Easy Prey

Lo, Catherine. Easy Prey. 2018. 352p. ISBN 9781419731907. Available at FIC LO on the library shelves.

Last year, a scandal rocked the high school. Jenna's topless pictures were posted on a social media. A junior at the time, Jenna bitterly complained to the school's principal and anyone else who would listen, but ultimately was told that it was her fault those pictures existed in the first place. She never got justice. The pictures came from her boyfriend Kyle's phone, but he says he didn't post it, so the two of them broke up.

Drew is Kyle's best friend, and one of the star basketball players at school. Unlike most of the other jocks, he also happens to be a good student, but won't need to rely on his smarts to get a full ride to university. An attractive guy and a smooth talker, Drew is suave and manipulative, and he often able to get nude pictures from girls at his school. Most of the boys on the team collect them and share them with the team in a twisted contest, but Drew is by far the champion. Until the Jenna incident, Drew had never been able to score naked pictures of her.

Mouse has been in love with Jenna forever. A computer nerd hoping to get into MIT on a scholarship so he can escape his overbearing father, he programmed a nifty database that allows the jocks at school to catalog all of the nude and topless pictures of girls they receive. In exchange, Mouse gets paid a decent amount of money, which will help him move out.

Now in the last semester of their senior year, all three of them are assigned to work on a project together in a law class where they will study the violation of privacy that happens when nude pictures are distributed. Jenna feels she's been punished. Mouse is thrilled to work with the girl he loves. Drew finds Jenna fair dating game, since she and Kyle are no longer together. 

While working on their project, they elaborate a plan to see if they can obtain nude pictures of their law teacher, to demonstrate how easy it is to get them. To their surprise, it doesn't take long before they get racy pictures. When those are also leaked, however, all three of them are hauled in the principal's office for conferences with the police. Who leaked the photos, and why?

Told from three different perspectives and moving back and forth in time, the story is confusing at first, but soon grows into a psychological thriller and mystery. Several hot topics are combined, including drug use, sexting, and exploitation. The characters are all realistic, and as the book careens towards the reveal, readers will be on the edge of their seats trying to figure out who's ultimately responsible.

Wuthering Heights

Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. 2004. 444p. 895 mins. ISBN 0-7434-8764-8. Available at FIC BRO on the library shelves, as well as an eBook and an audiobook from Overdrive.

A young and rich lad, Lockwood needs a vacation from his busy life in the South of England, so he rents a house in Yorkshire. Desiring to pay his landlord, Mr. Heathcliff, Lockwood heads to Wuthering Heights, a lonely farmhouse in the foggy and damp moorlands. Upon his arrival, he discovers Heathcliff has surrounded himself with his miserable daughter-in-law, mean-spirited servants, and a lonesome youth.

A startled and sick Lockwood then hears the story of what happened at Wuthering Heights from his housekeeper Nelly, who was once the housekeeper of Mr. Earnshaw, the previous owner of Lockwood’s residence. She recounts how Heathcliff was adopted by Earnshaw and fell in love with his daughter Catherine, and how he was abused by Catherine’s brother, Hindley. Believing that Catherine did not love him back, because who could love someone so wretched as he, Heathcliff leaves the moors, much to Catherine’s dismay for she did in fact love him.

Heathcliff returns years later a richer man, determined to wreck the lives of those who mistreated him. Using his wealth and influence, Heathcliff begins to undermine the relationships of those around him, forcing Catherine’s daughter into an unhappy marriage with his weak son, and stealing her fortune. However, Heathcliff is never truly alone, with his own demons and the ghost of Catherine haunting the moors.

A psychologically violent novel centered on the selfishness of all concerned, Wuthering Heights remains a great literary example of a complex plot designed to exact revenge. Fans will also enjoy The Count of Monte Cristo, where a similarly wronged individual implements deadly steps to avenge himself.

The Count of Monte Cristo

Dumas, Alexandre. Illustrations by Nokman Poon. The Count of Monte Cristo. Part of the Manga Classics series. 2017. 401p. ISBN 978-1-927925-61-4. Available in the graphic section of the library.

At nineteen, first mate Edmond Dantes happily had it all. He was soon to become captain of the ship Pharaoh after the accidental death of its captain. He was about to marry the beautiful Mercedes. And he was financially supporting his father through carefully managing his money. Unfortunately, three men conspire to undermine his life. Danglars, a jealous rival for the position captain, wants Edmond removed so he can become captain instead. Fernand Mondego, Mercedes’ cousin, wants Edmond gone so he can gain her affections. The two of them hatch a plan to have Edmond arrested on his wedding day by incriminating him in a plot to help Napoleon return to France. The royal prosecutor, De Villefort, becomes the third man involved in the conspiracy when he discovers that the letter that Edmond carried was destined to his own father in Paris. Edmond’s fate is sealed, and he is sentenced to prison at the Chateau d’If.

Finally escaping from solitary confinement after fourteen years but having been educated by a fellow prisoner, Father Faria, Dantes vows vengeance on those who wronged him. Upon his death, Father Faria had given instructions to Edmond to locate a treasure, which he uses to transform himself into the Count of Monte Cristo, a fabulously wealthy man who inserts himself in the Paris social scene with one goal: to trap and exact his revenge on Danglars, Mondego, and De Villefort, his enemies.

Artfully condensed from the original French version at over 1,200 pages, this graphic novel loses none of the central plot and focuses on the Count’s carefully planned ruin for his enemies. Beautifully illustrated, fans of graphic novels, historical stories and of suspenseful tales will appreciate how Edmond wreck the lives of those who harmed him. For a similar classic in English, take a look at Wuthering Heights, where Heathcliff wrecks violence on those who harmed him.