Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC for this book!

This story is about a group of friends referred to as The Thrashers, who are seen as untouchable and everyone wants to be them. They are rich, popular, and invited to every party—except for Jodi. She has been friends with Zack Thrasher, the head of the group, since second grade, and has found herself a part of The Thrashers even though she is nothing like them.

A girl named Emily Mills becomes obsessed with The Thrashers and tries to insert herself into their lives, even though they find her annoying and unlikable. On prom night, Emily commits suicide and The Thrashers get blamed for “thrashing” her. She leaves behind a journal chronicling all of the things that have happened to her, so the police are looking at The Thrashers as being responsible. Jodi tries to figure out what really happened and if everything Emily said is true.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I usually don’t like plots that follow popular, rich kids because I find it unrelatable and predictable, but this book was different. It didn’t have you rooting for The Thrashers necessarily, but also not really for Emily either. Most of the characters were unlikable to me, but not in a bad way. Sometimes it’s fun to dislike the characters you’re reading about. I’ve seen other reviews saying they thought Jodi was annoying, but she was the only one I actually liked. She didn’t always make the best decisions, but I found myself wanting her life to get better and for her to get some better friends.

I didn’t expect the plot to become a bit supernatural, which I usually don’t like. In this case, it didn’t bother me too much because it wasn’t the main focus. And in the epilogue was interesting…

Overall, I really liked this book and read it pretty quickly because I had to know what happened next. I would probably read another book by this author if she writes another mystery/thriller.

4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you Wednesday Books for the gifted copy which I got at B&N Book Con!

The Thrashers
Julie Soto
Publishing Date: May 6, 2025

🎧 Narrator: Eva Kaminsky & Jesse Vilinsky🎧

➡️ Swipe for Synopsis ⬅️

This book was such a good time. It reminded my of the movie The Heathers in how it used dark undertones to explore the world of high school and cliques.

The Thrashers… the crew that everyone wants to be a part of. And Jodi is. But her insecurities leave her wondering, do they really even like her? Does she really belong? The way Julie Soto captured teenage insecurity was so spot on.

Then add in a dead classmate who leaves behind a journal that implicates The Thrashers… and things get dark. The teenage angst. The self centered meanness. The morally grey nature of basically all the characters. The mystery and suspense. It was all so good.

And if that wasn’t enough… seemingly paranormal things start taking place. Flickering lights, mysterious texts, the feeling of a hand on an arm. Is it Emily or just a trick of the mind?

Julie Soto did a fantastic job of making this a fun and entertaining edge of your seat thriller, while also masterfully weaving in deeper themes surrounding high school and teenage life. The emotions felt so raw and authentic. The examination of the character of the characters was subtle but impactful. I freakin loved Julian so much. If I were in high school he’d who I would be swooning over. Get outta here Zack 😒

This is different than Julie Soto’s typical books as it dips into a new genre, but as my second of her books so far, this one reigns supreme!

🎧 Eva Kaminsky & Jesse Vilinsky were amazing on audio! I’m so glad I read this one with my ears. They perfectly captured the teenage vibes and attitudes.

Okay, this is definitely one of my top reads for this year so far!
I really enjoyed this!
I feel like it gave 13 reasons why vibes.
Julian became one of my favorite characters, and Zack, my least favorite.
I feel like Jodi was unreliable at times because she was just as mean as the others, but she was also the most on the outside.
The ending was a great twist/confirmation.
I loved this so much, and I would definitely recommend it!

The Thrashers is a young adult mystery/thriller from Julie Soto, who primarily writes romance/romantasy books. The Thrashers are close and not just anyone can join their friend group. When a young woman named Emily turns up dead, all heads turn towards the Thrashers.

All of these characters are perfectly imperfect variants of young adults grappling with guilt, grief, and peer pressure all while trying on prom dresses and filling out college applications. The plot line moves fast and hard plowing through unreliable narrators, red herrings and the struggling inner monologue of a teenager finding themselves being investigated for the death of a classmate.

I really enjoy zippy YA thrillers and this did not disappoint. Julie Soto does a fantastic job with character building, morally gray character development and adding in just a touch of otherworldly eeriness to keep you turning those pages and binge reading to find out what actually did happen. I hope Julie Soto gives us more YA mystery/thriller stories in the future because this was really enjoyable.

Thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for my copy; all opinions are my own. The Thrashers is out now!

