This week, I catch up with Halley Sutton who just got back from her trip to Egypt. She shares highlights from the trip, and books she read while there, including one with Egypt as a setting. We talk about bookish news and some 2025 books we are excited for, and dive into the movie Strange Darling, the movie Oddity and the TV show Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. We basically cover it all!

Books We Talked About

The God of the Woods

What the River Knows

The Favorites

Say Nothing : Memory and Murder

This Book Will Bury Me

Trial By Ambush

This Girl’s a Killer

The Astrology House

House of Hunger

TV Shows We Talked About

Secret Lives of Mormon Wives

Movies We Talked About

Strange Darling

Oddity

My Old Ass

This week, I talk with Lauren Ling Brown about her debut dark academia thriller Society of Lies! We dive into the inspiration for the idea, the moral dilemma at its core, and how her personal experiences influenced the novel.

Society of Lies Synopsis

Maya has returned to Princeton for her college reunion—it’s been a decade since she graduated, and she is looking forward to seeing old faces and reminiscing about her time there. This visit is special because Maya will also be attending the graduation of her little sister, Naomi.

But what should have been a dream weekend becomes Maya’s worst nightmare when she receives the news that Naomi is dead. The police are calling it an accident, but Maya suspects that there is more to the story than they are letting on.

As Maya pieces together what happened in the months leading up to her sister’s death, she begins to realize how much Naomi hid from her. Despite Maya’s warnings, Naomi had joined Sterling Club, the most exclusive social club on campus—the same one Maya belonged to. And if she had to guess, Naomi was likely tapped for the secret society within it.

The more Maya uncovers, the more terrified she becomes that Naomi’s decision to follow in her footsteps might have been what got her killed. Because Maya’s time at Princeton wasn’t as wonderful as she’d always made it seem—after all, her sister wasn’t the first young woman to turn up dead. Now every clue is leading Maya back to the past . . . and to the secret she’s kept all these years.

In "honor" of National Podcast Day on September 30, Gare, Steph and I share some of our favorite thrillers with podcasts in the plots!

Books We Talked About

The Night Swim

Don’t Forget the Girl

Things We Do in the Dark

Listen for the Lie

Penance

Girl, 11

Truth Be Told

Margo’s Got Money Trouble

Sadie

All the Dangerous Things

The Last Housewife

Almost Surely Dead

None of This is True

The Weight of Blood

Six Stories