A good story with enough mystery around it to keep you guessing with a great twist towards the end. It is one that can get a bit confusing if you don't check who is writing each chapter as it flits between sisters and timings.

Princeton University, the aspiration of many and the gateway to a better life is all Maya ever dreamt of and now she's there. Reality hits hard when she finds that fitting in is easier said than done. The right background, the right family, wealth and the right connections are all a golden ticket to participation in its many clubs and whispered about societies, those without struggle for acceptance.

Ten years later she's dismayed to find that younger sister Naomi has her heart set on following in her footsteps

This novel started out well, the first couple of chapters drawing me into the storyline but as it progressed I found myself struggling with two very similar sounding sisters in different timelines making it necessary for me to keep rechecking the chapter heading to find out who the current narrator was.

This was an interesting rather than intriguing read. The conclusion is well thought out and worth waiting for but ultimately it didn't grip me as much as I hoped it would.

The darkness, secrets ,lies and danger was so well done, this book had me absolutely hooked until the very end.

This is a dark academia story set mainly at Princeton University. Written in multiple timeline following Maya’s story starting October 2010 and in the present, May 2023, and her younger sister Naomi’s starting in October 2022, 7 months before her death. Maya has returned to Princeton for Naomi’s graduation but she is shocked when she learns that her sister is dead! A slow paced read with social commentary a big part of the plot.

Briefly, Maya is convinced that Naomi’s death wasn’t an accident and starts looking into her sister last months at Princeton. During her time at Princeton Maya had three close female friends and alongside them she joined the elite eating club, Sterling Club and was later invited into the elite Greystone Society. One of her friends died near the end of her university years and Maya has always had a guilty conscience about her death. Although she warned Naomi against the Sterling Club it appears that her warning was ignored…

A very interesting plot that digs deep to the root of society and privilege in the US university system, a privilege that carries on into the rest of their lives with the associated commitments to others in the same position. I did find it quite hard to follow at first as the two main voices were very similar and it did confuse at times - I read an ecopy so it might be clearer in the paper book. There was a really big twist near the end that had completely passed me by, it was a cracker! A good debut and I would pick up the authors next book.

3.5⭐️

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

Society of Lies, Lauren Ling Brown's debut novel, is a serviceable dark academia thriller that brings something slightly different to the table through its depiction of its two central characters, Black-Chinese sisters who both join the same secret society at Princeton ten years apart. We have to deal with a triple timeline: in the present day, Naomi, the younger sister, has just turned up dead in mysterious circumstances, and Maya, the elder sister, is investigating. The novel also flips between Maya's time at college and Naomi's perspective on the months that led up to her death. Frankly, I thought three timelines was one too many in a novel of this kind, which does not distinguish the sisters' voices; I kept on getting confused between present!Maya, past!Naomi and past!Maya. I started wondering if it would have been better not to start with Naomi's death and instead let us see both sisters figuring things out ten years apart, which also might have made it easier to keep track of who knew what when. While I loved the atmospheric and often snowy Princeton setting and the general vibes, this descended into too much of a silly thriller twist ending for me, with too many loose ends. 3.5 stars.

[Note: This is definitely another entry in the Something Bad Happened While I Was At College, Now It's Coming Back To Bite Me sub-sub-genre: see also Ashley Winstead’s In My Dreams I Hold A Knife, Jenny Hollander's Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead and Genevieve Scott's The Damages].

Loved this! Couldn't put this down until the end. This is a serious page turner and a brilliant thriller that kept me guessing. I was engrossed throughout thanks to the characters and writing style.

The book got me invested with the characters and storyline which helped as a reader. I ended up feeling for them. The book is told in multiple perspectives and timelines. I love a good academia thriller and this has all the right ingredients. I can in fact imagine this playing out as a series given the way the author uses the setting, visuals and location. I also liked the underlying themes here which are subtly added in the storyline. A 5 star read!

Thank you Little, Brown Book Group UK, Constable and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC.

3.5 rounded to 4.

This thriller set on a college campus was a little slow paced for me - it took a while for things to properly get going, and I found it hard to concentrate on at times. Having said that, I did enjoy the mystery surrounding the death of the MC Maya's sister and the memories being back at Princeton brought to the surface. If you're into contemporary dark academia settings (complete with secret societies) and a good murder mystery, then you'll likely enjoy this one.

A thoroughly enjoyable and gripping dark academia book

What should be a day of celebration turns into the worst day of Maya’s life when her sister, Naomi, is found dead at a lake. An eerily similar death happened when Maya was an undergraduate and we wonder are the two connected somehow?

I thought this was such a thrilling read and when I got nearer to the end I was so engrossed that I couldn’t put it down! The POV alternate between Maya and Naomi, which I felt heightened the tragedy as you live through her final days knowing that they’re numbered. The switching narratives also made it more suspenseful and tense as you’d discover one morsel of information from one of them, keeping you hooked into the story to find out more.

The plot was unpredictable and did surprise me at the end. It was also really sad as it shows what happens when good people stand by and watch bad things happen, and fail to act to protect themselves and their status. It shows how toxic, in some circles, it can be to fit in and the lengths you have to go to stay in the ‘it crowd”.

With thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.