Until Alison

by Kate Russo

The night Alison was murdered, Rachel could have stopped it.

When Rachel Nardelli finds out Alison Petrucci—her childhood rival—is found dead in Pleasant Pond, the same place the two girls had first said goodbye to each other back in eighth grade, the town of Waterbury is outraged by the fear of losing one of their own—the heir to Maine’s largest construction company. But it’s a little more complicated for Rachel. She saw Alison the night she died. Callous, she said something she shouldn’t have. She stirred up the past. The next morning, Alison was gone.   

Plagued by the complicated memories around Alison, Rachel joins her journalism crew to investigate the murder. But as she revisits their fraught relationship, she falls into a web of cruelties that threaten to undo everything she understood about her past. An explosive literary thriller from the acclaimed Kate Russo, Until Alison is a brilliantly incisive and resonant novel that is at once about class, gender, and the arbitrary nature of violence.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Adult, Audiobook

304 pages, Hardcover

Published July 15, 2025

Reviews

[Elaine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Until Alison.

** Minor angst-y spoilers ahead **

When Rachel learns her childhood frenemy, Alison, has been murdered, she wonders if she could have done something to prevent it.

She was the last person to see Alison alive.

As she and her colleagues on the college newspaper probe for clues into the investigation, Rachel must confront her childhood traumas and accept how she and Alison will forever be inextricably linked.

This was SOOO not for me.

I thought this was a straightforward mystery/thriller where clues are uncovered to find the murderer but the murder is a subplot to the core of the narrative; flashbacks to the past and how Alison and Rachel's friendship unraveled and Rachel's complicity in the bullying that plagued most of Alison's young life.

I didn't like Rachel or Alison and I don't think we're supposed to.

Rachel isn't a terrible person, she's just not a good friend nora compelling main character.

She's not interesting, smart or ambitious, and a closet alcoholic.

Honestly, I still don't understand the rivalry between Rachel or Alison.

The only thing that bound them was they both liked the same boy.

This was well-written but boring and tedious.

I wasn't interested in the angst-filled turbulent years of junior high and high school.

I was a very angst-ridden teenager and I wouldn't want to relive those years for a millions. Not even five.

I wanted a mystery, not a reflection on why Rachel was a lousy friend and how their friendship deteriorated due to a boy.

That's so dumb but I remember being that age when hormones ruled your world and having a boyfriend was the most important thing you ever wanted.

When you're young (we all used to be at some point) and dumb, those kinds of things mattered then; boys, making friends and wanting everyone to like you.

It's only when you’re older do you realize how petty and silly all that stuff is.

When I was young my mom used to say, when you're older, none of these things will matter.

Of course, when you're young those are the only things that matter and who listens to their parents when they're teenagers anyway?

There are flashbacks into how Rachel mistreated Alison and her own revelations as she dealt with puberty and the not nice things boys will do because they think they own everything...and us.

The identity of the murderer is a non-issue as the narrative is really about how Rachel will now cope with the loss of Alison and how her death will continue to impact her life in the present and future.

Read this if you're a fan of the author and enjoy introspective narratives, not if you're looking for a suspenseful or thrilling read.

I'm not the right audience but I'm sure there are readers who will enjoy this.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Booklist and Putnam for the ARC and the opportunity to review this title.

During her boyfriend’s exclusive college party, Rachel sees her childhood frenemy Alison leave with a stranger. Feeling drunk and petty, Rachel doesn’t stop her and instead shouts an insult. The next morning, Alison is dead. Racked with guilt, Rachel is plagued by memories of their tumultuous relationship—the many times she looked away while Alison was bullied or occasions when Rachel did the bullying herself. Keeping her last sighting of Alison a secret, Rachel uses her position at her college newspaper to investigate. Who did Alison leave with? Could Rachel have prevented her death? Russo’s (Super Host, 2021) sophomore novel and thriller debut is a thought-provoking and incisive treatise on the sum of a life’s choices, the crippling and long-term effects of bullying, and the general dangers of being a woman. Inspired by her own experiences in Maine and as a journalist, Russo also pays tribute to the true story of a decade-old murder. Recommended for readers who enjoy intense suspense novels with unreliable narrators, such as those by Stacey Willingham and Paula Hawkins.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ending was rushed :(

[Moira · Rating 3 out of 5]

A literary thriller involving a student newspaper? Sign me up. This was a really thoughtful and nuanced look at cruelty and I thought it avoided the tropes of a high school bullying storyline very well. It was suspenseful but I found the prose a bit clunky or overwritten in parts, and the “solve” of the mystery wasn’t really satisfying. I think this goes to the author’s point that no one really deserves anything but I think for me the ending was too blunt. I still couldn’t put it down in the last half and enjoyed revisiting the 2016 college scene. 3.5.

