While I love Julie Soto, I'm a little torn. I knew The Thrashers wasn't going to be NALS or FMN. It's not quite what I expected. It gave me Goosebumps (by R.L. Stine) vibes but with a little adult content thrown in, and I mean that in the most complementary way. She kept it actually YA and not an adult fiction/romance/thriller masquerading as YA. The story follows Jodi Dillion, so we really only get to see her side of things, with the exception of Emily Mills' journal entries. I would have liked to see more of the other's POV. That ending. I wish the ending had happened in the middle or that there would be a second book that includes more of that. I do recommend, slightly spooky, a little bit of a romance sub-plot, some family coming to terms with their demons, friendships rekindled, most things nicely resolved, and an epilogue that will leave you questioning the whole book.

I was not a huge fan of this book. It felt very unoriginal and overall sad. The classic story of Teen suicide and bullying. If you’re a fan of those stories and of YA high school drama then you may enjoy this book. I would not recommend it.

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

4.5 stars

This is such a quick and easy read, and with being YA the paranormal aspect gets spooky but not scary. I loved Siri’s writing in her adult romance novels and wasn’t sure how it would translate to YA Thriller but I am very pleasantly surprised.

I will continue to read anything this author writes!

This is not my regular genre/plot/read. Julie Soto could write anything and I'd read it and love it.

A unique coming of age novel mixed with a thriller/suspense that had me questing everyone's intentions. The Thrashers are an elite group of friends navigating high school when a mysterious death rocks their community and their friendship group. This novel is told from a single POV, Jodi a young female who feels as though she is an outsider looking in to this friend group.

Told with Julie's snarky voice and with well developed characters, this novel captured my attention from the very first chapter. I really enjoyed the mix of drama from the high school friend group and the thriller aspect of "The Thrashers", the pace was quick and the twists and turns were unexpected.

Thank you Wednesday Books for the ARC.

This will easily make my list of the best books for 2025. I could not get enough of this book and only stopped reading because I had to go to work. Then I promptly came home and finished it.

This story is told largely from Jodi's POV; she's in high school, and while she's in the popular group, The Thrashers, she never is sure they want her there. When Emily Mills' journal ends up at the police department, and the investigation heats up, Jodi starts to wonder how much she doesn't really belong. Her recollection is very different from the incidents that Emily details, and suddenly, we have several shaky characters. Jodi isn't sure if she really knows her "friends" at all.

This book is classified as YA, but as an adult, I thought it was spectacular. For a book targeted at a younger group, this story has a lot of depth. The characters all undergo some level of growth, and it's meaningful growth. The characters are not only examining what happened with Emily, but they also have to confront truths about themselves and others.

If Julie Soto writes an adult thriller, I pray for my soul because, for a YA thriller debut, this was so good. These characters have substance, while still remaining teenagers. The story itself weaves its twisted tale, but everything remains cohesive. Even up until the very last page, you are still finding out more and it's making you wonder who was right and who was wrong. I cannot recommend this one enough; whether you are a teen or an adult, this is one you should take time for.

First--Julie is an autobuy author for me. I love her. And I love that this book is set in Sacramento, our hometown. Sac gets very little representation in modern literature, so it's heartwarming to see us in a book that's not about the Golden State Killer.

Second--thank you to Netgalley for this ARC. I am even more excited to see Julie on tour in May and get my signed copy.

The first few chapters took me a bit to read, but once I hit about 20%, it was nonstop. I stayed up until 2 AM to finish the whole thing. That ending left my jaw on the floor, and if I didn't have sleeping people in my house, I would've screamed. I don't want to spoil anything, so I shan't say more.

Julie can write romance like it's nobody's business, and with this book, she proves that she can write a YA thriller as well.

This book isn't even out yet! But my palms are itching to get ahold of the sequel. T__T

4.5 stars! I am a huge Julie Soto fan, so I was so excited to get an ARC of "The Thrashers." This was sooo different from her other books, but I loved it just the same! The storyline was very unique in my opinion, and I could not put this book down! In addition to the main story that revolved around Emily, there were so many other side stories that kept you wanting to learn more and made me want to figure it all out! There were quite a few heavy topics included, so be sure to read the TW before jumping into this book! I love how the book ended with the reader still asking a few questions!

A close knit group of friends dubbed “the Thrashers” by classmates are the center of a police investigation involving a sophomore who passed away.

