I love all of Lodge's novels so was very excited to read this! It did not disappoint. I was gripped from the very first page. It is a really good mystery that keeps you on your toes. I wont give any spoilers but this is must read for thriller fans.

📚I was able to read an advanced copy of title thanks to NetGalley, Gytha Lodge and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House📚
📚All reviews and opinions are entirely my own📚

I love Lodge’s Sheen series so was excited for this one but unfortunately it just didn’t grab me. The plot is good but in reality the book was very slow and I struggled to keep engaged with it. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters nor the long monologue style of telling the story.

A gripping intense read with lots of twists. Every time I turned a page I thought someone else was the guilty party. Highly recommend this book

This was an enjoyable thriller, told from various povs to keep the story and tension going. Women are dying of drug overdoses in the elite halls of Cambridge University. Dismissed as accidents, our MFC is convinced there is more at play here. As she's a reporter used to undercover work, and has a personal stake in finding out the truth, it doesn't take long for Anna to get swept up in everything. It's more than just drugs however, she has to face who she is, choices she's made along the way and new choices that could hurt all the more.

The pace started to lag a little in the middle, once the first major reveal happened, and then picked up again about 100 pages later, which made it a little hard going at times, but I'm glad I carried on with it, as it was good to read all the strands come together.

The ending was a little lacklustre - after all these pages, it was great to get a conclusion to who was the killer (albeit it was obvious) but there was nothing after really. Nothing about the characters coming back together, nothing about how these relationships will work after. Most of all, I would have loved for the killer to be brought face to face with the true reality of what happened. No spoilers, but it felt as if it was building up to a lovely cathartic moment - which never happened.

3.5 | a really interesting thriller told via both an email, and third person POV of a few other characters, focusing on the dangerous world of the elite at Cambridge uni - some great topics, an interesting if slightly predictable twist. overall a really enjoyable thriller with fascinating characters!!

This book is slow to start then the pace really picks up and it’s gripping. It slows again towards the end, and for me, the book would have been better if it was a bit shorter. The Cambridge university setting is interesting, but I found the group of entitled wealthy people difficult to engage with. Anna is a principled journalist, who goes beyond reasonable limits to find out the truth, so I was routing for her.

Anna, is a twenty something American undercover journalist. She had her heart broken by a detective called Reid, who cruelly excised her from his life after the death of his beloved sister whom Anna was also close too. Anna is going undercover to research the mystery surrounding the death of a beautiful, talented young female student after the May Ball at Cambridge University and where she now feels in grest danger. Anna reaches out to Reid to help her, but is it too late? There are a lot of emails from Anna to Reid revisiting their relationship and its breakdown and some parallels with the death of Reid's stucent sister and what Anna is investigating now. I thought the Oxbridge death of a gilded student amongst the priveleged elite was a bit of an over worked trope in crime and mystery fiction but Gytha Lodge is a solid writer who crafted it to have a interesting twist. Ithought this was a good read and could see it being made into a Monday and tuesday night drama.

Thank you to #netgalley for allowing me to read this book.

I have mixed feelings about this story about a missing American journo that gets herself involved in some very dodgy investigations into human trafficking.

I liked seeing her emails to Reid, the detective who broke her heart, and then seeing the thoughts of her English father. The sheer panic of a parent when their child goes AWOL without explanation or reason was upsetting but very real.

The foundations of the story were good but it was a very slow-burn and it lost my engagement a few times.

I’ve really struggled with this book, it is very slow to get going. The story doesn’t seem original and I didn’t like the characters. I am a fan of Gytha Lodge but I don’t think Dead to Me is up to her usual standard.

The storyline of Holly,a Cambridge student drowned after a student party is not particularly original but this has several layers to it. An undercover journalist pretends to be an American student at Cambridge for a year. She is really pursuing the deaths of Holly and another student related to a friend. Her attempt at going undercover creates all kind of other problems and puts herself in danger. The story is well put together but the outcome is to be guessed at. It reads well and I recommend it.

