
Member Reviews

I found this book super easy to follow - and that is why it felt like such an easy read. The characterisation was good and I felt like I knew the characters on a personal level. The whole narrative felt real. It was a good read. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't as gripping or unpredictable as I was hoping, and that is why I could only rate it three stars. That being said, I did enjoy it!

4.5 stars ⋆✴︎˚。⋆
stop i’m obsessed.
i genuinely couldn’t put this book down, i found myself reaching for it whenever i got the chance to.
the characters were all so interesting (some where straight up crazy) and i love love love how this book flowed. it was a bit choppy but felt almost like diary entries which just the overall feel for the book.
i loved how haunting this book felt. like was emily really there, is it all in their head or is it simply coincidence.
i kind of want a novella from julian’s point of view after the emily incident.

Jodi never fit in with the elite Thrashers—Julian, Lucy, Paige, and the infamous Zack Thrasher are rich, sophisticated, and love attention. She's only in because Zack's her childhood best friend. But when Emily Mills, who desperately wanted to be a Thrasher, dies, suddenly everyone's whispering about them. Then Emily's journal surfaces, detectives start closing in, and Jodi's facing an impossible choice: betray her friends or save herself. But wait, there's more—eerie messages and strange occurrences start escalating because apparently Emily isn't done with them yet. Ghost revenge? In THIS economy?
This book perfectly captures that "teenagers playing adult games" vibe with morally gray characters and enough twists to give you whiplash. The blend of teen drama, thriller mystery, and a tough of supernatural elements is *chef's kiss* perfect. Even though it's aimed at teens, older readers will absolutely devour this. Julie Soto knows how to write a page-turner that'll keep you up way past your bedtime going "just one more chapter." This one's definitely going to live rent-free in my head for a while!

Another brilliant book by this author! I will read anything and everything Julie soto puts out! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

I'm convinced that I will devour anything Julie Soto writes and The Thrashers is further proof of this. I'm relatively new to enjoying the thriller genre and this book was extremely compelling and exciting.
Each character really has their own personality, backstory, and originality which made the back and forth between them all very fun to keep up with. I absolutely adored Zach (as a lot of people will), Paige was doted on a lot, Lucy was great with her quick comebacks, Julian was the standoffish one of the group, yet I found myself enjoying his personality. I think Julie did a great job with making us as the reader really feel connected to these characters it made the mystery elements of the book more thrilling.
I really enjoyed seeing how everything unravelled, it was brilliantly done and even though I saw a few of the twists coming it didn't make it any less enjoyable.

Super fun and twisty YA thriller. Think Gossip Girl meets Pretty Little Liars with rich, messy teens and way too many secrets. Jodi was a solid narrator, and the friend group? Absolute chaos. Drama, suspense, and just enough creepiness to keep you turning pages. Quick, entertaining read—makes you glad high school is over.

For the longest time, I wasn’t sure how to put my thoughts into words about The Thrashers by Julie Soto. As a long-time fan of Julie, I’ve always admired her incredible storytelling, her ability to make me crave more with every page is pure magic.
Getting the chance to read this arc was such a gift, and now that it’s time to share, I’ll be honest: this book felt like a departure from the Julie I thought I knew. It’s darker, more intense, with a strong pull toward the thriller elements of the plot far from the steamy romances we’ve come to expect.
Did it surprise me? Yes. Was it my usual vibe? Not quite. But that’s the beauty of art, it evolves. And so do we as readers.
So, I encourage you: go in with an open mind. Let yourself experience this new side of Julie. It might not be what you’re expecting—but maybe that’s the point.

I really enjoyed this one! I’ve never read anything by Julie Soto before but I’m definitely going to pick up more of her work.
This will be a great book for everyone who enjoys a YA mystery thriller. It really did keep me guessing throughout the book. I loved the characters, especially Jodi.
Such in interesting story, it kept me engaged throughout.

4.5 Stars*
I went into this with absolutely no idea what was happening, and also no previous experience with this author. I am a lover of Ya thriller, I prefer it so much more than adult. Why was this book so scary, I was genuinely concerned I wasn't going to be able to sleep after I finished.
The sense of being watched was captured so well that I actually had to lock my door to finish it, as if that would help me against Emily.
It was absolutely a page-turner, I ended up finishing it in one sitting of 4 hours because I could not stop.
I did struggle with a few of the characters, especially the other girls in the Thrashers, I don't know whether they weren't as fleshed out or I just had no connection to them but at times it did feel like there were a lot of things to remember.
I did really enjoy the endings and the twists, while I did expect most of them they still had their desired effect of freaking me out.
Honestly such an accurate representation of the justice system as no one who deserved time actually went away and the one you wanted free is now haunted.

