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When a young woman is found dead on her college campus, her sister doesn't believe it was an accident—and her search for answers leads her closer to home than she ever would have imagined in this thrilling debut novel from an exciting new talent. Maya can’t wait to return to Princeton for Reunions—it’s been a decade since she graduated, but she is looking forward to seeing old faces and reminiscing about her college days. And this year is even more special because her little sister, Naomi, is graduating. But what should have been a dream weekend becomes Maya's worst nightmare when she gets a call no one ever wants—Naomi is dead. The police are saying it’s an accident, but Maya suspects there is more to the story than they are letting on. As Maya pieces together the months leading up to her sister’s death, she starts to realize how much Naomi hid from her. Naomi had joined Sterling Club, the most exclusive social club on campus—the same one Maya belonged to—despite Maya’s warnings. And if she had to guess, she'd say Naomi was also tapped for the secret society within it. The more Maya uncovers, the more terrified she becomes that Naomi's decision to follow in her footsteps might have been what got her killed. Because Maya's time at Princeton wasn't as wonderful as she always pretended it was—after all, her sister wasn't the first young woman to turn up dead. Now every clue is leading Maya back to the past…and to the secrets she’s kept all these years.
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0**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**
Society of Lies is the debut novel of Lauren Ling Brown. A dark academia novel set at Princeton, Society of Lies draws upon Brown's experience with being of mixed ethnic heritage in predominantly white spaces. The novel is told in fractured timelines, bouncing between Maya when she was a student at Princeton, her sister, Naomi, as a student at Princeton ten years later, and the Maya of the present. Lila Jones was a student who died during Maya's final year at Princeton. When Naomi begins investigating Lila's death, Naomi is found dead shortly thereafter. Maya is left to find out the truth of what happened to both Lila and Naomi and what the eating club Sterling Club and the secret society Greystone have to do with their deaths.
I wanted to love this book. I love dark academia in theory. But somehow there are quite a lot of dark academia books that just aren't for me. This was one of them. I wanted to give up around 30% due to pacing being far too slow for me and not being invested in the characters. I find that a successful dark academia book, for me, requires me to care very much about the characters. When I don't, it's incredibly difficult to achieve more than three stars because it doesn't matter what stakes are introduced at that point. It isn't that I didn't believe Maya was in danger. I simply didn't care.
Let me be clear, this book was written well. I can see this being adapted successfully into a movie. Especially learning that Brown has experience screenwriting. This would do well in a cry_wolf type film. One of my favorite films. Unfortunately, this was just a miss for me.
I still think this is worth a read if it sounds interesting to someone, and I hope this book finds its audience.
0Promising Debut. This is one of those debut books where it absolutely shows flashes of brilliance... yet also doesn't fully come together. But not in any objective-ish sense, just more of a more nebulous "there should probably be more *there* there". And because it isn't objective-ish and because I can't really put a finger on exactly what my ultimate issue is here, the book by default retains its full 5* in my own rating system.
Ultimately this *is* a reasonably solid mystery-thriller (part of the issue is the tension between the two and the book constantly switching gears and never really settling on one or the other, even just in a "this genre is dominant and that one is a touch secondary" manner) that keeps fans of both genres reasonably satisfied throughout. Set at Princeton among its real life eating clubs, and featuring such real world issues (even well outside Princeton at State colleges) as tutoring a kid getting particularly preferential treatment due to being a Legacy, this is one of those tales that will excite some and turn off others, but I thought it worked well enough for what it was. Far from a Dead Poets Society, this is really more of a The Skulls level tale, but primarily featuring 2 sisters each in two different timelines each.
And I think, ultimately, that is the key to enjoying this tale - if you approach it ala The Skulls (and if you haven't seen that movie from current Dr. Odyssey Joshua Jackson's Dawson's Creek years, you should) - you'll likely have a great time with this tale. If "Dark Academia" is 100% not your thing... you likely won't have such a great time here.
Very much recommended.
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