[Kathy W · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 ⭐️

[Stroop · Rating 4 out of 5]

A riveting murder mystery x journey of self-acceptance/growth. Rachel’s childhood frenemy is dead. She isn’t forthcoming about how well she knows Alison and is tasked with writing a story about her for her college paper. To make things even more complicated, Rachel is pretty sure she saw Alison a few hours before she died.

This was really tense and engaging. As Rachel grapples with how much information she should share with investigators, she reminisces about how awful she was to Alison in junior high. Overall an exciting and emotional novel that is hard to put down once you start reading.

Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

[Alaina Pendergast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoilers may be in here so if you haven’t read it yet don’t read it.




I just wanted to start off by saying this book made me get in the mind of Rachel and express the emotions she was feeling like I was her.I got this book off of Goodreads giveaway the book came pretty soon after I won.I started reading it may 17 finished may 22 so I finished it in about 4 days..To get into it this book was predictable towards the end how the mystery guy from the party was the killer.I get how they tried to throw us off with Ethan and Brad and the backstory of her bullies in school but it was pretty obvious I will say that’s one thing I don’t like in the book.But I will give them credit with there intro to the book I was hooked the first chapter BUT as it went on it felt more like I could guess who was the killer.I do wish that they focused on more topics and didn’t breeze by it the author did execute it good but I wish they didn’t just keep throwing the storyline from one point to one point.Im referring to how she basically got sa by Ethan and how it effected her but it didn’t effect her in her adult hood like only in that moment she wanted to cry.I know people process things differently but it would’ve been good to maybe see her feel differently about cam especially because he was a frat boy and he was sex crazy.I figured something would’ve trigged with that.I do say the Cam & Allison plot-twist at the end was crazy and she executed that well because I felt Allison’s angry in me for her.Overall the book was good there were some things I wish was different but I give this book a 4 star review overall.

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

This was a hard book to read, to remember how awful teenagers can be. But I thought Kate Russo did a great job of getting into the head of someone who was in that middle ground of not quite bullied/not quite a bully, and acknowledging the guilt that accompanies that position. I only wish we had learned more about Alison’s life between high school and college, to get a better understanding of who she was at the end.

Also, maybe spoiler: it frustrated me that the police said they “thought” the body was Alison. They held a press conference with the entire town without having a formal ID? That seemed completely unprofessional and made me expect that there would be some body-switch/“she’s been alive the whole time!” nonsense.

[Ellen Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy for review. All opinions are my own. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of this book. The way it was told through past and present made it easy to follow the history of the characters and helped me to draw my own conclusions about each along the way as I (like many characters in the book) tried to solve the age old question of who did it. It was a mix of coming of age and a mystery thriller. Kate Russo did a fantastic job at putting us in Rachel’s mind so we could understand her feelings especially guilt and regret. I’ll definitely read future books by Russo! She earned a new fan with this one.

[Kristi · Rating 1 out of 5]

“I knew perfectly well that the stories we write are never quite like the stories we tell ourselves.”

I am so over the we all hate each other because of our political affiliation. In a murder mystery I’m finding this very lazy.

I am also over the man hating and class hating. The mystery is completely lost in all of the hate for those that are different than you. These characters, even the adults, are insufferable. It’s a miracle I even finished this one.

One example…“‘A lot of kids at school are like you, Dad.’ ‘Meaning?’ ‘They don’t like rich people.’” Oh that’s a great lesson to teach your children.

[Nicole Ihasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Rachel learns that her childhood best friend-turned-rival, Alison, has been found dead, their complicated past resurfaces, forcing her to confront old wounds—both the ones she carries and the ones she caused. This poignant novel explores the duality of adolescence, where kindness and cruelty coexist.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and loved the switching between present and past. I found some of the themes a little hard to read, mainly because I can remember what school was like and how bullying affects people.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars for a book with tremendous potential that I, in all honesty, just didn’t love.

I think part of the problem is the way this book was marketed. From the book jacket and the blurbs, it’s set up as a thriller, but Until Alison is most decidedly not a thriller. The death is not even the main plot. It’s a vehicle for a slow burn in the truest sense - a nearly-agonizing look at the narrator’s eighth grade year, revealed through flashbacks.

