A graduate student plots a takedown of the popular professor who wronged her sister in this provocative campus novel about privilege, power, and obsession.
Sexual assault & violence.
From the moment she discovered her sister’s secret relationship with charismatic professor Jay Crane, Jessie Mooney has been convinced that he’s to blame for the events leading to her death. Haunted by their last email exchange—You know what you did—she enrolls in graduate school and competes her way into Crane’s famous “Law and Literature” class, setting into motion a plan to get close to him so she can expose who he really is.
Jessie will cross any line to hold Crane accountable. But when she finally earns his trust and the coveted position as one of his “favorites,” attracting the other students’ envy and suspicion, the truth becomes darkly twisted. Is it justice Jessie craves, or revenge? And what does she stand to lose if she gets her way?
Shimmering with tension, The Favorites explores the ways that love, desire, and anger reveal the best, and worst, of us.
Don't just take our word for it...
“The Favorites is dark academia at its best. A tale of revenge gone wrong, toxic relationships, power imbalances, and the meaning of consent. It’s a page-turning, gripping novel that I absolutely devoured.”
– Disha Bose, author of Dirty Laundry
“A riveting, surprising thriller that contains much more at its heart, The Favorites is a ferocious commentary on the nature of justice, and the gulf between what is right and what is legal. Gripping, emotional, and at times profound, I raced through this in an evening.”
– Kate Collins, author of A House for Good Children
“[R]iveting… 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.”
– Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Taste the very first page
He was standing with my sister the first time I saw him, in the Trinity Arts Block after class. He had a crooked nose, sharp brown eyes, and graying stubble, and wore a simple black turtleneck. Physically nondescript, nothing unusual in his bearing. Just a shiny American smile and the confidence of a man with no reason to question his position in life.
They had a short and slightly awkward exchange that I couldn’t hear at a distance. Audrey’s fingers were playing with the strap of her handbag, her weight shifting from one foot to the other. I wandered over, but he turned to leave before I reached her. All I caught were his parting words. “See you around, kid,” he said, with a small wave of a large hand.
Arriving next to her, I angled my head in his direction. “Who was that?” He was already disappearing into the crowds pour- ing out of different lecture halls. They milled around us, a noisy and bustling mess of bodies, through which he cut like a knife. His stride was purposeful, his gaze deliberately pitched above the heads of students, who parted at his approach…
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