Fun romp through fancy
school, secret societies,
bit implausible.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

I write haiku reviews for Instagram but am happy to provide more feedback.

Maya is looking forward to going back to her alma mater, Princeton, for Reunions and to see her sister, Naomi, graduate.

But the dream is interrupted by a phone call from the police. A body has been found and her sister is dead. The police are telling her it is an accident but Maya is not convinced and will dig into her sister’s life to get to the truth.

Maya may have been way too upbeat about her own college experience and she is aware that Naomi isn’t the first girl found dead. Maya has her own secrets.

As she digs into her sister’s life, she finds out she wasn’t the only one keeping secrets. Her sister had joined a secret society. The same one Maya belonged to and warned her against. Even worse, she may have joined the secret in a secret society!

Is that what led to her death?

Told in two voices, the story could have been shorter, as it really did drag in places.

Netgalley/ RHPG/Ballentine/Bantam August 13, 2024

I love an ivy league college setting. It was a great plot with good details on the dark side of ivy league college life. I especially appreciated the diversity in the book, it is important to represent all. The different POV from the sisters was easy for me to follow. The sisters had similar experiences at college and their stories intertwined. Maya's younger sister is found dead, outside of Princeton campus. Maya attended the same university 10 years ago. Maya investigates her sisters death due to a similar incident when she was at the university. The ending had a twist and this book kept me hooked.

Society of Lies is a captivating dark academia thriller with an intriguing setting of a secret society at Princeton. I always love a dual POV and this one was especially well done since there were two mysteries being solved at the same time, one past and one present. I also love to see a BIPOC author and characters!! The mystery/thriller genre is extremely white-dominated, so it was very refreshing to see representation here. The theme of race and institutionalized racism were also addressed very well in this novel and bring truths to light that we largely miss in the thriller genre without bipoc voices.

As for the plot itself, it felt like the author tried to cram too much into one story. While I applaud the effort to discuss important topics (death of family members, grief, the foster system, relationship trauma, drug and alcohol abuse, admissions scandal/university corruption, etc), it felt like too much to tackle and was a bit draining to keep up with every societal issue brought up. I wish the author had chosen one or two and gone into more depth with them instead of surface-level addressing all of them.

I also felt overwhelmed with the actual mysteries, which I think mostly revolved around this book being longer than necessary. Both mysteries dragged and felt like forever to reveal what actually happened and who was the culprit of the deaths — if it had been 50-75 pages shorter with the reveal coming sooner, I think it would’ve been more satisfying.

I also wish there was more detail on the societies themselves. Based on the novel’s summary, it seems like the Sterling society is the main setting/focus of the novel, yet it is addressed minimally and mostly serves as a catalyst for discussing privilege, which is also discussed at a surface level and does not do much for the plot/characters. Nixing the feature of the secret society might also have made this book better in my opinion, or emphasizing the society in greater detail.

Overall, I did enjoy this story and would read future books by this author! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the arc!

AMAZING! I really enjoyed this debut from Lauren. Her story telling is so captivating & constantly has you wondering what's going to happen next. I love a book with dual POV so this was right up my alley.

Maya is a Princeton graduate, quite the achievement for someone raised by a single mother in a very limited income. She has worked hard and wants more than anything to see her little sister graduate Princeton too. But days before graduation her sister is found dead, and the police are basically passing it off as a partying accident. Maya knows this can’t be true but she also fears her sister’s death was the direct result of a tragic mistake she made during her own undergraduate years.

Society Of Lies is well written with believable characters that you want to root for. The story is told from multi points of view in different times but is easy to follow. Society Of Lies is a winner and I recommend it wholeheartedly!

3.5 stars rounded up. This debut novel draws on the real world of eating clubs and historic secret societies at Princeton University to craft a compelling thriller. When Naomi is found dead right before her graduation, it's her sister Maya who suspects foul play and fears a connection to her hidden past as a member of the mysterious Greystone society.

The chapters alternate between each sister's POVs during different timelines, so you learn about Naomi's last semester, Maya's own time at Princeton and her investigation into her sister's suspected murder. Some of the strongest parts of the book involve Maya and Naomi's experiences during undergrad as their Black and Asian identity and humble background make them feel like outsiders amongst their more affluent and privileged peers. I also enjoyed their complicated relationship as sisters with a ten-year age difference, which influenced many of the ultimately poor decisions that they made. Overall, this was a strong debut and I think only suffered when it made some obvious choices related to the central mystery and threw in some unnecessarily confusing red herrings.

