The Girls Are All So Nice Here
by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
HarperCollins
Living in New York with husband Adrian, thirty-one year old Ambrosia Wellington (Amb) receives an email invitation to attend a weekend of celebrations for the class of 2007 to commemorate 10 years since graduating from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
Even though she did continue her studies after the Doom Dorm incident, Amb really doesn’t want to go back to that place. Her curiosity kicks in when she receives an anonymous note that says, “We need to talk about what we did that night. We need to talk about what we became that night.”
Amb had come to Wesleyan to study acting was desperate to become the person she imagined she could be, but she didn’t know the rules. The local currency was being desired but after being betrayed by her last boyfriend, she didn’t want to put herself out there.
Meeting Sloane Sullivan (Sully) was a turning point and even though the friendship only lasted a few months, it was life-changing … and not in a good way. The less that Sully cared about people, particularly the male of the species, the more they were desperate to show her they cared, and Amb wanted to be just like her.
Alternating between then and now, the gripping story unfolds about how the world can “make monsters out of girls who want what they can’t have”. Sully plays extremely dangerous games, or at least encourages the people around her to create extreme dramas. She also gets bored easily and discards people, like dolls, after she has finished playing with them.
Amb and Sully target Amb’s nicer than nice roommate Flora Banning for no the reason than she was the epitome of niceness and even had a cute boyfriend. The narrative is a continual tease as it delves out tidbits of information that build into an horrific story.
As the excitement builds, both then and now, some of the evidence revealed is misleading and some needs closer investigation. Some clues are hidden in plain sight, and I was totally led astray but Flynn’s skilful narrative that is loaded with karmic justice.
Lezly Herbert
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