Red Leaves

A Novel

By: Paullina Simons

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

In the tradition of Ira Levin’s A Kiss Before Dying and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History comes a suspenseful thriller from the international bestselling author of The Bronze Horseman—an utterly captivating story about four Ivy League students whose bizarre friendship leads to a twisted maze of secrets, lies, betrayal, and murder.

As the star player of Dartmouth College’s women’s basketball team, Kristina Kim is beautiful, intelligent, and fearless. But though she’s just 21, Kristina has already had her share of heartache, loss, and dark secrets that haunt her. She’s best friends with Conni, Albert, and Jim, but the only one who seems to really know her is Albert. With long dark hair, tattoos, and a rebellious streak, Albert doesn’t fit in with the rest of the clean-cut Ivy Leaguers. Like Kristina, he has his share of secrets—secrets that are beginning to unravel this intimate circle of friends.

One wintry Thanksgiving weekend tragedy strikes...

When Detective Spencer O’Malley goes to investigate something suspicious at the foot of a steep hill on Dartmouth’s campus, he doesn’t expect that the frozen, naked body found in deep snow would belong to Kristina Kim—the remarkable young woman he met recently who entranced him. Now Spencer will never know if the chemistry he had with her was real. All he can do is find her killer.

Spencer is pulled into the strange, complex web of the surviving friends. Many important questions about Kristina’s murder cannot be answered, such as: why did none of them report her missing for nine days before her body was discovered? The more Spencer digs, the more clear it becomes that each of the three has a motive for killing Kristina. And as Spencer, seeking justice for a dead girl, is led down a labyrinth of deceit, every new revelation proves more shocking than the last….and more dangerous.

Always unpredictable!

Paullina Simons stories are always unpredictable, full of turns and twists, especially that it is a crime story. You will not be able to put this book down. What I love about the author is that she tries so many genres, and she seems to succeed in them all. The stories are incredibly captivating and the end unpredictable; dialogs are flowing smoothly. This book is no exception, it is as always with Simons, breathtaking and unbelievable.

4 hours too long

This is a good story with lots of twists and turns but it’s relentlessly repetitive and tedious. The police questioning was at first interesting as it felt somewhat real. However, it went on and on to the point where I started to get angry. I would fast forward often and in large chunks without losing sight of the plot. The excessive length was wholly unnecessary and the lack of editing is questionable.