The Protege

A Novel

$29.99 US
Crooked Lane Books
24 per carton
On sale Mar 07, 2023 | 9781639102488
Sales rights: World

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Jody Gehrman pits the drive for revenge against the equally vital will to survive, in this chilling psychological suspense novel in the vein of Samantha Downing and Layne Fargo.

Dr. Hannah Bryers, anthropology professor and forensics expert at the prestigious Mad River University, takes pleasure in examining corpses, but small talk and living people fill her with dread. When she’s not teaching, she analyzes the decomposing flesh of murder victims around the globe.

Winter Jones is Hannah’s most promising graduate student. She’s smart, cunning, and dedicated, but she’s got her own agenda for coming to Mad River: to bring Hannah Bryers down. She’ll stop at nothing to make her life implode. In alternating narratives, Winter systematically robs Hannah of the things she values most: her reputation, her job, and—ultimately—her safety.

When dangerous mistakes are made in her lab, Hannah has no idea who would have it out for her and would be willing to risk students’ lives. As the incidents become deadly, many suspects come to light. Hannah won’t go down without a fight. She has to figure out who is sabotaging her career and killing people; her life depends on finding answers.
Praise for The Protégé:
“A compulsive page turner.”
Midwest Book Review

The Protegé, by Jody Gehrman, has everything: a brooding academic atmosphere, timely plot elements, and enigmatic characters, all within a well written tale. I highly recommend it!”
—Sylvie Perry, author of The Hawthorne School

“The sheltered enclave of academia becomes a nightmare for Dr. Hannah Bryers as her favorite graduate student, Winter Jones, plots to shatter her career and her life. The Protégé is a wicked ride through a twisty tunnel of revenge, betrayal, institutional politics, and deception. Jody Gehrman deftly manages her two equally compelling narrators. Hannah is socially awkward and fiercely intelligent; Winter is a master manipulator fighting to hold a deep-seated rage in check. Gerhman’s novel is not a whodunit but a whydunit—we turn the pages to learn why Winter wants to destroy Hannah and to see how, and if, Hannah can survive. The writing is crisp, the plot engaging, and the characters, even the secondary ones, are well-drawn. As the personal stakes for both Hannah and Winter increase, each is pushed to the edge in a taut thriller that is a hell of a lot of fun to read. That is Jody Gehrman’s biggest success, making a tale of one person’s calculated destruction of another human being both horrifying and wickedly entertaining.”
—Christopher Swann, award winning author of A Fire in the Night

Praise for The Summer We Buried:

"Gripping . . . Gehrman keeps the suspense high . . . Psychological thriller fans will find much to like."
Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Girls Weekend:
“A brooding meditation on how friendships buckle when we resent other people’s success.”
The Washington Post
 
“Gehrman does a good job delineating the women’s individual characters.”
Publishers Weekly
 
“A Mean Girls reunion.”
New York Journal of Books
 
“I highly recommend this.”
Seattle Book Review
 
“[An] exhilarating, atmospheric thriller exploring the darker side of friendship."
—Megan Collins, author of The Winter Sister

"From its irresistible first sentence to the final page, The Girls Weekend is a captivating who-done-it and a tour de force thriller . . . Simply unputdownable."
—Paula Treick DeBoard, critically acclaimed author of Here We Lie and The Drowning Girls

“A pulse-pounding thriller that asks the question: how well do you know your closest friends?"
—Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke, bestselling authors of The Two Lila Bennetts

"A heart-pounding thriller that will have you guessing until the very end! Gehrman's taut who-dunnit, The Girls Weekend, pulses with fear, suspicion, and the disturbing question of how well we really know each other. Not to be missed." 
—Elle Marr, author of The Missing Sister

About

Jody Gehrman pits the drive for revenge against the equally vital will to survive, in this chilling psychological suspense novel in the vein of Samantha Downing and Layne Fargo.

Dr. Hannah Bryers, anthropology professor and forensics expert at the prestigious Mad River University, takes pleasure in examining corpses, but small talk and living people fill her with dread. When she’s not teaching, she analyzes the decomposing flesh of murder victims around the globe.

Winter Jones is Hannah’s most promising graduate student. She’s smart, cunning, and dedicated, but she’s got her own agenda for coming to Mad River: to bring Hannah Bryers down. She’ll stop at nothing to make her life implode. In alternating narratives, Winter systematically robs Hannah of the things she values most: her reputation, her job, and—ultimately—her safety.

When dangerous mistakes are made in her lab, Hannah has no idea who would have it out for her and would be willing to risk students’ lives. As the incidents become deadly, many suspects come to light. Hannah won’t go down without a fight. She has to figure out who is sabotaging her career and killing people; her life depends on finding answers.

Praise

Praise for The Protégé:
“A compulsive page turner.”
Midwest Book Review

The Protegé, by Jody Gehrman, has everything: a brooding academic atmosphere, timely plot elements, and enigmatic characters, all within a well written tale. I highly recommend it!”
—Sylvie Perry, author of The Hawthorne School

“The sheltered enclave of academia becomes a nightmare for Dr. Hannah Bryers as her favorite graduate student, Winter Jones, plots to shatter her career and her life. The Protégé is a wicked ride through a twisty tunnel of revenge, betrayal, institutional politics, and deception. Jody Gehrman deftly manages her two equally compelling narrators. Hannah is socially awkward and fiercely intelligent; Winter is a master manipulator fighting to hold a deep-seated rage in check. Gerhman’s novel is not a whodunit but a whydunit—we turn the pages to learn why Winter wants to destroy Hannah and to see how, and if, Hannah can survive. The writing is crisp, the plot engaging, and the characters, even the secondary ones, are well-drawn. As the personal stakes for both Hannah and Winter increase, each is pushed to the edge in a taut thriller that is a hell of a lot of fun to read. That is Jody Gehrman’s biggest success, making a tale of one person’s calculated destruction of another human being both horrifying and wickedly entertaining.”
—Christopher Swann, award winning author of A Fire in the Night

Praise for The Summer We Buried:

"Gripping . . . Gehrman keeps the suspense high . . . Psychological thriller fans will find much to like."
Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Girls Weekend:
“A brooding meditation on how friendships buckle when we resent other people’s success.”
The Washington Post
 
“Gehrman does a good job delineating the women’s individual characters.”
Publishers Weekly
 
“A Mean Girls reunion.”
New York Journal of Books
 
“I highly recommend this.”
Seattle Book Review
 
“[An] exhilarating, atmospheric thriller exploring the darker side of friendship."
—Megan Collins, author of The Winter Sister

"From its irresistible first sentence to the final page, The Girls Weekend is a captivating who-done-it and a tour de force thriller . . . Simply unputdownable."
—Paula Treick DeBoard, critically acclaimed author of Here We Lie and The Drowning Girls

“A pulse-pounding thriller that asks the question: how well do you know your closest friends?"
—Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke, bestselling authors of The Two Lila Bennetts

"A heart-pounding thriller that will have you guessing until the very end! Gehrman's taut who-dunnit, The Girls Weekend, pulses with fear, suspicion, and the disturbing question of how well we really know each other. Not to be missed." 
—Elle Marr, author of The Missing Sister