This wasn't for me. I tried to get into it and gave up about 20% in. The idea is solid but I didn't care for the delivery. It seemed like it was taking a really long time to get to the point. I may go back to it but at this time, I have moved on. Good effort but poor delivery.

📚: Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown
⭐️: 3.5/5 (rounding up on #goodreads)

The gist: It’s Naomi’s graduation weekend at Princeton, and her sister, a fellow alumna, returns to campus to celebrate. The weekend gets derailed when Naomi is found dead, and all signs point to the sisters’ social club, the Sterling Club, having something to do with Naomi’s demise.

The good: This book has dark academia seeping from its pages. From the setting, to the plot, to the cast of characters, this is a dark academia book through and through. It’s an overall strong plot (despite pacing issues), with an ending that surprised me…

The eh: …but also an ending that left me with more than a couple questions and loose threads hanging. This read had its share of pacing issues (for a plot that gripped me, it felt slow), but its biggest issue is the dual POV. I found myself continuously confused which sister and which timeline was happening at a given moment, as not enough set them apart within the narrative.

Big thank you to @randomhouse - Ballantine & Bantam Books via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Society of Lies is out October 1st.

This story starts with what should be a perfect graduation weekend at Princeton University. Except the new graduate, Naomi, isn't at any events and is instead floating, dead, in a nearby river. Her sister, Maya, is devastated and is torn between her grief for her sister, and her flashbacks to her own time at Princeton many years before.

This story is dual told from dual POVs, and also a dual timeline. From my perspective, this made the story hard to follow. You're seeing Naomi, in the months before her death, and Maya in the present day, as well as Maya in her own days at Princeton and the Sterling Club. The characters are sisters and their voices were similar and this added to the convoluted feeling of this story. I feel the author would have been more successful in this if Maya had been reading an old journal vs flashing to another timeline altogether.

Race and past traumatic experiences also come up in this story. Both Maya and Naomi are half-Black and half-Asian. I didn't mind hearing about Maya's past, trying hard to assimilate into the culture at Princeton. But I was struggling to believe Maya wouldn't share some of this with her sister when she decided to go to Princeton. An overall theme is whether Maya's silence gets her sister killed, and that seems major enough to have talked about.

If you enjoy stories that feature dark academia, a slow burn, and family history, you'll enjoy this debut from Lauren Ling Brown.

Maya, a Princeton University alumna, returns to her alma mater for her 10-year reunion and to celebrate her younger sister Naomi's graduation. Tragedy strikes soon after her arrival when Naomi's body is recovered from a nearby lake. Maya doesn't believe that her sister's death was an accident. The story shifts to the days and months leading up to Naomi's death, Maya's time as a student at Princeton, and Maya's current search for the truth behind her sister's death as she's convinced Naomi was murdered. The biracial sisters, with deceased parents - a Chinese mother and Black father, had a strained relationship. While at Princeton, Maya was at first thrilled to be admitted into the university's most exclusive social group and its secret society, typically reserved for the ultra-rich, white students. But once she discovered its secrets, she was in too deep. The same group had also admitted Naomi, fulfilling her need for belonging. She, unlike Maya, would not live to see her graduation day.

In an impressive debut, author Lauren Ling Brown brings her take on dark academia in Society of Lies. Although it took some time to adjust to the frequent shifts in timelines and different points of view, this was a suspenseful story that kept me engaged. More than a mystery, the book delves into the bonds of sisterhood and racial issues. I look forward to reading more from this author.

This was a great debut novel. I loved learning about the secret societies at Prnceton. Very good mystery that kept me guessing. Especially one of the last murders. It is multiple POVs so pay attention to the years if the names get you messed up.

3.75 stars rounded up to 4!

This was such a quick and well-paced book, to the point that I finished it in only two sittings. Recently I've been in a slump trying to finish a book so I picked this up as a fun little palette cleanser. I love thrillers in a college/dark academia setting, and I also love secret societies so put that together and I was sold.

