Title: The It Girl
Author: Ruth Ware
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 440
Rating: 4/5
I’ve read a bunch of Ruth Ware’s books by this point, and they’re all pretty good thrillers with a few twists and turns along the way. The same is true for this one, although I still don’t think she deserves all of the comparisons to Agatha Christie. She’s good, but she’s not that good.
There are also some plot elements here that I’m not too keen on, most notably the fact that it jumps backwards and forwards through time to tell the story. I can see why Ware found that necessary and it would be a very different story if she hadn’t, but I always find that kind of irritating.
I guess it’s just that it’s a super common trope in contemporary thrillers, and I’m sick of stories where a crime was committed in the past and our character in the present day is being forced to come to terms with it. Ware does it better than most, but it’s still a trope that I’ve never been a fan of.
The good news is that there are plenty of things to like here. For example, I loved that a lot of the action took place in Oxford, and indeed there were also a few references to other books set in Oxford which included my favourite books of all time, the His Dark Materials trilogy. There’s also a bookshop as a setting, which is an easy way to get book lovers to enjoy it.
I also thought that the characters were great, although that doesn’t necessarily mean that I actually liked them. They were well written and fully fleshed out, though not necessarily the kinds of people that I’d want to spend time with. Honestly, those kinds of characters are the best characters to read about anyway, because one of the reasons why I read is to get a feel for how other people live.
As for the mystery at the heart of this book, it’s decent enough and competently done, but I can’t tell you whether it’s predictable or not because I wasn’t really making predictions. I was just along to enjoy the ride, which is probably the best way to approach this one anyway.
And so if you’re looking for a decent thriller that ticks all of the boxes without necessarily trying to be too innovative, this is the book for you. It’s a solid book that does exactly what it sets out to do and doesn’t go a single step further. And I think that’s a good thing.