3.5 rounded up to 4. I'm honestly not sure how to process what I've just read. I love stories about toxic female friendship, and this is definitely one of them. However, OTHER PEOPLE'S CLOTHES is a slow burn marked with moments that are thrilling which as the reader, you feel is heading toward a propulsive ending. While the conclusion packs A LOT, it doesn't quite feel as satisfying as I wanted it to. Our protagonist is exonerated in a way that just... fizzles in a moment that feels like a scene from Girl, Interrupted.

Interesting read. Good premise. I don't feel like this hit the mark.

DNF'd; this book wasn't bad but it wasn't compelling enough to keep going. I keep forgetting that I put it down and if I can't bring myself to pick it back up, I don't know why I don't just give up. I think I'll finish it one day but just not any time soon.

I’m not usually the biggest fan when it comes to thrillers, but this one is different and really brings back memories I forgot I had about all the Amanda Knox hype and sensationalism.

This book felt nostalgic for me, which is weird to say. I also studied abroad in Europe in the early aughts, so in many ways, this book felt familiar and wonderful. Of course, my time abroad was a little less dramatic than Zoe and Hailey!

This book is a slow burn, which was a bit of a struggle at times to be honest. Zoe and Hailey were .... not the most likeable, but in a lot of ways I could relate to them, so that element was successful. Dramatic, gritty, moody, dark - these are the words that come to mind. I loved the prose of this book and I'm excited to read more by this author.

I listened to a podcast and watched a documentary about the Amanda Knox case so first off I knew I’d like this book - couple that with great characters!

I DID not see the end coming! This book was also a lot funnier than I thought it would be.

I’m sad because everything about this should’ve worked for me enough for it to be a new favorite book, I usually love thrillers involving snotty collegiates. this one was just way too much of a slow burn for me. It takes about 100 pages before anything really happens and by the time things actually start getting interesting (about halfway into the book) I felt like I was already checked out by that point.

I love the premise and setting of this book, but the writing style wasn't a match for me. It jumped around in a way that made me feel disconnected from the plot and the characters. That said, based on the concept alone, I would try something else by this author.

3.5 Stars
This book gave me such early Paris Hilton meets Cabaret vibes, but with a murder thrown in.

Zoe and Hailey are ready to escape the competitiveness New York for the sophistication and dark artsyness of Berlin, Germany. They decide to stay in the apartment of the mysterious thriller writer Beatrice Becks and become more and more obsessed with her as they go through her things, until they realize she's watching them. Aaaand writing a book about them.

My favorite parts of this book were the descriptions. The flying-by-the-seat of your pants, 20-something observations added a Fleabag feel to this read.

I also think this book could have been a solid 30 pages shorter and at times the plot felt padded. BUT! The premise was beyond unique and I'm continually impressed that this was a debut novel. Get it, Henkel!

I’d read. A number of positive reviews of this book however I was unable to finish it and therefore disagreed with he reviews.

I loved the Amanda Knox aspect of this story but wish it had been faster paced. That being said, it's extremely dark and atmospheric, well-written and I had no idea where the story would end up. I was sucked in from the get go and really enjoyed the trippy ride.

A bit draggy in the first half but the action finally picked up in the second half and made me glad I stuck with it. I could have done without the multiple party scenes to get right to the heart of the story.

This book book felt like such an accurate representation of what a 20 something year old girl who does not know who she is or what she is doing with her life is. This book has little to no plot, but wow did it still back a punch. This story has everything that we as a society are absolutely addicted to, sex drugs, death partying, recovery, and relationships. This book follows two American girls who go to Berlin, when they find out that their thriller author is spying on them for her next novel, the girls decide to give her something to write about and BOY is it entertaining. HIghylreccoemdn if you love edgy books.

After her best friend is brutally murdered, Zoe goes to Germany for a year abroad as an art student. She rooms with Hailey, another American art student, in an apartment owned by a semi-famous and semi-weird author. From here, things get a little strange for Zoe and Hailey. They begin to believe they're being watched by the author as a method of gleaning information for her next book and they become obsessed with giving her a good, worthy story that will make them famous. Well, at least Hailey does and Zoe is always along for the ride. Lots of partying, sex, drugs, drama, and a little Amanda Knox.

If you like books about twisted female friendships and burying grief beneath a load of weird behaviors then you'll love this one! There is a LOT going on here and I personally couldn't put it down. Henkel does a great job of building tension and furthering the plot in a way that feels seamless. You know these characters are headed towards something not so great, but you can't put your finger on whether they're right about what's going on or enmeshed and just a little bit crazy. There are basically 3 "endings" -- plot points that got resolved in a huge way -- and each successive one had me shook more than the last. A really enjoyable read!

I agree with the reviewer who called this "Amanda Knox meets Cabaret," but I also feel like it's more than Cabaret. It's like, if annoying artsy types got what they desperately wanted: Attention at any cost.

