The Favorites

Starred review from September 25, 2023
In Irish writer Hennigan’s riveting debut, a woman avenges her late sister by attempting to entrap a law professor. Jessie Mooney’s older sister, Audrey, dropped out of Trinity College in Dublin and left for Central America, where she dies in a bus accident. Jessie soon finds out Audrey had been sleeping with her professor, Jay Crane, and Jay had sexually assaulted her. Believing Crane’s abuse is to blame for Audrey’s ill-fated move, Jessie enrolls in Franklin University in Philadelphia, where Crane has tenure, and manages to be selected for his exclusive six-person law seminar. Known for playing favorites, Crane chooses Jessie and Charlie Duke, the reluctant scion of a prominent political family, to be his research assistants. Jessie plans to have sex with Crane, then charge him with rape, and she seeds gossip about her relationship with Crane among her classmates to build the potential case. Despite her objective, however, Jessie finds herself charmed by the professor, whose apparently sincere passion for the law makes him popular with students. Jessica’s plan gains momentum after she finds an ally in Charlie, but before it’s all over, things spill out of her control. Hennigan’s law degree is evident in her eloquent depictions of classroom discussions and her thoughtful meditations on justice. Readers will devour this satisfying tale of vengeance.

October 1, 2023
When law student Jessica Mooney arrives in Philadelphia from Dublin, she's thrilled to be selected to join legendary professor Jay Crane's elite class. Rumor has it that each term, Crane selects a "favorite," showering that student with attention and access to opportunities. Jessica is determined to become the new favorite--not for her career, but as part of an elaborate plan for revenge. Her older sister, Audrey, had been a previous favorite of Crane's, and Jessica blames the professor for events that led to Audrey's death. Frustrated by a lack of evidence and stonewalling from officials, Jessica plans to lure Crane into a compromising position while meticulously gathering all the proof she needs to destroy his career. Aided by an interesting cast of classmates, and driven by anger and obsession, Jessica crosses just about every line in her quest for justice. Hennigan (The Truth Will Out, 2022) delivers an engaging thriller that entertains while it explores toxic relationships and abuse of power in a prestigious academic setting.

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October 1, 2023
A law student plots revenge against a professor who took advantage of her sister. It's 2016. Jessica Mooney-Flynn, an Irish law student, has enrolled at the (fictional) Franklin University in Philadelphia to take courses with Jay Crane, a professor who had a coercive relationship with one of his students--Jessica's sister, Audrey--while he was a visiting instructor at Trinity College, Dublin. The end of the affair devastated Audrey, who dropped out of school and left to travel around Central America, where she died in a bus crash. After finding Audrey's journal, Jessica spends years planning how she will entrap Crane to gain evidence of his wrongdoing and avenge her sister by becoming one of his "favorites," having discovered that he has a pattern of inappropriate relationships with students. But far away from home, among a cohort distracted by the 2016 election, Jessica finds her resolve weakening, and she risks losing herself as well as her own future. Hennigan sets out to use a law school to explore the tension between justice and revenge, particularly against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement. The novel never develops momentum, though; Jessica's motivations and plans are gradually revealed in a way that feels disjointed and clunky. The narrative is presented as an account Jessica is giving in response to questions from an anonymous journalist, which creates an extra layer of distance, further diluting the tension. Similarly, Jessica's grief is reported rather than deeply felt, and her sister never becomes a fully developed character who the reader is similarly invested in avenging. A thematically intriguing novel that doesn't reach the level of thriller.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.