The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Ware, Ruth. The It Girl. Galley/Scout Press, July 12, 2022. Kindle.

In the psychological thriller The It Girl by Ruth Ware, April Clarke-Cliveden had it all -- beauty, brains, and charm. When she was strangled to death in her dorm room, Hannah Jones, her roommate, believed it was the porter, John Neville, whom she had seen walking away from the entrance to their room who had done it. When Neville died in jail still claiming he had been wrongly convicted, Hannah began to worry she had sent an innocent man to die in jail.

In the present, Hannah is married to April’s former boyfriend, Will de Chastaigne. They are expecting their first baby. Hannah left Pelham after April’s murder and never returned. She is still haunted by memories of going to her room to check on her roommate and discovering April dead. Her friend, Hugh Bland, performed CPR on April, but he could not resuscitate her.

Hannah has been pursued relentlessly by reporters since April’s murder. They are asking for information and demanding to know if Hannah believes she made a mistake in testifying against Neville. After Neville’s death, Geraint Williams, a reporter who believes Neville was wrongly convicted, visits Hannah at her work to ask for an interview. Will discourages Hannah from meeting with the reporter and begs Hannah to put what happened in the past since Neville is dead.

Sections of the novel set during Hannah and April’s first year of college focus on their interactions with their group of friends. Will and April were dating through Hannah suspected April was cheating on Will. Ryan and Emily were dating. Hannah found herself attracted to Will and suspected he was attracted to her as well. Hugh, the sixth member of their group of friends, was kind and polite, but awkward around women. Hannah noted April seemed to hold an unusual power over Hugh though she never understood quite why.

The group was falling apart in the days leading up to the end of the term. Hannah threw an after-party for a play in which April was one of the starring characters. April was angry because Will had gone home for his mother’s birthday. April had pulled a cruel prank on Emily, April was known for her pranks, and Emily refused to attend. Just before the bar in which Hannah had thrown the party closed, April went to her dorm room to change clothes. Hannah and Hugh followed her when she did not return in a reasonable amount of time and found her dead.

In the present, Hannah speaks to different members of the old group and even meets April’s sister, November. November confirms that April was pregnant when she died. Geraint had said that April told Ryan about the pregnancy. He suspected the baby belonged to Ryan. Hugh later told Hannah that he had heard Will in his dorm room the night April was killed, an accusation that makes Hannah fear that it was Will who killed April.

Will is angry when he learns that Hannah seriously believes he might have killed April. When she asks if he killed April, he does not answer. Instead, he asks her what she thinks. Hannah runs from Will, fearing her life is in danger and goes to Hugh, with whom she has spent time previously. She believes that Hugh is a safe refuge. Hugh suggests that Hannah go to the police with her information. He helps set up an appointment. In the meanwhile, Hugh fixes breakfast for Hannah and then entices her into a bubble bath. While in the bath, Hannah begins to feel strangely tired, as if she is about to pass out. Hugh finds her in the bathroom, wrapped in a towel sitting on the floor, and tells her she is going into shock. He gives her a strange-tasting tea to drink and puts her in bed.

Several hours later, Hugh wakes Hannah to go to the police department. Hannah is still feeling exhausted and sleeps in the car. When she wakes, she realizes Hugh is not taking her to the police department. Instead, they go to the beach where Will took Hannah for their first date. Hannah comes to the realization that Hugh is going to kill her because he is responsible for April’s death.

Before April's death, April and Hugh had put together a prank to punish Hannah because she and Will were attracted to one another. The prank was that Hannah would come into the dorm room to find April “dead,” and Hugh would confirm that death. However, to April's misfortune, when Hannah left the room to call for help, Hugh did kill April.

In the present, at the beach, Hugh confirms Hannah is correct in her assumptions about him killing April. However, he will not tell her why he killed April. Will, whom Hannah had contacted by phone, follows Hugh and Hannah to the beach. Will arrives just as Hugh commands Hannah to jump from the cliff to the rocky beach.

A gunfight follows; Hugh is killed, and Will is seriously injured. It is only later, when Hannah is telling April’s sister what happened, that she puts together why Hugh wanted April dead. First, Hannah remembers how stressed Hugh was at Pelham, how he felt he did not belong there academically. She remembers that April had a friend who would take medical entrance exams for a fee. Hannah believes Hugh used April to find this person to take his exam so that he could be admitted to Pelham. That was the reason why Hugh would do whatever April told him to do. He was afraid she would tell someone what had happened. Hannah comes to the conclusion that Hugh had taken all he could from April and killed her.