Kate Reed Petty’s debut had quite the buzz when review copies first started circulating. It’s timely mystery about the events of a fateful night during high school, and how it has changed the lives of those involved and caught on the edge. Told through a variety of styles, it’s an interesting examination of how we frame our own stories, who has the right to tell certain stories, and how they shape our lives.

True Story asks readers to consider a number of questions about our stories: Whose story gets to be told? Who gets to say what is the truth? Who gets to tell our story? What if the story we’ve told ourselves, or others have told us, is not true? How do we make amends? Petty addresses each of these in interesting and original ways (at least, I’ve never read a novel that takes all of these stylistic and narrative approaches and mashes them together). There’s a good deal of unreliability in each narrator — especially once you arrive at the ending and there’s a bit of a Russian doll thing going on, which didn’t land for me in quite the way I think the author intended.

I don’t think the novel is meant to provide easy answers, and we’re left to question our assumptions and feelings about each of the characters in turn: we get to see their agendas through their own and others’ eyes, their contradictions, weaknesses, blindspots, and so forth. It’s quite well done. When I was about 3/4 in, I wasn’t sure what Petty was trying to do with the novel, or where she was going to take it next. I wasn’t sure who the author thought was at fault, either. There are times when the novel could be read as a critique of modern day feminism and activism surrounding #MeToo, or the willingness of some to accept the worst and define themselves in unhealthy ways. There’s a lot of murk in the novel, in other words, and some of the decisions made in relation to the plot were… unusual. This murkiness made it difficult to connect with all of the characters, and despite the material and subjects covered, it felt a little more shallow than I expected. [I’m avoiding spoilers, so sorry about the vagueness.]

The novel certainly has its ups-and-downs. There are plenty of interesting observations and bits of characterizations. (Petty perfectly, critically, and amusingly captures the oft-shallow concerns of the teenage male/jock, for example.) How successful the various devices and gimmicks are will depend on how well you get on with them. There are quite a few different approaches deployed over the course of the novel — they’re all interesting, and ones that I’ve enjoyed in other novels by other authors. However, some of them outlast their welcome, and come to feel more gimmicky than clever or “enthralling in its brilliance”. (True Story has overly effusive back cover copy, which in my opinion is a very risky move and often fails to deliver.)

There’s no question that Petty is an good writer. The author’s prose is excellent, and the various different styles and voices used to tell the story are distinctive and well executed. As mentioned, however, some of them overstayed their welcome, and there were a few moments when my attention flagged and interested dipped. For example, the college admission essay — while an intriguing device to show the evolution of Alice’s comfort with her own experiences, how she copes and how she sees herself, it went on for longer than was necessary and/or interesting. Similarly, Nick’s weekend bender was a perfect example of a drunken protagonist losing it — unfortunately, a narrative style/trope that doesn’t work for me. (Novels like Bright Lights, Big City and Less Than Zero have unfortunately never really worked for me.) There wasn’t enough depth, in my opinion, to make me fully invested in any of these characters’ fates — yes, there is sympathy, but after certain revelations one feels conflicted about who is the real villain. And the ending just sees the novel fizzle out. I understand that this is the point — especially that tidy endings are never guaranteed in real life, and catharsis is not always forthcoming — but it casts so much doubt over everything, that I think it undermines its (possible) message. Nevertheless, I kept reading despite these flaws and issues. To me, it’s a testament to Petty’s writing — I’ve become far more comfortable with jettisoning novels that don’t work for me, but I didn’t toss this one.

Definitely an author to watch, and I am certainly interested to see what Petty writes next. This debut, while flawed in strange ways, is certainly worth checking out if you’re looking for something different.

After Chanel Miller’s memoir Know My Name, its easy to see how this story could be true. But it is not Miller’s story being told in this book, it’s the story of many girls who have experienced the impact of an assault after a drunken party. Alice Lovett, the “private school girl” who cannot remember what happened to her at the party. Now in her early 30’s she’s a ghostwriter. The book is rather like a puzzle in which pieces and memories about what happened and the story the lacrosse players have perpetuated and the impact on everyone involved.

