Smushed between sprawling white beaches and expensive downtown boutiques lies Gold Coast Prep, Long Island’s most prestigious academia. On the outside, it looks like just an ordinary high school for the rich and the academically inclined. On the inside, however, the school is brimming with pathological liars that are ruled by an exclusive society that will do anything to gain the admiration of the entire student body. They Wish They Were Us, the debut novel by Jessica Goodman, brings readers inside Gold Coast Prep as protagonist Jill Newman works to uncover the school’s deadliest secret – one that revolves around her best friend, Shaila Arnold’s death – even if it means putting her life at risk.
They Wish They Were Us, which was just released last month, is already becoming a star stunning TV series starring platinum singer-songwriter Halsey (Ashley Nicolette Frangipane) and Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney. The TV series, which will be titled The Player’s Table, will be directed by Annabelle Attanasio. Halsey will also act as a producer on the project alongside Jean-Marc Vallee, Crazyrose, Fifty-Fifty Films, and Endeavor Content.
Sweeney will be taking the spotlight as the lead role of Jill Newman, while Halsey will be starring as Rachel Calloway, the young woman whose brother has been wrongfully charged with Shalia’s murder. Rachel will back Jill up on her journey to detangle the preparatory academy’s lies and help coax the truth out of the elite Players to find out what happened the night Shalia died. Currently, there has been no set released date for the series, and the show has not landed a network or streaming service at this time. Still, loyal fans can hope that Halsey will be updating them on the shows progress via Instagram in the coming months.
In the meantime, while you wait for The Player’s Table release, I urge you to pick up They Wish They Were Us. If you loved Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars, then this book is for you! It is a mystery steeped in murder, lies, and deception that will keep you guessing to the very end and asking yourself, “Who killed Shaila Arnold?”