Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley. This was such a fun debut novel. The writing was a great time, and that prologue pulled me right in.

It's amazing to me that this was the author's first book, as it was very well written. The author gracefully switches between characters, bringing together two murders that lead to a third. It was hard to guess who the murderer was. At the end of the book, there's a twist, which makes it even better.

Book Title: Society of Lies
Author: Lauren Ling Brown (Debut Author)
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam
Genre: Psychological Thriller,
Pub Date: August 13, 2024
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Pages: 384

Story is set in the famous Princeton eating clubs, these historic clubhouses built in the late 19th century, where many students spend their nights and weekends.
In this case the characters join a fictional club called Sterling Club and the secret society within it.
Story is told between sisters Maya and Naomi~
Maya - in the present timeline,
Naomi - in the past and
Maya- also in the past

Maya can’t wait to return to Princeton for her 10 year Class Reunion— she is looking forward to seeing classmate and reminiscing about college days.
This year is even more special because her little sister, Naomi, will be graduating from Princeton!
Maya's excitement ends the second she gets a call —Naomi is dead. The police believe it was an accident, but Maya doesn’t believe it was an accident.

Maya and Naomi are biracial with a Chinese mom and a black father.
While at Princeton Maya has joined the Sterling Club, Princeton’s most exclusive eating club.
Once a member she is bound by the secrets. She cannot believe she is a member surrounded by privileged students. She also discovers that additional she has been ‘tapped for Greystone Society. It is so secretive that most Princeton students don’t know it exist.

Maya warns her Naomi to avoid this social club - Maya's time at Princeton wasn't as wonderful as she always pretended it was
However, Naomi still joins the social club; Maya now fears her sister’s decision to follow in her footsteps might have been what got her killed.

Story kept me curious

Author, Lauren Ling Brown states this story is meant to be entertaining dark academia suspense but also, hopefully, to encourage conversations around privilege, multiracial identity, and sisterhood.
She graduated from Princeton and tells us that although we know the Princeton Eating Clubs are part of Princeton both the Greystone Society as well as the Sterling Club do not Exit at Princeton. Additionally Princeton has grown to be more diverse, (thanks to more generous financial aid) also more socially and politically active
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam for granting me this early eGalley!
Publishing Release Date scheduled for August 13, 2023.

Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown was an intriguing mystery set in the Ivy League atmosphere of Princeton. Elder sister, Maya, is drawn into a privileged secret society. She brings her sister from poverty and neglect to live with a Princeton family who provide a comfortable and safe life. When Maya returns for Reunion week and Naomi’s graduation, old memories and Naomi’s shocking death bring all the secrets and lies crashing around her. Maya and Naomi tell the story with alternating timelines. I loved piecing the story together from dual narrators. And the dark academia atmosphere of secret societies are full of deadly lies in this debut novel. I loved the atmosphere of privilege, secrets and collegiate traditions.
5 stars – Pub. Date: 08-13-24
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Bantam for the eARC and the opportunity to read and review Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown.

Maya’s younger sister dies right before she is set to graduate from Princeton. What follows is a deep dive into secret Ivy League societies spanning decades. Overall I really enjoyed this book. Lots of twists and turns and the ending was a surprise. Loved the whole mystery behind the secret societies! It was a little slow in the middle and the ending seemed rushed. But definitely a great first novel and I will look for more from this author! Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Penguin for this ARC!

I love a good dark academia and this one did not disappoint! Maya has returned to her alumni, Princeton, to attend her younger sister’s graduation. But instead she is catapulted into the unexpected, tragic, and mysterious death of Naomi. This story is twisty and heartbreaking in all the best ways. It explores friendship, sisterhood and racial issues which propelled the plot line and made this story intricate and complex. This was a solid debut and Lauren Ling Brown is definitely an author to watch! Thank you Netgalley, Random House Publishing-Ballantine, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on August 13, 2024

I really enjoyed this. The relationship between the sisters was real, but strained and relatable. The murder and relationhip with them was not too unrealistic. I enjoyed the back and forth within the time and the solutin within the novel.

I’m saying it now—2024 reads have so far been my overall best year since I’ve started my bookstagram! Lauren Ling Brown’s debut, SOCIETY OF LIES, immediately captured my interest with this stunning cover. Thank you @randomhouse for this gifted copy! The story is centered around Princeton alumni Maya and her investigation into the mysterious death of her sister Naomi. Naomi was supposed to graduate Princeton and Maya was looking forward to reconnecting back to her college days, but Maya is stunned to find out that her sister joined the Sterling Club, the mysterious and exclusive social club on campus. Maya warned her about the Sterling Club since she had joined back in her college days. Maya can’t help but think this club has something to do with Naomi’s death.⁣

This book gave me In My Dreams I Hold a Knife vibes! I really had a blast reading this one. This book touches on race and privilege while in college which I felt was a compelling aspect of the book that also helped form the mystery in ways I didn’t expect. This book moved rather quickly and left for many different scenarios for the reader to keep on guessing. I don’t always love dark academia stories, but SOCIETY OF LIES was very compelling. I highly recommend putting this book on your TBR and picking it up once it releases later this summer! STARS: 4, PUB: 8/13

WOWOWOWOOW, this was such a killer mystery from beginning to end! I thought I knew who was behind all of it...and then I was proven wrong. Repeatedly. Never have I read such a twisted mystery that entraps you completely and takes you on a crazy ride. I really enjoyed this and would love to see what else this author has in in the works!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially the alternating perspectives between Naomi and Maya in each chapter. The structure instantly drew me in, compelling me to keep reading to unravel the mysteries surrounding the two murders. While I felt the resolution took some time to reach, I found the overall experience enjoyable and would definitely recommend it to others. Many thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

