Monday, December 23, 2019

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison



Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Pages: 464 pages
Publication Date: December 30th 2019
Publisher: Mira Books
ISBN: 0778309185

Goode girls don’t lie…

Perched atop a hill in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia, The Goode School is a prestigious prep school known as a Silent Ivy. The boarding school of choice for daughters of the rich and influential, it accepts only the best and the brightest. Its elite status, long-held traditions and honor code are ideal for preparing exceptional young women for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities and beyond. But a stranger has come to Goode, and this ivy has turned poisonous.

In a world where appearances are everything, as long as students pretend to follow the rules, no one questions the cruelties of the secret societies or the dubious behavior of the privileged young women who expect to get away with murder. But when a popular student is found dead, the truth cannot be ignored. Rumors suggest she was struggling with a secret that drove her to suicide.

But look closely…because there are truths and there are lies, and then there is everything that really happened.



REVIEW

There are truths, and there are lies, and then there is everything that really happened, which is where you and I will meet. My truth is your lie, and my lie is your truth and there is a vast expanse between them.

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison is a thriller of a most complex and convoluted nature and I absolutely loved it! The paragraph I outlined above is absolutely perfect and captures the essence of the story. Who’s lying and who is telling the truth? And, whose truth is it?

Good Girls Lie has a cast of compelling characters that at times were unreliable narrators but had me so emotionally invested that I literally had to keep turning pages to satisfy my curiosity. The setting alternates between Virginia and the U.K. but the majority is set in a fictional boarding school for the privileged daughters of the elite and wealthy. I really enjoyed the world building and found the history behind the fictional school fascinating; after reading the authors note, I discovered there is a mix of schools and Ms. Ellison’s own experiences that the Goode School is constructed from.

The plot is tightly woven and thought-provoking; it moves along quickly and I was delighted to find that I didn’t know what I thought I knew! I absolutely love when a book - especially a thriller - has this effect on me! There are the requisite plot twists and red herrings, definitely, but they are well-crafted, well-placed, and above all else, they made sense! Especially when that ah-ha moment hits! Even after I thought all was done, Ms. Ellison had a surprise ending that kept the suspense going.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the mystery/suspense or psychological thrillers.

A big thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin MIRA, and J.T. Ellison for allowing me to review Good Girls Lie in exchange for my honest review.


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