Escape Theory

Sixteen-year-old Devon Mackintosh has always felt like an alien at Keaton, the prestigious California boarding school perched above the Pacific...except for one crazy night, her first week as a freshman. That was the night she met Hutch, a legacy student with built-in popularity who somehow understood her. True, they haven't hung out since then. But Devon has always believed that they forged an unspoken bond that was lasting and real.

Now, on the eve of junior year, Devon is poised to become Keaton's first Peer Counselor: a de facto therapist for fellow students in crisis, a person to turn to when faculty or absent parents won't suffice. But Keaton is turned upside down when Hutch apparently commits suicide. As Devon provides confidential support for Hutch's closest friends, she comes to believe that Hutch couldn't have taken his own life. Bound by her oath of confidentiality—and tortured by her unrequited love—she finds herself on a solitary mission to get to the bottom of Hutch's death, with stakes higher than she could ever have imagined.