Review of What I Told My Friends by Alice Leigh

When a murder happens on the grounds of High Hill Manor, Chloe’s chance to change the fate that led her to swapping schools for her final year is violently snatched from her hands. But things had already been falling apart before Emily was found dead in the courtyard. And they only continue to do so. 

After 20 years of upholding a lie that landed an innocent teacher in jail, Chloe is forced to face everything she’d worked hard to maintain falling apart. With a series of murders leading to her and her own life on the line, Chloe knows she doesn’t have much time left.

But who can she trust? Because the beliefs that she held as fact since the investigation was closed are now rearing their heads, and an underlying current of torment and violence creeps with them: a violence that Chloe has dealt with first hand. She can’t outrun the truth, no matter how much she wishes it would stay buried, and her own history is close to catching up to her. But she isn’t the only one with a hidden past.

With twists and turns that lead to an ending that feels inescapable, and as though it had been clear as day upon the page from the very beginning, you’re brought on a journey that forces you to question every person who sets foot upon the page as you work to uncover the deepest truths of High Hill Manor, and the students that went there. 

Reviewed by Rebecca

Published on 26/02/26 by Canelo

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