruth Ware drops enough red herrings along the way to make the sharpest of reader begin to doubt themselves. 

So very finely constructed, with characters that leap from the pages in a setting that is atmospheric and dark. I loved it. Highly recommended. 

 

Ruth Ware worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language, and a
press officer before settling down as a full-time writer. 

She now lives with her family in Sussex, on the south coast of England. 

She is the #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail (Toronto) bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood; The Woman in Cabin 10; The Lying Game; The Death of Mrs. Westaway; The Turn of the Key; One by One; and The It Girl. 

Visit her at RuthWare.com or follow her on Twitter @RuthWareWriter.