The Truants By Kate Weinberg

‘The Truants’ is the latest book by Kate Weinberg.

Jess Walker, middle child of a middle class family, has perfected the art of vanishing in plain sight. But when she arrives at a concrete university campus under flat, grey, East Anglian skies, her world flares with colour. Drawn into a tightly-knit group of rule breakers – led by their maverick teacher, Lorna Clay – Jess begins to experiment with a new version of herself. But the dynamic between the friends begins to darken as they share secrets, lovers and finally a tragedy. Soon Jess is thrown up against the question she fears most: what is the true cost of an extraordinary life?

This book is an addictive tale of whodunnit and suspense. Right from the offset, I was pulled into the thick of the story with an unreliable narrator with obsessional tendencies.

The protagonist in the story is university student Jess who after much persistence finds herself on the course run by one of her favourite authors and fellow Agatha Christie fan, Lorna. Whilst at university, she meets Georgie, Alex and Nick, they quickly become close friends and Jess finds herself embroiled in an obsessional situation lusting after Alex even though he’s with Georgie. As the story develops, we see relationships change and a darker more suspenseful twist in the tale, much like an Agatha Christie novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, it was atmospheric from the first page with the literary surroundings of the library, groups gatherings as well as parties where people shared opinions and viewpoints. The variation of personalities also made for interesting reading with the quiet and reserved Jess who mostly found her voice and opinion in Lorna’s class to the boisterous and flamboyant personality of Georgie.

The story flows at a nice pace and was easy to get absorbed in. Kate has a lovely style of writing, it’s suspenseful with a hint charm as well as fascinating to read about Agatha Christie’s life.

A coming of age novel about obsession and rivalry, ‘The Truants’ is a cleverly written and well researched story that had plenty of twists to keep me gripped along the way.

You can buy ‘The Truants’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.