Part of Alex Delaware, book 25
First published 2010
Elise Freeman is already dead when her desperate plea for help reaches anyone who can listen. The battered teacher left behind a DVD that documents months of torment inflicted by three colleagues at Windsor Prep Academy, one of Los Angeles' most exclusive schools. Detective Milo Sturgis finds himself investigating crimes within the school's privileged walls, where the wealthy and powerful quickly circle their wagons. He calls on psychologist Alex Delaware to help navigate the twisted psychology behind the abuse. The prestigious institution's elite families will do anything to protect their reputations and keep the scandal buried. Delaware and Sturgis must penetrate the closed world of the manor born, where money and status create their own rules. But as they dig deeper into Windsor Prep's facade of respectability, they discover that hunting predators among the privileged puts them directly in harm's way.
Genres: mystery, crime, detective, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, investigation, privileged-class
Setting: Los Angeles, Windsor Prep Academy
Period: Contemporary
338 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: abuse, violence