HOO BOY. Julie Soto does it again. I’ve loved and devoured every one of her books and this one was SO ENTERTAINING. Read it in two sittings because I truly could not stop flipping pages! We LOVE A GREAT YA THRILLER, BABY!

This book surprised me in so many ways. The Thrashers friend group was complex and interesting and continually kept me guessing. At first, I wasn’t feeling the romance subplot but because Julie Soto is amazing, by the halfway point I was LOCKED IN. I really enjoyed Jodi as a narrator. I particularly liked seeing her coming to terms with her father’s alcoholism and abuse, standing up to Zack and creating boundaries (HONESTLY ZACK THRASHER CAN ROT I HATE THAT MAN), dealing with the prosecution at the end, and discovering her passion for theatre set design.

There were so many twists and turns, and even things I suspected came with a bit of a twist! I wasn’t always 100% on board with the paranormal activity of it all, and the epilogue was just shy of cruel (SEQUEL NOW PLEASE IMMEDIATELY), but overall I just had a very good time with this. Soto is 3/3!

If Julie Soto writes it, I'm going to read it. This is a different genre from her other books and her first young adult thriller novel, and it delivers.

It's definitely written in a way that is enjoyable for an older audience. There are some supernatural aspects and light romance sprinkled into this ya thriller.

Julie Soto has a great way of making you sympathetic to some of the morally gray characters, and also turn against other characters you might have liked in the beginning. I appreciate how complex some of the characters are. While it's mostly filled with drama, it does get a bit repetitive without progressing the story for longer than necessary. Even though I could see the twist at the end it was still fun. However, I didn't see the twist in the epilogue coming, and honestly I'm not sure how I feel about it.

An entertaining & angsty teen drama with notes of “13 reasons why” mixed with “Carrie” & “Pretty little liars”. It’s compulsively readable & has just enough suspense to keep you flipping the pages like a mystery thriller. Not too much depth despite a rather strong premise but that didn’t bother me much. I didn’t expect the bits of paranormal at first & didn’t fully know where the story was headed until 50% through. However, I just let the campy story unravel and enjoyed it for what it was.

Thank you Netgally for the ARC of Thrashers.
I absolutely love Julie Soto’s previous books. Forget Me Not is one of my most favorite, so i was excited to see what her writing would look like in thriller YA form.
She did not disappoint. I was hooked for the very beginning. Thrillers and YA arent my usual genre i read but this one was good! I was never really sure where the story was going to take me and couldn't decide if the narrator was reliable or not. It was so fun!
I find YA can sometimes be hard for me to connect with, but i had no issues with this book. Loved reading it.

The Thrashers was my third Julie Soto book. I have previously love her romance books, her thriller is another one of my favorites. Morally gray characters are my favorite, especially for dramatic YA characters. The Thrashers was an action packed page turner that I would recommend for both YA and thriller readers.

“The Thrashers” by Julie Soto is an YA mystery thriller. I was very happy to receive an ARC from St. Martin's Press and an ALC from Macmillan Audio (via Netgalley). Opinions from this review are completely my own.

I liked a lot Julie’s romance books and I am glad that she writes other genres well too.
The story starts with the tragic suicide of a 17 year old girl, Emily Mills, on prom night.

I was not expecting this but it was a good way of getting my attention. The protagonist of the story is Jodi Dilon. She is part of a group of popular students called The Thrashers. Unlike the other 4 members (Zack Thrasher, Julian Hollister, Lucy Reed and Paige Montgomery), she is not rich or privileged. That is why she has insecurities and is afraid that she will one day be cast out of the group (or “thrashed”).
Emily wanted to be part of the group and ended up being a bit obsessed with Jodi. The police suspect the Thrashers bullied her, after finding her diary.

The audiobook is narrated by Eva Kaminsky and Jesse Vilinsky. They both did a good job with the characters and listening helped me immerse in the story.

I liked that the protagonist is an unreliable narrator and that there was a paranormal side to the story. We see the other characters only from Jodi’s perspective and that is part of the mystery.
The ending was surprising and left an opening for a sequel (I would read that).

Overall I enjoyed the book, only the start was a bit slow.

I need everyone to go read this as soon as you possibly can, because I desperately need to discuss. All the twists and turns have me absolutely spiraling. However, until it’s May 6th pub day finally arrives, I will zip my lips and redirect my energy into giving Julie Soto the praise she deserves.

