Hannah Jones is a brand new Pelham College student and, though she's not supposed to have a roommate, she ends up with rich prankster, April Clarke-Cliveden. Despite their differences, she and April become besties. That is, until someone murders April. 

Ten years later, Hannah is married to Will, another Pelham student and April's ex-boyfriend, and they're expecting their first child. Hannah's working in a bookshop and trying her best to move past everything with April until she receives an email from a reporter who thinks John Neville - the man who went to prison for April's murder - might have been innocent. Because it was Hannah's eyewitness testimony that basically convicted Neville, she starts spiraling down the "what ifs". 

THE IT GIRL is told in dual timelines, which happens to be one of my favorites. The entire book bounces back and forth between the Before and the After. 

This is my first Ruth Ware book and oh my gosh, I am already obsessed with her writing style! It starts out slow, laying the foundation for Hannah's relationship with April, highlighting all of her not-so-funny pranks, and showing what Hannah has had to live with for ten years because of reporters and podcasters. 

About two-thirds of the way into this book, it picks up. And really picks up. Ware doesn't make you wonder throughout the book who the killer might be and then hand over the answer. No. She sends you down one trail, thinking it might be this person, only to backtrack with a new piece of info and send you down another trail! There were moments when I was sure I knew who the killer was and my only thoughts were "No, not that person!" and then I'd find out I was completely wrong!

I haven't read a thriller that had my heart pounding quite the way THE IT GIRL did. I finished it at 10:30 at night with the lights on.