Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé Review

Title: Where Sleeping Girls Lie

Author: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller

Publisher: Usborne

Pages: 576

Release Date: 14 March 2024 (UK)

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Hello fellow booklovers! Today I'm sharing my review for Where Sleeing Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé. An insightful, gripping and mystery-laden powerhouse of a novel, with a dark academia style premise that packs quite an emotional punch.

Synopsis

 Sade Hussein is starting her third year of high school, this time at the prestigious Alfred Nobel Academy boarding school. After being home-schooled all her life and feeling like a magnet for misfortune, she’s not sure what will happen. What she doesn’t expect though is for her roommate Elizabeth to disappear after Sade’s first night. Or for people to think she had something to do with it.

With rumors swirling around her, Sade catches the attention of the most popular girls in school – collectively known as the ‘Unholy Trinity’ – and they bring her into their fold. Between learning more about them - especially Persephone, who Sade finds herself drawn to - playing catch-up in class, and trying to figure out what happened to Elizabeth, Sade has a lot on her plate. It doesn’t help that she’s already dealing with grief from the many tragedies in her family.

And then a student is found dead.

The more Sade investigates, the more she realizes there’s more to Alfred Nobel Academy and its students than she realized. Secrets lurk around every corner and beneath every surface…secrets that rival even her own.

Review

Tackling themes of grief, rape culture and toxic masculinity, Àbíké-Íyímídé’s emotionally nuanced (and character driven) prose deftly explores the rather disturbing reality of institutional privilege and the trauma inflicted when those privileges—and the power connected to it, is abused.

I absolutely loved this! The attention of detail was phenomenal and the intricately connected clues that propel the narrative were cleverly placed, keeping the suspense fabulously high.

Though I confess, it was the multilayered and depth filled characters and the way in which they navigate their pain and trauma that captivated me the most. Particularly protagonist Sade who,though guarded at first glance, was an incredibly endearing character with a slowly unfurling backstory of loss, grief and resilience that had me rooting for her every step of her journey.

I also adored the found family-esque dynamics and friendship that grows between her and pink haired cinnamon roll, Baz. His adorably chaotic nature really brought a lightheartedness to plot’s intensity and allowed us to catch a glimpse at what Sadie’s future may entail—with a network of love and support that will help heal the inner turmoil she has held onto for soo long.

Persephone and her character development was fascinating for very similar reasons, and I enjoyed the slow-burn friendship-turned romance that we experience between her and Sade, as they get to know (and trust) one another.

The ending wasn’t as straight forward and satisfying as I would’ve liked, but was a fairly realistic portrayal of how similar (real world) situations have been dealt with. The focus on many of the female characters and their individual paths to healing was a nice touch— underlining the importance of mental health services and support for survivors of sexual assault.

Overall, a powerfully poignant, Mean Girls style murder mystery (with queer and Muslim rep) that would work brilliantly as a book club pick, or to kick start discussions around power & privilege, racial discrimination and rape culture with teen/ young adult readers. Just be sure to check the TWs beforehand.

Also a massive thank you to Fritha at Usborne for the amazing proof.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5

About The Author 

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is the instant New York Times, International bestselling, & Award-winning author of Ace of Spades. She is an avid tea drinker, a collector of strange mugs, and a graduate from a university in the Scottish Highlands where she received a BA in English Literature. She also has an MA in Shakespeare Studies from Kings College London. When she isn’t spinning dark tales, Faridah can be found examining the deeper meanings in Disney channel original movies.

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