This book will be such a hit with the young adult crowd!!! It held my attention and kept me guessing the entire way! Teens love nothing better than reading about other teens, especially when you throw in a murder. This author did an excellent job of keeping the reader guessing until the big reveal. I thought the ending was perfect! I will definitely be recommending this book to my students and fellow adults that enjoy this type of work. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! I really enjoyed it!

2.25/5 stars. I really have loved Jessica Goodman’s other books, but this one was so predictable and the characters didn’t have me rooting for them. I’ll still read her future books, but this one was a letdown overall.

The Meadowbrook Murders is a solid YA thriller with dark academia vibes, but I wasnt as surprised or intrigued as I wanted to be. I wanted more suspense. I also found it difficult to buy that journalism was such an important of this school community. Still, it was entertaining and will please fans of the author's previous thriller, The Counselors.

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

YA murder mystery set in an exclusive prep school. Great characters.

This is a boarding school murder mystery that jumps right into the bloody act and the immediate investigation afterwards. We follow the roommate of the victim, who's keeping secrets about what exactly happened that night and the school's newspaper editor-in-chief, trying to figure out what happened and write an explosive story.

The story was okay, but I didn't love either main character. The way things played out made it sort of unbelievable that they'd uncover any real clues, as they were more wrapped up in their own dramas. I also saw the killer coming early on, there's plenty to lead you there if you pay attention.

Overall, an okay read but I won't be revisiting it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the copy.

I enjoyed the way this unfolded; the school newspaper/investigative report character really drew me in. I didn't love this as much as others from Goodman, but still a solid YA mystery.

This was a quick read, but completely sucked me in! If you're into dark academia, you'll love this. This was WILD and a fantastic twisty murder mystery.

If you’re looking for a quick and bingeworthy dark academia YA thriller, Jessica Goodman is the author for you! In her newest, The Meadowbrook Murders, we have a girl and her boyfriend murdered, her roommate was the only one to survive in the room, and a student dying to find her big hardhitting story as a journalist.

Sarah and Amy are roommates and are back for their senior year at their boarding school, and what should have been a fun year turned into a nightmare when Sarah and her boyfriend were brutally murdered and Amy was the only other person in the room and came out unharmed. But she claims she didn’t do it. She knows Sarah had some secrets she was keeping and is doing what she can to protect her friend, but with the mounting pressure, it’s getting harder and harder to. Liz is an aspiring journalist and sees this story as her opportunity to get into a great college if she can crack the case open.

Secrets, drama, and murder among the privileged and spoiled rich kids at their boarding school – dark academia is always fun for that reason. Everyone always has some dark secrets, and there were a few good red herrings in the mix. You might guess the killer, but it won’t take away from the big reveal. If you need a fast and fun murder mystery, this is the one!

That was a really solid dark academia novel. It reminded me a lot of Ruth Ware's The It Girl, but is set in a boarding school (high school), so there's a lot more talk about how the situation arising will impact college admissions, etc. I would have expected a lot more adult intervention, but alas, that's never the case in fictional stories such as these. Amy was kind of a jerk, though she was definitely going through a lot. I did really resonate a lot more with Liz. They both had their flaws though.

I will say that this book was intense and the killer could have been anyone. So many people had motive, were snarky and unkind, and there were means for many people to have committed the act. I really thought I had it solved because of things like someone having taken a shower at a particular time, but seriously, it was all just done really well. Kudos.

A gripping, fast paced murder mystery. I loved the short chapters and alternating POVs. I guessed the killer at about 80% but I enjoyed getting to the final reveal.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Penguin Group for the ARC.

17-year-old Amy Altermann goes to an elite boarding school in Connecticut. One night, after a party Amy comes home drunk. She has not been getting along with her roommate, and former best friend, Sarah. The next morning, she finds Sarah and Sarah’s boyfriend dead in Sarah’s room. Amy strives to clear her name as well as her boyfriend’s while struggling with her friends’ deaths. Reporter, Liz, is writing in her office when she hears about the deaths of Sarah and her boyfriend. As she begins investigating, she uncovers new information. Can Sarah clear her name? What really happened to Sarah and her boyfriend?

The plot is well written, engaging, and keeps the readers engaged. The characters are well developed, unreliable narrators that add to the mystery of the story. Readers who like murder mystery, locked room mysteries, and suspense will want to pick this one up. Recommended for most high school and public library collections. Gr 9 and up, 4 stars

ARC provided by PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group

Some towns keep their secrets buried. Meadowbrook isn’t one of them.

Jessica Goodman returns with another razor-sharp thriller, unraveling the dark underbelly of privilege, ambition, and the consequences of secrets long left to rot. The Meadowbrook Murders pulls readers into a world where appearances are everything, but beneath the surface, danger lurks in every whispered conversation and every forced smile. When a shocking murder sends waves through the elite Meadowbrook community, the truth starts to surface—but not everyone wants it to come to light.

From the very first page, Goodman builds an atmosphere thick with tension. The protagonist, caught between the weight of the past and the need for answers, becomes entangled in a mystery that refuses to stay buried. The deeper they dig, the more disturbing the revelations become—lies that have been carefully spun, friendships built on manipulation, and an unspoken rule that power is the ultimate currency in Meadowbrook. The pacing is relentless, each chapter peeling back another layer of deceit, leading to a finale that is both shocking and inevitable.

Goodman’s writing is razor-sharp, balancing a compelling mystery with character-driven storytelling. No one in Meadowbrook is entirely innocent, and that’s what makes this book so gripping—everyone has something to hide, and everyone is capable of more than they let on. The twists hit hard, the betrayals cut deep, and just when you think you’ve figured it all out, Goodman throws in another revelation that changes everything.