A wonderful debut novel that I found impossible to put down as I contemplated what actually happened here. A group of privileged high school Lacrosse players are stereotypical jocks, determined to win yet always ready to party. And like many teenage boys they embellish so much that it's difficult to know what really is true.
At one party the boys who still admit to being virgins are determined to get laid. While there's more talk than action, Richard and Max give drunken Alice, a girl from a nearby high school, a ride home. They later claim that they assaulted her but when they're later identified their story changes.
The true story revolves around Alice and how this affected her life. Later meeting up with Nick, a friend of Richard and Max, and Hayley, her best friend in junior high, Alice writes the true horror story of what she perceives as the truth.
Petty has created an unusual, provocative book that conjures memories of high school and how uncertain events shape our future lives.
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and I'll be certain to watch for more books by this author.

I found this book equally frustrating and addictive! Initially I struggled to determine between the different accounts and styles of writing but it was ok once I was used to it. I started off quite confused as to what/who the lead character was avoiding but then I was thrown back into the lives high school American teenagers. A world of team rituals, camaraderie, parties and underage drinking. The throwback cuts to the summer that life changed for our lead character, Alice. What's odd is that the teenage account doesn't come from our lead character or from any of the boys directly involved in what happened. It is in fact written by Nick; a member of the lacrosse team who was at the party and heard the rumours after and witnessed the fallout; the gossip, the suicide attempt, the denial.

From here we're introduced to pages of childishly written screenplays (written by early teens Alice and her best friend), draft college essays written by Alice who is trying to pick a defining moment of her life NOT relating to her assault, before hurtling forward to Nick, years after the events of that summer, who is struggling with his own demons. (Now I'm a fully grown woman but this section of the book really freaked me out! I guess horror is not for me!) We then go back to Alice's story, written in the style of draft emails to her best, most loyal friend, where we find out about her relationship with Q. This is a disturbing and shocking and explains her life now, in the aftermath of that relationship.

Some parts of this writing were frustrating, for example the amateur screenplays and the multiple college application letter drafts complete with marked up comments from the lead character's tutor. But on the other hand, the other parts were addictive. Alice's draft emails revealing the truth about her relationship with Q had me gripped. Nick's trip to the cabin was chaotic, disturbing and creepy which made me question his frame of mind and the severity of his addiction.

When we were introduced to the final character in the book, I had no idea how this would all be woven together but this was cleverly concluded to give us a book that spans numerous genres and explains itself in those last few pages.

There are a couple of surprising twists at the end of this book which I didn't expect but they weren't enough to change my mind either way. I liked the book; didn't love it, didn't hate it!

An interesting read with a difference. I'd happily recommend to other readers with the advice... pay attention!

Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Reed Petty and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'll be short: it's brilliant and unputdownable. A mix of different genres, voices that kept me hooked. It's entertaining and heartbreaking at the same time.
It is one of the best debut I read in a long time, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I chose this book after reading the first two lines of the blurb; it sounded exactly like something I would enjoy and I instantly wanted to know the 'true story'. What I must say is that the blurb does not prepare you for what you get - in the very best way! Going in partially blind allowed me to love this story so much more and I truly enjoyed every part of this novel, including the mixed narratives moving through time, ranging from prose to emails to essays to movie scripts. True Story is not like anything I've read before: it is a unique and remarkable debut from Kate Reed Petty and I will be sure to look out for her next novels. This is genre-blending at its finest and with a mixture of mystery, contemporary, horror, young adult and more, what else would you need?! The two protagonists stories were each so compelling that when reading their separate narratives I almost forgot there was another character. The ending was played out very well and one I would never have seen coming. True Story is impressive and nuanced, often haunting but ultimately powerful - 5 stars from me. My final thoughts are about the amazing cover: I adored this initially but having now finished the book, understand it and love it even more - perfect choice(s).

*I received an advance review copy of True Story from the publisher through NetGalley.

This is a startlingly original and intriguing debut novel..

It’s safe to say I have never read a book like this one before! Marketed as a genre-defying campus novel, psychological thriller, horror AND crime noir (hence the 4 different covers), the narrative is told through a mixture of straight text, film scripts, emails and drafts of the main protagonist’s statement for her college application.