A few things about this book made it challenging for me to enjoy:

1. The pacing of these flashbacks was too slow for me. I also didn’t particularly care about the content of the flashbacks. Eighth graders’ friendship drama, attempts at dating, etc. just fundamentally does not interest me. I think this level of detail about kid drama only works when it’s set in high school rather than middle school. And even then, sometimes it’s just hard to invest an adult in the inner life of a child.

2. I don’t know if it was the writing style or what, but nearly every character seemed simultaneously unlikeable and unbelievable. So many characters were flattened and reduced to tropes - the terribly misogynistic Republican boyfriend who is casually racist toward his own girlfriend, the queer social justice activist art reporter, the friendless middle schooler who gets bullied in an almost cartoonish way. The “stock character” portrayal felt almost like a made for TV movie, with the Sociology 101 elements feeling like an after-school special.

3. Among this too-large cast of characters, I found Ethan and Rachel to be the two most interesting ones. But with so many characters to cover, the author couldn’t really let us into the inner lives of either of them…even though Rachel was ostensibly the narrator.

4. Many of the plot points strained credulity. A random dude just killing a random woman? A professor who involves herself in students’ personal lives in a way that’s appropriate and not inappropriate? Student reporters trying to do the work of cops? That last part in particular felt very YA fiction and just completely took me out of the plot. I also found a lot of the middle school bullying scenes to be extremely overwrought.

All that said, though, there were definitely elements of this book that I did enjoy. I thought the exploration of sexual assault in the context of teenagers’ attempts to figure out their own sexuality was an interesting take that I wish the author had delved further into. I also thought the exploration of class interactions in a “town and gown” setting was something I genuinely wanted to read more about.

Honestly, a book solely written about Rachel and Alison‘s respective transitions to college, and how each of them felt differently coming from the same town but different economic classes — with no murder at all — would have been better in my opinion.

Four stars for potential, two stars for execution, three stars overall.

[Lori L (She Treads Softly) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Until Alison by Kate Russo is a explores adolescent angst and a college murder mystery. It is recommended. This novel will be appreciated more by New Adult readers

In Waterbury, Maine, Rachel Nardelli and Alison Petrucci were friends as children, had a fall out during middle school, and Rachel really hasn't talked to her since they were 14. Alison was bullied and considered the weird girl in grade school and middle school. She came from a wealthy family and later went to an exclusive high school due to the bullying. During their senior year at college, Rachel was drunk at her boyfriend Cam's party when Alison showed up and later left with a guy. Alison's body was found in a pond the next day.

Rachel is a journalism major and part of the college newspaper staff so she starts investigating the murder with her fellow journalists. She also privately reflects on her former relationship and interactions with Alison, but neglects to mention until much later her previous relationship with Alison or the fact that she saw her leave Cam's party with a young man.

For mature adult readers it should be noted that this is really a new adult novel. The narrative reads exactly like an immature college student ruminating about her past. Most college students have matured, move on, etc. and don't dwell on or deeply ponder events from middle school to this extent. They are usually looking toward the future, leaving their childhood and many of the people they knew from school behind them, in the past.

As the narrator of the story, Rachel is unlikable and a large part of it, for me, is her immaturity. Rachel mistakenly thinks because she saw Alison that night she could have prevented her murder. She was also so removed from Alison in the present that she should have easily shared the fact that she knew her from years ago. They had no current connection with each other. Alison is never really developed as a sympathetic character other than her oddness in middle school when she was the target for bullies.

The quality of the writing is good, but it also seemed like Russo wanted to write a social commentary about class, gender, political alignments, and violence against women rather than a mystery. These topics are present in the narrative but don't feel incorporated into the plot in a natural manner. The novel held my attention and Russo gets points for her writing ability but the presentation could have been better.

Until Alison would be a good choice for New Adult readers on the younger side. Thanks to Penguin/Putnam for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2025/0...

[MaryAnn Benson · Rating 2 out of 5]

As I read this book, I had the nagging feeling that I was the wrong audience for this tale of bullying, angst, young adult regret and the emo world of teenage hormones. Yes, there is a murder early on but the author seems to spend less time tackling the whodunit mystery than chapter upon chapter of rehashing a childhood friendship gone terribly awry.

