Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

This was a lovely atmospheric thriller with elements of dark academia and a slow burn whodunnit. We follow Maya as she learns of her sister, Naomi’s, suspicious death, which brings her back to places she had hoped to leave behind for good.

I was intrigued from the start! It sets the scene and quickly jumps into the plot, setting a solid pace that kept me interested and entertained throughout. The dual POV and timeline took me a couple of switches to get used to, but once I adjusted I looked forward to hearing both sisters’ perspective (and from both timeline’s of Maya’s).

The atmosphere in this book was phenomenal. I could feel the mood and emotions of each scene. The secret societies, the lavish parties, the investigations- they were all written so viscerally and vividly. The writing also had great depth- it explored themes of sisterhood, belonging, race, privilege, and friendship.

The plot twist was great. Definitely not one I saw coming until right before the end and it worked well! It did feel a little rushed and I would have loved a bit more exploration into certain aspects. I also found myself curious on some of the characters and wanting to learn a bit more about them to understand their role in everything. These are relatively minor critiques though, and overall this was a solidly enjoyable read that I looked forward to picking up at every opportunity!

This was a great debut by Lauren Ling Brown and she is definitely an author I’ll be excited to read again! Thanks so much to Ling Brown, Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine, and NetGalley for an ARC! I greatly enjoyed getting to read and provide my honest thoughts and review!

Great storyline. Definitely shows sister's love towards one another. Shows also the price of keeping secrets. Maya absolutely loved, protected, and would do everything to protect her sister Naomi. But what happens when the one secret she thinks she's protected her from is the one that puts her in danger? Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC. #netgalley #ARC #societyoflies

4⭐️

“Did my silence allow the same thing to happen to my sister?"

Maya was excited to return to Princeton for her ten year reunion not just to see everyone, but because her sister, Naomi, is supposed to graduate that year as well. But
the weekend of the reunion, Maya gets the worst news; her sister was found dead on campus. As she starts to look into her sister's death, Maya realizes that her and Naomi may have more in common than she original thought; they were both members of the most exclusive club on campus, Sterling Club, and that comes with it's own dangers.

I really liked the way this story was told. We have alternating POV's between Maya and Naomi, then we also have alternating time lines for Maya's POV and they all fit together so well. I always love a story about secret societies made up of out of touch rich people and less privileged people who have had to work for everything, and this one ends up being a secret society within a secret society which was a nice twist.

This covered a lot of of big things like grief, race issues, guilt, and privilege. It showed how easy it was to get caught up in the 'easy life' made available to others. My biggest sticking point between Maya and Naomi was the fact that Maya just kept things from Naomi. Yes, there was a ten year age gap, but Maya spent so much time telling Naomi not to join Sterling Club without telling her why. That's just teenager 101: if you say no without explaining why you're saying no they're obviously going to try to do it. Keeping secrets from someone you care about about something this important doesn't protect anyone.

Thank you Netgalley and Bantam for providing this ARC to me!

This book doesn't shed a kind light on the ivied walls of elite colleges. Fraternities, sororities, secret societies all transpiring under a veil of secrecy.
    Two sisters, separated by age and circumstance finally have a common denominator they are both Princeton graduates.  Maya is going back for her tenth reunion and the graduation of her sister Naomi when she gets a call that her sister has been murdered.
    The books flips back and forth in time with both women so the reader learns how they became estranged and how their lives have evolved. 
    It's a thriller with all the angst of family issues mixed with the dark side of those hallowed halls. Worth the read.

I really enjoyed the Society of Lies and am grateful for the opportunity to receive an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The dark academia genre is not my usual go-to, but this book has me wanting to read more like it! I felt very connected to the characters and enjoyed the parallels each sister experienced and their similar, yet different voices and struggles. The ending very much surprised me and made sense. Often I feel like thriller endings can be rushed and seem messy just to get it over with, but I liked how this one came together and it shocked me! Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book and would read more from Lauren Ling Brown.

5 out of 5 Stars!

Maya’s dream weekend comes to a crashing halt when her sister, Naomi, is found dead. Maya was looking forward to this weekend as it'd been a decade since she graduated from Princeton, and she has a reunion. But it is even more special as it is Naomi’s graduation. The police are quick to assume it was an accident, but how can it be? So, Maya starts investigating to get answers for herself. But there was a lot Naomi was hiding. For starters, she joined the Sterling Club, the most exclusive social club at Princeton, despite Maya’s warnings. The more Maya uncovers, the more scared she becomes of what happened. There were reasons Maya didn’t want her joining the club, reasons surrounding another student who ended up dead.

I have been SO excited about reading “Society of Lies” by Lauren Ling Brown since being approved to read an advanced readers' copy! Coming across it on Netgalley, the description and cover grabbed my attention. And, this book did not disappoint! This was an incredible debut novel that was thrilling, fast-paced, and twisty. When starting this book, I had a hard time putting it down until I uncovered all the secrets being hidden at Princeton. I loved the complexity of the mysteries, the layers, and the characters who made the book more mysterious. It was a very well-balanced book with constant twists. I really could not figure out the mystery until the very end.

This book has multiple timelines, which I believe add to the pace of the book. We read about Maya’s time at Princeton, the present in which she finds out Naomi is dead, and Naomi leading up to her death. I thought the timelines were easy to follow and added an extra thrill to the novel.
I really enjoyed the characters in this novel. Maya and Naomi’s dynamic was very intriguing. I liked their background as it contributed a lot to the overall plot. I do think the lack of communication between Maya and Naomi was a tad annoying, as maybe some of the mystery could have been solved with a few conversations. But, as they were siblings, I can understand keeping secrets. The side characters were also very interesting with complex backstories that added to the mystery.

