She Was the Quiet One

May 28, 2018
Campbell (It’s Always the Husband) sets this twisty thriller against an academic background. Twins Rose and Bel could not be more dissimilar; after their mother’s death, ambitious Rose is thrilled to be sent by their wealthy grandmother to boarding school at rigorous Odell Academy in New England, while Bel feels abandoned. Rose immediately excels academically while Bel becomes part of an older, trouble-making crowd. Both sisters are drawn to their faculty advisors, a married couple who are also their dorm parents. Readers learn straight off that one of the sisters will be murdered—but which one? And why? Overlapping narrative perspectives and shifting chronologies serve to heighten suspense but sometimes create tiresome redundancies, while the prolonged revelations not only of “who done it” but also “who got done” lead to some awkward moments in the novel’s first half. The final narrative twist also feels tacked-on and almost entirely unnecessary to the plot. Readers will nevertheless be drawn in to the novel’s intricate exploration of divided loyalties and the brittleness of trust. 100,000-copy announced first printing.