This book was a disappointment for me. I really disliked the main protagonist.
This was a very slow burn but I was bored in places.

Overall I enjoyed this although I didn't really connect with the characters. I like the Agatha Christie references and overall thought it was a good read.

The story follows Jess Walker during her first year at university, having enrolled because of her fascination of star professor Lorna Clay.
The course that the literacy professor is teaching focuses on the works of Agatha Christie.
I was a little underwhelmed as even though there are some strong standout moments (especially the choice that Jess has to face), it wasn't really what I was expecting by some of the quotes on the blurb.

Certainly a book with a difference. I tried to get into it but I will admit I just could get into the characters. Thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers for gifting me the book

Jess arrives at university in East Anglia, chosen purely because she wants to be taught by a specific lecturer - the charismatic Lorna. She makes friends with another girl, Georgie, in her halls of residence, who is very Upper Class and more interested in having fun than going to lectures.

When they meet Alec, a South African journalist on sabbatical at the University, Georgie has the confidence to start a relationship with him, whilst the shy Jess misses out.

This is a story that meanders along, occasionally revealing a secret (some of which are pretty major!). I empathised with both Jess and Georgie, two quite vulnerable, inexperienced young adults, who were taken in and manipulated by both Lorna and Alec.

This is a compelling read though, and the grey, windy atmosphere, the bleakness, all adds to the feel of this novel.
I enjoyed this!

I read this with my staff book club at my secondary school and it had a great response. People enjoyed the mystery and the intrigue, the way the characters are mixed up with each other and guessing the backgrounds of each character. There was a bit of disappointment with the ending, but book clubs are never satisfied!

The characters are interesting and if you can get invested in them I'm sure this is great, it lost me a bit though

A fab read!
I loved the Agatha Christie references!
The murder soon pulls you in & you won't want to stop turning the pages.

It's lost a 🌟 because the characters and their actions are unbelievable at times.

Although I read the first 100 pages of this novel I was unable to finish it as it didn’t hold my interest. Therefore to offer a full review would be unfait

Brilliantly written full of believable charactersI felt apprehensive the whole way through which is just what I look for from this kind of book.. Eminently readable and highly recommended.

Like The Secret History, the nuanced observations of student behaviour and settings are well done. Shades of John Fowles too with the lonely outsider trying to fit in to a rarified world, peopled with esoteric characters who simultaneously lead them on and mess them up, just because they can. A cleverly constructed literary thriller,

While I loved the nostalgia, it's ironic that this book is about hiding, opting out and getting lost - it meandered and got lost about 2/3rds of the way through. It was an adequate book, but I felt that it could do with a lot of tightening up, I guess, and though I finished it, I found myself struggling by the end.

Yes enjoyed this book which kept me guessing right to the end.....characters well defined and the storyline intriguing.

At the outset the reader of ‘The Truants’ rolls along with this nostalgic look back at university life where worries about the academic work are mingled with even greater worries about emotional friendships and relationships. I enjoyed this at first as I absorbed Weinberg’s inclusions of details that helped bring this to life but then found it lost any momentum it had.
Those readers who like tension provided by the ifs and buts of friendships and partnerships will like this, I’m sure, but I just don’t think it was my thing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Enjoyed this one. I felt like there was something missing though, something I needexd to love it. Well thought out plot and easy to read.

I absolutely loved this novel. Dark, twisty, atmospheric. As a Norfolk native I also loved the UEA setting. What a compelling mystery this was, and so engagingly told. A real treat.

Firstly, I’d like to thank Net Galley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

Unfortunately, I didn’t really enjoy this book. It took me a few weeks to get through it – it was almost a chore! It didn’t download very well onto my Kindle either. There were different sized fonts throughout, and some lines only had one word in them, so it was a bit off putting.

The main character, Jess, was not very nice, so you don’t really care whether she was successful in finding whatever she was looking for. She was also surrounded by people who were also not very likeable either. It didn’t work as a love story, and it didn’t hit the mark as a mystery either. It was a disappointing choice for me.

I very much enjoyed this book. It has a good story and excellent main characters. I would definately recommend this book.

I loved this.

It is a book with a love triangle at the heart of it, but an unexpected one. It is a coming of age story where age comes upon the characters in darkly observant ways. A page turner that is also a literary delight, multi faceted in character and plot, it engages in both entertaining and intelligent ways.

I fell for Jess, for all the ways life sought to change her and for the edgy, incalculable Georgie, their friendship is utterly compelling even as it is betrayed. Between these two sits, yes, a man, but he becomes ever more irrelevant as the plot moves forward and it is in fact another woman, enigmatic lecturer Lorna, who becomes the pointy end of the aforementioned trio.

The Truants is a mystery that sits firmly in the heart of the characters portrayed on the page, an insightful and subtle friendship drama, a set of women seen through a glass darkly. I adored the whole thing, from first page to last it hooked me in and left me wanting more..to follow these characters through the rest of their lives after the final, thought provokingly ambiguous denouement.

Very good indeed. I definitely want more from this author.

The Truants by Kate Weinberg didn’t really hit the mark for me. I expected more from it based on the description and the various references to Agatha Christie. The characters were well drawn but unlikeable. It was a poor choice for me.

My thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishers for the opportunity to read it.