Are you looking for a murder mystery similar to The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder? How about a book with a group dynamic fraught with tensions and secrets like One of Us Is Lying? Look no further than Jessica Goodman’s They Wish They Were Us which just came in to Uni High Library ?
High school senior Jill Newman is part of Gold Coast Prep’s not-so-secret society, The Players, who rule over the student body and have access to everything they could ever want in life from test answers to favor with college admissions counselors. But when Jill was a Freshman, her charismatic best friend Shaila Arnold was murdered during a Player’s initiation ritual. Shaila’s boyfriend Graham confessed to the murder and the case was closed. UNTIL NOW! Just as Jill and the current senior Players are making plans to recruit the next group into the society, she starts receiving text messages telling her Graham is innocent, leading Jill to question everything she knows is true and has her confronting memories she has long-suppressed. Jill is desperate for the truth, but it’s definitely going to cost her. Her future? Her friendships? Her sanity? Quite possibly all three.
I enjoyed this book way more than I thought I would. I’ve been trying to read a wider variety of books lately because often times I end up pleasantly surprised (a good lesson to all readers, I think!). The plot was a tad predictable, I’m not going to lie, but I loved the strong female characters enough that it kept me engaged all the way through. It’s also one of those books that’s really easy to devour, which can be a fun change of pace when you’ve been reading Six of Crows or The Name of the Wind (yes this is a shameless plug for the March Book Madness event you should definitely participate in at the library!)
It’s not a perfect read. Making one of the not-so-major characters gay did feel a little bit queer-baity, but on the whole I think this book did it exactly what it set out to do, just possibly with a few too many difficult topics and situations thrown in for the sake of “representation” rather than for actual plot furthering or serious discussion.