A murder at an elite new England college tears apart a group of friends - and one of them is playing a dangerous game - in this electrifying debut in the tradition of in a dark, dark wood and the couple next door. In her first weeks at Hawthorne college, Malin is swept up into a tight-knit circle that will stick together through all four years. There's br>Gemma, an insecure theatre major from London; John, a tall, handsome, and wealthy new England; Max, John's cousin and a shy pre-med major; Khaled, a wise-cracking prince from Abu Dhabi; and Ruby, a beautiful art history major. But Malin isn't quite like the rest of her friends. She's an expert at hiding her troubling past. She acts as if she is concerned with the preoccupations of those around her - boys, partying - all while using her extraordinary insight to detect their deepest vulnerabilities and weaknesses. By senior day, on the cusp of graduation, Malin's secrets - and those of her friends - are revealed. While she SCRAMBLES to maintain her artfully curated image, her missteps set in motion a devastating chain of events that ends in a murder.