The story centres around Alice who, drunk, and on the way home from a high school party shares a lift home with 2 male members of a lacrosse team, who later claim to have sexually assaulted her when she was asleep. It looks at how profoundly the events of that night affect Alice’s future and the futures of her alleged attackers and close friends.

From the beginning the reader is unsure what is truth and what is imagined, exaggeration or rumour. I really liked the idea of trying to piece together the true version and impact of events through the different media and viewpoints, including that of Nick, a member of the lacrosse team that hadn’t directly been involved in the attack but became complicit through having to blindly back up his teammates. Kate Reed Petty’s writing style is really engaging, and there were some sections that I struggled to put down.

However, I’m not sure I fully “got” all the subtleties and symbolism that she’s clearly spent a lot of time and thought weaving into the plot. Some of the switching between characters and narrative styles felt a little jarring to me (I’m sure completely intentionally on the author’s part), and I couldn’t quite make out the relevance of a couple of the sections, even after I’ve spent quite a while mulling it over.

It’s the kind of novel that would make an excellent book club choice as there’s just so much to discuss and I’m certain it would divide opinions within many groups.

With thanks to the publisher for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Great for the structure, writing and passion of the author to get to the crux of the issues she writes about. That cover is equally amazing. I just found this so depressing and tragic which is I think what the author wanted - in that the topic and the way it is dealt with - is just so important and realistic. It was just too much for me.

This is a clever, take on a campus sexual assault which uses different genres to explore the 'Truth' of what happened through the eyes of those who were actually there. It uses a fluid narrative to skip back and forth from present day to the past when the friends were in school. I really enjoyed the use of different mediums such as scripts etc to the story. While I found that this book was addictive and fast paced, unfortunately for me it didn't hit the mark.

True Story is a genre-defying novel most appropriately described as literary crime and is also Kate Reed Petty’s gripping feminist debut, and I can't help but feel we will be hearing a lot more about her in the future. It follows Alice Lovett, a gifted and reclusive ghostwriter, who makes a living helping other people tell their stories. But she is haunted by the one story she cannot tell: the story of, as she puts it, "the things that happened while I was asleep." Back in 1999, Nick Brothers and his high school lacrosse team return for their senior year in a well-to-do Baltimore suburb as the reigning state champs. The afterglow of their big win is bound to last until graduation; not even the pressure of college applications can get in the way of their fun. But when a private school girl attempts suicide in the wake of one of the team's "legendary" parties, and a rumour begins to circulate that two of Nick's teammates sexually assaulted her, it seems like it might ruin everything, until the team circles the wagons, casts doubt on the story, and the town moves on.

But not everyone does. Fifteen years later, four people: Alice, Nick, a documentary filmmaker, and a wealthy entrepreneur — remain haunted by the roles they played, the things they still don't understand and how the story has shaped their lives. This is a compulsive and beautifully written book from the first page through to the last and at its heart is a meditation on the far-reaching consequences of a despicable crime on a small and tight-knit community. But the author doesn't stop there. She introduces the timely issues of toxic masculinity, male privilege, domestic abuse and a harrowing depiction of alcoholism to the narrative too, which only served to engross me in the story even more. It is very much a character-driven tale and gets deep into the heart of the matter of those impacted by revealing their most profound thoughts and feelings; it’s abundantly clear that a lot of detailed research went into their development. Highly recommended. Many thanks to riverrun for an ARC.

Still digesting this book and really letting the ending sit with me.

Was gripped by this book and powered thru it quite fast for the likes of me. I was keen to know what happened next and where it was all going. A shared event amongst the characters but not shared memories or realities of those experience. A lost night, forgotten memories, avoidance - how much truth are there in rumours and who is the truth holder?

Often the book jumps between genres to weave its' tale but I think it works for it and doesn't disrupt the flow. Also now that I have finished the book the cover makes even more sense. Great book and worth reading.

I received an advance review copy of True Story from the publisher through NetGalley.