Rachel and Alison started out as friends but the "mean girls" world of Junior High sends them in different directions, leaving Alison as a pariah among her classmates because she is "different." The fact that both girls have a crush on the same boy exacerbates the situation. Enter the class bully and the capitulation of the rest of the class, including Rachel, and Alison disappears from their lives by transferring to a private school. College reunites the former friends but Rachel's guilt and cowardice prevent her from reconciling with Alison.

Things come to a head when Alison is murdered after attending a party thrown by Rachel's boyfriend, Cam. He is a preppy, shallow social climber from an affluent world diametrically opposite of Rachel's working class background. As a writer on the school paper, Rachel is expected to follow the investigation and report on it. A new set of "mean girls" on the college newspaper staff, as well as her own history of alcohol abuse and the complicated relationship with her boyfriend push Rachel to her limits. She also believes she is one of the last people to have seen Alison alive, leaving the party with a mystery man.

None of the characters in this book are likable, some even less so than others, but they do represent the typical range of personalities in a small town public school as well as an expensive liberal arts college. Russo obviously drew upon her experiences growing up in central Maine with its juxtaposition of blue-collar families and people of wealth. Rachel's college experiences in an atmosphere of entitlement could have been explored more, although the scene where Cam comes to visit her family begins to explore the contrasts.

The resolution of the murder was definitely anti-climactic with very little relevance to the rest of the book. As a murder mystery I would have to give it low marks but as an exploration of the challenges of adolescence and early adulthood it fared much better.

[Alison Locklar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book purely because one of the main characters shared my name, Alison. Unfortunately, that's where the excitement ended for me.
SPOILERS AHEAD

From the start, I struggled to connect with the characters. The main character, Rachel, had little to no growth throughout the story. In fact, none of the characters were particularly likeable and I found their dynamics frustrating and shallow. The constant tension over political or social class differences felt forced and lazy, especially for a murder mystery. I'm tired of this trope being used as the sole source of conflict in modern mysteries.

One plot point especially annoyed me was how an entire middle school apparently hated Alison just because her family was rich. Really? That's not only unrealistic it's weak character motivation. The rivalry between Rachel and Alison, still unclear to me. If it really stemmed from a middle school crush, then Rachel's obsession with Alison all through high school and college (to the point of cyberstalking) makes her seem unhinged. If anything, Rachel came off as the one with the real issues not Alison, whose only "flaws" seemed to be wealth and being a bit quirky.

As for the ending, it felt rushed and unsatisfying. we find out who the killer is but the reveal comes with little to no motive or deeper explanation. It left me wondering what the point of the whole story even was. for a book marketed as a thriller/ mystery, it just fell flat.

In the end, the book had potential but it didn't deliver. A great title and premise but weak execution, frustrating characters and a disappointing payoff.

[Kelly Macfarland · Rating 1 out of 5]

Words can’t describe how bad this book is. There were several issues, but here are the broad strokes:

There were no redeemable characters (maybe Alison—but she’s not even fleshed out enough to be sure). The characters are defined by what I call toxic feminism. From the journalist women, to the teacher, to even the mom. The derision towards men was palpable. Not to mention that they created no solid men characters at all. The protagonist’s father is dominated by the protagonist’s mother, with no spine to run his own household. The childhood boys are terrible, and I felt sorry for Rachel’s boyfriend Cam in the end. He was treated terribly solely for being a Republican and being himself.

The protagonist didn’t grow. At all. She started as a sheep going along, and then continued that way. She has no thoughts of her own, no sense independence. She reacts the way she thinks she should, not based on a values compass. She also acts like an apologist for her boyfriend, when she shouldn’t, and acts appalled when he steps out on her for being embarrassed around him. Not to mention Alison’s parents were way too blasé about her and Alison. Like her not making a bad situation worse was a win.

The one reason I kept reading was to find out what happened to Alison, and that never happened. You find how who did it, but not what happened. So the whole mess never feels resolved, and a waste of time. Run away from this one.

[Meghan ReadsBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Putnam for the review copy of Until Alison. I’ve sat with this one for a bit, and I’m of two minds. On one hand, I appreciated the book’s focus on the long-term impact of middle school bullying and the complex, often messy years of college—the uncertainty, the slow steps toward adulthood, and the questions around accountability for ourselves and others. It’s not exactly a mystery, but the hint of one helps shape a story that’s really centered on character and reflection.

