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elizabethh724 's review for:
Reputation
by Sara Shepard
I don't believe I can write a complete review without spoilers for this book. I really wanted to like it, and I did until about 3/4 in, when a problematic side plot happened. I enjoyed The Elizas a lot, which I understand had mixed reviews as well. This book starts off very promising, as a hack releases emails of everyone at Aldrich University, a fictional Ivy League university in Pittsburgh. There are multiple POV's, which in this book weren't a problem or confusing to me. However, it takes away from getting to know any major character more than a handful of chapters.
The hack plot leads to the murder mystery, in which a character we don't really get to know or care about is found dead. Some characters are more or less sympathetic than others. The murder mystery comes to a climax, in which a lot of things happened all at once, which seemed a little disappointing in the aftermath. The most shocking plot twist was the scam to help Raina pay college tuition ended up her getting blackmailed by another schemer whose plan lead to her being sexually assaulted by another character. This was swept under the rug or minimized in a harmful way, in my opinion. That part distracted from other problematic plot twists including a police officer threatening his wife and long ago secret rape of another character and the secret cancer of another character. It was a little too unbelievable that all of these things happen in a short span of time, before the #MeToo movement gathers steam. If you read this book, and I don't regret reading it, get from the library.
The hack plot leads to the murder mystery, in which a character we don't really get to know or care about is found dead. Some characters are more or less sympathetic than others. The murder mystery comes to a climax, in which a lot of things happened all at once, which seemed a little disappointing in the aftermath. The most shocking plot twist was the scam to help Raina pay college tuition ended up her getting blackmailed by another schemer whose plan lead to her being sexually assaulted by another character. This was swept under the rug or minimized in a harmful way, in my opinion. That part distracted from other problematic plot twists including a police officer threatening his wife and long ago secret rape of another character and the secret cancer of another character. It was a little too unbelievable that all of these things happen in a short span of time, before the #MeToo movement gathers steam. If you read this book, and I don't regret reading it, get from the library.