The Secret History by Donna Tartt

A tight-knit group of friends studying classical literature under the leadership of their professor at college, until someone ends up dead. I was entirely swept into the world Tartt created in this book.

There are both old and new relationships, with very different power dynamics, some of which seem to walk the line between friendship and obsession. It’s hard to do this story justice in summary—haunting and gorgeously written, this book has stuck with me as one of my all-time favorites.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

I inhaled this story that begins with the investigation into a death on the night of a school fundraiser, but ultimately becomes so much more. Single parent, Jane, moves into a new community, connecting with a group of mothers from school, each with their own complicated relationships.

But underneath the facades, none of their stories—or lives—are as they first appear. The power of the friendships in this story snuck up on me, becoming more layered alongside each revelation.

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

All of Ruth Ware’s books are so tense and atmospheric, I feel like I’m right there in the setting. And this one brings us to a boarding school on the coast. In high school, four inseparable friends used to play “The Lying Game”, earning points for the lies they told their classmates.

Now years later, and leading very separate lives, they are called back together as the secrets from their past begin to resurface. Alongside the riveting mystery, this is also a story of friends trying to reconcile who they are now with who they once were.

The Secret Place by Tana French

I adore all of the books in Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series, beginning with “In the Woods”. Each of her books feels like a character study wrapped up inside a captivating mystery. But this one in particular dives into a murder investigation that brings a detective to an elite boarding school to investigate the unsolved death of a male student.

There are complex, intricate relationships on several levels here, as the detective realizes that the answers lie within a few close groups of friends, one of whom is the daughter of another detective on the squad.

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

When they were younger, Georgina, Angela, and Kaiser were best friends, until Angela disappeared. Years later, Angela’s remains are found, Georgina is in jail for her role in her best friend’s death—after testifying against her boyfriend at the time, who turned out to be a serial killer—and Kaiser is now a detective. And that’s just the start.

When Georgina is released, the killings continue, and Kaiser is a detective on the case. Following both the story of the killings in the present, and the story leading up to Angela’s murder in the past when the three were fast friends, this is a captivating and terrifying story that gripped me by the heart.