Beyond the mystery itself, The Meadowbrook Murders is an exploration of privilege and the lengths people will go to protect their status. It asks unsettling questions: How far would you go to keep your world intact? And at what point does justice become just another weapon in the wrong hands?

If you love thrillers with complex, morally gray characters, small-town secrets, and jaw-dropping twists, this is a must-read. Goodman has crafted a story that will keep you turning pages late into the night, and by the time the final secret is revealed, you’ll realize nothing in Meadowbrook was ever what it seemed.

Amy and Sarah are best friends at Meadowbrook Academy which is a prestigious institution for the children of very wealthy. Amy and Sarah share a dorm room. Liz attends Meadowbrook on a scholarship. Liz doesn’t have friends but she is the editor of the Meadowbrook Academy Gazette. It’s an online newspaper. Liz is determined to make a name for herself in journalism. She has an eye on a scholarship she hopes to get. It would pay for four years at a college. When Amy discovers her roommate with her boyfriend are dead, Liz decides to write the story for the Gazette without considering the possible consequences. Amy soon becomes considered by her classmates the prime suspect tries to clear herself while protecting her townie boyfriend. Liz and Amy are thrown together despite their mutual distrust as they try to figure out who really committed the heinous double murder. The unlikely companions discover that the truth isn’t easy to find and that even the people they trust the most are likely hiding something Will they find out who murdered them?

The author has written a terrific mystery. This compelling novel kept me guessing, as the narrative moves toward its conclusion. It is a fast paced attention grabbing boarding school murder mystery. This novel is written for young adults but I think it is geared for anyone who wants to read an excellent mystery.

Amy wakes up to find her best friend/roommate Sarah and Sarah's boyfriend murdered.
Liz is a scrappy student journalist looking for a big story.

When Amy and Liz are forced together in the wake of tragedy the dark world of the Meadowbrook community comes to light and no one will be spared.

Is Amy the killer? Is Liz a narcissist who's completely off her rocker? Maybe x2.

Give me a snooty boarding school and a grisly murder any day of the week. The Meadowbrook Murders is a pretty good ride. It starts to make comments about class and legacy but doesn't give quite as much social commentary as I like with my YA. This is a 3.5 rounded up because it was so readable.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc!

This was a quick read with short chapters and two viewpoints that made the book go by pretty fast. Told via Amy (best friend to Sarah and found the bodies) and Liz (journalist for high school paper looking for her big break) who are thrown together provides a nice balance as they try to find out how Sarah and Ryan were murdered and by who. There are red herrings and twists sprinkled in between the comparisons of the haves/have nots and locals/outsiders (which is a common theme in Jessica Goodman's books) which kept the story flowing, though it did have a few slow spots. I had to keep reading though to figure out the mystery and that was a fun journey because I kinda knew, but got thrown a couple times. That makes it a good mystery.

I did prefer Liz's viewpoint over Amy's though both had good parts. I found Amy a bit too up and down, and her devotion to Joseph irked me because it seemed extreme. But, I knew it was pretty accurate due to them being teens and all emotions. I definitely would not recommend Meadowbrook as a good boarding school though, very very lacking in oversight and to many people getting into trouble! Makes for a good story though.

Jessica Goodman is an author that I will immediately purchase from, no questions asked. I thought this was fantastic. I love a prep-school vibe.

A fast paced, suspenseful ya thriller about the murders of two students at an elite boarding school. The two main characters, Amy and best friend to one of the murder victims, and Liz, a reporter for the school paper, form an unlikely alliance to figure out who murdered them. This was a fun read that kept the pages turning for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jessica Goodman, and GP Putnam’s Sons for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a boarding school mystery. However, I will say, I was confused and mixing up Amy and Liz at times.

It’s the first week of school, with the backdrop of New England fall, when a young girl (Sarah) and her boyfriend (Ryan) are brutally murdered in her dorm room. Amy was Sarah’s best friend, roommate, and a suspect. As time passes and Amy starts to investigate, she begins uncovering more questions. It appears Sarah had quite a few secrets and Amy’s own boyfriend has exhibited some suspicious tendencies.
However, Amy isn’t the only student trying to find answers. Liz, the editor of the school newspaper, begins investigating on her own for personal gain and putting herself in danger.

I would rate this book at 3.5 stars. It was gripping for the most part, but I didn’t love the characters. I liked the twist at the end but thought it dragged on quite a bit.

I always enjoy a boarding school mystery and this one did not disappoint. The characters are enjoyable, especially the ever-determined Liz and her unlikely partnership with Amy. Overall a fun dark academia story.

If you like teens solving crime, dark academia, prep school settings, or murder mysteries, you'll enjoy this one. I really appreciated the dual point of view and how Liz and Amy both grappled with trying to discover the truth from their own perspectives. I think Goodman did a great job of balancing telling us enough details to make it horrifying without becoming overly descriptive and traumatizing. I absolutely felt for Amy finding two of her friends dead but it didn't feel so traumatic that I couldn't keep reading. While the characters were weighed down with grief, I didn't feel that way as a reader and was able to enjoy the mystery while acknowledging the pain the characters were going through. Another stand-out feature that makes this one unique is Goodman's discussion of journalism, particularly student journalism and its challenges and ethics. Liz struggles throughout the book with the push and pull of feeling like an outsider and trying to both be a part of the community and report on it. I appreciated both of these characters' bravery and how they didn't let an awful, traumatic time dictate their future. While neither Amy nor Liz is necessarily a likeable character, they definitely had a place in my heart and I felt proud of them as the story wrapped up. I also appreciated that the end felt realistic: The author wasn't promising any ongoing romances or friendships and charted futures that felt attainable for each character. This will definitely be an addition to our high school library! Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!