This is a gripping and engrossing story, steeped in murder, scandal, and suspense, all wrapped up in a deliciously dark academia setting. I had no idea what to expect going in, but I found myself completely immersed from the very start.

The story is told mainly from the perspectives of Anna, Reid, and Seaton. Anna, a journalist, is investigating the suspicious death of a young woman a year earlier. Her narrative is cleverly revealed through a long email to her ex, Reid, a detective with whom she had a messy breakup 18 months prior. As Anna digs deeper, she becomes entangled with a group of students who are all hiding secrets, and it soon becomes clear that she has no idea who she can trust. Meanwhile, Seaton, Anna’s father who, brings another fascinating layer to the story, despite not having been a major part of her life.

The pacing starts off slow, but once the tension builds, the novel becomes impossible to put down. Suspicion shifts constantly between the students, and just when you think you have it figured out, the plot twists in ways you won’t see coming. The ending, in particular, was brilliantly executed.

The characters are exceptionally well-developed, complex, flawed, and strikingly real. You can’t help but become attached to each of them for different reasons, even as you question whether you should be trusting them at all. It’s a true rollercoaster of emotions. The atmospheric university setting amplifies the suspense, while Anna’s determination to uncover the truth, despite the death being written off as an overdose, makes her a strong and compelling protagonist.

This story has it all: crime, suspense, drama, and the perfect amount of intricacy in its plotting.

Overall, an easy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read that will have you gripped from start to finish. The only question is—will you guess the ending?

Thank you to #netgalley and @MichaelJBooks for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

Set around Cambridge university and told through the viewpoint of Anna, an undercover female journalist
She mixes with a group of students to try and discover the truth about a suspicious student death that happened the year before
It’s very atmospheric and intoxicating with well developed characters that make it so true to life
Thanks @gythalodge @michaeljbooks & @netgalley for the strong psychological thriller

Thank you Netgalley for my ARC.
If yiu like tones down non fantasy dark academia please give this a read. I absolutely flew through this book. I always love a bit of mixed media in books so the inclusion of emails was great to see. I will 100% be recommending this to all my friends.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought the premise was really unique (although I don’t read a lot of dark academia so those that do may tell me otherwise!)
One thing about me is I love a little romance thread in my mysteries so I did really enjoy that element.
It’s a bit of a slow burn after a pacy first 5% or so, that’s the only down side.

Enjoyable book although I wasn't keen on the format, with the real time and the email, made it a little confusing at times .

Set in Cambridge around the university life of a group of upper class students, journalist Anna Sousa takes on the persona of postgrad student Aria Lauder to get to the heart of a death that occurred one year previously. Holly's friend Cordelia doesn't believe she would have taken an overdose, that she must have been murdered and asks Anna to investigate. Anna is putting herself directly in harm's way and when she goes missing at the same annual ball it's down to her ex boyfriend, met detective Reid Murray to find and save her. Anna left a detailed email which Reid is able to access. FRom this we get the full story. I must admit I hadn't worked out the whodunnit so it was a surprise as it rolled out. A good read. #netgalley #deadtome

This was an interesting story that is told in the past and the present and from different perspectives.

Anna and Reid used to be an item, in a relationship that ran its course. But when Reid gets a call from Anna's father, who is worried that her latest journalistic foray may have led her into danger, as she is potentially missing.

As Reid follows leads and clues, he does indeed become concerned, but he doesn't really know the full story. Anna worked as an undercover journalist, so she tells her tale after she starts looking into a suspicious death. Set in Cambridge Uni, Anna works her way into a group, becomes friends with them, but she is aware that they are not the most trustworthy of people.

This story flits back and forth between characters and tenses, some in the past, some in the present, they flow easily between all of them so there was no issue about wondering who or when you were reading.

While the story is about one suspicious death, it soon becomes obvious that there is more going on, or that has gone on before this newest event. The author brings in pasts and histories from both Reid and Anna to build a reason for the interest in this story. I did get a bit confused at times with this and had to remember that things from the past was about a different person, while the present was completely different. There are issues that both Reid and Anna have that come out and again, this is where the author adds more emphasis on the characters.

I did find this story a bit slow, but it was also very good and kept my attention. The story was about the mystery, but also about social norms in a prestigious university setting. I do think this played to the stereotype a lot of people have about Uni in the UK.

Interesting concept that I enjoyed, good for fans of crime, mystery and suspense stories. I would be happy to recommend this one.

