For a journalism class in Frankie’s last year of high school, she and her best friend Shiv investigate the death of a former student. Woolf Whiting was a hockey star at St. Ignatius whose overdose death eighteen years earlier had been deemed a suicide, though his mother maintained (loudly) that he was killed. Frankie interviews Woolf’s nearest and dearest: his best friend, Vince; his sister, Maddie; and his girlfriend, Susanna. Shiv explores local newspapers to find out how the police had investigated Woolf’s death. The investigation reveals more about the town and Frankie’s own family than she ever expected.

Frankie and Shiv’s interest in Woolf’s death is tied to the death by suicide of a student at the beginning of the novel and their knowledge that there was a similar death a few years before they began high school. Questions are raised of whether the school or the town is hiding some sort of conspiracy – why have these deaths happened, clustered around the school? The answers to these questions are only partially answered by the end of the novel: Woolf’s death is explained, but the other two young men’s deaths remain uninvestigated.

This novel makes some impactful statements about family, youth, death, and the search for answers to questions including “who am I?” and “who will I become?” The writing is engaging and often powerful, and many characters are complexly imagined. The book struggles somewhat with focus, though. Frankie’s investigation takes her (and the narrative) further into Woolf’s life and death, which is significant to her. But it moves the story away from its starting point with Kyle’s death. He is present mainly to justify this older death being present in people’s minds, which was disappointing, and the other boy who died is only briefly discussed. The tragedy of their deaths is left for others to experience.

I get it: death by suicide is narratively unsatisfying. The gaps in understanding left when someone dies by suicide are never fully resolved, and there’s no justice or revenge. Focusing on the death by murder provides a nice resolution to the investigation, and the revelation that [spoiler!!} Woolf was Frankie’s biological father explains her connection to the mystery. [end of spoiler]

But the author chose to include those other deaths then mostly ignore them, which is disappointing. Fine Young People lands in a much more literary than mystery genre, so there would have been room for proper exploration of the deaths of the other boys. Alternately, the author could have kicked off Frankie’s interest in another way.

Overall, an enjoyable reading experience that left me more disappointed the more I thought about the plot.

Are you ready for an entertaining read? Check out Fine Young People by Anna Bruno. It was so much fun and it's available soon.

I found this to be a mildly interesting novel about the suspicious deaths of three hockey players from the same school over a 20 year period. Two female students from the same school take it upon themselves to investigate these deaths as a school project. The story is crammed full of topics such as adoption, underage drinking, drugs, high school pregnancy, a Ponzi scheme embezzlement, Catholicism, teenage puppy love, etc. along the way to a not particularly satisfying conclusion.
I thank NetGalley and Hachette Book Group for the opportunity to read and review this book prior to publication.

Fine Young People is a smart, introspective mystery set against the polished backdrop of a Catholic prep school—where secrets fester just beneath the surface. We follow Frankie, a high-achieving high school senior navigating her final semester at an elite Pittsburgh institution. On paper, she’s doing everything right: she’s a loyal friend, a model student, and just got into her dream college. But when a current student dies by suicide, leaving behind a cryptic message linked to Woolf Whiting—a former hockey star whose own death years earlier was quietly labeled a suicide—Frankie and her best friend Shiv start digging into the past. What begins as a class project slowly unravels into something much bigger, and much darker.

Frankie is a great narrator—sharp, observant, and quietly rebellious in her own way. Her voice brings a contemporary bite to the campus novel format, and her journey from comfortable insider to someone questioning everything she’s been taught feels believable and resonant. As she peels back layers of institutional gloss, she starts to see the elitism, silence, and complicity that have kept certain truths buried for years.

There’s a lot to admire in Anna Bruno’s writing. The dialogue is sharp, the setting is richly drawn, and the commentary on class, patriarchy, and academic pressure lands in a way that feels timely without being heavy-handed. That said, the pacing is a bit uneven. Some chapters fly by with cinematic momentum, while others lean a little too heavily on introspection, slowing the narrative just when you want it to kick into gear. The mystery at the heart of the story is intriguing, but the emotional payoff feels slightly diluted by the book’s slower stretches.

Still, if you’re into campus novels with a moody atmosphere, slow-burn mysteries, and flawed characters confronting big systems, Fine Young People is worth your time. It’s less about shocking twists and more about peeling back the layers of a well-oiled institution—and what it takes for someone to see the cracks for the first time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the advance reader’s copy!

I love books that take place on college campuses. This one was outstanding. The mystery and intrigue got me right away. The writing is so good, and the story is suspenseful. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.