I received this book from Algonquin Books and Net Galley as an ARC, and I was THRILLED!! I had heard a lot about this one, so I was super excited! I really enjoyed this one! There were bits and pieces that left me confused, and I feel they could have been tied up to eliminate confusion, but overall, it was great!

This story follows Frankie and her best friend conducting interviews for a senior projects revolving around the multiple (and somewhat mysterious) suicides of former students from her school. Of course, she stumbles upon much more than she bargained for, adding a lot more suspense and complications that they ever thought possible.

This reminded me a LOT of "Good Girl's Guide to Murder" with all of the interviews and investigations, and I appreciated the alternating POVs between the different timelines - it provided a lot more context and perspective, adding to the overall storyline. I also liked the social commentary about religion and misogyny throughout the story! It did pick up the further you got into the story, but the pacing was much more of a slow burn than what I'm used to with thrillers. Still made for a good story, but it did make it a little tough to stay "in" it at times.

Thank you for the ARC!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for gifting me a digital ARC of this novel by Anna Bruno. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars rounded up!

Frankie and her best friend, Shiv, are working on a senior journalism project at their elite Catholic prep school in Pittsburgh, focusing on the presumed suicide of a student years earlier, after a current classmate just died by suicide. The young women start probing into the earlier death of Woolf Whiting, a hockey star student, and begin conversations with his sister, his best friend, his girlfriend, and his mother. Along the way, Frankie discovers much more than she expected.

I really enjoyed this novel and the way the story was presented. From the viewpoint of her college years, Frankie narrates the story of their high school project as they are interviewing those involved. Those interviews give us insight into the back story of all the involved people in Woolf's life. While the mystery into what really happened to Woolf is intriguing, I also really enjoyed the coming-of-age exploration and the Catholic and religious themes throughout. Plus, it definitely shines an eye on the importance of sports in such institutions and the issues that can present. Wonderful book!

Going in I thought this was going to be more thriller, while in actuality, this is really the story of secrets - and truth be told, the reality of what this is was so, so good, and I loved the way the story was told. For a class project, Frankie decides to investigate a death of a hockey player that was ruled a suicide. She believes there's more to the story, and she's determined to find out what that is. Along the way, she connects with various individuals who have a connection to Woolf's death, and each of them brings bits of the truth. What I loved is that there was mystery in this one and some good connecting threads, but interspersed throughout were also reflections and realizations about faith, family, grief, and life. This was an unexpected read in so many good ways. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the look at this July 2025 release.

I love a campus novel in all forms, and this one was no different. It has a lot of similarities to I Have Some Questions for You, one of my favorite novels from 2023. Excited to read more from this local-to-me author!

Fine Young People by Anna Bruno is a poignant and thought-provoking novel that weaves together themes of loss, identity, and the quiet complexities of small-town life. With a narrative that feels both timely and timeless, Bruno delivers a story that resonates on multiple levels, offering moments of reflection, emotional depth, and striking honesty.

The writing is rich with detail, and the characters are carefully crafted—each carrying their own struggles and truths that feel deeply human. What makes this novel particularly impactful is how it tackles relevant social themes without ever feeling forced, instead letting them emerge naturally through the characters’ experiences and choices.

Though understated in tone, Fine Young People is powerful in its execution. Anna Bruno offers a unique and layered story that leaves a lasting impression. It’s the kind of novel that invites conversation and contemplation, making it a worthwhile and rewarding read.

Was his death a tragic accident...or something far worse?

