I’m always up for a story about the secret societies on college campuses. Harvard has it final clubs, and Princeton has supper clubs. Author Laura Ling Brown, who attended Princeton, sets her story primarily on the campus. Told in alternating viewpoints by two sisters who are 10 years apart in age, Brown takes readers on an exploration of how the clubs work and what it means to be from a nonwhite heritage.

The main story arc, about who has killed two women who belonged to the same exclusive supper club, with many years in between, dominates the narrative. The story moves quickly on campus, in New York City and then to Bretton Woods, NH.

While much of the story is believable, a couple of details don’t ring true. One character claims to be suffering from the effects of high altitude in Bretton Woods. The region is nowhere near as high as Aspen, where visitors can indeed feel the altitude. There’s also an encounter with a buck which doesn’t ring true. Most deer flee from humans and in the late spring, bucks lose their antlers. It’s a shame the fact checking wasn’t a bit more rigorous for this otherwise very intriguing story.

“Society of Lies” is a great read for anyone who wants to know what happens on elite college campuses outside the classrooms and how belonging to the right club can change a person’s life for better, or for worse.