School’s Out! 10 Tales of Class Reunions Gone Wild

In Mary McCarthy’s dazzling novel, the Vassar class of 1933 had a crew of women known by classmates and faculty simply as “The Group.” After college, these eight alumni take different paths on their post-grad journey: some become mothers, some travel, others launch into the career world with a myriad of successes. But even as the distance between them grows and members begin to lose touch, they’re still united by the memories of their times at Vassar and the education they received there. Even more than that, all eight are united in a struggle for autonomy and respect as women striving to succeed in a patriarchal world.

Mary McCarthy’s sharp sense of humor makes for a witty yet poignant exploration of sexism and elitism in the 20th century. Lauded as a staple of feminist texts, The Group is not to be overlooked.

Melanie Bartlett was nominated for Most Likely to Succeed back in the high school yearbook. But now a single mother struggling with her finances, she can’t say she agrees. All she wants is a new lot in life, so Mel and her daughter pack up and head to River Bend. There, she reconnects with old high school friends, gets a room at the cozy bed-and-breakfast and tries her best to make a fresh start.

Wyatt Gibson never left River Bend. City life didn’t suit him, and he knew from the beginning that he was home in the small, sleepy town. Still, he can’t help but feel shaken when Mel Bartlett returns for the first time in decades. Even with her life in flux, Wyatt is charmed and already way too close to falling head over heels. But can he convince Mel to let him be a part of her new life, and let him into her heart?

Former FBI agent Ronan Ryan isn’t thinking much of his high school reunion. He’s looking forward to reconnecting with his old basketball teammates — and his high school sweetheart — but after a life of a high-stakes career, seeing old classmates doesn’t make him too nervous.

That is, until the restaurant where the reunion is being held is bombed. Suddenly Ronan has a lot more to worry about, from helping survivors out of the building to figuring out who has it out for his high school class. As the pieces begin to come together, the stakes only grow higher when Ronan discovers that Jennifer, his old flame, is the primary target.

Readers will get a glimpse into the mind of the jaded killer as he enacts his revenge, as well as Ronan’s desperate search to reveal the attacker’s identity before it’s too late. Tension mounts and blood is shed in a race against time as Ronan Ryan deals with his most dangerous case yet.

Read our full review for The Reunion Bomber here.

Best friends since the age of eight, Addie Downs and Valerie Adler thought they’d be by each other’s sides forever. But after a disastrous fight in high school, the wake of betrayal was too much for their friendship to handle. While Addie stayed in their small Midwestern town, Val went farther west to seek a life of fame. After 25 years, Addie doubted she’d ever see Val again. So she got quite the shock when Val showed up on her doorstep, covered in blood.

With the police hot on her trail, Val didn’t know where else to turn. Now the two women need to think fast — and push past the years of resentment — to get to safety and steer clear of the law. Jennifer Weiner takes the characters on a not-your-average road trip to Key West, where secrets and long-buried emotions will be revealed.

Jean Sheridan has a lot to look forward to with her upcoming high school reunion. She’s excited to meet up with her former classmates of Stonecroft Academy and to show off her successful career as a historian. That’s before she gets the news of her old friend, however — the fifth woman from their class to meet an untimely end. Soon after, Jean gets the shock of a lifetime; a letter from someone called The Owl, who knows about the child that Jean gave up for adoption years ago, the child whose existence was a tightly-kept secret.

Known as the “queen of suspense,” it’s no surprise that Mary Higgins Clark’s work still leaves readers on the edge of their seats. Her expert hand crafts a twisting story of blackmail and betrayal as the alumni of Stonecroft Academy scramble to discover who is behind these deaths … and who is next to die.

Carla D’Agostino isn’t ready for her 10-year reunion. How could she be, when she’s still single, living at home with her overbearing Italian American family and miserably far away from her dream as a sports talk radio host? When she vents to her friends in frustration, they put their heads together to try and help Carla’s case. In preparation for the upcoming reunion, they help Carla record a sports commentary demo and even clinch her first date in ten years — something she hasn’t tried since getting her heart trampled on by her first love.

But things still aren’t working out for Carla, even as the deadline of the reunion looms closer. When a betrayal rocks the friend group, Carla’s left feeling more alone than ever. It’s in this moment of vulnerability that she takes a leap of faith and learns that sometimes what we were searching for was in front of us the whole time.

After becoming a hotshot private investigator in Los Angeles, Heather Nelson hasn’t been back to Iowa in ages. But with her high school reunion coming up, she makes a snap decision to fly back home and see her old friends and classmates. She has a great time catching up over dinner when a beautiful forget-me-not bouquet is delivered. The group is dazzled by the arrangement — until they see the note attached that reads you deserve to die.

What the group first took as a joke becomes all too real when several members experience near-fatal accidents within the next few weeks. It’s up to PI Heather to sleuth out the killer before it’s too late — but the trail becomes only more muddled as the friends start contacting Heather, unearthing long-kept secrets that make the investigation only more complicated. And that’s not all; it seems that Heather’s hiding a secret of her own, something her friends would never expect.

Maggie Flynn hasn’t been back to Wyndham Beach in ages. But when she does finally return, it isn’t only because of her fortieth high school reunion. Recently widowed, Maggie and her children need the support of family and old friends as they grieve their loss. But Maggie’s emotions are in a different kind of turmoil upon her arrival. One of the familiar faces in town is Brett Crawford, her old sweetheart. They had been the “it” couple throughout high school, the envy of their classmates and the talk of the town … until a life-altering secret drove them apart.

Now that she’s back, Maggie is terrified of these old feelings rekindling. But even as she struggles with her feelings of grief, she’s not alone; her friends and family are here for her and her daughters, to support them as they navigate this new chapter of their lives. And Brett Crawford may just be there for her too if she can find it within herself to open her heart to him again.

Poppy McAllister is not interested in attending her 25-year reunion, thank you very much. It’s been hard enough dealing with the death of her husband and adjusting to this new period of her life. She doesn’t need her old classmates knowing that her only company during the day is her cat and the informercials she has blaring on the television.

But Poppy’s friend is determined to make her attend, in the hopes it will be good to get a change of pace. Then Poppy receives a strange letter from Barbie, the former cheerleader who used to bully her all through high school. It seems that Barbie needs her to attend the reunion as well — for urgent reasons that Poppy can’t quite figure out.

But when She does show up at the reunion, she gets a nasty surprise: Barbie’s dead body lying in front of Poppy’s locker. Now the prime suspect, Poppy needs to work fast in order to clear her name and find out who’s really behind the murder.

Sarah Martin definitely peaked in high school. She’d been valedictorian, popular and well-loved — but now at almost forty, she’s divorced and stuck running a small bookstore. Suffice to say, she’s not too eager to attend her upcoming high school reunion, but her friend Kristen won’t listen. She’s determined to reunite their own trio, and she needs both Sarah and their mutual friend Roxanne to do that.

The problem is, neither of them has seen Roxanne since just before their high school graduation. Always a free spirit, Roxanne was no stranger to getting into trouble, and it wasn’t exactly out of character for her to disappear. But deep down, Sarah knows there was probably a deeper reason for Roxanne’s departure: a betrayal on Sarah’s part.

Kristen isn’t aware of her friends’ past drama and is determined to track Roxanne down to see her safe and sound. Along with their friend Jack, the two women set off on a cross-country journey to find an old friend — and possibly unearth some long-buried secrets in the process.