Below is the complete list of Sara Shepard’s The Perfectionists books in publication order. For this series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
The Perfectionists Books in Publication Order
- The Perfectionists (2014)
- The Good Girls (2015)
About The Perfectionists
Sara Shepard’s The Perfectionists series explores the darker side of ambition, friendship, and the pressure to appear flawless. Known for building suspense around secrets and social dynamics, Shepard once again places a group of teenagers at the center of a mystery that begins with a seemingly harmless idea and spirals into something far more dangerous. Set in the wealthy college town of Beacon Heights, Washington, the series examines how the pursuit of perfection can hide jealousy, resentment, and long-standing grudges.
The story revolves around five high school students who share one thing in common: each of them has a reason to despise Nolan Hotchkiss, the school’s charismatic but manipulative golden boy. Nolan has a reputation for getting everything he wants—popularity, influence, and admiration—while leaving a trail of hurt feelings and damaged relationships behind him.
The five students—Ava Jalali, Caitlin Martell-Lewis, Mackenzie Wright, Julie Redding, and Parker Duval—come from very different backgrounds, but they all feel the consequences of Nolan’s actions. Some have been publicly humiliated by him, others betrayed, and some simply pushed to their limits by his constant manipulation.
Early in the first book, the group jokingly discusses a “perfect” way to get revenge on Nolan. The plan begins as nothing more than a hypothetical conversation—a fantasy scenario where Nolan would finally face consequences for his behavior. None of them actually intends to carry out the plan. However, when Nolan is later found dead in circumstances that match their discussion almost exactly, the joke becomes a nightmare.
The series begins with The Perfectionists (2014), which introduces the five girls and the tangled relationships connecting them. As investigators begin searching for Nolan’s killer, the group realizes that their private conversation may have implicated them in a murder they didn’t commit. Each girl must deal with the fear that someone else heard their plan—or worse, that someone used it as inspiration.
Shepard uses shifting perspectives to show how each character experiences the unfolding investigation. Secrets about friendships, family pressures, and romantic relationships begin surfacing as the group struggles to understand what really happened. The mystery quickly becomes personal, forcing the girls to question how well they truly know the people around them.
The second book, The Good Girls (2015), continues the story as the investigation deepens and the stakes grow higher. The characters realize that Nolan’s death may be connected to events from the past that no one wants to talk about. As new clues emerge, the group begins uncovering hidden rivalries, secret alliances, and unexpected motives.
Throughout the series, Shepard explores how reputation and appearance can shape people’s lives in communities obsessed with success. Many of the characters attend elite schools and come from families with high expectations. Academic performance, athletic achievements, and social status all play a role in defining who belongs at the top of the social hierarchy.
The pressure to maintain this image of perfection becomes a key theme. Each of the main characters hides struggles that contrast with the polished version of themselves they present to the outside world. As the mystery unfolds, those hidden tensions slowly surface, revealing how fragile the idea of perfection really is.
Although The Perfectionists is shorter than Shepard’s long-running series like Pretty Little Liars, it still follows a layered mystery structure. The truth behind Nolan’s death emerges gradually as different pieces of the story come together across the two books.
Reading the series in publication order allows the mystery and character relationships to develop naturally, with the first book establishing the central crime and the second uncovering the deeper motives behind it.