All These Perfect Strangers

Book excerpt: In this intimate debut thriller in the vein of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, an award-winning mystery writer delves into the mind of a young woman who’s closer to murder than she’d like to admit. “This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.” Within six months of her arrival at a university campus, three of Penelope Sheppard’s new friends are dead. And only Pen knows why. This isn’t Pen’s first encounter with violence, and she’s an expert at keeping secrets—especially ones as dark and dangerous as her own. Reputations have a way of haunting you—they’re easy to make, hard to shake. After Pen leaves her isolated hometown to escape the judgmental stares of her neighbors and carve out a new identity for herself, she’s free from the stigma of her past mistakes. At school, Pen is anonymous, surrounded by an eclectic collection of perfect strangers. But when someone begins to uncover the deadly secrets she thought she’d left behind, how far will Pen go to protect her new life? Six months later, Pen is back home, the victim of a violent trauma and a pariah once again. Now, reluctantly, she must recount her story from start to finish: to her shrink, to the police, even to herself. Because until she tells the whole truth, there will be no escaping the past. Praise for All These Perfect Strangers “Best book I’ve read this year. Fabulous writing.”—Fiona Barton, New York Times bestselling author of The Widow “All These Perfect Strangers gripped me and didn’t let go until the last page. Aiofe Clifford creates a disturbing but compelling cast of characters, leaving the reader constantly guessing what’s around the corner. It’s a cleverly woven plot, a wonderful, compelling read that lingers long after the book is closed.”—Jane Harper, award-winning author of The Dry “Unputdownable.”—Marie Claire (Australia) “A picture of death and betrayal across the sexually charged canvas of a first year on a university campus . . . tense, sparse . . . The gripping plot challenges and subverts the notion of innocence until the very last page.”—Monocle “A compulsively readable mystery set on a college campus, with one girl at the heart of it all, All These Perfect Strangers is a seething conflagration of lies and betrayal that explodes to a shocking conclusion. I couldn't put it down!”—Carla Buckley, author of The Good Goodbye “Aoife Clifford has given us one terrific yarn. All These Perfect Strangers is tender and cruel, naïve and complex, hopeful and crushing. In other words, real to the broken and bloody bone. A phenomenal debut novel that will make you forget you have other things to do. Read this book and spend the next week captivated by our hero, Pen Sheppard.”–T. E. Woods, author of the Justice series “Intrigue, betrayal and murder . . . deliciously dark.”–T.R. Richmond, author of What She Left “Aoife Clifford’s debut novel twists and turns and twists again. All These Perfect Strangers is really a perfect blend of storytelling and psychological suspense. I can’t wait to see what Clifford does next.”—Nichole Christoff, author of The Kill List