Jessie has stopped at nothing to get accepted into the prestigious Law & Lit Program at Franklin University, not because she’s impressed that only 6 students are selected each semester or because of the connections she could make, but to get close to Professor Jay Crane. Crane was in a secret relationship with one of his students, who was Jessie’s beloved older sister, and she feels that he may be responsible for her death. As Jessie gets closer to her goal, is her end game justice or revenge?

The author worked as a solicitor and an advocate for human rights, and has written one previous book. She was inspired to write this book in response to the #MeToo movement and the events of 2016.

The book is set in 2016, and mentions a lot of the events and upheaval of that year. It initially seems pitched as a dark academia revenge story, which is how it starts. But with events of that year being so real world relevant and the themes being very much foregrounded over the plot and story, it feels more like a exercise in exploring the political landscape of the time or preaching. Large sections of the book take place in the Law & Lit classroom and these feel like diatribes or speeches in a lot of ways, blandly stating the themes and ideas that the author is exploring. I found these sections a bit boring. Also, I did wonder how reading famous books and plays had anything to do with learning about law in contemporary America. It seems like an unlikely subject for a course.

Jessie and her plot for revenge were a nice idea. The plotting on this is really slowed down by sections in the classroom, messing with the tension. It makes for quite a soft read, especially when the story tries to get going in the last third. Jessie starts to enact her revenge, but it never really takes off and the ending feels disappointing and flat. There also doesn’t seem to be a lot of justification for her revenge. Her older sister, Audrey, has been a long obsession with her sister. If someone looks at Audrey for too long, Jessie key’s their car. Her revenge feels more motivated by her obsession with her sister than having a lot of evidence of any crime. But the book seems to earnestly believe her behaviour is somehow acceptable. More to the point, she wears her sisters clothes, has the same last name and mannerisms, and the same accent, yet we’re meant to believe that Crane does not immediately figure it out.

Audrey herself is a victim. She’s blonde and kind and gets along with everyone and the sisters were so close. And that’s her whole personality. She’s the books McGuffin, the object that motivates her sister to act, the end goal. But she’s never quite real and she’s a little too perfect, too damsel in distress.

Another odd thing is that Jessie and her sister have their law school education paid for by their parents and come from an affluent part of Ireland. They are white and rich, basically. And yet Jessie spends a lot of time talking about how privileged other people are. This annoyed me.

This one just didn’t quite get there for me. I can see that the author wanted to write about what she was seeing in 2016 and about the political climate and most especially about the #MeToo movement and the way that the law in the US deals with sexual assault. I think Jessie being strange and a bit deranged really detracted from that goal. And the plot was filled too much with those long talky scenes. It needed more grit and less talk, more plot and coming to grips with the issues and emotions, and less elitist handwringing.

Read It If: this may resonate with some. For me, it was too slow and there was not enough meat on the bones for the plot to really prove the books main points.

Thank you to Harper Collins Canada for the copy of this book for review.