As someone who doesn't read a lot of thrillers anymore, this book was genuinely incredible in the most messy and suspenseful way and I couldn't put it down the entire time I was reading it.
I feel like there were no side characters in this even though it was told from Jodi's POV and we saw the other characters through her eyes. It felt like all the characters were fleshed out in this story and that actually really fulfilled the narrative in a lot of ways, and allowed me to understand the 'motives' behind some of the characters and how they ended up involved.
I had Zack pegged from the beginning, I just didn't like him and felt like something was off about him (no spoilers!!) to me he just wasn't a likeable character, and I actually thought he was pretty selfish. In contrast I will defend Julian until the end, I do think there were moments where he really redeemed himself and I actually do think the feelings he had for you-know-who (again no spoilers) was genuine in the end - his character growth was really well done. I ended up really loving Lucy, I think she had some bad points definitely but in comparison to Paige I'd say she was one of the better girls in terms of her relationship with Jodi!
There was so much I loved about this book, particularly how we didn't run away from how flawed these characters actually are - I also liked how everyone was basically a suspect until all the evidence came together. Alongside Jodi learning about dark parts of her families past - truly, so well done!
ALSO THAT EPILOGUE????? PLEAAAASE TELL ME WE ARE GETTING A POST COLLEGE THRASHERS, PLEEEEEEASE.
GIMME THAT PART 2.

The Thrashers is mainly told through the POV of Jodie - a girl from a single parent household on the lower side of the economic scale who is part of a group of friends. The group is made up of Paige, Lucy, Julian and Zack Thrasher, hence the name bestowed upon them by the rest of the student body of The Thrashers. So everybody in the group is RICH and Jodie feels ike she doesn't really fit in the group (that she was in first and Zack just gradually added people, all of which idolise him). The story starts just after a classmate of theirs, Emily, has died and most of the group start being accused of bullying her to the point of making her take her own life.
It's an interesting story and the worldbuilding is good - it's set in the modern real world but the school and characters are all fleshed out and the background of the main characters are all consistently added onto through the book. BUT THEN! Suddenly there is a paranormal twist! Like what?! It came out of nowhere to me I thought this was just a high school based mystery/thriller but apprently not! There are a lot of times when this addition is a bit of an add-on - it didn't feel necessary to the plot and more like a later idea that got added on. I did enjoy the ending of the story and how this was woven into that but it was a bit of a shock when it was first brought up!

Thanks so much to Harper Fire and Julie Soto for the eARC, all opinions expressed are my own.
I love Soro’s style but I don’t think this book was fore me. I really struggled to get into the, book, and found the very full cast of characters somewhat difficult to keep up with (and felt mildly underdeveloped)
Regardless, I’m looking forward to seeing what else Soto publishes.

This is easily the best book I've read in a LONG time! I have been in such a terrible reading slump the past month or so, and while it did still take me some time to read this one, it was amazing. I love nothing more than a YA thriller, and while it is not nice to speak ill of the dead, the deceased in question is an evil manipulative bitch. Not many books can have you actively not rooting for the supposed victim in question. I think I need Soto to write more books in this genre as I will eat them up without question.

Wow wow wow. Julie Soto what have you done to me? I could not put this book down, I kept turning page after page needing to know what happens next and wanting more!
The thriller atmosphere Julie weaves into The Thrashers is tense and eerie, it had me in a chokehold the whole time! I'll probably be thinking about it for months, it was SO good.
The friend group dynamics between the Thrashers were written really well and I found myself torn between liking the characters and my trust issues screaming at me that I should not trust anyone. I loved how none of them were inherently ‘good’ or ‘bad’ which kept it very engaging and had me guessing how everyone fit into the story. I enjoyed how Julie Soto explores high school/friend group hierarchies and the pressure of fitting in.
I REALLY liked the paranormal elements and how you never knew whether something was actually paranormal or just a coincidence. Besides making the characters paranoid, it made even me paranoid and I was questioning everything.
And the epilogue??? WHAT??? I'm seriously unwell. @Julie Soto save me from this agony and give us a sequel I'm begging on my knees.
~Thank you to HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for the ARC!

