People Are Talking

Eisenberg debuts with a twisty tale of a down-and-out writer looking for new material and determined to unearth secrets during a reunion with her college friends. Mallory Shepard’s first novel was successful, but as she flounders without an idea for a second book, her publisher and agent threaten to drop her. Making matters worse, her girlfriend has recently moved out of their Los Angeles apartment, causing her to fall behind on rent and face eviction. She’s surprised to receive an invitation from her college friends Marcus and Tamar to their wedding in Austin, Tex., given that they fell out of touch long ago, but accepts, hoping to get to the bottom of an unspecified traumatic event that took place a decade earlier, which she calls “the incident.” Their friend group belonged to a campus club called The Newts, created to advocate for women’s safety from sexual violence. Now, however, Mallory’s old friend Dani—a candidate for the U.S. Senate—might have a vested interest in keeping her in the dark about what happened. Eisenberg holds the reader’s attention with nuanced character work and tense depictions of the friends’ reunion while keeping the reader guessing until the final act. It’s a notable addition to the dark academia shelf. (Apr.)