Hannah has working class roots and finds it exciting to have gotten into Oxford. Her suite-mate, April, comes from a wealthy family and takes it as a given that she is at the school. The other freshmen in their group are Will, Ryan, Hugh and Emily. April is the It girl of the title, the glue that keeps the others together. She's beautiful, rich, charming, and quite a drinker, but can write a decent paper with enough of a supply of pills to keep her awake. She's quite pushy and insistent. She also plays some horrid practical jokes.
When April is murdered during the spring, Hannah and Hugh had just seen one of the university's porters leave the area near the girl's suite. He had been rather creepy all year, and because no one else was around, the porter was convicted of the murder. Ten years later, after Hannah learns he died in prison, she starts having doubts that he was the murderer. By this time, she's married to Will (who had been Hannah's boyfriend at Oxford) and six months pregnant. Money's tight. Will doesn't want her to start asking the others about who else could be the murderer, but Hannah can't NOT do it. As she reconnects with the other students, the stakes grow higher. Will is her husband. Hugh is a plastic surgeon, Will's best friend. Ryan had a stroke in his twenties and is recovering with the help of his lovely wife and small children. Emily is an academic, sharp and practical. Is the murderer one of them, or could it be someone else at the university?
The story is told from Hannah's point of view, flashing back and forth from "before" to "after." I thought I was on top of the clues, keeping up with Hannah, but was floored at the end!
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