Jordyn is ready to start fresh at a prestigious Washington, DC HBCU. She has three roommates, and they all seem to click. Everything is going great as the girls experience the big, new, independent world that is college…until her roommate’s brother comes to crash with them. Soon he’s staying longer and longer and charming the pants off everyone. Is she taking crazy pills? Is this a cult? Once one of her other roommates goes missing, she frantically starts trying to get to the bottom of things with the help of the only white student at school.
I’ve always enjoyed a cult trope, and this one was fast-paced and addictive with a protagonist I could get behind. The setting offers an opportunity to consider the intersectionality of groups susceptible to manipulation and how the added layer of systemic inequality impacts the dynamic. I like that it pulled from the headlines, taking inspiration from a 2010 sex cult case at Sarah Lawrence but took it further with a “what if…” This was absolutely my kind of thriller.
4.25 out of 5 stars.
Pair with: Vodka + pineapple + orange + cranberry (aka a typical college party punch with alllll the mixers)
PS – I only just realized that this author wrote the children’s book Trick-or-Treating in the City, which we read a LOT around last Halloween.
Peaches to Apples 