This was a difficult and slow read for me. The story is narrated by Anna, the central character at the heart of the book who goes undercover to Cambridge University to investigate the deaths of 2 female students, both of whom have died under suspicious circumstances.

I found the story disjointed and hard to follow so it just didn't seem to flow very well

Very slow going, the story was told by Anna writing an email to her ex boyfriend Reid when she goes undercover to Cambridge university to find out what happened to 2 female students both found under suspicious circumstances and one being the sister of Reid.
I just did not like the narrative as I never knew who was speaking ,and couldn't gel with any of the characters.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC and I give my honest review

I felt a little bombed with characters, situations and settings very early on and had to re erad some sections to get a handle on who each charatcer was and how they related to each other, making the initial foray into the book harder work than I would have anticipated and the ending a flurry of tying up of loose ends.
For me there is a defnite issue with pacing and how/when information is revealed that makes the book a bit disjointed.

Detective Reid Murray's sister is among the two young female students who have been discovered dead in drug-related situations in Cambridge University. Journalist Anna Sousa's mission is to investigate the killings by pretending to be Aria Lauder, an excellent rower and American postgraduate. However, making friends with students James, Kit, Esther, and Ryan could be risky, and the May Ball at the university could be a dangerous event. There are a lot of twists and turns in this complicated plot. Among the many intriguing characters in this captivating book is the feisty Anna, who is occasionally a little too independent for her own good but always has the best of intentions.

Sorry to say that I really couldn’t get into this book and gave up just under half way through. I love this author and have read many of her books but I just wasn’t invested in this one . 3 stars from me

I really couldn't get into this book. The format of having the main character narrating most of the story as a very long, supposedly urgent email to her ex-boyfriend, who happens to be a detective, just didn't work for me. Multiple characters are introduced early on with very little backstory. This making it difficult to remember anything about them when they crop up again. It may well have improved as the book progressed but I couldn't get past the first 25%. A shame as I've enjoyed Gytha Lodge's books previously.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

One of my favourite things about the way Gytha Lodge writes is the way she creates her characters' voices. They're so distinct and particularly relatable. This is a great mystery novel told from different perspectives, with countless twists and unique voices telling the story.
There was an added layer of enjoyment for me as my husband was a student at Cambridge and I spent several years visiting him there and being an outsider looking in to the Cambridge culture, dominated by money and privilege.
Definitely one I will be buying and gifting to friends at Christmas.

What I fabulous read and will be recommending to everyone!

Anna, an American journalist goes undercover to find out the truth whether two Cambridge university students accidentally overdosed. She has to try and join the Elite wealthy group to see if indeed one of them or all of them were responsible, what she didn’t expect was to actually start liking them but when she goes missing after ‘The May Ball’ who can save her perhaps her ex boyfriend Reid who is a detective in the Met.

The story is predominantly told through Anna’s point of view and we learn of the events leading up to the May Ball through a draft email to Reid which was never sent but can he use the information given to find her and bring the murderer to justice.

This book has many twists and turns and so full of suspense and I was so invested in the characters from an early stage that I just had to carry on reading to find out what happened.

Anna is an investigative journalist. Reid is a detective who worked with her. Together they form a romantic bond which is broken when tragedy strikes and Reid's bitter accusations tear them apart.
Anna thought she'd moved on. She's taken on a new assignment investigating the mysterious death of a student in Cambridge. She should be independent but finds herself conflicted by the past tragedy. As she finds herself drawn more and more into a world where no-one is quite what they seem, she senses danger and starts an email to Reid to help her gather her thoughts. And then Anna disappears. The race is on to solve the mystery and Reid is once again entangled in Anna's life.
Brought to my attention on NetGalley, I was intrigued by the tagline and decided to give the book a go. I was soon hooked and, until I reached the end, I was frustrated every time life intervened and forced me to put the book down. A thrilling read, with twists, turns, sinister notes and an unpredictable ending.

