Escape Theory

TV writer Froley makes a stellar debut with this problem novel/thriller hybrid that might be the boarding school answer to Conroy’s The Lords of Discipline. Junior Devon Mackintosh, one of the scholarship student “have-nots” at the ritzy Keaton School, is the school’s first peer counselor. When popular student Jason “Hutch” Hutchins dies in a presumed suicide, Devon’s therapy sessions with grieving students become much more intense than she expected. Exacerbating matters are Devon’s history with Hutch and the secrets she learns from Hutch’s girlfriend, best friend, and others, all of which convince her that Hutch couldn’t have taken his own life. Meanwhile, Devon’s romantic life is heating up, as her friend Grant returns to school looking hunkier than before. Even if the privileged environment and its prescription drug and alcohol abuse have been seen before, Froley uses the setting well, avoiding caricatures and letting her characters’ apparent shallowness dissolve, as Devon quizzes them both in and out of therapy. With a heady mix of mystery and emotional turmoil, Froley gives readers compelling character development (even with a large cast) and a fast-paced plot. Ages 14–up. (Mar.)