Read a twisted dark academia novel about women seeking revenge
They Never Learn — Layne Fargo
What to Read This Week
They Never Learn by Layne Fargo
What It’s About
This book starts off with a bang—literally. Scarlett Clark is a murderer, and a damn good one. She’s chosen her victim carefully; she always does. Picking out the worst men at the university she teaches at, she makes sure they pay for what they’ve done.
By day, Scarlett is an esteemed English professor, and she always keeps her victims close. When authorities begin noticing an extremely high body count for one university, they start digging, and it threatens Scarlett’s whole operation.
Carly is trying to simply survive her freshman year at college. She’s finally escaped her emotionally abuse father, and she wants to live a quiet life in the background at school. Her roommate, however, wants them to be social. A lot social. But after Allison is sexually assaulted at a party, Carly feels like it’s her job to seek justice for her roommate.
The alternating story lines ramp up quickly as Carly and Allison fight their fellow peer while Scarlett evades authorities and gets closer to the lead investigator on the crimes.
Why You Should Read It
Even as an adult, I still feel like September is back-to-school season, so I find myself reaching for books set at colleges and boarding schools. Plus, dark academia is and has been trendy for a few seasons, and it’s a genre I’ll always run to. (Other dark academia novels I love are The Obsession by Jesse Q. Sutanto, Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson, and Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas. I recommended Don’t Breathe a Word last year! I also can’t wait to read the November release The Cloisters by Katy Hays.)
This is dark academia turned up to a 10. And by revealing the murderer in chapter 1, as a reader, you’re left wondering, What’s next? And I guarantee you that you’ll have a hard time putting the book down until you’ve answered that question. Normally, I’m not a fan of dual-narrator books, as I find the pacing off. But Fargo executes this perfectly, dipping between the two without forgetting where the last story line left off and diving headfirst into drama and thrills, leaving you with multiple cliffhangers throughout the book.
Next Up
I’m still reading the same things as I was last week. Trying to embrace that that’s real life, and not all of us can have brand-new books we’re reading every single day. So instead, here is a stack of amazing new releases I was sent by Berkley, the publisher of all three books. I’m excited that they’re all from totally different genres and should be a super fun mix of books. Books pictured: Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison, The Lost Ticket by Freya Sampson, and A Cosmic Kind of Love by Samantha Young.
More Books
Can’t get enough, or looking for a different recommendation? Browse the archives, or check out some popular past recommendations:
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I just got They Never Learn after being on hold at my library for such a long time! I'm only a few chapters in but you're not kidding when you say it starts off with a bang. I also associate this time with back to school and within the only 30 pages I've read I was transported back to my move in date at college 10 years ago! So far really likin' this book!!