That said, it didn’t fully work for me. I had a hard time connecting with most of the characters and felt little empathy for anyone other than Alison, and maybe Brad. The main character’s growth felt underdeveloped, and while there was some change by the end, it came too late and wasn’t explored as deeply as I hoped. The tone also leaned younger at times, more like new adult than adult contemporary, and I may not have been the right audience. Some parts, especially the middle school sections, felt repetitive—early chapters about popularity, Facebook, and cafeteria dynamics went on longer than I needed. I can see this resonating with readers who enjoy introspective, character-driven stories with a hint of darkness, even if it wasn’t quite the right fit for me.

[Kate Reilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars - I need to start with a big caveat here. I went into Until Alison expecting a taut, twisty thriller, and that expectation is probably why I came away feeling underwhelmed.

This is not a pulse-pounding thriller, and I think it being marketed as a thriller does a disservice to what it really is. It’s a literary exploration of bullying, class divides, regret, and the messy interior lives of young women, with a murder acting more as a framing device than the engine that drives the plot.

The story moves between past and present, with protagonist Rachel revisiting the painful dynamics of her adolescence. The writing is often sharp, but the pacing is slow, and the investigative thread fades into the background. Rachel herself is a tricky narrator and honestly bordered on unlikable for me.

There are also some truly disturbing depictions of the misogynistic pressures surrounding sex, which are important to the book’s commentary but difficult to read.

If you go in looking for a psychological drama about tough memories, guilt, and social pressures, you may find a lot to appreciate here. But if you’re expecting a page turning thriller, you might feel, like I did, that the tension never quite materializes.

[J Kromrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

A compelling captivating read with the capacity to open up old wounds in our own lives, and to help promote their healing.

Unfortunately, in my school years, I was both bullied and I was a bully. It is amazing that this book is not an autobiography, as the author perfectly captures the pressure cooker which children and young teens are forced to survive in public schools. Should adults, especially parents, think that this trauma is minor and is merely a right of passage ( or if were one of the few kids who passed through this nightmare unscathed) I hope they read this book because this trauma can (and will) cause lifelong wounds.

Regarding the mystery, it is captivating and enlightening. When you are done reading it, hand it to your teenager, so they can realize, that if they survive this minefield of youth, they will eventually become an adult, and life will, at last, improve.

[Jeanette DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started Until Alison, I thought the writing was too dry and I would soon be bored. I’m happy to say I was wrong. The writing was excellent, so much better than the flowery, ridiculous, cutesy writing in so many books I read by popular authors. The writing was so realistic and so vivid that I felt I was right there with Rachel and Alison in both middle school and college. Reading about the horrendous bullying and relentless torture that Alison endured from her cruel peers was extremely difficult. However, this is unfortunately reality and the world in which we live. The ending got me right in the heart and I continued to think about both Rachel’s and Alison’s plights way after I finished reading. I took one star away for two reasons. First, I didn’t appreciate when the author, at the beginning of the book, referred to both Rachel and Alison being Italian and having furry arms. REALLY? Very insulting and disparaging toward Italians and, FYI, not true at all. Shame on this ITALIAN author for such an unkind, stereotypical remark. And second why oh why does every single book I read, have the female protagonist NOT get along with her mother? She dodges her phone calls, makes excuses to not to visit. C’mon authors! Break out of this tiresome stereotype! It would be nice FOR ONCE to read about a main character who actually loves and gets along with her mother!

[Robert Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

This resonated with me, as someone with my own *complicated* middle/high school bullying experiences I had hoped to never have to revisit! Our MC is complicated, and not always the easiest to root for since most of the time you just want to scream at her, but that makes her easy to relate to.

Russo does a great job making the past come alive as she explores the characters pasts, but the college characters seem a little 2D. I think maybe we need more time with the characters than we were given. That’s always a positive sign, in my opinion!

As should come as no surprise, I have a huge soft spot for cub reporters trying to solve an important case while working thru their own demons (sound familiar?). This is an enjoyable thriller that is more memoir than mystery, but either way an enjoyable read!

[Sherri · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Rachel Nardelli learns that her childhood rival, Alison Petrucci, has been found dead in Pleasant Pond—the same place where they said goodbye to each other back in eighth grade—the town of Waterbury is outraged. They fear losing one of their own: the heir to Maine’s largest construction company. However, Rachel’s situation is more complicated. She saw Alison the night she died and, in a callous moment, said something she shouldn’t have, stirring up the past. The next morning, Alison was gone.