The Thrashers had me hooked right from the beginning, because it instantly gave me that classic 2010s CW show feeling that I have been missing for a good decade. We’re talking Pretty Little Liars. We’re talking Veronica Mars. Gossip Girl. Vampire Diaries. 13 Reasons Why*. It’s an addictive balance of drama, mystery, suspense, and a bit of romantic tension. I couldn’t put it down, and now I can’t stop thinking about it.

Julie Soto is just an all around fantastic author. I love her published stuff, her unpublished stuff, her fanfic, her romance books, and now her YA thrillers. I will read literally anything she writes. The Thrashers is an excellent example of the depth of her writing. I was blown away by the complexity of every character. Without getting into spoiler territory, I will just say that if you are a fan of the morally gray, you will be so satisfied. Speaking of complexity… the plot. I love the mystery/ thriller genre, but I have gotten used to just accepting that a lot of the time, I am going to predict what’s going on before I’m supposed to. Not with this book. Every time I thought I had figured something out, the story ricocheted in a totally different direction. The last few chapters had my jaw on the floor - and the epilogue?! I’m questioning everything. Are we getting a sequel? It could easily go either way - but if anyone’s asking, I’m team sequel!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Julie Soto for allowing me to read this arc!

*I hesitated to include the comparison to 13 Reasons Why, because I had a very difficult time both watching and recovering from watching that show. If I had seen it mentioned alongside this book, I might have been put off from reading it. However, they address several common topics and themes (including suicide, bullying, and domestic abuse) and I think it’s important for the reader to know that going in. For me, The Thrashers was much lighter and easier to digest. However, everyone is different, so definitely check the trigger warnings before reading.

I know this is going to be hit or miss for adults since it is YA but I loved it! I fear that there will Be fans of Julie Soto that read this because of their love of her work when they typically don’t enjoy YA fiction and this end up not liking it.
Putting those folks aside.. this was a very well written and constructed YA paranormal thriller.

What I enjoy about YA besides the escapism and not feeling my age is that the young characters can make mistakes and interesting decisions and we don’t think twice because they are kids whose brains aren’t fully formed.

This book was fast paced and entertaining where I was able to get lost in the story where next thing I know it’s 1am and I still hadn’t gone to sleep. I actually can’t even put a finger on what I liked so much about it.

From the thriller standpoint it was clear how things were going to unravel with no big surprises but to me, it didn’t matter. The characters were incredibly flawed and selfish but you could see some common anxieties that plague teenagers sitting beneath the surface enabling young readers to be able to connect to them.

I was thankful to receive both an eARC as well as the audioALC which enabled me to do an immersive read which made the experience even better. One thing for I’ll point out is because the eARC is an uncorrected proof whereas the audio is a final version there can be some minor differences. Many times you don’t notice as they are typos but in this case there was a single word removed from the final version. That word (a name) stood out to me in a positive way (not the name being positive but the action taken) as I applaud the author and/or the editing team for having the foresight to make the change due to the current climate surrounding the name. While this won’t make sense to most, I still wanted to make note of it.

The narrator, Eva Kaminsky and Jesse Vilinsky did a great job with the narration. It was recorded a touch slow but not too bad and it was easily fixed by changing the playback rate. Full disclosure, most of the time I couldn’t tell when the voice actors were trading off! It was a seamless collaboration yams all the voices were handled well.

I am thankful to have gotten the ARC and ALC for free from Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

This title comes out May 6, 2025 and I can’t wait to get my own physical copy.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

I really enjoyed this YA thriller. This book proved to me that I’ll read anything Julie Soto writes because she knows how to wrap me up in a story and get me to care about the characters. The book is about 5 friends, called The Thrashers. I had a favorite and then as the story developed, my favorite changed and I was so concerned for them. I stayed up reading until 3am because I just had to know how things were going to work out and figure out what really happened. It was just so good. It’s definitely a YA book, lots of high school drama, crushes, popularity, and much needed growing up. I did a mix of ebook and audiobook and they were both great. Thank you Wednesday books and Macmillan audio for advanced copies.

I loved this book! Everything Julie Soto writes is amazing! I'm not really a thrillers type of person but I thought this was super great. The writing had me pulled in and I fell in love with all the characters.

