Book Review: Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Published: March 19th 2024 by Usborne
Rating: ★★★★★ (5 stars)
Genres: Young Adult // Thriller, Mystery, LGBT
Quick Thoughts: The best book you’ll read all year. With thorny twists and sharp suspense through a dark academia vein, Where Sleeping Girls Lie is undeniably an unmatched YA thriller that takes the crown effortlessly.
I was gifted this book via the Publisher. There was no obligation to post/give this book a certain rating. I remain entirely impartial.
Trigger Warning: this book contains topics of a sensitive nature. Please read the specific trigger warnings on the book page and take care.
About This Book:
In Where Sleeping Girls Lie ― a YA contemporary mystery by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, the New York Times-bestselling author of Ace of Spades ― a girl new to boarding school discovers dark secrets and coverups after her roommate disappears.
It’s like I keep stumbling into a dark room, searching for the switch to make things bright again. To make me remember. But the switch isn’t there. Was it there before?
Sade Hussein is starting her third year of high school, this time at the prestigious Alfred Nobel Academy boarding school. After being home-schooled all her life and feeling like a magnet for misfortune, she’s not sure what will happen. What she doesn’t expect though is for her roommate Elizabeth to disappear after Sade’s first night. Or for people to think she had something to do with it.
With rumors swirling around her, Sade catches the attention of the most popular girls in school – collectively known as the ‘Unholy Trinity’ – and they bring her into their fold. Between learning more about them – especially Persephone, who Sade finds herself drawn to – playing catch-up in class, and trying to figure out what happened to Elizabeth, Sade has a lot on her plate. It doesn’t help that she’s already dealing with grief from the many tragedies in her family.
And then a student is found dead.
The more Sade investigates, the more she realizes there’s more to Alfred Nobel Academy and its students than she realized. Secrets lurk around every corner and beneath every surface…secrets that rival even her own.
First Thoughts
Anyone that knows me knows I am HERE for thriller novels. I hadn’t read anything by Faridah yet, but had heard nothing but amazing things about Ace Of Spades, so I was eager to see if I’d found another must-buy author. Also, boarding school thrillers are truly some of my most favourite, so when this arrived you best believe I was counting the days until it was the first book on my TBR stack.
My Review
Sade has lost everyone she loves. Her mother died when she was young, and now that her father has died, being kept at her Chelsea townhouse and home-schooled is no longer an option—though she is glad to be free—and so she is enrolled to Alfred Nobel Academy, or ANA for short. She has never had any real friends, and so she’s looking forward to the prospect of meeting someone that she might become close to. Sade gets her wish when she gets a roommate, as everyone at ANA does, in the form of Elizabeth. Plant-loving and reserved Elizabeth opens up to Sade on her first day, and she can see them becoming friends, alongside Elizabeth’s best friend Basil, aka Baz. Well, that is until Elizabeth goes missing under mysterious circumstances, throwing Sade into a deep, rocky mystery.
Disbelieving the rumours that Elizabeth is okay, Sade begins her own lowkey investigation into her roommates disappearance alongside Baz. When she gets pulled into the arms of the “Unholy Trinity”, aka Persephone, April and Juliette, Sade knows the untouchable girls of ANA would know things that could help find Elizabeth. Yet, still troubled by her past ghosts and tumultuous life before Alfred Nobel Academy, Sade finds her old life blending into her new one. Befriended by fellow swimmer August and continually hit-on by Jude, the enigmatic playboy of the school, Sade finds that there isn’t an unsuspicious face at school, leading her to horror revelations to not only Elizabeth’s disappearance, but a dark secret that has haunted the halls of Alfred Nobel Academy for far too long. And with time running out, all eyes on her, it’s up to Sade to dig up the long buried skeletons of her classmates before it’s too late.
Overall, Where Sleeping Girls Lie was nothing short of bewitching from start to finish. Faridah has this way of painting an ethereal picture with her words, and I found myself whisked away to the setting of dimly-lit halls with walls built on secrets and sins. I adored Sade, and as a fellow home-schooled girl, I felt her pain of feeling “different” to others. The book takes on some heavy and challenging topics, and I found myself feeling the rage, the strife, through the characters as they battled against odds that are never in their favour, a painful reality that is known all too well. Sade, Baz and Persephone were without a doubt my favourite characters (and shout-out to Muffin.) With thorny twists and sharp suspense through a dark academia vein, Where Sleeping Girls Lie is undeniably an unmatched YA thriller that takes the crown effortlessly as the best book you’ll read all year.
RATING:
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Happy Reading!
