When We Were Monsters by Jennifer Niven
Published by Knopf on September 2, 2025
ISBN: 1524713023
Genres: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Format: Young Adult
Goodreads

The select high school students chosen for their private school’s prestigious ‘Jan Term’ are excited to work with this year’s mentor, actor and writer Meredith Graffam. Among the students are Effy, a serious writer working through the unrelenting grief of losing her mother in an accident that sent her father to prison, and Arlo, not as serious but working through some severe grief of his own. Did Graffam know these two were ex-lovers and the relationship ended poorly? Perhaps. She seems to know a lot about each student and is prepared to leverage this knowledge to get results. As Graffam’s assignments get more wild and dangerous, the Jan Term students begin to suspect that she might not be exactly who she claims to be.

Told from Effy’s and Arlo’s points of view, this atmospheric thriller will be a hit with Dark Academia fans, though some might find the villain a little too ludicrous to truly invest themselves in the story. 

Reviewed by Sarah Maciejewski, Patten Free Library, Bath