We all make mistakes. Every once in a while, when you see the chance to rectify one, it's a gift"

Haunted by complicated memories of Alison, Rachel joins her journalism crew to investigate the murder. As she revisits their tumultuous relationship, she becomes entangled in a web of cruelties that threatens to unravel everything she thought she understood about her past. Dive into the captivating world of acclaimed author Kate Russo’s thrilling novel, Until Alison, where suspense meets insightful exploration of class, gender, and the complexities of violence, truly resonating with readers and sparking meaningful reflections on their own experiences.

"People always struggle to do the right thing until it's too late. Sometimes it's just easier to look back and convince yourself it was different. So much of what we do in adult life is to make up for the things we can't fix."

[Paige CK · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

I decided to read this book because Kate Russo is coming to speak at our local library. After reading the summary I was expecting this to be a murder mystery, but it was more of a book about how awful middle and high schoolers are to each other. The book more focuses on Alison and Rachel's relationship and how badly bullied Alison was in middle school especially. I think this book should be read by all middle schoolers so that they can understand just how badly they hurt their peers and how that is not forgotten. I am dreading this stage of life for my children.

"I understand perfectly what a coward I was, how inaction can be just as damaging as action".

Overall it was a fast read, the ending was a bit rushed but I think what the book is really about is children becoming young adults and the awful experience that it can be and how that stays with you for your life.

[Brenna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only got through 30% as a hate read. Every single character is unlikeable, flashbacks are constant and not always with a decent transition. The repetitive use of "wondering" and questions in the internal monologue of the FMC was astounding. Plus this just feels apologist for conservatives instead of a critique, with the author deliberately putting it in 2016 and 2008 but then creating a character who couldn't be bothered dating a gross conservative man who has no understanding of consent. This was not a thriller and it was not the literary work the author was trying for.

Absolutely do not recommend. If you want a literary thriller with an unlikeable character, go read Yellowface instead.

[Becki Corby · Rating 1 out of 5]

* “Was any woman’s fear real until a man validated it?”
* “Convincing your husband to put the toilet seat down is not power. Only a man would tell you it is”
* “Melody is overrated. Disharmony is progress”
* “So much of what we do in adult life is to make up for the things we can’t fix”
* “Chances aren’t handed out based on who deserves them most”
* “No one deserves anything”

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this book as a whole. The mystery solving was bland. Why does this mention boners and booze so much???
I agree 100% that men are trash but there wasn’t actually much done about it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Edit to add: maybe this is a cautionary tale?
The more I think about it the more I just don’t like it. “Faith” is sprinkled throughout but this gives me zero faith in raising our daughters.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rachel and Alison have a complicated history of growing up as "frenemies." In college, the girls attend the same party, and Rachel sees Alison leave with a stranger. When Alison is found murdered the next day, Rachel tries to uncover the reason and whether she was to blame.

Readers of this novel should expect more of a literary exploration of youthful choices than a full-fledged adult thriller. Solving Alison's murder is part of the plot, but it feels secondary to the themes of bullying, guilt, and choices. The characters are not particularly likable, and the ending was rushed.

Advanced copy provided by G.P. Putnam's Sons. All opinions are my own.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

What would you do if your childhood rival was found murdered, and it's possible you were the last person to see her alive? Until Alison examines adolescent cruelty from the not-so-distant perspective of early adulthood. Why do kids do the things they do?

If I could assign half points on this app, I would give this book 3.5 stars. I was fascinated by Rachel's story and her battle with her past behaviour. However, the ending felt a bit rushed.

SPOILER

I don't dispute the author's choice to make the killer a random guy. But the way that revelation played out felt a bit too convenient.

[Blair Stackhouse]

This book had a lot of lines that are absolutely spectacular. A professor telling a student that getting to correct a mistake is a gift, a character confronting a man who assaulted her in middle school, the idea that our lives are made up of moments we were trying to avoid - amazing.

The unreliable alcoholic narrator trope is overdone. The liberal woman dating a MAGA man because it's different and fun is basically insulting.

The overall theme that no one deserves anything (good or bad)? Amazing.

This was a giveaway win!

[Lisa Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author is an amazing writer. All the characters are intensely real and consistently challenging. The story, like Mare of Eastown, was unrelenting pain and misery ,so I can’t exactly say that I loved it, but the writing was top notch. And omg it makes me struggle to remember if I ever met a male during college or high school who was a halfway decent human being…true story, I did, but if I’d read this book as a child I think I’d have run screaming from every boy I saw because in this book they are all totally horrible.