I love a good high school drama with a little murder, like One of Us is Lying, Beware That Girl, The Obsession and Pretty Little Liars, and that goes double for a school with a secret society. Naturally I really wanted to read They Wish They Were Us.
The book's premise was intriguing, with the murder of a beautiful, charmed girl in elite circle of the Players, but as I read on, I found the story flat and predictable, with most of the tension coming from the creepy dares older Players force on younger initiates. But even here, I wasn't particularly moved, because our protag decides to tell all her deepest darkest fears to the older Player who'll be making up her dares, so even in the horrible hazing, I felt more like she'd brought it on herself than like it was a terrifying initiation into the charmed life of the Players.
The Players are the popular kids who also have access to all the test answers and a network of useful connections for top colleges, and if someone knows you're a Player (and they do, the whole town knows about the unsecret initiations), they have to give you whatever you want. There's no real explanation of how this situation happened, either.
I found the villain obvious and predictable in the bad way, not "ooh, I must be smart for getting the author's subtle hints!" but more that everyone in town is dumb for not seeing it. I kept hoping it was all a really elaborate red herring, especially since I'd heard that the book was twisty and shocking. There are only a couple developed characters in this book, so there's not a long list of potential suspects, anyway.
The book's premise was intriguing, with the murder of a beautiful, charmed girl in elite circle of the Players, but as I read on, I found the story flat and predictable, with most of the tension coming from the creepy dares older Players force on younger initiates. But even here, I wasn't particularly moved, because our protag decides to tell all her deepest darkest fears to the older Player who'll be making up her dares, so even in the horrible hazing, I felt more like she'd brought it on herself than like it was a terrifying initiation into the charmed life of the Players.
The Players are the popular kids who also have access to all the test answers and a network of useful connections for top colleges, and if someone knows you're a Player (and they do, the whole town knows about the unsecret initiations), they have to give you whatever you want. There's no real explanation of how this situation happened, either.
I found the villain obvious and predictable in the bad way, not "ooh, I must be smart for getting the author's subtle hints!" but more that everyone in town is dumb for not seeing it. I kept hoping it was all a really elaborate red herring, especially since I'd heard that the book was twisty and shocking. There are only a couple developed characters in this book, so there's not a long list of potential suspects, anyway.