OUR SECRETS WERE SAFE

Four women lived together at Yale. Three graduated—and one died. Twenty years later, it may be payback time.

Then: Sofia Eliades grew up on Nantucket, but without the trappings of wealth. When she met Caroline Archer one summer, however, her life changed, and for a few magical years, it seemed like she had found the friend—and more—of her dreams. But once Brooke Winters transfers from Brown and joins Caroline, Sofia, and their friend Jenna at Yale, Sofia sees her position supplanted by Brooke’s effortless wealth and class. So she hatches a plan to dethrone Brooke and get Caroline back, with the help of Caroline’s debauched artist brother, Leo. Now: Brooke and Caroline are struggling to find professional success—and Sofia is dead, killed in a car crash that also killed another woman. Jenna, a successful surgeon married to Caroline’s former boyfriend, is sitting on secrets of her own. When they all begin to receive messages from “Sofia,” it’s clear that the sins of the past are finally coming home to roost. Though there is no suggestion of anything supernatural, the mystery of who is tormenting the women—who wants them dead—takes place simultaneously through both timelines. And as expected, every single character has a secret so dark, or perhaps a revenge wish so visceral, that they would kill for it. The twists and turns and reveals are skillfully paced, and despite leaning on some character tropes, the novel has a lot of salient commentary on relationships—particularly when it comes to toxic men. The women might be dissolute in various ways, but at least their personalities are not restricted to their flaws. We understand at least some of their motives and desires, while the men around them misbehave and get away with it. At the end of it all, Trench is calling the men to account—and to punishment.

A confident and wickedly sinuous debut.