No secret that I actually love novels with evil characters. All the characters in this book are evil, pretty much, but their ambition and drive and desire to be something unfortunately makes them pretty interesting. Drama, intrigue, and oh my gosh, that ENDING. Colleen Hoover wishes.

I loved it. I recommend it to folks who enjoy reading thrillers but are tired of domestic thrillers running the whole show. Let young, ambitious women be chaotic! I could see this being an excellent Hulu movie in the future.


Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for a review!

Two women studying abroad in Berlin bond over their shared desire to escape the mean culture of their New York art college. While rooming together in the apartment of a weird American psycho=thriller author, the two feel as if they're being watched by their landlady. So they hatch a plan to drive their own narrative, creating an artsy-vibed club in their rented apartment. The plan does not go well. This novel's plot doesn't truly take off until about 40 % in. Despite being slow out of the gate, the final third of the book had me riveted.

[Thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy of this book.]

Initially thought I would love because I gravitate towards literacy fiction. I find that when reading lit fic the writing has to be THAT much better. This wasn’t it. The plot was bland and dragged and dragged. I really can't think of anything I truly enjoyed about this novel. (I feel terrible saying that.)

20 year old Zoe, a scholarship student at an art college in NYC, decided to spend a semester abroad in Berlin. Hailey, a classmate, was also studying at the same school in Berlin. The girls decided to travel together. Zoe was the child of a single Mom from a small town in Florida and Hailey’s family owned a chain of supermarkets through the US. Zoe had a quiet demeanor and her best friend had recently been murdered. Hailey was wealthy, high spirited, spoke German and very friendly. Soon the girls were close friends with Hailey taking the place of Zoe’s best friend who had been murdered.

The girls found an affordable sublet in an apartment owned by a popular novelist and her mother. They realized that they had few classes in the college and also that the social scene in Berlin was very different from NYC. Hailey had the idea that the girls should use their apartment for weekly parties and charge an admission fee. The parties became popular and were written up in local magazines.
This book shows what life was like for 2 exchange students abroad. It deals with heterosexual and homosexual topics. Some may find that offensive. However it is an interesting story. The events that take place at the end of the book will surprise the readers.

The year is 2008. Barack Obama has just been elected president, Amanda Knox has been convicted of her roommate's murder in Italy, and two art school students, Hailey and Zoe, have just arrived in Berlin for a year studying abroad. Feeling adrift after the recent murder of her best friend, Zoe allows Hailey to take the lead with finding a place for them to live. When Hailey stumbles upon a sublet posted to craigslist by thriller writer Beatrice Becks, the girls jump at the chance to live in her chic pre-war Berlin apartment while Beatrice is in Vienna. But they soon become convinced that Beatrice isn't in Vienna after all, but is in fact spying on them, looking for fodder for her next novel. Hailey convinces Zoe to turn their lives into a living art project -- something much more deliberately thrilling than their nightly Law & Order binges. But events quickly begin to spiral out of their control, with devastating consequences.

Other People's Clothes is a mood. It's darkly funny and clever, a little bit (purposefully) pretentious and a little bit bohemian, salacious and carnal and also surprisingly thought-provoking and observant. With themes of art, grief, identity, and the intensity of female friendship at its core, this book takes readers on a journey to some incredibly dark places, guided by Calla Henkel's compelling, sinuous prose. This is one of the most aesthetic books I've ever read, with evocative and vibrant descriptions of the party scene -- the clubs, the sex, drugs, and music, the outfits. And at the center of this maelstrom are two complex, well-crafted female characters, self-involved and narcissistic and yearning -- not always likable but incredibly sympathetic. Hailey and Zoe feel so true.

The narrative is addictive and intoxicating, if slightly unfocused at times, and there's this looming sense of dread throughout that's just captivating, with a culmination that I wasn't expecting. And the last few sentences were, literally, jaw-dropping. You can tell that Henkel is an artist just by the way she writes. This is a truly impressive debut novel.

Intense. Darkly intense novel of identity formation and expression. At times the hedonism and debauchery was a bit too much but I soldiered on. What a wild ride. A mix of female friendships, mystery, and coming of age all in one novel. I expect not for everyone, but for those looking for something just out there, this might be the one.

This book was fantastic. It ended in a completely different place than I expected, and wow was I glad it did. It follows an aimless Gen Zer who is abroad in Berlin for a semester of college, where she meets Hayley, who becomes her new roommate. Hayley is erratic, fun, over the top, and sometimes a little terrifying. The two girls are renting the apartment of a fairly successful writer, who Hayley becomes convinced is writing about them as the subject for her next book. And then things get strange...

Even though this book takes place in modern day, it has the darkness and timelessness of a classic psychological mystery. I love when a book isn't overly reliant on cell phones or modern technology for plot points, and this one keeps them out of sight as much as possible. Highly recommend for anyone who likes a good twisty page turner.