Intricately woven and cleverly plotted, Good Girls Lie is a masterclass in psychological suspense writing. It’s a story with as many dark corners and hidden secrets as the fabled school in which it’s set. Blending drama worthy of Pretty Little Liars with layered, intricate plotting and seriously sinister secrets ... an intricate story, to be sure, but I’ve come to recognize it as a hallmark of J.T. Ellison’s writing that her books can swiftly and easily span continents and years without author or reader missing a beat. Ellison’s writing in Good Girls Lie is effortless, a confection that’s sugar, spice, and everything nice—with a dash of murder and manipulation, too ... a superb psychological thriller. It’s a deliciously dark, wickedly plotted suspense story that probes the harrowing experience of being a teenage girl. It’s a thriller with drama, secret societies, cliques, illicit affairs, manipulation, and, of course, murder, and it’s the sort of book you never want to end. I thought I’d already fallen as hard for J.T. Ellison’s writing as I possibly could, but it turns out the limit does not exist.
A strict school honor code to the contrary, Goode girls do lie, though few as significantly as Ash, whose story is told only after a third death at the school. An intriguing plot, featuring a final twist, shows what can happen when hidden truths are revealed.
... [a] high-tension thriller ... Alternating points of view raise the suspense, blurring the lines between what’s true and false. No one among the cast of calculating characters is above suspicion. Ellison keeps readers guessing throughout.
... jam packed with everything a reader could want in a boarding school mystery ... J. T. Ellison skillfully unwinds a complex tale of lies, deception, and murder spiced up with backstory and well-fleshed out characters. Good Girls Lie is an engrossingly sinister tale that grabs you from the very first page.
Ellison throws in all the elements of a good gothic: a school history chock full of murder and mayhem; secret societies; and halls rumored to be haunted, but Ash swings wildly from sympathetic to insufferable. Readers cheering her devil-may-care attitude and initial resistance to mean-girl shenanigans will be frustrated to see her eventually groveling at the feet of Becca and her cronies, especially after the cruel hazing they put her through. Ellison juggles multiple narratives that weave past and present with ease, but with the book approaching 500 pages, readers may be exhausted from all the melodrama once they finally reach the messy, over-the-top denouement ... Overwrought and underwhelming.
