They Wish They Were Us
Author: Jessica Goodman
Published by: Razorbill, Penguin Random House
Pages: 330
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
Published by: Razorbill, Penguin Random House
Pages: 330
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★
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 its Jill’s senior year and she’s determined to make it her best. After all, she’s a senior and a Player – a member of the Gold Coast Prep’s exclusive, not-so-secret secret society. Senior Players have the best parties, the 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 means putting her friendships, and her future in jeopardy.
My thoughts:
They Wish They Were Us is a murder mystery set against the backdrop of an exclusive prep school on Long Island.
Throughout the novel you learn about The Players and their backstories, how they became the cliquey seniors they are. Jill, the main protagonist, receives a text message with information about Shaila’s death three years ago. From there, the story flows and I was captivated pretty quickly.
Having said that, it did take time to understand Jill’s motivations in this story. It takes a little while to explore the prep school experience from the perspective of someone who knows the cost of fitting in and introduces you to The Players and other morally grey characters in Gold Coast. I enjoyed how Goodman set the scene for us early on, with lots of detail and a fair amount of backstory for the main key characters. Debut writer Jessica Goodman has created an interesting cast of characters here.
This is a book that you will devour for its secret society, hazing rituals, exclusivity, popularity and power of the privileged few. Jumping from the past and present POV of Jill, subtle clues to the mystery are dropped and layers are built up to show us who Jill truly is. Jill is a great narrator. Though her moral compass is compromised by being a Player, deep down she cares about right and wrong.
I expected more mystery and investigation, which only got started around half-way through the book. I liked that the writing delved a bit deeper beyond the prep-school murder-mystery trope and also explores female friendships, loyalty and grief. Goodman explores the harrowing consequences of belonging and keeping up the façade in a pressured environment.
The book has already been labelled as Gossip Girl meets Pretty Little Liars, but I’d also probably throw in a similarity to Veronica Mars due to the second part of the story which follows Jill in her efforts to uncover the truth and solve the case for good.
I was quite intrigued by the whole story. I’m not entirely sure about They Wish They Were Us being labelled as a thriller though. It’s more of a light mystery in my eyes. All that being said, I thought that this was a really entertaining and gripping read. Very enjoyable.
Overall reaction:
They Wish They Were Us is a murder mystery set against the backdrop of an exclusive prep school on Long Island.
Throughout the novel you learn about The Players and their backstories, how they became the cliquey seniors they are. Jill, the main protagonist, receives a text message with information about Shaila’s death three years ago. From there, the story flows and I was captivated pretty quickly.
Having said that, it did take time to understand Jill’s motivations in this story. It takes a little while to explore the prep school experience from the perspective of someone who knows the cost of fitting in and introduces you to The Players and other morally grey characters in Gold Coast. I enjoyed how Goodman set the scene for us early on, with lots of detail and a fair amount of backstory for the main key characters. Debut writer Jessica Goodman has created an interesting cast of characters here.
This is a book that you will devour for its secret society, hazing rituals, exclusivity, popularity and power of the privileged few. Jumping from the past and present POV of Jill, subtle clues to the mystery are dropped and layers are built up to show us who Jill truly is. Jill is a great narrator. Though her moral compass is compromised by being a Player, deep down she cares about right and wrong.
I expected more mystery and investigation, which only got started around half-way through the book. I liked that the writing delved a bit deeper beyond the prep-school murder-mystery trope and also explores female friendships, loyalty and grief. Goodman explores the harrowing consequences of belonging and keeping up the façade in a pressured environment.
The book has already been labelled as Gossip Girl meets Pretty Little Liars, but I’d also probably throw in a similarity to Veronica Mars due to the second part of the story which follows Jill in her efforts to uncover the truth and solve the case for good.
I was quite intrigued by the whole story. I’m not entirely sure about They Wish They Were Us being labelled as a thriller though. It’s more of a light mystery in my eyes. All that being said, I thought that this was a really entertaining and gripping read. Very enjoyable.
Overall reaction: