I wanted a mystery, but got something attempting to be literary fiction. It was okay, but I'd rather just read The Secret History instead.

My apologies for not finishing the book - I think I might not be the target audience. A group of college students, Agatha Christie, a premise that intrigued me, unfortunately I didn't feel invested in the characters.

I struggled through this one. I didn't find the characters enjoyable and I would have preferred a plot LIKE an Agatha Christie instead of one that just kept mentioning her.

Yes, there is mystery and yes, we all can relate to be young and have a crush on someone, but I just didn't connect with the characters.

I really struggled to get through this one. I never fully engaged with the story or the characters. The writing was slow and drawn out. I did enjoy the frequent references to Agatha Christie stories.

The Truants is a compelling, slow-burn of a thriller. Our narrator informs us in the beginning of the book that she was in love, and while this is a love story of sorts, it's much more a look at the dark side of obsession and the lengths someone will go to live a life more than ordinary.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A twisted tale of damaged brilliant people who betray each other unwittingly and occasionally with full knowledge. The ending is shocking, but satisfying. The characters are well written and believable.

Jess chose her university for the sole purpose of studying with Lorna Clay, an iconoclastic professor. Lorna is indeed as enthralling as everyone says, but she's not the only magnetic personality to ensnare Jess: her best friend Georgie (half champagne bubbles, half broken glass) and Georgie's boyfriend Alec (a journalist with a dangerous way with words) are so overwhelming Jess can hardly think about her own boyfriend Nick, who's merely handsome, kind, and intelligent. Toxic personality clashes and old secrets against the background of an Agatha Christie seminar end in shattering betrayal.

A frightening vision of worshipful desire, The Truants explores the dangers of seeking one's self in others.

(Full review available on BookBrowse.com.)

I didn't dislike this book but felt it lacked character development. I just could not care about any of the characters. I am sure it will have a following. It just wasn’t a book that appealed to me.

At first this had a real <i>Secret History</i> flavor, with that charismatic professor and adoring students who form a tight group. Except not everyone in the group is a student of Lorna's, and there seems to be something a little off about her. And the tight group is only two couples, with fractures forming fairly quickly. At the end, it's Jess who pursues Lorna as a mentor and guide, seeking her out when things between the group splinter irreparably. Lorna seems willing to serve in that role, even bringing Jess to her remote island off Italy's coast but then... well... no spoilers.

There something a little less here than there could be, with obvious plot points. If there had been anything unusual or different about the relationships or Lorna's choices this would have been a definite five star. As it is, I rounded up from 3.5.

eARC provided by publisher.

I really enjoyed the writing in this book and the characterization of a few of the characters, particularly Jess and Lorna. As for the mystery, it is not at all what would be considered a traditional mystery and, as a fan of the traditional mystery, I appreciated the somewhat convoluted departure. That said, some of the other characters could have been further fleshed out and the plot felt a little meandering at times. Overall, I was pleased to have read it. The Christie aspect was a fun addition. I will recommend this book for fans of Trust Exercise by Susan Choi.

In this compelling coming-of-age novel, a first year college student develops deep relationships with her classmates and a professor that entwine her in a mystery and profoundly change her life.

I loved the concept of this book. An impressionable college student enrolls in a literary theory course about Agatha Christie, only to find herself in a murder mystery of her own. My favorite scenes were the ones that took place inside this particularly alluring classroom — it reminded me of my own experience as an English student, and how certain professors can be both strange and fascinating. Overall, I thought the “mystery” element was great, and it kept me guessing until the very end. I wasn’t totally convinced of the chemistry between Jess and Alec (or Georgie and Alec), but what lacked in those relationships was certainly made up for in the complicated (and captivatingly inappropriate) relationship between Jess and her professor, Lorna. This book reminded me a bit of The Secret History by Donna Tartt, but it definitely stands on its own as well (I only make that comparison because I think people who enjoyed the setting and themes of TSH might also like Kate Weinberg’s The Truants). This will certainly be an interesting January 2020 release, and I look forward to discussing it with other reviewers once it does come out!

This review will be posted to my main platform (http://instagram.com/inquisitivebookworm) in January 2020, closer to the book's release date on 1/28/20.

A scrummy murder mystery that takes the reader from a college campus in America to the resorts of Sicily. The complex characters, riveting plot and beautiful cover make for an interesting novel. I adored the Agatha Christie premise and I was immediately hooked when the main character was signed up for a Christie college course! However, even though this was a fascinating plot line, it didn't go anywhere. The main character does all this research on Christie to learn nothing. She does learn a few things, but nothing important to the plot. She goes on a wild goose chase trying to solve the mystery of her lover's death and how her favorite professor is involved in it. Ultimately I was disappointed with the anti-climatic conclusion.

The book had a heavy build up that went nowhere. This story had such promise but it went downhill the moment the action moved away from the school. Plus, Lorna's ending in particular was so strange! It was unfulfilling and boring. I spent all this time getting attached to these characters and invested in their lives for the story to go nowhere. The final chapter was just the main character's inner monologue as she stood in water. If you're someone who enjoyed "Gone Girl" and Agatha Christie's work and the tv show "How to Get Away with Murder," then this is the perfect read for you. Just be prepared for the ending to surprise you.

This book takes place at a small college and people with a lot of secrets. The book is well-written but I did not connect with the main character. It feels like a lot of other similar mysteries and I would recommend it for people who liked Kate Atkinson's The Secret History.

The first few chapters were intriguing, the Agatha Christie connection interesting, but ultimately, the story became tedious and melodramatic. I felt little for any of the characters, and the promised magnetic, irresistible personalities of two of the major characters never materialized in a way that made it seem real. The “mystery” felt tacked on, and uninspired. The writing was good in places, but overall, the book did not add up to more than just a couple of stars.

For when you're feeling nostalgic for those university seminars that made you think and discuss and pose randomly large questions to the universe . . . a really good story, great characters, but possibly the longest denouement in the history of the world. Enjoyable in that it is part mystery, part coming of age story, part make you think of the consequences of a life less ordinary.
It is a really good mystery with all these intentional Agatha Christie moments, but if it were tightened up in the conclusion, it would be a much stronger book..
The cover of the hearse in the trees is a much better cover than the porcelain horse on the Goodreads cover.

Jess falls hard for a few people during her first year at the university and becomes involved in more than one deception and love triangle. She is thrilled that she managed to get into a class of her professor crush and is over the moon to snag the interesting professor as her advisor. She is also thrilled and in awe of her new friend, outgoing Georgia. She is also thrilled by her growing attraction to the mysterious Alec who is Georgia's boyfriend. There are many twists and turns in the many triangles that Jess finds herself a part of and it can be quite the challenge to determine who is the victim and who is the perpetrator. I found myself wanting a tidy ending and someone punished. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

I really like debut novels and I am a fan/reader of Agatha Christie, so I was anticipating liking this novel much more than I did. For me the references and thoughts about Christie within the story were more intriguing to me than the story Itself. I don’t think it compares to Christie as the blurbs point out except in that, as is also a criticism of Christie, the characters are two dimensional. This novel had potential but the characters for the most part are underdeveloped and the ending wholly unsatisfying for murder mystery readers. I also have a problem with an ambiguous character (is she villain or not?) that is a professor who repeatedly has inappropriate relationships with her students.