I found this quite a slow read at the beginning but it did ramp up and then it was a compelling mystery with some interesting characters.It kept me guessing to the end a very enjoyable read .Than you to NetGalley for my ARC

Meet Anna- a bit of a free wheeling journalist who suddenly disappears. But we are left messages from her to her ex - Reid who just happens to be a detective. Did Anna get in too deep with a group of high wheeling college students as she started to investigate some suspicious deaths related to them? You need to read on and find out!

Anna is a journalist. Reid is a detective. They split eighteen months ago, acrimoniously. Reid has more or less forgotten almost about her.
This is told from the pov of Reid, Seaton (Anna's father), and Anna.
Anna has gone missing after the May Ball at Cambridge. She has been trying to find out who killed Holly and Tanya (Reid's sister), but she is in danger.
I really liked how Anna's story was told in an email to Reid, which he was never meant to read. It does start quite slow, but halfway through the pace really picks up.
The Cambridge elite are so pretentious, especially the parents, I really do not like that clique type.
I was really racing through to the end to find out what happened to Holly. I did get a bit confused towards the end. There was a lot to follow.
This is a standalone from Gytha, but I hope that she returns to her detective series next.
Thanks to Netgalley and Michael Joseph/Penguin Books/Random House for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Dead to Me by Gytha Lodge is a twisty, emotionally gripping crime thriller that keeps you turning the pages with its powerful mix of mystery, tension, and heartbreak. The story centers on Anna, an investigative journalist who seeks to find the truth behind the death of a student whilst she delves into and becomes an intrinsic part of the lives of the dead girl’s close knit circle of friends. What unfolds is a layered tale of betrayal, love, and the painful complexities of the past.
Gytha Lodge shines once again with her strong narrative voice and her gift for weaving together past and present. The characters are compelling and multi-dimensional, especially the emotional tension between the leads, which adds real depth to the mystery. The pacing is tight, with reveals at just the right moments to keep the suspense alive without overwhelming the reader.
What sets this book apart is its emotional core. It’s not just about solving a crime—it’s about facing the past, understanding human vulnerability, and the power of forgiveness. While some plot points felt slightly predictable and a couple of threads could’ve used more closure, the overall story arc was satisfying and kept me fully invested.
A solid and engaging read for fans of character-driven crime fiction. Gytha Lodge proves once again why she’s one of the standout voices in modern thrillers. Looking forward to what she brings us next!

Having been a fan of Gytha Lodge's Jonah Sheens series of books I was curious about the new world that "Dead To Me" would bring. Now, in truth it's not that different, but that's a good thing. We get to enjoy a similarly understated mystery that unfolds and then delivers a punchy finale. It's something Lodge does very well and I was glad to see that not lost. Same with the characters really - they're obviously new and different, but they have the author's fingerprints all over them so I felt like I had a headstart getting to know them.

But what's it all really about? Well, the interesting twist of this mystery appears in the opening chapters. Three people may have been murdered! Or possibly none of them have. You see, Anna is late for lunch with her dad. She's a journalist looking into the drug related deaths of two seemingly unconnected students at Cambridge. And although Anna is always late, this time she's not turning up at all. She's gone missing.

The story plays out from the perspectives of the various characters. Seaton, her father, contacts Reid, her ex, and they try to find her. Anna's story is told from the past though. Her part of the story is an email she was writing to Reid throughout her investigating to be read should anything happen to her. Which ya know, obviously has. Now, this is a little dry in the early chapters. She knows little and is just starting the backstory - which would work, but it's contrasted against her father quaffing champagne while reporting her missing to the police. The panic is just a bit more exciting and somewhat outshines the whole explaining how she created her fake identity. the contrast is just there. But the story delivers enough even in those early pages to keep the pages turning. And this is where Lodge's writing always seems to sneak up on me. There's nothing obvious about the characters that grips me. But there's a just point where I realise I'm invested in them. That moment where suddenly the extra pages start calling out and it gets harder to put down. I find myself wanting to read on for small details, so when the story reveals everything I'm fully hooked. And the reveal is infuriatingly obvious. With hindsight anyway. I neared the end ready to see half the characters arrested and when we find out what really happened I could see all the clues dropped throughout. How had I missed all the answers?