💫 Book Review

The Thrashers
By Julie Soto
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

🤫 Secrets
🏫 High schoolers
🔪The thrashers
🌟 Paranormal thriller
💗 Lovesick girls
👦🏻 Young adult
💵 rich kids
📱unknown texts
📓 journal

🚫Check trigger warnings

I am loving some of the YA books being released lately. Also, I love reading thrillers in the summer so this book was perfect! If you like Kara Thomas or Olivia Worley this book is for you! Fans of pretty little liars look no further for your next obsession. There were secrets, lies, twists and turns and I was kept on my toes the entire time.

Okay WHAT a CRAZY ride! I am a huge wimp when it comes to thrillers, but if Julie Soto writes it, I must read it. So I buckled in for the rollercoaster of emotions that this book contained. There was never really a moment where I knew exactly what was going to happen, besides having a feeling that Emily’s sister was involved in some form. I was only mildly disturbed by my eventual adoration of Julian by the end, maybe I’ll give my therapist a call soon…ANYWAYS, I need book 2 pronto and will send JS my therapy bill for the cliffhanger she left us dangling off of. 9.5 out 10 me’s recommended this book

Really enjoyed this book. Kept me on edge with just the right amount of creepy but can we talk about that ending?! What the heck was THAT?! Will there be a sequel or will we just be left wondering for the rest of eternity?!
Had to take off .5 stars because some things didnt make sense. During the seance I got lost. It also doesnt make sense how Jodi's whole thing was telling the truth and as soon as Hannah told her she decided to keep quiet?! Yeah did not like that but everything else was great!

I’m still not sure how I feel about this one. I’ve sat on it for a while and my feelings about it haven’t changed so I’m giving it a solid three stars. I’ll be interested to see if Julie writes a sequel.

Pros

I was instantly interested in the story and had to see it through the end because I was invested. I appreciated Jodi’s unique point of view and the depth it brought to the story. There were some creative parts of the plot that I liked. The characters felt genuine to high school. Emily was definitely out there and you never knew where the story was going to turn next. The dynamic between the Thrashers was interesting and ever evolving with a lot of character growth.


Cons

I wanted the characters to be more developed. There were pacing issues and some plot holes. It felt to me like parts of the book were almost there but weren’t quite fleshed out all the way. I’m not sure how I feel about the ending. I understand leaving things a bit open ended but it just felt a bit messy to me? I get the direction the author was taking with the book as I’ve seen it play out in some of my favorite movies but for some reason, it just wasn’t quite there for me. I also do not understand why Jodi wouldn’t tell the PD what Hannah said to her. That part made no sense to me.

The Thrashers is a gripping YA thriller that dives into high school privilege, guilt, and eerie mysteries. When Emily Mills (an outsider desperate to belong) dies by suicide at prom, Jodi and her elite clique become suspects. Julie Soto skillfully weaves a tense investigation with haunting supernatural undertones, all while exploring the fragile bonds and moral compromises of teenage friendship.

What sets this apart is its emotional complexity: Jodi’s internal conflict and the group's shifting dynamics feel genuine, not cliché. The pacing is swift, the twists land, and the combination of psychological depth with spectral hints keeps the tension tight. If you love intelligent, emotionally layered YA mysteries with a dark edge, this one’s a standout. Really enjoyed this one!

I love Julie Soto's romance and I equally love her YA. This was creepy, it was mysterious, and it was a fantastic YA psychological thriller.
I loved the twists and I loved how I kept feeling like I knew what was going to happen next, but it kept giving me another twist to had me guessing. The characters were fantastic - they felt very relatable & realistic to their age.

I will always read a Julie Soto romance and now I'm adding Julie Soto YA to my always read list.

One of my favorite YA books this year!! I am such a sucker for mysteries and this one blew my expectations out of the park!

Jodi Dillion, normal student in high school and no one not even herself thought she'd be in with them; The Thrashers, but after being bestfriends with Zach Thrasher, she always had an in. Everyone wanted to be The Thrashers but without even knowing, The Thrashers were created around Zach.
Emily Mills wanted so bad to be in the group and then one night, she turns out dead and all fingers point to The Thrashers.....with the exception of Jodi. Jodi now retraces her steps and has to uncover how her and her friends got tangled up in a murder case. She uncovers her friends weren't really telling her the full truth, but was it for her safety or their shadyness. The one she never thought would be by her side was the last option in the world but even friends can be deceiving.

