At Bustle Garrett tagged "five college-set works that informed After the Hunt." One novel on the list:
The Secret History by Donna TarttRead about another entry on the list.
It's that rare, perfect novel where it's both incredibly well-written and so propulsive that you just can't stop reading it. When I read it, I felt so steeped in both the insularity and the exclusivity of the higher education environment. But since you're experiencing it from the [perspective of this] relative outsider, you're able to understand both the desire to be a part of it and the abhorrence of it. Which I think is kind of [After the Hunt character] Maggie's struggle, in some ways.
The Secret History is among Chris Wheatley's six best dark academia novels, Ali Lowe's six best campus crime novels, Edwin Hill's six perfectly alluring academic mysteries, a top ten Twinkies in fiction, Kate Weinberg's five top campus novels, Emily Temple's twenty best campus novels, and Ruth Ware's top six books about boarding schools.
--Marshal Zeringue