Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman – 384 pages
ARC from PRH audio and Berkley for an honest review
Book Blurb:
My Review: 3.5 stars
Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman was part mystery, part study in female friendships, part recognizing mental illness and part true crime salaciousness.
The beginning had me rapt in this deeply emotional story about a trio of friends in high school, very close to graduation. As a generality, bestie friend groups of three often lead to complications because there seems to always to be a shift in power. That aspect of the trio was well portrayed. Their backgrounds were all quite different, one ridiculously wealthy, another lost due to her dad that up and left her and the last one I’d classify as relatively normal.
Their time in Greece led to the slow building of a toxic relationship. The lies were abundant to the reader, but of course not to the characters – that just makes me want to slam the book shut on their naivete. Scandals ensue and a couple twists are unleashed.
This most interesting part of the book was how history was repeating itself for Bess. Two times she was caught in the spotlight of a missing person’s case that caused lots of news attention.
Quotes I liked:
We sounded frivolous at best, mercenary at worst, and maybe we were. But show me an eighteen-year-old saint, and I’ll show you a liar.”
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