I think where this book really shined was with the two characters Naomi and Maya. They felt very fleshed out, and I liked the commentary about being Black and Asian in society, especially when attending a high stress environment like Princeton. The atmosphere felt very rich, and it was a great book to read as the leaves are changing.

I think where this wasn't perfect for me is more with the thriller aspect. I felt like it was very clear where the author was leading us, and I wasn't really shocked which is what I'm truly looking for when I read a thriller. That being said, I think this was a great debut and I would definitely read more from Lauren Ling Brown!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I enjoyed the multiple POV and dual timelines, especially as someone who typically doesn’t read dark academia. I feel like it really worked for the story and helped add to the anticipation. I think this was a solid debut and I’m looking forward to reading more from Lauren Ling Brown!

This book had a lot of tropes that I like: dark academia, mysterious murder, secret societies, and unreliable characters, but this fell a little flat for me. Around the 20% mark this book got very slow and I found myself not wanting to pick it back up. It had dual POV’s, but it was hard to determine who was who because both Naomi and Maya had similar storylines. The cast of characters were a bit bland and did not add too much to the story.

The book picked up a bit after the 60% mark, but not enough for me to really enjoy this one. This also read very YA to me, it was a lot of college kids going to parties and just talking about parties and hooking up. Not really that exciting and it didn’t add any substance or depth to the characters. I didn’t find myself rooting for anyone or even caring what happened to Naomi.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, Random House Publishers and NetGalley for an early edition of this title.

In this book you are following the stories of two sisters.
The youngest sister is a college student at Princeton that is a member of a 'eating club' (aka secret society). She is found dead days before her graduation under suspicious circumstances.
The oldest sister, who was also a student at Princeton and a member of a 'eating club' is on campus for the graduation ceremony when her sister is found dead. She suspects something is going on and tries to find out who is responsible for the death of her younger sister.

Unfortunately for me, this book was not a hit. I found the sisters and their storylines WAY too similar. The book felt repetitive because you are switching between POVs of the sisters' experiences as a student at Princeton and they were too similar. I often had to go back and verify which sister I was reading about.

I also didn't feel like the book was a thriller or have the dark academia vibes that were being advertised. The book felt more like a college drama revolving around social clubs.

This book was initially captivating and had some thrilling twists and turns. It had great potential to be a spell binding work of suspense. Character and relationship development were weak and at times asinine. The book lacked cohesiveness and I was left with many unanswered questions.

What an amazing book! A surprising, twisting and stomach-churning book; it completely knocked my socks off! I wasn't certain of the path the plot would take, but in the hands of this skilled writer the plot took several forks at once. Maya and Naomi - their individual lives and they way their lives intertwined. And branching out from them - their friends and the way their lives intersected. I think the writing is clean and sharp, precise, and as the plot moved on, my stomach turned to knots. The characters were believable and while not always likeable, it's clear they weren't meant to be. I would recommend this book without hesitation.

This ARC was provided by the publisher and NetGalley, the opinions expressed herein are strictly my own.

This story revolves around two sisters, one who, knowingly or not, starts to fall into the footsteps of the other in the world of Ivy League societies. It contains all of the makings of a great mystery, unreliable characters, secret societies, shady supporting characters, rich vs poor and a healthy dose of imposter syndrome. This story delivers on all accounts and then some. Even the last 20% breaks down to a few possible outcomes and keeps you guessing until the very end.

I found the plot of this to be very intriguing and I LOVE a dark campus vibe, but unfortunately I found the pacing of this book to be super slow. I normally love a dual timeline, but in this case I found them to be pretty similar and that was confusing at times. Ultimately, I really liked the first half but it lost me in the second half. I would definitely read future works by this author though as there were parts I did really enjoy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the advanced reader copy.