With many thanks to Netgalley for this free arc and I am leaving this unbiased review voluntarily
I adored the Jonah Sheens series so super excited to be able to read this talented authors new standalone. A clever concept as the POV of Anna is told through an email to Detective Reid Murray and gives this dark academia story an edge from the off. It's wonderfully written and the build up to the climax is expertly and effortlessly executed. The story is rich in detail and full of twists and turns. The characters are sublime and none of them are to be trusted which just adds to the suspense- I suspected them all apart from the actual culprit resulting in a cracker of an ending. Perfection personified Ms Lodge and a massive 5⭐️

I enjoyed this book and felt that the different viewpoints of Anna, Reid and her dad all contributed to the story. I was genuinely worried for Anna, and she felt real and vulnerable in a setting that she was pretending to be part of but didn’t really belong to.

Although I have no experience of living the kind of lives that a lot of the characters have, it all felt believable, and I could see how one bad decision or self-justification could lead to another.

This is the first book I’ve read by Gytha Lodge, but I’d definitely read another book by her.

I think the ending could have been a little better, but overall, the story kept me wanting to know what happened next.

A murder mystery set among the elite world of Cambridge University, where money buys everything, even police corruption.

The plot opens when Anna, a die-hard American investigative journalist, fails to arrive for dinner with her father. Convinced that something has happened to her he reports her missing.

Anna has been working undercover as a student, pretending to be the world class rower, Aria. Her mission is to solve the murders of two women, Holly Moore who was found drowned at the Trinity May ball a year ago and Tanya who supposedly died from a drugs overdose, despite having never taken drugs before. To add to this Tanya was the sister of her ex-boyfriend, Reid.

The novel is seen through multiple perspectives and goes backwards and forwards through an email written by Anna to Reid. It documents her plans and actions in her quest to solve the deaths.

A well written novel that has plenty of twists and turns in the hunt to find Anna and a get a glimpse at her time at the esteemed University.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication.

I need to be honest and say that I didn’t love this book. It’s taken me a while to read which just shows I wasn’t that invested and I found the ending deeply unsatisfying. Overall, I guess this just wasn’t a book for me.

Page turner from Gotham Lodge again! Anna pretends to be someone else to get access to people who may have been involved in a murder - exciting and keeps you guessing right til the end. There were some very tense moments especially towards the end. Highly recommended reading.

I really enjoyed this thriller. Both fast moving and full of candidates for the whodunnit, this will keep you on your toes from start to finish. I am pretty sure I was holding my breath for the last thirty or so pages. An excellent read.

This was a really well written thriller not at all what I was expecting from the blurb. Fun fast paced and thrilling a great beach read

This was my first experience with this author, and I was captivated by the story, despite some of the characters being quite unlikeable. The protagonists are Anna, a fiery American investigative journalist, and Reid, a stoic British detective. Their relationship has ended, and Anna is seemingly over it. She’s chasing a career-defining story—a suspicious death within the elite circles of Cambridge University, potentially involving police corruption. However, as she digs deeper, there’s only one person she feels compelled to share her thoughts with. She begins writing Reid a lengthy email, never intending to send it. But when she finds herself in grave danger, she realizes the only detective she can trust with her life is the one who broke her heart.

This thriller stands out by being told through Anna’s emails to Reid, written after her disappearance becomes evident. It’s a long read but maintains a gripping pace that keeps you hooked. The author cleverly misleads readers about the culprit and unveils the privileged world of the wealthy. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am eager to read more by this author, who masterfully weaves twists and turns that leave you gasping. Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to Netgalley and publishers Michael Joseph for Penguin Random House for an ARC of this novel, which I requested because the blurb made it sound like my kind of novel, and I had often heard of this author.

I'm afraid that I gave up after 10%. I didn't want to waste any more of my precious reading time on a novel with which I couldn't connect and which sounded highly improbable.. There is no lead in or attempt to set the scene at the start. Instead, it begins with the main character explaining what has happened to a boyfriend that she finished with badly some time ago. The email explaining all this was still going when I gave up. The author seems to have used this lengthy device to tell a back story. Highly improbable. These email chapters are interlaced with ones featuring her father, who sounds totally unbelievable
. The story seems, so far, to be set in a world of Cambridge students who are very wealthy and privileged.

I'm sure that this tale will suit some, but I'm sorry, it wasn't for me.

I enjoyed this book, although I found it a bit difficult to remember who done of the lesser characters were, which made the ending more difficult to follow. That said, it was an interesting read and I would recommend it.

Fantastic book! I would highly recommend both this book and other books by this author. Be sure to read this book!