St Ignatius is an elite Catholic high school in Sewickley PA, a wealthy suburb of Pittsburgh. Students at St Ignatius are expected (by parents, teachers, coaches and the administration) to succeed, preferably by way of an Ivy League university. It is the time of year when the seniors are finding out whether or not they have been accepted into their top choice college, and while no one explicitly announces their destination everyone seems to find out anyway. It is a shock when senior Kyle Murphy, who had just been accepted to Brown, drives off a local bridge, an apparent suicide. His last post on social media referenced another St Ignatius student who had died under mysterious circumstances; eighteen years earlier Woolf Whiting, the good looking star hockey player with a future ahead of him that all agreed was guaranteed to be bright, was found in the school chapel right before a game, dead as a result of an opioid overdose/poisoning which the police quickly concluded was either accidental or suicide. His mother swears he was killed, slipped a drug far more powerful than the pain reliever he thought it was, but people put her campaign for justice down to a mother's desperation. Kyle's suicide has people thinking back to Woolf's death, including Frankie Northrup, one of Kyle's classmates, a model student and the adopted daughter of one of the school's teachers, someone who works hard and doesn't make waves. She and her best friend Shiv have been searching for a topic for a class project and decide to delve into what really happened to Woolf. Part of Frankie's curiosity is spurred by what she perceives as her mother's unusual degree of interest in Woolf. As she and Shiv search through old yearbooks and newspaper records and talk to the three people who knew Woolf best...his sister Maddie, his girlfriend Susanna and his best friend Vince...they discover things about their school and the privilege and power that fuel it which are unsettling. Frankie will also learn things about her own past that she never suspected, and what started as a school project becomes something far bigger than she and Shiv ever anticipated.
Fine Young People is set in a private high school, but this is by no means a teen/YA story. Having recently gone through my daughter's senior year of high school, the pressures, angst, and high expectations of high achieving students rang very true. Author Anna Bruno weaves together themes of wealth, privilege, class, dysfunction, love and friendships within the pressure cooker atmosphere of a school where much is expected, even demanded, of its students, with added observations on the culture of elite sports and the outsized influence it has in academic institutions, The characters are nuanced and well-developed, and their pursuit of answers in the face of those who want the past to stay buried makes for an intriguing investigation. Some may find it hard to feel too badly for these young people of privilege, and it certainly doesn't make for light reading, but having observed first hand the pressures put on students today both by the people in their lives and the ever-present scourge that is social media I readily empathized with Frankie and her peers. My one regret about the book is that the other two deaths, that of Kyle and a second boy who killed himself a few years previously, weren't looked into once Frankie focused on Woolf...yes, they likely succumbed to the escalating expectations on them as students and sports players, but I would have enjoyed seeing Frankie and Shiv drill down into their situations too. Readers of Donna Tartt, Liz Moore and Curtis Sittenfeld should pick up a copy of this thought=provoking story which melds a coming-of-age story with an unexpected mystery, one I rate at 4.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 5. Many thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for allowing me access to the novel in exchange for my honest review.

If you’ve been here a minute, it’s very possible you’ve heard me say that I am always down for a book with an academic setting. A boarding school, a university, a public high school… I love them all.

In this new release, two students of an elite Pennsylvania prep school research a decades-old death and uncover a lifetime of secrets.

I did an immersive read with this one, both reading it on my Kjndle and listening to the audio. I haven’t done a ton of these, but I really enjoyed it! The book was very well-written, and I loved hearing the words narrated, as well.

This book brought to mind I Have Some Questions for You and the Beartown series for me, and those are both positives in my book!

Although not the central theme, hockey is an important part of this story (hence the Beartown allusion). I have never been to a hockey game and honestly know very little about it. Are you a hockey fan? 🏒

Strong voice, buried truths, & slow-burning institutional tension!

Even though campus mysteries are not usually my first pick, I was curious about this one and found myself drawn into Frankie’s quiet but determined search for answers. There is a cold case at its heart, but the story leans more reflective than twisty, and I appreciated the thoughtful approach. The elite Catholic school setting was convincingly claustrophobic, full of unspoken rules and long-protected secrets.

Frankie’s voice stood out for me. She is sharp, sceptical, and layered with doubt in a way that felt honest. I did not always feel fully pulled in, and the pacing was a little too subdued in spots, but the commentary around power, silence, and institutional protection felt timely and well handled.

A solid, slower-burn mystery with something to say.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC.

Good story, yes. Interesting characters, yes. Mystery, yes. Slow, low burn suspense, maybe. Thriller, no. While the story centered on three deaths at the same private religious high school, it was really more about Frankie and the discovery of herself and her past. In a way, the deaths she and her best friend decide to investigate are there as a catalyst for Frankie's story, which takes center stage throughout the book. Well written, this book is more for people interested in family secrets and drama rather than a suspenseful thriller.

A school project about the alleged suicide of Woolf several years ago leads Frankie down a surprising path of discovery in this novel largely set at a Jesuit high school in a wealthy Pittsburg high school. Frankie narrates from the perspective of her college years. She's got an incisive voice that cuts through the secrets that she uncovers through interviews with Woolf's family and friends as well as in discussions with her own family. Her pal Shiv is a good foil. Bruno turns a sharp eye on the ice hockey culture as well as the culture of the school. This is very much a coming of age story layered with a mystery so it will work well with the YA crowd. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A. good read.

