Society of Lies

Society of Lies is a psychological thriller by Lauren Ling Brown.  Released 1st Oct 2024 by Penguin Random House on their Bantam book imprint, it's 336 pages and available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. 

This is one of the "buzz" books of 2024 and was also a Reese's Book Club pick. Despite the pedigree, this is an often muddled, ambiguous, and chaotic story centered around two sisters at Columbia, jockeying for position in the "Eating Clubs". The characterization is diffuse; sketched in for most of the secondary characters. Motivations are murky or contradictory and most of the misunderstandings could've been cleared up with a 20 second conversation.

Many (most) of the characters are not particularly nice, and some are downright unpleasant. The author has painted Columbia and the eating clubs as being full of cruel spoiled rich kids who delight in bullying one another, with lots of partying and little academic work. The denouement and resolution are somewhat ambiguous and unsatisfying. 

Three stars. It's a mixed bag. Given the demand for the book it will likely already be on public library acquisitions lists. It would also be appropriate for book club discussion.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.