Thanks to Random House Ballentine and NetGalley for providing the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Told from the POVs of 2 sisters, both of whom attended Princeton and were involved in a secret society, this novel is a fast-paced page turner. Two murders separated by 15 years might be connected to a long-established secret organization on campus whose members seemingly are untouchable. Just when you think you have the answer, the author gives you a new clue to a potential new suspect. It was a great tale to unravel!

Fans of The Secret History will enjoy this.

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc to review.

5 star thriller! I loved the dual POV and I thought the author worked the different timelines seamlessly. The relationship between the sisters was so genuine and I was invested in their story. I will wholeheartedly recommend this book closer to publication date. I’m also going to add this as an upcoming read for our book club because I think the discussion would be amazing. Thanks so much for the opportunity to read!

A highly elite group in a secret society at one of the nation's most prestigious Ivy League Universities? Once you're in, you are set for life. But at what cost? Sisters Maya and Naomi learn just what is on the line through their loves and losses. Ling Brown's mystery is well-written and well-done! Flashbacks between Maya's undergraduate years, the months leading up to Naomi's untimely death, and the present day come together in the final few chapters that keep you guessing who you can trust and who ultimately is to blame. In addition to a rollercoaster of a story, Ling Brown highlights the difficulties of fitting in and finding your place, especially growing up with a multiracial identity. This advanced reader copy gave me a lot to think about, and I am glad that I had the opportunity thanks to NetGalley and Bantam Books.

summary: this is a thriller. maya gets a call telling her her little sister naomi is dead. the book explores who did it, when, and why. this book is a dual pov, with maya and naomi in the past, present- day maya, and naomi an alternating amount of months before her death,


footnotes: there is a mention of rape-like scenes in this book, along with use of substance and excessive drinking. there is also a mention of grooming and sexual relationships with minors.

thoughts: i thought this was the perfect thriller book for me! the characters are all so real and complex, you never have a solid answer for who killed naomi until the very end. the setting is Princeton, and eating clubs. the setting was so different from anything i had read before, I was hooked in from the very first page. The plot is also fast and unpredictable. You never know exactly what is going to happen, and the final plot twist is completely unexpected but is also hinted at throughout the entire book. the subplots of romance and friendship also add to this book as a whole.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest opinion-
Maya gets a call her sister is dead— how can this be - it was almost her graduation from college. They say it was an accident but she doesn’t believe this, She discovered Naomi had joined the Sterling club a secret society.
Maya remembers her years in college when another girl died mysteriously.. she remembers the college professor and his relationship with students, she remembers kids getting into college with money donations etc.
Who killed Naomi? Someone doesn’t want the answers know!

This book had all of the things I look for in a book that boasts the dark elitiest community! Murder, lies, love, and lust were all perfectly plotted in this dual timeline between sisters. This was such a great read and I will be recommending it to my book club!

This book explores in detail the dark side of privileged, elitist groups who do as they please, even at the expense of others. I admired Maya for never giving up and leaping into the fray that is the Sterling Club. Well-written and immensely engaging.

Excellent! A plot that grips you and pulls you in. You won't want to put it down! Academia, secret societies, love, murder; all the good stuff!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Slow burn thriller. I almost stopped reading and then it got interesting! The POV of both main characters made it fun. It changed from different times which the author wrote beautifully. Sometimes it can get confusing.

I loved entering the world of this propulsive, character-driven thriller, and appreciated that Brown kept the twists coming until the very end. Quick and enjoyable read about a secret society at Princeton and the enormous web of secrets and treacheries concealed within.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The different perspectives of sisters so far apart in age sharing similar but yet such different experiences at Princeton! The writing gave me hope for a character that I already knew the end for and even knowing the end, There were SO MANY twists and turns! I will say I did not see the twist coming, which is hard to do! I loved the representation, and how the topics that can sometimes be difficult to talk about were depicted! Overall I loved the story!

What a fab book!
I don’t typically like books that go back and forth between different points of view and different timelines. However, I got over it and still enjoyed the book.
It was a good mystery. Would recommend.
Thank you

WOW!

I will start by saying that the ONLY reason this wasn’t a 5-star read for me was because of how slow paced it was. I didn’t love how long it took to get to all the good, juicy twists and turns and the suspense. With that being said, I absolutely love books with multiple POV’s and every twist once things started to speed up had my jaw to the floor. I never once expected the ending… I also loved how the book touched on so many REAL world issues such as racism, women being silenced, and people with money having so much power. This book was absolutely brilliant and I enjoyed every bit. I want to say a huge thank you to Lauren Ling Brown and Penguin Random House for giving us readers the opportunity to read this early. This was my first ARC/eARC and I couldn’t be happier about it!