Review: All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth

 Summary from Goodreads:

In the last day of summer, Grace Fairchild, the beautiful young wife of real estate mogul Allister Calloway, vanished from the family’s lake house without a trace, leaving behind her seven-year old daughter, Charlie, and a slew of unanswered questions.

Years later, seventeen-year-old Charlie still struggles with the dark legacy of her family name and the mystery surrounding her mother. Determined to finally let go of the past, she throws herself into life at Knollwood, the prestigious New Englandschool she attends. Charlie quickly becomes friends with Knollwood’s “it” crowd.

Charlie has also been tapped by the A’s—the school’s elite secret society well known for terrorizing the faculty, administration, and their enemies. To become a member of the A’s, Charlie must play The Game, a semester-long, diabolical high-stakes scavenger hunt that will jeopardize her friendships, her reputation, even her place at Knollwood.

As the dark events of past and present converge, Charlie begins to fear that she may not survive the terrible truth about her family, her school, and her own life.

My Review:

What I Liked:

Main Characters. The novel follows three characters, Charlie Calloway and her parents, Allister and Grace. Each of the characters have a unique voice and it was easy to slip into the story because of that. It also helped that I was listening to the audiobook where all three characters had a different narrator. 

Side Characters. Kiehfoth also did a good job of creating interesting side characters. I enjoyed the contract between Allister's family and Grace's family, one that comes from money and the other not. 

Plot. I did feel that the plot was sometimes hard to follow because of the constant jumping in time but it was still well-done. I had a hard time not listening to the audiobook, I even ended up falling alsleep while listening to it. 

Writing Style. 

Audiobook. I randomly discovered this brand new thriller on Scribd. It was around 14 hours but felt like it flew by. The narrators were really good and the change of point of view did not hinder the reading experience. 

What I Disliked:

Ending. I enjoyed the plot and the suspenseful atmosphere the book but I did feel that the ending was a bit rushed. I would have liked to see more about Charlie and her father or her interactions with her family after the big reveal. 

Format. I did struggle a bit with the format, how the novel is constantly jumping from the present to the past. 

I recommend checking out this great 2018 debut, it was well written and suspenseful. 

My Rating:

4.5 Stars Out of 5 Stars.