On SOCIETY OF LIES we follow Maya, an adult woman whose younger sister Naomi is found dead by drowning on her college campus in Princeton, the same university Maya attented to. Maya simply cannot believe her sister drowned as an accident, so she goes after Naomi's circle of friends (and ex boyfriends) to find out what truly happened to her sister. She initially and immediately gets shook by the fact that her sister was entangled in the same secret society that she was part of when she was at the university. And Maya knows some dark secrets behind that secret society that makes her suspicions about her sister's death even more gruesome.
We follow two POVs: Maya in two different timelines - in the past when she was at Princeton, and the current days when she gets the tragic news on her sister's death; and Naomi - up to 7 months defore her death.
The chapters go back and forth while we learn Maya's past in the secret society, and also what led Naomi to the same society.

I'll admit I requested this ARC for 2 main reasons (or 3, really - being the art cover the most shallow reason): I've liked a lot of dark academia books I read in the past, and also because I like to give new authors a change with their debut novels.
However, what I didn't know and honestly didn't expect was that this book would read so much like a YA novel. To me, this book is at least 70% YA with all that typical teen drama (parties, drugs, sex, boyfriends/girlfriends - who's hooking up with whom, who's cheating who and all that silly teenage stuff), which TO ME was a problem, since I strongly dislike anything YA-related. It's not because it's dark academia, full of 20-year olds characters that the story must read YA-like. And that bothered me here.
Way before half of this book I wasn't caring for the teenage Maya and Naomi characters anymore. Everything that seemed cool about the secret society was kind of overshadowed by the so many teenage drama/talking.
All I wanted was to be in the present days, with the fully grown up Maya sleuthing her way into finding out the truth about her sister.
And frankly? The conclusion didn't annoy me, but didn't satisfy me, either.
The writing was decent and enganging enough to keep my attention, also the social race commentaries.

I'm pretty sure readers who don't mind, and especially like to read, YA-like novels with academia settings with secret societies and mystery will mostly enjoy this book better than I did.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher Random House, for allowing me a free eARC copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This 384-page book by Lauren Ling Brown comes out on August 13th, 2024. A mystery/thriller (heavy on the thriller aspect), this book has so many twists and turns that in the end it gets a little confusing.

Older sister Maya is back at Princeton for her younger sister, Naomi’s graduation from the alma mater that they share. It turns out that they were also in the same secret society, but Maya didn’t know about Naomi’s membership. What should be a fantastic day, turns dark when Naomi turns up dead.

This book is a dual POV between the two sisters with Maya’s chapters tracing forward from her sister’s death, and Naomi’s chapters moving forward up to her murder. Everyone is a suspect, and I do mean everyone. With unreliable narrators and unreliable secondary characters, this book is full of twists and turns.

The ending is a little confusing, but ultimately satisfying.

4 Stars

This review is live on gmpotter.com now
The video review will be available on YouTube on 6/27/24 at noon Central time

I always love a thriller with an academic setting, but unfortunately Society of Lies was a miss for me and I ended up not finishing it. The story was too slow for my liking with thrillers. I would be interested in other books by this author in the future.

Thank you to Lauren Ling Brown and NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy of "Society of Lies". I had mixed opinions about this book and struggled to settle on a rating, but ultimately it lies within the 2.5-3 range for me. The premise of the story was really captivating and the beginning of the book started out super strong, but began to fall flat around the middle portion. I'm not a huge fan of dual/multiple timelines because it is easy to get confused if they are not distinctly distinguished apart from one another, and that is exactly what happened for me with Naomi and Maya. I caught myself getting events mixed up and that really affected my reading experience. I think what made the timelines and characters mush together for me is the character's "voices" sounded like the same exact person to me. I really enjoyed the secret society concept, though.

WOW !! What a great book ! I could not put it down. I flew through it so fast. I loved the dark academia vibes and the mystery surrounding the secret societies at Princeton. I did not see the twist at the end coming. I highly recommend giving this one a read.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

Wanted to like this book and really tried but thought it fell short on continuity, plot lines being developed, uniqueness and intrigue. Was very difficult changing between the POVs for some reason. As another reviewer mentioned, I had to go back several times to make sure I knew which character was speaking. The voices didn’t change enough to be distinctive.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I liked the story overall but struggled with the POV blending together. I would get confused often and kept having to stop mid chapter to make sure I was reading correctly. I didn’t find any of the characters likable at all but I still gave it 3 stars because the story was unique and I did stay intrigued enough to want to see it through to the end!

A Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown is a thriller that takes place at Princeton and revolves around Maya, a Princeton Graduate, and her younger sister Naomi. by 10 years who presently attends Princeton. They both belonged to exclusive social clubs that included secret societies.
Maya is excited to attend her sister’s graduation when she receives the news that Naomi is dead. The story goes back and forth between Maya and Naomi’s college lives and clues as to how Naomi died.
I enjoyed parts of this story although it was a bit slow. Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for the ARC.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for the ARC. This was a slow paced read, there are two murders and three timelines. It was difficult to care about the characters. The plot is very predictable.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

Very enjoyable! Dark academia, secret societies, sibling relationships, TWO murders - what's not to like? So many elements for a great read and it did not disappoint. I loved the different timelines and trying to put the together the pieces from past and current. Matthew DuPont was an interesting character and I was intrigued by how he fit into the lives of both sisters. A little slow burn at times but held my interest throughout. Also, very thought provoking re. the upper echelons of the world! Not sure I *loved* the sisters as individuals, a bit naive for two Princeton students, however, it worked!