Society of Lies: Reese's Book Club: A Novel

Secret societies create unhealthy environments. They look glamorous on the surface, but there’s an ugly worm in the center. This novel switches back and forth between past and present and between 2 different characters. There is murder and intrigue and too many secrets. I felt the story could have been a little shorter and the twists were really just kind of curves, but overall, I enjoyed it.

I am going to start off by saying I did like the concept and theory of this book. Sisters (Maya and Naomi) sharing college experiences together, one will stop at nothing to get answers for the others murder. I was in fortunate enough to receive this book in January of this year. With that being said, it took me that long to get through it.

In the beginning of the book, I thought this was going to be a one sitting read. I enjoyed the dual POV and the two settings, than toward the middle, it slowed way down. I felt like the story started to lose itself in the second half and started to lose its luster for me.

I know this book did not work for me, but that does not mean it may not work for others. It was not a bad book, it just was a bit longwinded for me, as a thriller.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an early copy to read in exchange for my honest review

Society of Lies invites readers into Princeton’s polished halls, and then exposes rotten secrets hiding beneath the ivy. Lauren Ling Brown delivers an engaging dark academia thriller filled with secret societies, suspicious deaths, academic corruption, and privileged students who believe consequences belong to other people. The mystery kept shifting beneath my feet while I happily followed every new clue. Maya Mason returns to Princeton for her ten-year reunion and her younger sister Naomi’s graduation. The celebration ends before it begins when Naomi is found dead in a campus lake. Police attribute her death to an accidental overdose, but Maya knows her sister too well to accept their explanation. Maya begins retracing Naomi’s final months and discovers that her sister joined the exclusive Sterling Club. Naomi may have also entered Greystone, the secret society operating within the Sterling Club. Maya belonged to the same organization during college and another young woman in the Greystone circle died during her senior year. Maya has spent a decade protecting the truth about that night. Naomi’s investigation threatens to uncover everything. Brown moves between Maya’s present-day search, Naomi’s final year, and Maya’s own college experience. Each timeline adds another layer to the mystery without revealing its secrets too quickly. The structure creates a steady trail of suspicions, buried guilt, and competing motives. Maya’s grief is tangled with guilt over the secrets she kept from her sister. Naomi’s chapters allow her to become more than the victim who launches the investigation. She is intelligent, determined, and unwilling to ignore wrongdoing simply because powerful people want her silence. The academic corruption plot offered a convincing explanation for Naomi’s death. Wealthy families, compromised faculty members, falsified grades, and admissions fraud create a system designed to protect power at any cost. I believed I had solved the mystery once Maya uncovered the network. Brown had another reveal waiting. The whole truth involves more than institutional corruption. The personal motive behind Naomi’s death is both shocking and infuriating. I began suspecting the culprit during the final quarter of the story, but I never predicted every piece of the explanation. A twist inside another twist was one of my favorite parts of this thriller. Society of Lies is a strong debut with polished writing, an atmospheric campus setting, and enough deception to keep the pages turning. Brown examines how elite institutions protect their reputations while vulnerable students absorb the consequences. Pick this up if you enjoy thrillers with secret societies, dual timelines, family secrets, and wealthy people behaving terribly.

Suspenseful thriller takes place at Princeton Univ where the older sister, Maya investigates the suspicious death of her younger sister Naomi

Love the twists and diverse characters! I hope to read more from Lauren in the future. Great debut!