Alex found her own way to render justice after the killer who kidnapped, raped, and mutilated her sister was set free for lack of evidence. Her calculated retribution was patiently planned and meticulously executed and his murder has never been solved. Now a senior in high school, Alex knows what she did isn’t normal but feels no remorse. Weighted by darkness, she’s resigned herself to a life alone. Peekay, another senior, volunteers at the animal shelter with Alex. Alex tries to avoid anything resembling friendship, but Peekay is open and kind. Jack, star athlete and valedictorian, remembers the search for Alex’s sister his freshman year. Now a chance meeting with Alex in their senior year has him wanting to know her better. Suddenly loner Alex finds herself with a boyfriend and a best friend. But Alex’s rage at a world where men too easily and too often abuse women and girls flares on a night when Peekay is drugged at a party. Alex intervenes and prevents a rape, but her violent response is frightening to everyone. Alternating among the three teens’ points of view, this engrossing novel confronts sexual violence and the often unspoken rage of women. Alex is both a metaphor for that rage and a sympathetic if unsettling character in a book that is righteously provocative and rightfully disturbing. (Age 14 and older)

Edgar Award-winning author Mindy McGinnis delivers a riveting contemporary YA novel that examines rape culture through alternating perspectives. A stunning, unforgettable page-turner.

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it.

Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence.

While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.

As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.

2017 Tayshas List Selection * YALSA Top 10 Best YA Fiction of 2017 * School Libray Journal Best of 2016 * Junior Library Guild Selection * The Globe and Mail Best Books of 2016 * Bustle’s Best Young Adult Books of 2016 * Mashable’s 8 Best YA Books of 2016 * Seventeen's 10 Best YA Books of 2016 * CCBC Choices 2017 * 2018-2019 Louisiana Readers' Choice Award Nominee * 2019 & 2020 Choose to Read Ohio Booklist