All These Beautiful Strangers: A Novel

by Elizabeth Klehfoth Narrated by Caitlin Kelly, Xe Sands, Greg Tremblay

Overview

""This is going to be big."" -Entertainment Weekly

“Juicy, clever, and beguiling.""- Cecily von Ziegsar, author of the Gossip Girl novels

A young woman haunted by a family tragedy is caught up in a dangerous web of lies and deception involving a secret society in this highly charged, addictive psychological thriller that combines the dishy gamesmanship of Gossip Girl with the murky atmosphere of The Secret History.

One summer day, Grace Fairchild, the beautiful young wife of real estate mogul Alistair 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 England school 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.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

05/28/2018
Did Grace Fairchild simply walk away from her Cinderella life as the wife of a blueblood New York real estate billionaire—as suggested by bank surveillance footage showing her cleaning out the couple’s safe deposit boxes days before she disappeared—or did something more sinister happen? A decade later, the question haunts Grace’s 17-year-old daughter, Charlie, the appealingly acerbic narrator of Klehfoth’s engrossing if flawed debut. Now a junior at Knollwood Augustus Prep, the New Hampshire boarding school her father attended, whip-smart Charlie is beginning the pledging process for an ultra-exclusive secret society, the A’s. As the high-stakes initiation game tests Charlie’s loyalties and values, she discovers some explosive family history—challenging almost everything she has grown up believing about her parents. Unfortunately, the author’s plotting fails to measure up to her ingenious amateur sleuth, relying throughout on colossal coincidences and ending with a denouement that’s surprising primarily for its implausibility. Still, Klehfoth’s ability to draw in the reader shows that she’s an author to watch. Agent: Suzanne Gluck, WME. (July)

From the Publisher

_{“Juicy, clever, and beguiling. [...] An exceptional debut novel, deftly crafted and written with style. It is the perfect book to read at the beach. But be warned: you will get a sunburn, because you won’t want to put it down.”} — _{Cecily von Ziegesar, author of the Gossip Girl novels}

“A compelling mystery…the story of a long-game revenge played out between generations.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Engrossing. Klehfoth’s ability to draw in the reader shows that she’s an author to watch.” — Publishers Weekly

“This debut mystery gives readers a fun glimpse into the scandalous world of high-society boarding school and is reminiscent of Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep.”
— Booklist

“Fans of thrillers will have difficulty putting down this excellently plotted, gripping novel.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

“The author has put in twists and turns that you never see coming, and readers are left breathless. With this debut, the author has earned her own A+.” — Suspense Magazine

Cecily von Ziegesar

_{“Juicy, clever, and beguiling. [...] An exceptional debut novel, deftly crafted and written with style. It is the perfect book to read at the beach. But be warned: you will get a sunburn, because you won’t want to put it down.”}

Suspense Magazine

The author has put in twists and turns that you never see coming, and readers are left breathless. With this debut, the author has earned her own A+.

Booklist

This debut mystery gives readers a fun glimpse into the scandalous world of high-society boarding school and is reminiscent of Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep.”

Booklist

This debut mystery gives readers a fun glimpse into the scandalous world of high-society boarding school and is reminiscent of Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep.”

Stephanie Garber

A compelling mystery…the story of a long-game revenge played out between generations.

School Library Journal

★ 05/01/2018
For 10 years, Charlotte "Charlie" Calloway has questioned what happened to her mother, Grace. Some say she was killed by Charlie's father, Alistair, while evidence pointed to Grace leaving him. But Charlie never really believed her mother would leave her and her younger sister, Seraphina, behind. As Charlie enters her junior year at a New England boarding school, she is invited to join the mysterious, elite group at school called the A's. She and her cousin, Leo, among others, are asked to complete morally questionable or dangerous tasks to prove their loyalty. All the while, flashbacks narrated by Alistair and Grace reveal their love story and the flaws in their marriage. Charlie's voice shines as she uncovers more and more about her own family history, with the support of family friend Greyson. The suspense is well executed. As Charlie draws closer to the truth of what happened to her mother, the reader is compelled to see how the events of the past will affect Charlie's truth today. The writing is descriptive without turning flowery or overly literary. Most of the major characters are well-rounded; only some supporting ones (like Seraphina) seem a bit flat. VERDICT Fans of thrillers will have difficulty putting down this excellently plotted, gripping novel.—Kelly Jo Lasher, Middle Township High School, Cape May Court House, NJ

Kirkus Reviews

2018-05-15
A young girl strives to learn from the dead and find the truth about her family's darkest secrets.This compelling mystery switches among three perspectives—those of Charlie Calloway, a young woman who attends an elite New England boarding school; Charlie's mother, Grace, who disappeared from their lake house when Charlie was 7; and Charlie's father, Alistair, a billionaire real estate mogul who many people believe killed Grace—and two time periods, 1996-'97 and 2017. Charlie has never known what happened to her mother, but she is determined to find out. When, at age 17, she's selected for the most exclusive secret club on her school's campus—the A's—and, as an initiate, must perform a series of challenging and dangerous tasks, Charlie realizes that the club has something to do with her mother's disappearance. As the layers are unpeeled, revealing the truth, so, too, are the protective layers Charlie had erected as a defense against love. Through most of the story, the thrill is true; but the ending swings from hackneyed—"Had he jumped of his own volition, or was he forced to his watery grave below?"—to unnecessarily melodramatic. The book is saved, however, by the candid and genuine relationships among the young characters. Charlie, an appealing protagonist, has a smart and gamine spirit; her exchanges with her cousin and fellow student, Leo, and with her friend and detective partner, Greyson, are especially jocular and sweet.The story of a long-game revenge played out between generations.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170384150
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	07/10/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	1,196,637

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