Nick, Max and Richard are the members of the promising lacrosse team of their college. Apart from doing sports, partying is what they like most, getting drunk and making out with girls. After one especially wild party, rumours spread, but the versions of what happened vary. Richard and Max claim their innocence while Alice cannot really remember, but she is sure that her best friend Haley tells the truth when she asserts that immediately after the deed, the boys boasted about what they had done to her. Years go by, Richard turns into a rich businessman, also Haley made a career in the film industry. Things didn’t turn out that well for the others, Nick is closer to death by drinking or simply being stupid and Alice struggles forever with psychological problems stemming from the assumed assault. It will take years until the four of them confront again and the truth about what happened comes to the light.

One thing is absolutely sure: this novel was different from what I have read before. Normally, it is quite easy to put a plot into a genre or at the maximum having two combined, but here, it is a genre mix in which you never know where it will lead you and what the end might be. There is quite some suspense since the whole plot is moving towards the final confrontation – even though this is not really obvious for quite some time – but it is also really tragic when Alice’s part is told. It did not have that much sympathy for Nick admittedly, a character I more or less despised from the beginning. You make assumptions about what happened but you have to correct them repeatedly, which I liked a lot since this cleverly shows you based how a limited point of view one’s verdict quite often is.

There are several novels, apart from all the psychological books, which give some insight in how much impact an assault can have on a victim’s life. Here, too, Alice is completely thrown off the track after that night, the lively and joyful girl turns into a nervous and easy to exploit, insecure young woman. Richard, on the other hand, seems unaffected by the accusations, he goes to Princeton and makes a career to become the hottest bachelor of the country. Nick is not immediately affected, he is a friend confronted with the question if he should or could believe the boys’, whom he has known forever, version. Yet, he is an example of someone who was gifted and had a promising future but threw it all away with being lazy and preferring partying over working hard for his success. In the end, you might even see him as a tragic character, but I wouldn’t say so, he had his chances but didn’t take them.

A novel I simply rushed through as I couldn’t put it down anymore once I had started. Quite an interesting approach and a very cleverly crafted plot made it a great read.

You can’t underestimate the power of a rumour. A rumour can haunt your past and change your future. Talk about a novel that really packs a punch, everything about this book was just stunning! I'm very rarely speechless but I'm actually finding it hard to review this one.

I won't go into too much detail because any spoilers would really take away from the enjoyment (I say enjoyment, the subject matter isn’t enjoyable, but I'm sure you get what I mean). The basic idea of the storyline is that Alice is sexually assaulted after a party when she is a teenager, the book then looks at her life, and the lives of some of the other people involved in the years following to see what kind of impact the incident has on them.

True Story is a hybrid of campus novel, psychological thriller, horror story and crime noir, which is reflected by the four different cover options, but this is something that I didn’t fully understand until I had read it. Blending these different themes made it so unique and the story kept adding extra layers, changing its format and developing into something different that really had a life of its own. It could be interpreted in many different ways and leaves everything open to debate.

A fantastic debut that I can’t recommend enough.

This book is not at all what I was expecting to read when I originally requested this arc, but boy I could not stop reading. True Story is centered around the alleged sexual assault of Alice when she was in high school told from the perspective of both Alice and Nick spanning in time from 1999 through to 2015. It also highlights the various ways this incident has had an impact on both of their lives.

There were three prevalent thoughts and stand out elements I experienced as I was reading this book.
1. I was confused at the beginning as to why we were experiencing the alleged assault through Nick's PoV as he is a mutual friend of the two men accused. This isn't necessarily the expected way in which a narrative like this one is told, however as I delved deeper it made such sense and was constructed by Petty remarkably well.
2. There's a specific plot line of Alice and her then boyfriend Quinn which occurs in 2011 which I found to be absorbing. Definitely my favourite aspect of the book and written especially well.
3. The reintroduction of Richard (one of the accused) into the narrative was one that I did not expect, nor was the way in which he approached Alice a method that I would have ever expected or contemplated.

I don't necessarily understand the need for four different covers but I do appreciate that the publishers are attempting to convey that this is a book that could easily cover 4 genres: campus novel, psychological thriller, horror story and crime noir. I've read quite a few books that have been based around sexual assault, but I haven't ever read one that has been constructed in the way in which this one has. I really enjoyed this; thoroughly engaging and distinctive.

I had high hopes.

In the end it was a confusing mish-mash of a book about lots of hard hitting topics that weren't all addressed properly in my opinion (assault, violence, abuse, bullying, alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, you name it).

