The It Girl
Ruth Ware, 2018
Mystery, thriller & crime Contemporary fiction
A journalist navigates a toxic literary community where perfect facades crumble into dark secrets. The fragile line between reality and fiction is always paper-thin.
Feels like unease and curiosity. About identity and society.
A page from the book
The terrifying possibility that destruction can birth a terrible new beauty.
They’ll pull your life apart and stick it back together with vomit and shit, but it’ll still be more beautiful than you ever thought possible. Ruth Ware.Ware often uses the closed-circle suspense novel structure, confining her mysteries to specific, often affluent, social circles.
Books that feel like this
More by Ruth Ware
In a Dark, Dark Wood
Ruth Ware, 2017
In a relentless search for answers, a disgraced journalist finds herself trapped in a sprawling, isolated estate where reality feels fragile.
The Turn of the Key
Ruth Ware, 2019
A nanny takes a job in a smart house where the children are watched by cameras, and the past refuses to stay quiet.
The Woman in Cabin 10
Ruth Ware, 2016
A travel journalist on a luxury cruise sees a woman go overboard—but no one believes her, and no passenger is missing.
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Questions readers ask
- What is The It Girl like?
- Feels like unease and curiosity. About identity and society.
- What should I read after The It Girl?
- If you liked The It Girl, try The Maid (Nita Prose), The Silent Patient (Alex Michaelides) and One of Us Is Lying (Karen M. McManus).
A taste of the feed
What it costs to answer no questions when the charge is murder.
The following day, she lay in bed in a private room at the hospital. The police questioned her in the presence of her lawyer. Alicia remained silent throughout the interview. Her lips were pale, bloodless; they fluttered occasionally but formed no words, made no sounds. She answered no questions. She could not, would not, speak. Nor did she speak when charged with Gabriel’s murder. She remained silent when she was placed under arrest, refusing to deny her guilt or confess it.
The Silent Patient · Alex Michaelides
What a parent’s ambition feels like from inside the child.
My hand hurts within minutes. It’s pathetic, I guess, but I can’t remember the last time I wrote anything longhand. Plus I’m using my right hand, which never feels natural no matter how many years I’ve done it. My father insisted I learn to write right-handed in second grade after he first saw me pitch. Your left arm’s gold, he told me. Don’t waste it on crap that don’t matter. Which is anything but pitching as far as he’s concerned.
One of Us Is Lying · Karen M. McManus
The most domestic detail here is the one that incriminates.
It is clear that the room we are in has been remodeled recently. It has that never-been-used look, especially now that I’ve spent close to three hours cleaning up. The hardest part was getting to the blood that had seeped in between the shower and the caulking. It’s an easy part to forget.
My Sister, the Serial Killer · Oyinkan Braithwaite
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