A girl named Emily was found dead on her prom night. Seemed like a suicide… but was it? An elite friend group of 5 called the Thrashers got carried into this case, because she’s supposed to be in a limo with them. But they all swore they never invited her in the first place. That summer, not only they had to deal with police investigation, each of them also started to get weird creepy messages…. And more.
I was enthralled, felt like I didn’t want to put the book down until my curiosity was sated. It wouldn’t be this interesting if Emily was just an innocent victim but as the story went, the more I get a glimpse of her journal, the more I was afraid of her. She sounded so obsessed and borderline unhinged, it’s lowkey scary.
Apparently there’s some supernatural aspects to the story, which add a different layer but I personally didn’t like it much? Like suddenly all the freak accidents could be linked to this supernatural force, not some sorts of elaborate planned revenge. But it’s okay. Also I didn’t see the romance coming but surprisingly it was a nice addition.
The ending was vile, though. I hope a sequel is guaranteed because leaving the story like that was criminal

4.5 ⭐️
this book was actually insane, i picked it up not knowing much else besides the fact that there are messy teenagers, but i couldn’t put it down once i started
i feel like all the characters were so well built and they all made you feel such different emotions: zack was just a no thank you, i don’t even want to dive deeper into him; lucy i actually really loved, i feel like she was really misunderstood because she put on a brave face, but i really liked her; paige, dare i say she is just a zack but with remorse, maybe just because she thought she was haunted??; julian, I ADORE!!! i feel like he definitely had the biggest character growth with how he treated people and taking the consequences of his actions, but some of his one-liners were just so good, i miss him; and finally - jodi, i love how her character was setup as an outsider from her perspective, but not really from everyone else’s, i love that she was flawed and made mistakes, her storyline was so so interesting, especially with everything that was going on in her family and how she ultimately handled it
now i need jodi and julian together thanks, the crumbs we got in this one were just not enough!!!
also the epilogue??? julie give me book 2!!!

3.5 stars
Generally, every time I've read a thriller I've been left disappointed. But The Thrashers had this weird charm about that kept me hooked onto the story. The story feels like something you may have read before and has elements that feel familiar - girl dies in mysterious circumstances, a group of popular kids (The Thrashers) are at the centre, and then there's our main character (Jodie) who is a part of the group, but feels like an outlier. Throw in something paranormal, and you are very easily hooked.
Each member of the Thrashers represents a specific character archetype and while that might seem cliched, this book gives them a unique spin of its own. With some sharply contrasting personalities, you wonder how come these people are in a group together, but the fractures soon appear.
The story starts off quite interesting, and the pacing is also nicely done however, it kind of tapers off in the middle and the ending becomes a mix of cliches, but not in a good way. I felt like it all abruptly came to a stop. There easily could have been a couple of more pages, just to give the story that depth and keep us readers guessing as to what's really happening. Plus, at least towards the end, the paranormal elements made the story a little confusing.
All in all, while The Thrashers isn't something I would usually pick up, this is definitely a pretty easy read, and addictive thriller, and is perfectly suited for the younger side of YA.