THE THRASHERS is a fast paced, twisty YA thriller filled with unraveling secrets, unreliable narrators, and shifting loyalties. There’s PRETTY LITTLE LIARS vibes: an unseen presence threatening the group and picking at the seams of “the Thrashers” friendships. The pressure builds with every chapter as Jodi is pinned against her friends by the detectives, heightening her long held insecurities of not being enough, of being the one on the outside looking in. It’s a gut punch portrayal of what it feels like to be a teen and to question your place with the people you love most. I binged this book in 24 hours, and just sat in silence processing the epilogue.

I read this book in an immersive way, pairing the ARC with the ALC. The audiobook performance is exceptional. Eva Kaminsky voices Jodi, channeling a blend of teenage vulnerability, confusion, and self doubt. She also captures Jodi’s quiet strength as she learns to stand firmly on her own. Jessie Vilinsky embodies Emily’s journal entries, nailing the immature, tumultuous inner musings of a young teenage girl. Her slightly unhinged tone provides a counterbalance Jodi’s more grounded present day narrative. This dual performance elevates the entire story and I highly recommend the this book in all formats!

Thank you Macmillan Audio & Wednesday Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The Thrashers is a thrilling young adult book by Julie Soto. It is such a bingeable read! This book has mystery, drama, and twist and turns that will leave you guessing until the very last page.

You will love and hate these characters all at the same time. Soto writes characters that you will become so invested in, by the end of the book, if you are like me, you’ll be hoping for a follow up to this book to see what these characters are up to next.

It’s overall, so well written. It will keep you entertained until the very end. A YA thriller done right!

Julie Soto can honestly write any genre. She has quickly become one of my favorite authors!

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Thrashers follows Jodi whose best friend Zack is one of the most popular kids in school. Zack has a click known has the Thrashers. One day a girl named Emily wants to join but she dies. At first it is ruled a suicide, but then her journal comes out. Which changes everything and makes it seem like the Thrashers are responsible for her death.

I will say this was a great YA thriller attempt from an author who hasn’t written a YA thriller before. I am a Julie Soto fan but this was my least favorite book I have read by her. I have read so many YA thrillers like this so I was left a little bored. The just seemed like a very run-of-the-mill book. If you have never read a YA thriller before I think you would find this a five star read. But for someone like me who loves YA thrillers it was just fine. I felt like there was a little too much drama in this one for me. But I did not think this was bad. I just have come to expect more from the thrillers I read. Also I will still read Julie Soto’s books because most of them I love.

Thank you so much Julie Soto and Wednesday Books, this comes out May 6!

As someone who is a fan of Julie’s adult romance novels, I knew I would like whatever she writes. But hooooly smokes. I didn’t expect to DEVOUR this book the way I did.
Im not a big thriller reader but I feel like this is a great introduction into the genre that a lot of people across a great span of ages could enjoy.
I really liked Jodi as our main character, and I think a lot of people can relate to her feelings around her friends. If you don’t keep reaching out to them, will they even bother to reach out to you? That feeling of being included but also excluded by the people that are YOU’RE best friends but maybe you’re not their best friend.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book early. I’ll be first in line to buy my physical copy on May 5.


Ps. Justice for Julian Hollister. I’m obsessed with him

Julie Soto is trying something new with a delve into YA and suspense. It was entertaining enough to keep me reading, but the character development was lacking. YA does not mean the book needs to be simplified and basic. Although the premise was interesting enough to keep me reading the characters just did not feel authentic. Julie Soto is a great writer, and if she wants to go into Y a I would suggest using the same guide and true methods she uses for adult novels and just making characters teenagers.

I was hooked from the moment I opened the first page of the book, and I constantly found myself making time to sit down and read this. Julie Soto masterfully knows how to keep a readers attention hooked no matter the genre she does. It was fast passed and addictive and I just wish I could see this as the next teen thriller on TV! The Thrashers are five teens at the top of the social food chain, led by the magnetic Zach Thrasher. Jodi is the outsider, brought in by her lifelong friendship with Zach. But when a classmate, Emily, dies under tragic circumstances, the spotlight turns on them. Whispers of bullying grow louder. Could this perfect group be hiding something darker? After reading that ending I need t know if there will be a sequel, I need to keep reading the rest of this story!

I couldn’t get into this book at all and was immediately triggered by the prologue and suicide description. Plus they’re all in high school. My fault for going in blind.

Wow. I haven't encountered such an "un-put-down-able" read for quite a while.

