by Stacy Willingham ★★★★★
Only If You're Lucky, the latest thriller from author Stacy Willingham isn't set to be published until January 16, 2024. But guess who's lucky? This guy -- I was able to snag an ARC from NetGalley, so here is your spoiler-free preview of Willingham's 3rd novel, which also happens to be her best yet.
The novel's narrator is Margot, who is just finishing her freshman year at Rutledge College in South Carolina in the novel's primary timeline. Going off to college is supposed to be a special time of new experiences, but nothing about Year 1 was magical for Margot. For starters, she was supposed to be there with her best friend, Eliza. But a tragic accident near the end of high school left Eliza dead and Margot forced to be randomly paired with a roommate. She spent the year grieving and trying to fill the hole left by Eliza's death, zombie-walking through her college experience. As she's preparing to head home for the summer after what feels like a lost year, she's approached by Lucy Sharpe.
Lucy is the "it" girl on campus -- stunning, confident, the one who commands the attention of everyone in a room the moment she walks in. She drops by Margot's dorm room and out-of-the-blue proposes Margot come live with her and her two best friends, Sloane and Nicole. After Margot gets over the shock that Lucy even knows her name, she accepts the offer, and a very new chapter for her begins at Rutledge.
The room being offered is in an off-campus house next to the Kappa Nu fraternity. The frat owns the house, and while it's separated by a fence, there is a shed in the back corner of the property you can pass through to easily access either property. That means that the girls can wander over to the frat any time they'd like; it also means the boys have unfettered access to the girls' house. That setting, culled from Willingham's own personal experiences living in a similar situation at the University of Georgia, presents a host of interesting scenarios and possibilities as the novel unfolds and almost acts as a character itself. Margot decides to stay the summer rather than returning home and facing the memories of Eliza, and the four girls begin to forge a fierce friendship.
There are clear parallels to Mean Girls, if you want to get a sense for the character dynamic among the young women. Margot is Lindsay Lohan's Cady Heron, thrust into a group she never thought she'd be part of but who help her start to fit in and provide her a social life she had yet to have at Rutledge. Lucy is clearly Rachel McAdams' Regina George, the leader of the pack who both commands attention and demands things are done her way. Nicole is super sweet and friendly, and most closely parallels Amanda Seyfried's Karen Smith. Sloane might be considered a Gretchen Wieners, but she's stronger and more independent. And for the record, no, I don't have all of the Mean Girls characters memorized -- thank you, internet, for the assist.
This is a Stacy Willingham book, and so of course there is mystery, deception, and in this case a suspicious death (and possible murder) to solve. We know by the end of Chapter 1 that Levi Butler is dead, and that Lucy Sharpe is missing. While that is the central mystery and the climactic event to which the novel gradually builds, there are also unknowns with the specifics of Eliza's death and how Levi might have been involved. In addition, there is a lingering mysteriousness surrounding Lucy Sharpe -- for as much as the other girls feel like she is their best friend, they also come to realize there are massive pieces of information they don't know about her.
I read and enjoyed both of Willingham's previous novels, A Flicker in the Dark back in 2021 and All the Dangerous Things earlier this year. I can say with full confidence that Only If You're Lucky is Willingham's most complete and best book yet. It had me captivated from the start, and like her previous novels it kept me guessing with plot twists until reaching a satisfying conclusion. This one takes that formula to the next level, though. Willingham masterfully drops hints about where things are going while also providing bits of misdirection to throw you off the scent. I got through most of the book and imagined several ways it could play out, and I still think I was surprised by where it went. The main characters of Margot and Lucy are nuanced and well-developed, and there is enough development of the supporting cast (Sloane, Nicole, Levi, and the primary members of the frat) that you become immersed within their world. The reader is greeted with small surprises throughout as you learn snippets about both the past and the present, and the conclusion feels complete and believable.
All-in-all, this was one of the better thrillers I read this year, and I think people are going to love it once it's released. Reserve your copy now, you won't be disappointed!