Society of Lies was an entertaining read that kept me engaged from start to finish. The pacing was strong, and the twists kept me turning the pages. While it hasn’t stuck with me long-term, I remember enjoying the experience in the moment—sometimes, that’s exactly what I’m looking for in a book. If you’re in the mood for a fast-paced, absorbing story that pulls you in for the ride, this one is worth picking up!

This title was a new one into societal groups. I got to learn how tight knit they can be and how a dangerous secret can be kept between them. I like how the book was able to bring up the topic of race as well. Knowing how that played into helped me understand the story a little more. I would like to read more from this author.

I am a fan of thrillers with dual timelines and multiple POVs usually. However, I almost felt like "Society of Lies" was just a little too convoluted. With multiple THENs and the Now scenes, it felt a little to clunky for me as a reader.

I was able to follow along with the story in its entirety, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped I would.

I love the idea of incorporating secret societies and shady professors, but it kind of fell flat for me and at times, a little boring.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for selecting me for this ARC.

Ooo yes, this was an exciting thriller! I was hooked from the first page. I truly enjoyed the writing style and the way it was suspenseful from the very beginning. Great read of 2024!

I am a sucker for a secret society thriller and Lauren Ling Brown did not disappoint

This book flips back and forth between two sisters and their times at Princeton in the exclusive Sterling Society. I enjoyed how even 10 years apart, their stories intertwined. Through in a murder or two and a twist you didn't see coming, and this book had it all.

Oof, this book was a TRIP!

I love anything having to do with secret societies, so you know I had to scoop up this book. Not only that, it's got differing points of view as well as a back and forth between the past and present, which really helped me to genuinely enjoy this book.

This book starts off harsh, with the death of Maya's sister, Naomi. Although nobody is really sure what happened, Maya knows that something bad took place and she decides that she won't rest until she figures out exactly what happened.

As Maya digs deeper, she realizes that Naomi was hiding things from her that she has no idea about. And as the truth comes to light, I couldn't keep picking my jaw up off the floor.

This book? Is a must read.

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Society of Lies follows sisters, Maya and Naomi. Maya graduated from Princeton a decade ago, and now her little sister, Naomi, is set to graduate from there as well. When Maya returns to the university for her reunion and Naomi's graduation, she's shocked when she receives a nightmare phone call. Naomi is dead.

Maya is left reeling. She's devastated. If only she could have seen Naomi one more time. The police are calling it an accident, but that doesn't sit right with Maya. The things the police are alluding to, they don't track with Naomi's personality. As Maya begins looking into her sister's tragic death though, she discovers that Naomi was keeping a whole lot from her. Did she really know her little sister at all?

One of her discoveries is that her sister joined the Sterling Club, the same exclusive club that Maya had been a member of herself. She had warned Naomi to stay away, but apparently those warnings didn't stick. Maya knows Naomi isn't the first young woman to die while a member of this club. The more she digs in, the more the evidence seems to point back to her time within the organization. Could she have done anything differently to save Naomi from this fate?

I enjoyed this, although it took some time to get my bearings with the perspectives and timelines. I did love learning about both Maya and Naomi. I felt for them and the difficult things they'd experienced in their lives. Their relationship was complicated and unfortunately, there was a lot of failed opportunities for open communication. It left them both viewing their relationship very differently, which made me sad, the details of that. I wish they could have had more time together.

I also enjoyed the elite-Princeton setting and what everyone was getting up to there. I do tend to vibe really well with this type of story. Give me shadow organizations, lies, cover-ups and rich people behaving badly any day.

At times, I'll admit, this narrative felt a little choppy. You get Maya's perspective both past and present, and the jumps between her past at Princeton and Naomi's present at Princeton could get muddled if you let down your guard for even a moment. Overall though, I do appreciate the difficult themes this author explored within this otherwise fairly standard Mystery-Thriller. To me, the character's relationships were the gold star of this story.

Thank you to the publisher, Bantam, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I would def be interested in picking up more from this author!

There is an audience for this book that would like it more than I did. If you are a fan of McFadden's books, you will probably like this one.

This is the story of 2 sisters, who both went to Princeton at different time periods. The reader is following 2 POV's with 2 different timelines. The younger sister dies under mysterious circumstances, and the older sister must reflect on her time at the same school to solve the mystery of her death. In addition to the death of a student back when the older sister attended the school.

While it is an interesting premise, the writing was mediocre. I find it hard to like a book where characters are written to do things that belie common sense. For example: there is a scene where two characters are speeding down the highway, sharing a motorcycle (one in front/one in back), both wearing helmets, have a conversation. Really?? Anyone who has been on a motorcycle or with common sense knows that is not possible. Motorcycle riders, especially ones who wear helmets, use a headset and mic to communicate.
Or a character who has no history of being able to ski, on the first ski outing is skiing down a mountain at full speed??? These are just a few, there were several more.

Additionally, the attempt at twists became too much and overly done.

It's just OK.

Thank you to Netgalley for eARC of this book for review.

