Sarah's Reviews > True Story

An impressive genre-blending debut, and one I think will be best enjoyed by going in pretty much blind. I devoured this in just a few hours, finding it near impossible to put down. The premise: it's the year 2000 and a teenage girl, Alice, is sexually assaulted by two young men after a party. The narrative then follows her - and a guy, Nick (who was at the party but not directly involved) in the immediate aftermath and then 8 years after the incident. The blurb describes it as "by turns a campus novel, psychological thriller, horror story and crime noir", which I'd say is pretty accurate - it's structured pretty ambitiously but Reed Petty definitely pulls it off.

I enjoyed this enough that I was able to overlook a few flaws, but it's really a great read which I found both compelling and thought-provoking. Recommended!

Thank you Netgalley and Quercus Books/riverrun for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.