Easy Prey

November 5, 2018
Seventeen-year-old Jenna Bradley’s life was torn apart when nude photos of her went viral on her then-boyfriend Troy’s Twitter account. Troy, the school’s basketball star, got away unscathed, as did every person who retweeted his message. Furious, Jenna lights Troy’s car on fire and ends up with a probation officer and an even worse reputation: “You’ve gone from being one of the most promising students at this school to being a juvenile delinquent.” When her teacher, Miss Bailey, partners her with Troy’s best friend, Drew, and Troy’s cousin, Matthew “Mouse” Maguire, for a class project on privacy and the internet, things get more uncomfortable. Then someone releases naked pictures of Miss Bailey for the whole school to see, and the three students become the main suspects. Lo (How It Ends) weaves together a robust narrative about privacy and revenge. Through flashbacks, Lo slowly pieces together the events that led up to the damaging incident. She successfully creates sympathetic characters whose complicated, authentic choices leave readers with an understanding that nothing is as lacking in nuance as it might seem. Ages 14–up. Agent: Mackenzie Brady Watson, Stuart Krichevsky Literary.