I really enjoyed this book which is set in Cambridge university with its historic buildings and traditions. Anna is an undercover reporter who has infiltrated a very select group of friends in the final weeks of the summer term. Two previous female students have been found dead, supposedly from drug overdoses but Anna believes there is more to their deaths. The book is cleverly written with some chapters being an email that Anna is writing to her ex boyfriend, Reid who is a detective in the met police. Other chapters are from the pov of Reid and of Anna’s father, Seaton. The pacing is perfectly pitched with the tension ratcheting up. The focus of whom may be the culprit shifts during the book and just when you think you’ve worked it all out, there’s a twist which makes you rethink - just the sort of book I enjoy. Very good characterisation with easily identifiable individuals. I’ve deducted one star as I don’t really believe that it would be feasible to get inside such a tight knit group so quickly and easily.

I actually really enjoyed this. The style felt contemporary and modern, and kept me engaged throughout. This is a thriller which will keep you guessing right to the end.

An original style of writing from Gytha which did take me a while to get used to. The whole storyline was a slow burn for me but full of intrigue so whilst I didn't race through it there was enough there to keep me interested and wanting to pick the book back up. Anna was a brilliant main character, I'd love to see her and Reid as part of a series but I do prefer the more usual writing style in Gytha's previous books.

An enjoyable read about a journalist who wants to uncover the reason behind Holly's death, a Cambridge student. A slow starter for me, I found some of the storyline rather tedious.

I liked the plot and the setting. The idea to portrait the main character's point of view via an email to her ex boyfriends was interesting and well executed. I also loved the use of different POVs.
However, I struggled with the slow pacing of this story, and I couldn't relate to the characters.
A good read, but I like my thrillers a bit more gripping.

I really enjoyed this book and the unusual style of writing. That's what i most enjoyed. Loads of surprises and red herrings throughout and loveable and relatable characters.

This story about Anna, a young investigative journalist working undercover and attempting to infiltrate a group of elite and privileged undergraduates in Cambridge in order to investigate a murder didn’t quite hit the mark. The long unsent email from Anna to her ex and the way it was discovered felt very contrived and it seemed unrealistic that Anna was able to maintain her cover for as long as she did in such a closed and well-connected clique. Otherwise it was quite an easy read with good pace and plenty of intrigue.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

This book has a different style of writing and concept and once you become used to it, the story takes off. Great pace and a compulsive read. There are plenty of red herrings and dead ends which the author cleverly places and then there an even better twisty,shocking ending which I didn't see coming.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review.

I have read and enjoyed previous books by Gytha Lodge but for some reason I really could not get into Dead to Me. The story was so slow that it didn't keep my interest, and I really did not care what was happening or what the outcome was.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

I have not read any of Lodge’s prior work but will be going to read them now.

I enjoyed the different way of telling the story through the I sent emails and the multiple POVs. I didn’t guess the ending but it also felt earned and not based on information that you’d only just found out which made it satisfying.

I have absolutely loved all of Gytha Lodge’s previous books so was super excited to read this one. However, it didn’t quite meet my expectation. The format didn’t really work for me especially the never-ending email, I didn’t connect with the characters, and didn’t really get invested in the mystery until closer to the end. That being said, I didn’t solve the mystery before it was revealed and there were some edge of your seat moments towards the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Dead to Me is such an interesting take on a mystery/thriller.... as its told in the form of unsent emails... something that for me really did make the book unique and allowed us to be inside Anna's mine (the author of the unsent emails)

Told from various POV's throughout, this book really was captivating right to the very end. I enjoyed learning more about the characters as individuals too as the story progressed.

Thank you to Netgalley, Michael Joseph and Gytha Lodge for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

This story had me totally immersed because of its fast paced and twisty turns.

You follow an investigation based around the death of a Cambridge University student. Our Journalist Anne decides to go undercover and move in with the elite students and she starts to discover some truths. You watch her make notes and email a British detective who is also her ex. then Anna goes missing and the ex is the only one who can help.

In this story you follow Anna's dad while he is looking for her and the detective and the email yo him regarding Anna's account of what has happened. This makes it a very interesting read as your seeing separate characters going through similar situations but also having very different situations because of what they are doing.

The tension within this book is incredible as you watch Anna try go undercover and figuring out the truths and secrets all while being in danger of being discovered.

Overall I really enjoyed this story and the way it was written, I have also since looked into more of this authors books and am very excited to read more works due to the writing style, book structure and the overall story.