Fine Young People grabbed my attention in the first chapter and never let go. It kept me engaged and invested in the characters to the point where I became just as desperate as they were to uncover the truth behind all the secrets.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Rarely in one book do you get to see both the best and the worst of humanity in the characters, and still have it tell such a beautiful story.

Frankie is a senior at the exclusive St. Ignatius prep school near Pittsburgh. For her journalism project, she decides to investigate the mysterious death of a talented St. Ignatius hockey player that occurred 17 years earlier. Ultimately, Frankie discovers something that breaks the cold case open, and at the same time, she discovers some truths about her own family.

smart, interesting, and well-done literary fiction with some interesting ideas. would definitely recommend. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

i enjoyed the investigative aspects of this novel but felt like it was trying a little too hard to be philosophical and came across as pretentious. also the “mystery” (???) was wholly unsatisfying. love the main character though - incredibly smart and savvy and emotionally mature. thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! out 7/29.

“Fine Young People” is a coming of age plus mystery book by Anna Bruno, I have really mixed feelings about this book because it wasn’t quite what I expected it to be. A plus was the fact that the chapters were, for the most part, short ones, making reading this book seem to go faster. Another plus was that I was engaged with the main character, Frankie, and her friend Shiv. I thought both teenagers were well portrayed. This book is told in two timelines, which also helped move the story along. What I wasn’t as happy about is that Frankie is telling the story in a reflection - meaning she’s telling it as she’s in college, but this happened back in her senior year of high school. Frankie’s aside comments about the present time seemed a bit foreshadowing than they needed to be. What I wasn’t as happy about was the mystery’s solution - it felt like a lot of build-up to something that is resolved in the last 5% of the book and while there were hints if one looked for them in the prose, it did rather seemed to fell a lot like out of left field. I’m still not quite sure how ALL of the boys were connected - other than the hockey - but, that could be me, not the author. This book, for me, was a solid four until the final unraveling when it dipped down to a 3.5, so that’s my final rating, but bumped up to a four star read because it was really good for most of the book.

Mysteries, coming-of-age stories and tales of loss and growth when intermingled can produce a novel that works, especially, in this case, when a young, inciteful teen weaves an engrossing narrative. Frankie has learned that a hockey-playing classmate has committed suicide, leaving a note referencing a similar suicide twenty years earlier by the prep school’s greatest player.

Frankie, the adopted daughter of one of the school’s teachers, decides with her best friend to investigate the early death of Woolf Whiting as their senior journalism project. A memorial to Woolf stands at the entrance of gates to the school. Being an inquisitive sort, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to learn more. Unfortunately, trying to speak to those closest to Woolf at time time, she and Shiv are stonewalled. That was not going to stop their investigation. They learn that Woolf’s mother has been seen as a crazed lady who will tell everyone she meets that her son was murdered. As the plot twists and turns, secrets are revealed, relationships change and readers are challenged to learn the truth.

The novel moves at a pace consistent with the flow of the investigation, picking up when required and slowing when necessary. The characters are well drawn enabling the reader to gain an appreciation for decisions they make. Although the elite school is the backdrop for the novel, this is not a high school drama. The narrator may be naive but she is certainly not a stupid teen. She is smart, rebellious and inquisitive and will not take “no” for an answer.

Thank you NetGalley and Algonquin Books for this ARC.

Frankie is the type of person who does not make trouble – for her mother, her coach, or the teachers at her elite prep school in Pittsburgh. Her future seems set when she is accepted into her dream college. But when her classmate takes his own life after sharing a message about Woolf Whiting, a former star hockey player at their school who died years earlier, Frankie and her best friend Shiv decide to investigate Woolf's death for their journalism class projection. Their investigation leads to unexpected places and people, as Frankie comes to see that not all is what it seems with her school, her mother, or the stories she has long been told about her own life.

This is a highly readable story. Frankie is a very compelling narrator, and the author deftly explores the challenges and questions that many people on the verge of leaving home face. At the same time, the author creates a strong mystery, with surprises that are both shocking and then believable within the world she has built.

Highly recommended.

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.