There's this group of extremely popular and chic kids in one of Sacramento's high schools - the Thrashers. Everyone wants to be them and be with them. But there's a sad history that those who try to hang out with the core group of five friends - Zack, Julian, Paige, Lucy, and Jodi - are eventually toyed with and forgotten, or "thrashed," as the school came to call it. Was this what happened to Emily, a girl a year younger than them, who recently took her own life? Was the Thrashers' unkindness the reason for this radical step? At least, that's the version the police begin to investigate as we follow the group through their senior year of high school - the year after Emily's death. Jodi, who is the narrative center, observed by the close third-person narrator, must consider whether she has any reason to believe what she believes about her friends. She's always felt like the fifth wheel in the group: not rich, not modelling-grade conventionally beautiful, not Ivy League-bound, not a party animal like the others. She is also the one who was closer to Emily and kinder to her when her friends didn't hesitate to hint that they didn't want the other girl around. Why are they keeping Jodi in the group at all - will she be painfully "thrashed" as well?

The book description and the reviews I looked at before grabbing the ARC emphasized that this book was about the desperate need to belong, to be part of the group, that drives people to do crazy and unkind and outwardly terrible things. Which this book definitely is, and brilliantly so.

But another theme that I really appreciated here is the uncanny feeling that the world is a completely different thing to the person next to you, and the encounters you both participated in are part of a completely different story to them. Everything is not what it seems, Soto emphasizes repeatedly, or at least it doesn't seem the same to the other person as it does to you. I really like this kind of storytelling, and here I think the story is made even more powerful by choosing a close third-person narrative for Jodi, with the conventional perception of objectivity that comes with it, over a first-person narrative, which we tend to suspect of being unreliable for malicious reasons. This third-person narrative is unreliable, but not because Jodi is deceiving us (the convention is that the third-person narrator should have mentioned that, right?), but because Jodi is wrong about the meaning of the things she believes about life. Now, I don't want to emphasize the "Jodi is wrong" aspect in this review, because this is not about one person's tragic misunderstanding of the world (if anyone, that would be Emily, who is portrayed as clearly having some mental health issues that get in the way of correctly "reading" social situations); it's about each and every one of us having a very selective understanding of the world.

The genre? It's like a detective story, but instead of figuring out a "whodunnit," we have to figure out what might be going on in someone else's head while you're not paying attention to your words and their consequences.

Highly recommended. Publication date May 6, 2025.

I am grateful to the publisher for providing me with the eARC through NetGalley. The opinion above is entirely my own.

holy moly this book was so freaking good. i literally cannot get over how quickly i devoured it. grateful to have received an advanced copy! this book was for sure a top read for me so far this year and i loved every minute of it. the whole story kept me on the edge of my seat and so many times i didn’t know what was going to happen. i really loved jo and thought her character was amazing, that ending was wild and i can’t believe it. i did not want this book to end, 10/10.

wow wow wow. julie soto what have you done to me? i could not put this book down, i kept turning page after page needing to know what happens next and wanting more!
the thriller atmosphere julie weaves into the thrashers is tense and eerie, it had me in a chokehold the whole time! i'll probably be thinking about it for months, it was SO good.
the friend group dynamics between the thrashers were written really well and i found myself torn between liking the characters and my trust issues screaming at me that i should not trust anyone. i loved how none of them were inherently ‘good’ or ‘bad’ which kept it very engaging and had me guessing how everyone fit into the story. i enjoyed how julie soto explores high school/friend group hierarchies and the pressure of fitting in.
i REALLY liked the paranormal elements and how you never knew whether something was actually paranormal or just a coincidence. besides making the characters paranoid, it made even me paranoid and i was questioning everything.
and the epilogue??? WHAT??? i'm seriously unwell. @julie soto save me from this agony and give us a sequel i'm begging on my knees
～thank you to st. martin's press and netgalley for the arc!

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy! This book had me on the edge of my seat, plus I had to out the lights on at home because it did keep me freaked. The book follows one characters POV but involves a group of five friends. I need book two or a little more of what happens to Julian. I will definitely be recommending this book to my friends!

First things first. I'm a sucker for Julie Soto's work and I was SO excited to receive the e-galley for her new YA book! She is an instant-buy author for me and I can't wait for others to read this when it is released!

Jodi, our strong female lead was such a interesting character! I related SO much to her character, it really felt like I was right back in high school again. Friends with the "popular" kids but not popular myself and kind of in the background as a wallflower. Just known enough to part of a social group but never really feeling like I fit in. It definitely brought back memories (good and bad) and Julie Soto did an AMAZING job setting just the perfect atmosphere.

I absolutely devoured this book and was drawn in right away from the first few chapters! The mysterious circumstances behind Emily's death had me on an emotional rollercoaster and when it felt like I had the story figured out, she pulled the rug out from under me!!

Highly, highly recommend and I wish there was more!