Big Sister Maya is looking forward to celebrating Naomi and her graduation from Princeton where she is also an alum. The years have been hard to get to this point as they lost their remaining parent, their Mom, just as Maya was going off to college. Naomi had been left to live with their aunt who just didn't have the mental and physical resources to care for her and her own children and luckily Maya had met a couple that had tons of resources to give her the life she deserved and agreed to foster her. The night before graduation Naomi is found drowned and full of drugs that Maya is sure she would never do and nothing is making sense or adding up. Maya discovers that Naomi also was in the secret Society she was in where she was involved in some questionnable activities to make extra money which also have been used for her silence. She has buried that deep in her to try to forget but did Naomi get involved as well and if so is that related to her death? The more questions she asks the more dangerous it gets and secrets from her past may come tumbling out as well. Great suspenseful and twisty thriller into the hidden side of the elite!

This book started off really well. An older sister is waiting for her sister to show up for her graduation from Princeton, but gradually comes to the realization that her sister's body was that which was pulled from a lake on campus.

And so the story begins, with Maya arriving on the Princeton campus and becoming involved in campus life. Maya's chapters are told in two time frames, in the first person. Her sister's chapters are also told in the first person. Both sisters had joined the same dining club and were involved with a secret society.

There is a lot of drinking, sleeping around, and abuse of drugs. And secrets. Lots of secrets. I thought the book was drawn out and the changes in POV caused me to do a mental shift from one sister and timeframe to another. It wasn't an easy read for any number of reasons. Still, I thought the book was worth a rating of 4 stars.

SOCIETY OF LIES was an excellent story, from the beginning I was hooked. I love dark academia and dual POV'S. I wasn't sure who was the telling the truth. Overall, I would say this is a winner, I highly recommend.

Society of Lies has a super interesting premise — a woman trying to figure out what happened to her sister, found dead on Princeton’s campus — but the book just does not hold my interest, and I can’t get past the first few chapters after months of trying and retrying. Not for me, but still worth a try — it does seem like it could get better!

This has been the year of the debut-I swear! Society of Lies is as delicious and addictive as the cover. Secrets, deception, *very* dark academia and over privileged people….I mean what could go wrong right?

I was pulled right in from the beginning. Not only do we have dual POVs of the sisters but it is also dual timelines. That always keeps my interest, especially in a thriller. I get my armchair detective cap on. The setting of Princeton is fantasy and you really get all of the fall vibes with it.

Not only was this a thriller, but the novel really delves into privilege, race and socioeconomic norms within an Ivy League University. I don’t want to say too much more and ruin things…just get it! You wont be sorry. Thank you Netgalley for my copy!

Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown is a gripping and well-written thriller that explores the depths of ambition, secrets, and the dangerous lengths one might go to belong. The story follows Maya as she returns to Princeton for her college reunion, only to have her joyful weekend shattered by the tragic death of her sister, Naomi. What begins as a devastating mystery quickly spirals into an intense investigation as Maya suspects foul play and unearths chilling details about Naomi’s involvement with the elite Sterling Club.

The novel is rich in atmosphere, with Princeton’s prestigious backdrop adding a layer of intrigue as Maya revisits old memories and encounters the ghosts of her past. Brown expertly builds tension as Maya’s investigation takes darker turns, revealing uncomfortable truths about the price of social status and the hidden dangers within Ivy League institutions.

The plot is exciting and fast-paced, keeping readers hooked from start to finish. Maya’s emotional journey, as she grapples with her own guilt and the secrets she has buried, adds depth to the story, making it more than just a whodunit—it’s a haunting exploration of privilege, power, and the cost of belonging.

For anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers packed with suspense, Society of Lies delivers a riveting read that doesn’t disappoint.

While the dark academia vibe was well achieved, i felt the pacing was very slow and the alternating viewpoints did more to detract from the story than to add to it (I found myself often having to check who the current narrator was). I would recommend this book just be prepared for a slower plot development.