Thank you Julie Soto, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I will read every single thing Julie Soto writes! This was such a fantastic YA thriller, I could not put it down. This entire book was a roller coaster of emotions and that writing was excellent in that I wasn't sure who to root for. The ending was a tad predictable but overall such a great read!

The main character was well-drawn, but the surrounding characters felt underdeveloped and one-note. I think I was expecting more page-turning mystery, and this was more of a slow-burn psychological book. There will definitely be some readers for this in my library.

This was giving Pretty Little Liars. There was group of best friends and someone who wanted to join dies, so the group was being looked at suspiciously.

Jodi was part of the “Thrasers” but she didn’t feel like she fit in, exactly. She was different than them, but she was still considered one of them.

I seriously could not put this down. And it’s been a while since I’ve stayed up to finish a book. The writing and storytelling kept my attention the entire time, and I had to find out what happened.

The supernatural elements, the twists, the high school drama and angst, and even the way the characters talked? Julie Soto nailed it.

The ending of this book? I. Am. Unwell. I need another book, because I need more answers.

What a ride and that ending ! Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I really tried with this one, but ultimately dnf’d around 20%. I had a really hard time vibing with the writing and I couldn’t get into the plot. It was choppy and there was no chemistry with any of the characters, and I realized I didn’t even know what was going on because I was bored and not retaining any information.

There was a lot to enjoy about The Thrashers. I loved the supernatural element, which made the book eerie and unsettling. It's a high energy page turner of the book, with action on every page and lots to keep you guessing.

The character group is, by design, a bit unlikeable, and I think sometimes that makes it challenging to stay invested in them. It's hard to get a read on whether they're terrible enough to be involved in the death of another student, or whether they've truly been framed. I liked that this kept me curious, but at times I found that I didn't care all that much if these scary events (of which there are many--page after page of near death experiences, to the point that it felt saturated) happened to them. Jodi in particular is a bit generic ( like the character herself, I too found myself wondering how she ended up in this group of popular, elite high schoolers, because she doesn't have much of a personality).

Soto's writing style is fun and easy to read, which makes The Thrashers an generally enjoyable book to pick up. I think if the characters had been more developed then I would have been more engaged through the ending.

This YA thriller kept me up all night to finish in a sitting. It's got a little 13 Reasons Why meets A Good Girl's Guide to Murder with a dash of Veronica Mars and dome paranormal activity.

A year after Emily suicides, a group of close-knit friends, the Thrashers, become increasingly under the microscope. Bullying, unhealthy friendship, and secrets are exposed.

Recommending for high school library acquisition.

This one will leave you guessing until the very end!

When a prom night catastrophe leaves a sophomore dead, it doesn't take long for rumors to surface about the reason why. Fingers soon point to New Helvetia's ultimate "it" group, known as the Thrashers. It was obvious that Emily wanted to be one of them and it was equally obvious that the Thrashers did what they always do, Thrashed her. But as evidence surfaces and charges are pressed, these five friends will be forced to examine what really happened last year and what their parts were in all of it. And it doesn't help that as the case progresses, weirder and weirder things begin to occur. Strange things. Deadly things. Soon enough, the truth will out. Let's just hope they're all still around to see the outcome.

This was an excellent YA thriller debut for Julie Soto. I swear, there were so many times where I thought HAHA I've figured it out! Every single time I was wrong. Julie masterfully directs and misdirects the reader and leaves them guessing. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, wishing I could read faster so that I could finally find out what happened!

She has created a wealth of diverse, morally grey characters that make it so easy to root for them and against them at the same time. You want them to succeed but you also don't mind when they fail because honestly they had it coming. And the ending? Absolutely blew me away. I never could have seen half of these confessions and revelations coming, even if I was looking for them!

I hope we see more in this vein from Ms. Soto. She's known for her romance but honestly I don't think it will be long until she's a big name in thrillers as well.

Forget Me Not is one of my all time favourite romances. And while its sequel had a synopsis that didn't really suit me, I've been itching to pick up Julie Soto again.

Even though this is a YA Thriller, it still honestly kinda rocked?

The characters were very realistic in my experience-- they didn't seem overly adult, but nor did they seem too childish. The mystery and information was perfectly paced to build a constant intrigue without feeling overly manipulated or landing flat. And in some really positive ways, it reminded me of some of my favourite Veronica Mars episodes.

I'd very easily recommend to YA Thriller fans, and would optimistically recommend even to people who don't usually love the genre. (But if you're very sure YA Thrillers aren't for you, I don't think this one will be suddenly unconventional enough to change your mind.)