One of the New York Times Book Review's Top Ten Best Crime Novels of 2020One of USA Today's Best Books 2020"[A] hypnotic debut. . . .[An] uncommonly clever whodunit."--New York Times Book ReviewPerfect for lovers of Agatha Christie and The Secret History, The Truants is a seductive, unsettling, and beautifully written debut novel of literary suspense--a thrilling exploration of deceit, first love, and the depths to which obsession can drive us.People disappear when they most want to be seen.Jess Walker has come to a concrete campus under the flat gray skies of East Anglia for one reason: to be taught by the mesmerizing and rebellious Dr. Lorna Clay, whose seminars soon transform Jess's thinking on life, love, and Agatha Christie. Swept up in Lorna's thrall, Jess falls in with a tightly knit group of rule-breakers--Alec, a courageous South African journalist with a nihilistic streak, Georgie, a seductive, pill-popping aristocrat, and Nick, a handsome geologist with layers of his own.But the dynamic between the friends begins to darken, until a tragedy shatters their friendships and love affairs, and reveals a terrible secret. Soon Jess must face the question she fears most: what is the true cost of an extraordinary life?An Entertainment Weekly Best Book of JanuaryA USA Today Must-Read Book of WinterAn Observer Book of the Year (UK)A Marie Claire Top 5 Christmas Read (UK)A Times Best New Crime Novel (UK)A Guardian Top 10 Golden Age Detective NovelAn Irish Times Best Debut of 2019An Apple Books Pick for January