The Thrashers by Julie Soto

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book!

Jodi Dillon isn't like the rest of her friends: Julian, Lucy, Paige, and Zack Thrasher. They're all rich and beloved, but no one is more loved than Zack, the namesake of the clique and the ultimate golden boy. When Emily Mills, a desperate girl obsessed with being one of them, dies, the Thrasher find themselves at the center of the investigation. Did they cause Emily's death? Do they ruin people's lives? As detectives gather evidence against the Thrashers, Jodi is left wondering whether she and her friends are the good people they think they are. All Jodi knows for sure is that even from beyond the grave, Emily will not leave the Thrashers alone.

The Thrashers is not what I expected. Julie Soto does such a good job of making you fall in love with these characters. You read about how much they care about each other, so you do care about them (well, one you know is more fake I think right away). But they are all being haunted by the death of Emily Mills, whose death casts them in a negative light for what feels like the first time. Unable to escape the situation with their money and connections, the Thrashers have nowhere to turn. But this isn't a cut and dry bullying case. Emily isn't the likable victim. She has done things herself. Reading the close third person POV of Jodi, you understand the internal struggle and eventual realization that everyone in the situation may have been wrong to some degree.

Please, please, please don't sleep on this book! Incredible ending (I need a sequel to dive deeper into the story). Nuanced characters. No one is black and white. Every one of them lives in the gray in some way. If you liked Summer's Edge by Dana Mele or We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, you'll love Julie Soto's writing. Don't waste time. Be one of the first to pick up The Thrashers on May 6.