So yeah. I loved the book. Student debauchery with drink, drugs, and some sexual tension. A clever puzzle that delivered a great surprise. Characters I cared about. It really ticks all the boxes. A subtle mystery that delivered all I could've hoped for.

I really struggled with this book because it was so slow. I considered not finishing more than once but don’t feel I can give an honest review if I don’t finish a book. The characters weren’t particularly likeable which didn’t help. The long rambling email could have been so much shorter and to the point which would have meant the book actually had something happening sooner.

All that said the book did suddenly ramp up towards the end with some tension and the twist was totally unexpected.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for my honest and unbiased opinion.

After a party at Cambridge University, Holly drowned with a huge dose of ketamine in her system. Her friend Cordelia never believed it was an accident and encourages a journalist, the USA-born Anna, to investigate. Anna asks her estranged British father, Seaton, an emeritus professor, to get her into the university in the guise of a wealthy student. But Seaton is old friends with the father of victim Holly's boyfriend. The boyfriend is one of four possible suspects Cordelia and Anna have identified. Nevertheless, Seaton wants the truth for Holly's family, so he arranges for Anna to assume the persona of Aria, a real-life rich American, who has disappeared from social media to enter drug rehab.

Anna's experiences undercover among the rich, overprivileged student set are revealed in an extended email / request for help to her ex-boyfriend, Reid, a police detective. It took me a while to settle into this unusual approach as I’m not used to reading a slightly arm’s length narrative addressed to 'you'. However, as the story progresses, Anna’s email makes less use of ‘you’ and mostly describes her investigation in a conventional and suspenseful way. The second viewpoint character is Anna’s father, Seaton. His story takes off the day after Anna has disappeared from her undercover life and he tries to find out what’s happened to her. He summons support from Anna’s ex, the detective Reid, and we then get chapters from Reid’s perspective as the two men search for Anna. By chapter 5, I was fully invested and I’m glad I stuck with this intriguing mystery (even though the biggest conundrum might perhaps be how none of the students suffered liver failure given their copious consumption of alcohol and drugs…) All three viewpoint characters were engaging.

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

On publication, I will post my review on my blog, Amazon and NetGalley.

This book had so many elements I loved. A dark academia vibe, privileged students at Cambridge caught up in murder. I loved the central character, Anna, and I loved Reid and their estranged love story. It was such a unique format too, partly told through Anna’s email to Reid, and the different perspectives made me race through the chapters. It was gripping, suspenseful and twisty, the perfect blend of a complicated plot that meant I had no clue who was responsible, and such real characters with shades of grey that meant I was completely invested. I loved the romance element too, and found it completely satisfying. My first book by Gythia Lodge but definitely not my last.

Gytha Lodge is one of those writers you can always rely on to deliver a cracker of a story, and this has got to be one of her best.

Anna and Reid have not been in contact since their bitter break up some time ago. She is a crusading American journalist who will do anything, however unethical, for a story. Or so her ex lover believes.

So the last thing that Reid, a British detective, expects is to find himself embroiled in her life once again. But that only happens in Anna's absence when her father asks him for help in finding his disappeared daughter. In the process, Reid discovers that their may be more to Anna's moral convictions than he gave her credit for...

Absorbing, complex story telling with plenty of twists, this one is well worth a read.

I really enjoyed previous books by this author, but this wasn't for me. I really struggled with the main character Anna and her conflicting decisions and personality. I persevered to get to the end and was left disappointed. Far too long, no return on the investment.