This book was sooo good!! If you haven’t read it- go get it. Now! Thank you for the chance to read and review

I thought this book was a little too slow and the character my favorite I didn't feel like I really knew her. But the society itself felt well done and ominous. The writing style was strong and had a lot of potential but it wasn't one of my favorite books.

Maya and Naomi are biracial sisters ten years apart in age. Their Mother dies when they are 18 and 8 and Maya assumes custody of Naomi in her own way. Through the years both attend Princeton and belong to the same clubs there. Money was scarce and both were indebted to the clubs and their moderators for much of theirs although both girls also worked. Maya, when a Senior, and one of her friends began investigating cash sources for the club. Her friend, a reporter, disappeared. Ten years later Naomi began her own investigation and, as a result was killed. The story is written in both girls’ voices and is, at times, much more than a mystery. Thanks to Net Galley and Bantam Books for an ARC for an honest review.

Enjoyed the dual timeline of this story! There were many twists and turns that had me questioning everything I read! Looking forward to more from this author.

This was a fun one! I love a campus novel, especially a thriller. This book centers on sisters Maya and Naomi. Both Maya and Naomi attended Princeton and were/are members of the prestigious Sterling Eating Club. Within the club is the mysterious secret Greystone Society. Maya returns to Princeton to attend Naomi's graduation. However, Naomi is missing, and soon after her body is found. Maya is determined to learn the truth about her sister's death. Her investigation forces her to confront her own history and experiences with Greystone and secrets she was determined to leave behind. A suspenseful read, great for fans of thrillers and campus novels!

I will rate this book about 3.75 - 4. This was a good mystery/thriller. It follows Maya on a trip back to college for a reunion union and to see her Sister graduate. Only when she arrives she found out her sister is dead. With many suspicions, Maya tries to uncover what really happened and how a local social society might have been the problem.

I have some students who loved Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions for You, and I felt like Society of Lies would be a comparable title for them. The dual timelines and POVs helped move the plot forward and gave depth to the characters.

I could also see pairing this with the Criminal podcast and doing some comparisons with mixed media. Overall, though, I would definitely recommend this to some my juniors and seniors for independent reading.

Society of Lies had me intrigued just from brief parts of the synopsis: a college reunion, a murder, secrets from the past and a secret society. The combination of all of these sounded right up my alley and I was super into it.
Cut to reading it: the premise was there, the characters were all intriguing, and the development of the story kept me turning pages. Alas then the pacing just felt extremely slow to me, and while I did keep reading, something just felt off for the last third of the story. I would overall recommend this story, but it ended up being a bit underwhelming to me as I had high hopes.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was your run-of-the-mill popcorn thriller and it was ok. I liked the dual timelines and how everything came together in the end. I thought some of the red herrings were fairly obvious and would have been better if there had been more setup to make them more believable. The plot was page-turning and kept me interested. Even though this one was just ok, I know this was a debut so I will try this author again!

3.5!! A fun ride for me but it might not be for everyone!

Plot - Two sisters become entangled with the same Princeton secret society, 13 years apart. The difference? One of them ends up dead. Now Maya must revisit her unpleasant past and dig into her sister Naomi’s mysterious behavior in the weeks before she died in order to uncover what really happened.

Yays- Wonderful writing. Unpredictable!! (That is a massive plus for me.) Loved the parallels between the sisters’ stories. Fun BIPOC centered thriller that explores race and wealth and privilege but the villain isn’t racism (to be clear, those are also great thrillers but they can be very heavy and sometimes you just want to read about biracial girls just being biracial girls while also trying to uncover a mystery yk).

Nays - Multiple POV starts off great, but becomes a bit confusing. Some might consider this ‘slow paced’ (I personally liked it). You know the Pride and Prejudice scene where Elizabeth is like, “I might have prevented this if only I had been open with my sisters.” Yeah.. that kinda sums it up.

College social eating clubs, rich donor parents, and a history tying them to more than one murdered girl.

To start, this one was interesting. I liked getting the big sister Maya's POV both as an adult and in the past when she was a college student in the same campus her little sister is in. Her sister, Naomi, is always in the past as the book opens with her death.

Maya's drive to discover what happened and reveal secrets long buried was compelling. The suspense was well distributed, mixed between nice memories of college and between sisters while keeping the mystery going. But I really started to struggle with the timeframes - sometimes missing that I was in a different time since Maya has a few. I kept having to flip back and remind myself who was my narrator because the same people would appear in each one. I think that held me back from fully feeling immersed, even though I did enjoy it.

It's twisty and fun, I enjoyed this dark academia story.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

it took me a while, but i finally got to it. thank you to netgalley as always for gifting me an arc to review!

while i love a slow book, everyone knows i love a slow book, this one just wasn't the kind of slow that i like to devour, but that, i think, is the worst of it. i enjoyed the writing and the characters, and the entire thing felt very atmospheric, it just wasn't what i think i was expecting and that's not anyone's fault but my own! i would still recommend this, it just wasn't my favorite.