“Maybe it wasn’t only John Neville who stole April’s life. Maybe she has done the same.” – 4/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: theatre wigs, Oxford, pranks, pregnancies, emergency room visits, creepy stalkers, a lot of suspects, old friendships, interviews, high heels, night gatherings, and… delivered packages.

April Coutts-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford.

Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the second, April was dead.

Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide… including a murder.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of One by One returns with an unputdownable mystery following a woman on the search for answers a decade after her friend’s murder.

Wow, I actually enjoyed this a lot! 

I would describe this as a dark academia, murder-mystery kind of thriller. So if you don’t know, this book follows a group of friends who are studying in Oxford. But one night, the “it girl” of the group, April, is found dead in her dorm room – and the main suspect is the creepy porter Neville, who was the last person who saw April alive. Our main character, Hannah, April’s best friend, testified against the porter and along with the other friends, gave enough reasons to convict him. Ten years later, the news reported that Neville died in prison, and now a journalist who has been talking to Neville for the last years is claiming he was innocent the entire time. Hannah, now pregnant and married to April’s at the time boyfriend – oh yes, you read that right -, is starting to question if he really was guilty, and now tries to find out what really happened the night April was killed.

How interesting does that sound, right? Of course, I was super invested in the story! I personally love Ruth Ware’s books, so I already knew this would be a hit – and I wasn’t disappointed.

The characters were great! April reminded me a lot of Regina George, so I imagined her the entire time. I feel like April was a better friend than Regina, but other than that, I think they were very similar.

Hannah was a little annoying and too stubborn at times, especially for the way she couldn’t let go of the subject and take care of her baby. With that said, I liked her as a main character.

The plot was very good and it kept me interested in the story. The reason why I didn’t give this a higher rating is simple. I was suspicious of two characters (including the culprit), so I can’t say I was super surprised when the big revelation was done. I kind of saw it coming, I just didn’t know how or why – but I was suspicious, so the shock factor was missing! With that said, the story was really good and I found myself looking forward to picking up the book during my breaks.

I definitely recommend it!