Not only was this a mystery, but it was a story about friendships, class, and sisterhood. I cannot wait to read more by Lauren Ling Brown!

Pick up “Society of Lies” by Lauren Ling Brown on October 1st, 2024!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, Lauren Ling Brown, and Netgalley for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

While Maya is at Princeton, she joins an exclusive eating club and a secret society. During her senior year, one of her friends from these clubs dies in a suspicious manner. Now Maya is back at Princeton ten years later for her sister Naomi’s graduation and Naomi has been found dead. Lauren Ling Brown writes a captivating tale about life in a prestigious college from the perspective of mixed race sisters. Growing up in lower class circumstances, Maya and Naomi have to fit in with legacy admits from well-known prep schools and rich suburbs. I really enjoyed this book. I was sometimes confused because it is told from the perspectives of both Maya and Naomi and many of the characters appear in both. The timelines covered both Maya’s time in college and Naomi’s last year as well as present day. This was an excellent debut. Though it is fiction, having attended such a college there were characters and storylines that appeared very realistic to me. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC. 4.5 stars rounded to 5 for me.

Maya and Naomi are sisters who, while 10 years apart, are forever connected through Princeton and the secret society they both belong to. When Naomi begins to uncover secrets that connect back to Maya and her friend Lila’s mysterious death 10 years before, someone keeps trying to silence her. Taking a journey between Maya and Naomi, the reader finds themselves questioning everyone’s involvement and motive, and who is hiding what.

Society of Lies is a multi-POV, dual-timeline domestic thriller that follows Maya as she investigates the mysterious death of her younger sister, Naomi. Although the police have ruled it an overdose and accidental drowning, Maya is convinced there is more to the story.

The novel throws readers into the world of elite colleges, exposing toxic relationships and a secretive society. It explores the emotional complexities between the sisters—Maya, who was unprepared to be Naomi’s guardian after their parents' death, and Naomi, who desperately sought her sister’s approval.

However, the book's pacing felt slow. The focus on relationship drama and the insular world of the elite college environment I found to be really boring. The story, while rich in character detail, often felt like a slice-of-life rather than a suspenseful thriller.

In the end, "Society of Lies" did not grip me as I had hoped. The novel’s exploration of toxic dynamics and personal struggles did not fully resonate, suggesting that new adult mysteries may not be my preferred genre in a mystery thriller

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

Alright I loved this dark little story!!!! It was like riding an intense roller coaster. It was so twisty and filled with sisterhood. I couldn’t put it down. A+!!!!

I am an absolute sucker for dark academia books. I loved this book. I really got involved with the characters and the different timelines. I thought the author did a great job.

Maya has come back to Princeton to celebrate her 10 year reunion & for her sisters graduation. Her worst nightmare comes true when her siter comes up dead and everything that her sister was hiding from he may comes into play. Naomi was hiding an awful lot, but is all of that what got her killed, or was it something else that has been lurking on the campus?

Love this thriller and the writing style. The writing will keep you glued into the end. Strong Character development. Also love the complete unpredictability of this.

Society of Lies is a mystery debut novel set at Princeton in a fictional secret society. Dark academia at its finest. This book is told in two intermingled timelines, following the experiences of two sisters during their studies at Princeton, approximately a decade apart. The sisters are intrigued by the exclusive eating society Sterling Club, but as they move toward the inner circle, both of them begin to have doubts about some of the ties they find there.

Overall, this was a good debut novel that tackles issues of race, family, and the elitism and "hand up" that can come with being part of certain organizations at colleges.

I really loved this book, it kept me engaged and excited to find out how everything was connected. The seediness of an Ivy League? Count me in. My main issue with was the book was the ending. It was hinted at repeatedly, but then the conclusion really went off the deep end

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the ARC of Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown.

The books starts out a bit slow and I found the different POV and timelines a confusing at times. It was an interesting read if you like "dark academia" books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!

What a good book!!! Such great writing style. This was my first by this author and will not be my last! It was a little slow paced but I still enjoyed this book a lot !

This kept my attention and I could not really tell who was good and who was bad, which I enjoy. Thanks to Netgalley for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Secret societies within elite universities are fascinating. Lauren Ling Brown delivers with this thriller set at Princeton University within the fictitious and exclusive Sterling Club. Maya returns to Princeton for a reunion on the occasion of her sister Naomi’s graduation. But Naomi is missing. As Maya tries to find out what happened to her sister, she begins to realize that Naomi was also a member of Sterling Club, a club Maya had joined but never told Naomi about. Now she wonders if she should have warned her sister to steer clear of Sterling Club.
Lauren Ling Brown’s debut novel explores themes of identity and belonging, as well as sisterhood and the bonds of secrecy. Her plot, propelled forward in a dual narrative told by both sisters, is full of twists and shocking revelations. SOCIETY OF LIES is a thoroughly enjoyable read.
Thank you to Ballantine and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance review copy.

This was overall an enjoyable read. The pacing was slower than I preferred and it took me a while to get into as it had multiple POV’s and multiple timelines for some of the same characters. I did enjoy the setting and the dark academia vibes, and it did grip me long enough to finish it which says a lot. By the end, I did feel satisfied with how the story played out.

I'm a sucker for anything secret society related, so this one was catnip for me! I loved the setting and was impressed by the pacing. Some great twists I legitimately didn't see coming!