The Thrashers by Julie Soto is a gripping and thought-provoking YA novel that explores the dark undercurrents of high school life. It looks at the challenges of fitting in, the cost of toxic friendships, and tough topics like suicide, stalking, obsession, self-harm, and body shaming.
The story begins with the tragic suicide of 17-year-old Emily Mills on prom night. She is found drowned in a bathtub, still wearing her prom dress. This chilling opening scene sets perfectly dark and emotional tone for the rest of the novel.
We are then introduced to the Thrashers, a group of privileged, wildly popular students who rule the school’s social scene. Led by Zack Thrasher, whose last name gives the group its identity, they draw others in like moths to a flame. Everyone either wants to be them or be friends with them. But Zack has a reputation for tossing people aside once they become boring or no longer serve his interests, often ghosting or humiliating them. At least, that’s what people say from the outside looking in. On the inside, however, we see what appears to be a tight-knit group of friends who genuinely enjoy spending time together.
The story is told from Jodi’s perspective, a genuinely relatable character. Throughout the book, she struggles with imposter syndrome, constantly questioning whether she truly belongs in this elite group of wealthy, popular kids. She’s secretly in love with her best friend Zack, but then again, so is pretty much everyone else. Julian comes across as a bully at first, and you’ll probably dislike him right away, but as the story unfolds, he becomes more complex and oddly endearing. Paige and Lucy are your typical queen bees, and Jodi often finds herself wondering why they ever chose to include her. She feels like she has to earn their friendship, constantly proving her worth to stay in their inner circle.
But this isn’t just your average teenage drama. The group soon gets pulled into the investigation of Emily’s suicide, a former “friend” who was obsessed with Zack and desperate to be part of the Thrashers. The problem? The Thrashers never truly let her in, and now the consequences of that rejection are impossible to ignore.
When Emily’s old diary is discovered, new information comes to light and the group starts being blamed. The mystery unfolds slowly, and we start to question everything, not knowing who to trust.
It’s been a long time since a book kept me on the edge of my seat from the very first to the very last page! The story (and the crumbs of romance) is a slow burn but I couldn’t stop turning the pages. If I weren’t such a slow reader by nature, I would’ve finished it in one sitting! It has that perfect “fanfiction” quality! Every paragraph is entertaining and engaging, and you have to keep reading.
I loved all the plot twists and the subtle supernatural elements that keep you wondering what’s real and what’s not. But if I’m being totally honest, while the book was overall very enjoyable, something felt like it was missing. The plot twists weren’t super mind blowing, and I guessed the ending pretty early on. I wanted MORE! More drama, more mystery, more romance. It left me feeling a bit hungry...
But if there’s even a tiny chance of a sequel?! I will be first in line to read it! I need to know what happens to Jodi and to the person who shall not be named (because, spoilers!). I’m rooting for them!
This isn’t my first Julie Soto book, and it definitely won’t be my last. The Thrashers have earned her a permanent spot on my author auto-buy list. I can’t wait to read Rose in Chains next!

🩵🎭 The Thrashers 🎭🩵
- Julie Soto @juliesotowrites
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: YA thrillers really are That Girl. Time and time again, they deliver. And Julie Soto’s first venture into the land of YA thriller was no different.
Everyone at New Helvetia High knows The Thrashers. Everyone wants to be them. Think of the Plastics - then embroil them in a murder investigation - and you’ve got this book. When Emily Mills, an unpopular girl who desperately wanted to be a Thrasher, commits suicide, all eyes are turned on the surviving Thrashers - Jodi, Julian, Paige, Lucy and, their infamous namesake, Zack Thrasher.
With the dramatic high school setting of One Of Us Is Lying and the stakes of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, this was everything I love in a thriller. There was even a sprinkling of romance in there too (Ms. Soto, I’m begging you to give us a Jodulian - can that be a ship name? - novella or SOMETHING! The paint prom scene lives rent free in my head).
And, of course, evvvvvvverybody is talking about that epilogue! I’ll keep it vague, don’t worry. Me personally, I don’t mind ambiguous endings and it paved the way for a potential? sequel, so I’m not complaining too much. Just be aware that you’ll be screaming at your book/Kindle/audiobook.
Overall, I’d highly recommend for a fun, pacy thriller to fly through this summer. This was my first work by Julie Soto but now consider me officially A Fan.
Have you read anything by Julie Soto? And are you as big a fan as YA thrillers as me?

4.5 ⭐️ this was so good!!!! i love a fun thriller and julie soto killed it. i swear this woman can write bangers in every single genre? i didn’t want to put this book down, i was so captivated. when she marketed this as veronica mars vibes i knew i was going to love it and she 1000000% delivered! please let us have more stories in the world of the thrashers!
i honestly wasn’t sure where this was going at any given point. i kept switching back and forth between thinking emily was crazy and the thrashers were villains (my final opinion is that emily IS crazy + at least zack and paige ARE villains). i loved reading this through jodi’s POV and, like her, feeling pushed and pulled in so many different directions. the guessing game was so fun for me, but i can’t imagine it when it’s your LIFE.
julian hollister?! i’m so sorry yall i LOOOOVE him. that is one fine morally gray man and i am so here for it. i had such a switch up on feelings for him. i hated him so bad at the beginning but by 50% in i was locked in. that man deserves LOVE! and to surely nobody’s surprise, i am a julian+jodi endgame supporter. GIVE US THE HAPPY COUPLE! but yeah i loved that in reality julian cared so much for jodi and repeatedly did everything for her. he just wanted to protect her! free that man!