I didn't like any of the characters. Most of the time I wanted to shake them.
There was no fluidity in the book and I usually enjoy "mixed media" books or stories in a different format.
The plays didn't make sense at all and didn't add to the story and I was never sure how much older the characters were or how much time passed between chapters.

This could have been interesting. Unfortunately not a book for me.

I did not like this book.

The first half of the book felt muddled. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, how the different chapters intertwined. It was zipping from the time of the assault to the same characters, but as adults. In fact, at the half way point, reading this had become a chore and I wanted to throw the towel in, but I was loathe to as I was on the homeward stretch.

The characters annoyed me, alcoholic Nick who is self-centred; Alice with her abusive relationships; and the less said about Q the better - I cannot trust anyone who doesn’t like cats!

I don’t like the scripts within the book, I couldn’t see how they added to it and so I found myself skim-reading them. This may have done me a disservice by losing the meaning of some of the book but, quite frankly, I just wanted it to finish.

I found this book to be such a disappointment, having read the reviews of it, I did wonder if I was reading the same novel.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

Well, this was good. Maybe not quite as revelatory as I thought it would be.

I'm not sure how it sits with me that so much of this follows Nick. It is sort of explained but even then I'm not sure I'm happy with that explanation.

It was definitely thought-provoking and well written.

A lot of reviews find the multiple drafts of application essays annoying - I actually liked how this was yet another way that her story was mediated by herself and her advisor. Also, that is what writing is like.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

After a college party, two boys drive a girl home: drunk and passed out in the back seat. Rumours spread about what they did to her, but later they'll tell the police a different version of events. Alice will never remember what truly happened. Her fracture runs deep, hidden beneath cleverness and wry humour. Nick - a sensitive, misguided boy who stood by - will never forget.

That's just the beginning of this extraordinary journey into memory, fear and self-portrayal. Through university applications, a terrifying abusive relationship, a fateful reckoning with addiction and a final mind-bending twist, Alice and Nick will take on different roles to each other - some real, some invented - until finally, brought face to face once again, the secret of that night is revealed.

I really did not enjoy this book. At times I was really confused about what was going on and other times I was bored.
The scripts that were in the book I feel did not add anything meaningful or interesting to the story and the section where the main character had to write a college essay for her application was just repetitive I feel the author could have put across what she was trying to say by repeating the essay once or twice Not half a dozen times.
So disappointing. This story was not for me.

True Story is a very cleverly woven together tale. It focuses on an alleged rape of a young school girl by her peers however it is unclear if events took place the way some believe.

Kate Reed Petty has adopted a multi-perspective narrative with True Story which helps create the sense of unease and challenges the reader not to just accept what they are being told. Each of our narrators come across as unreliable so from the first page to the last you are constantly second guessing yourself as to what actually transpired and how much of it was hearsay or the overt blustering of toxic masculinity. Either way, both options are unsettling.

Reed Petty’s style is really engaging. Interspersed with the narrative is movie script style and these interludes punctuated the narrative and parallel the story being told. Along with the clever title we really have to work at figuring out what the ‘true story’ actually is.

Overall, this isn’t a book that you will find easy, you are made to work for your answers and you will be constantly questioning what you believe but the payoff is worth it

True Story by Kate Reed Petty is available now.

For more information regarding riverrun (@riverrunbooks) please visit www.riverrunbooks.co.uk.

True Story is an engrossing mixed media novel that follows two main characters over a period of almost 2 decades. After passing out on her way home from a party a rumour is started that two teenagers have assaulted our main female character, a situation she cannot prove or disprove. And so we see her life unravel and through a series of emails, scripts and essays we find out what her life has become.

Intertwined with this is the downward spiral of the life of a friend of the two accused of the assault and his descent into alcoholism. A stunningly sad and poignant exploration of the depth of despair one man can feel while not fully understanding why he feels that way.

Tackling some hugely relevant topics such as addiction, domestic violence and rape culture with sophistication I couldn't put this book down. The truth of whether or not the assault happened became less important as the novel progressed and we saw the profound impact it had on all parties from the rumour that had spread.

And that epilogue just made me want to start all over again to read it with that final twist in mind.