The cliffhanger though, oh my gosh. I can't wait for the second one and i will be buying a physical copy, of course. :)

Julie Soto is a favorite of mine from the romance genre, imagine my delight to read a different style from her. I gasped so many times and racked my brain throughout. I’m a 90s kid so this book gave me "I Know What You Did Last Summer" vibes in a modern, atmospheric high school setting. She delivered and I am sitting here staring at the wall after finishing the book.

Thank you to Julie Soto reader group & NetGalley for this ARC!

The clique was cliquing.
The teen angst was angsting.
The creepy ghost was creeping.
And the Logan Echols dupe was Logan Echolsing.
Everything promised for a thrilling ride was present and accounted for.

Wow - what an amazing book! Julie Soto did such a good job creating a group of popular kids that you simultaneously hated and wanted to be. The book was so suspenseful and had me flying through it to know what had happened! I really enjoyed it a lot.

From romance novels to thrillers Julie Soto can do no wrong. In all of her books I couldn't help but read from cover to cover. Very much "Heathers" with a bit of scream this book was a rollercoaster of twists and turns and I absolutely can't wait for a physical copy.

Julie Soto's debut YA thriller is phenomenal! I love Soto's romances so much. I was not sure how she would translate to a young adult audience, and one seeking a thrilling story, at that! I could not put this book down. I cannot wait to recommend it to my teen (and even adult) readers.

I could not put this book down. It felt like a blend between an “old school” and modern YA story. It was exactly the kind of book I was in the mood for.

I knew very little about this story when I started the book, other than I have loved all of Julie Soto’s books so far. I highly recommend this approach as there were elements of the story that I was really not expecting but found I really enjoyed.

I wouldn’t have hated a little more focus on romance in the story but I loved the little that was there

I recommend this book for fans of ‘One of us is Lying’ who are looking for a similar vibe but maybe with a bit of a genre twist (you’ll see)

If this book does not get a sequel, I will riot!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC

Okay, i was a bit not hesitant but prepared to not like love this book because switching not only genres but age range seemed tricky but OMG this book was soooo good! i have enjoyed julie sotos other books but this is my favorite of hers. i felt like the characters were well written and it stayed like intense through and everything worked. i hope she does more young adult thrillers!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Julie Soto for the ARC.

As a fan of Soto’s previous work, I was thrilled to be approved for this ARC—even with its YA rating. The premise immediately caught my attention, and as promised, this book's subject matter was vastly different from her past novels while still delivering an incredible reading experience. Honestly? This might be my new favorite from her.

That said, I strongly advise readers to check the trigger warnings. This story tackles heavy themes, including suicide, domestic abuse, stalking, substance abuse, and bullying. The content is undeniably dark, pushing the boundaries of what I’d expect from YA fiction.

<i>The Thrashers</i> filled the void <i>Ninth House<i> by Leigh Bardugo left in my heart—another five-star read for me. I was completely hooked. While I’m not usually drawn to high school-aged protagonists, the thriller plot, paranormal elements, and psychological twists made this impossible to put down. If you love the class tensions of Veronica Mars, want a less problematic version of some plot points from Thirteen Reasons Why, and grew up on too many early 2000s horror movies, <i>The Thrashers</i> is for you.

By the end, I could not stand just about any character—but in the best way possible, think <i>Tell Me Lies</i>. Soto crafts privileged, morally gray characters so well that I loved to hate them. I don't want to spoil the ending but it made me so frustrated by how true to reality it is. And THAT epilogue? I’ll be thinking about it until the day I die.

This book was provided to me for free in exchange for my honest review.

Julie perfectly captures a story of a high school girl learning to find her place amongst her peers. Our main character Jodi is accepted into a group of notorious bad behavior. She has to learn how to find her own voice, when it feels impossible at times. This story is perfect for a young adult to read, as I feel like it did a great job of showing the struggling of maturing and realizing not everyone is your friend, and that’s not always a reflection on you. I love Julie’s writing and this is no different!

Wow. Thank you NetGalley for another great ARC!!

I just…….what. I loved this one so much. And I normally don’t love YA. I was constantly guessing what the heck was going to happen. The whole thing seemed fishy from the beginning but I couldn’t have guessed that ending omg. All the twists and turns and little details that were fed to us throughout this book were magical. I loved every second of it!!!