The world isn't what it used to be. Generations ago governmental experiments on the water supply had the unintended side effect of suppressing empathy in the population. While some retain a modicum of connectivity, those who, like Anathema, test highest on the Psychopath Scale, are recruited as an elite few who get funneled into boarding schools that direct their talents toward becoming Assassins. If they survive the graduation ritual of Kill Slip Day, that is.
With friendship a foreign concept and family only a vague idea from the time before the War, the only comforts Anathema knows are the pride she takes in her exceptionally deadly skills, and the few stolen moments in which she gets to unravel a long-gone student’s hidden journal which she's discovered in her room. Within its pages she finds the first fellow human she's ever related to, Mary. Mary's existence initially mirrors her own despite the decades separating them, and Anathema's eyes are opened to a larger truth the more she follows Mary's journey.
As the journal's mysteries seep into her reality, she draws the attention of some powerful forces at the school. Anathema becomes a valuable pawn in a larger game than she realized, and she starts to question the history she's been taught and the role in which she's been cast. Her budding desire for self-determination leads her to the recognition that the only way out is through the very bloody hurdles of her fellow Assassins-in-Training at the Prep School for Serial Killers.
Reviews“Fans of
The Hunger Games and similar YA dystopian novels will find
Prep School for Serial Killers is not an adult story about murderers, but a dark tale set in 2123 about school students being groomed for extraordinary roles in life. From assassins and poisoned pins to drives to alter history,
Prep School for Serial Killers takes many unusual twists and turns, yet keeps readers thoroughly engaged. Tara Platt creates a fast-paced story of teens who find themselves at odds with the forces that raised them. Her story holds special appeal for fans of dark dystopian teen reads. Its strong characters, compelling social observation, and satisfying intrigue makes
Prep School for Serial Killers highly recommended for libraries seeking dystopian fiction that raises questions suitable for classroom or book group discussion.”
- D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“Prep School for Serial Killers is a daring story of survival, betrayal, and self-discovery set amid an uncompromising vision of a dystopian future. Tara Platt's incisive narrative grabs the reader and doesn't let go from the first page to the book's thrilling (and bloody) conclusion. This is a wonderfully wild tale filled with twists and turns, shifting allegiances, a deeply layered mystery, and a cunning protagonist willing to do anything to survive.”
- G. D. Falksen, author of Maiden of War, The Secret Life of Kitty Granger, and The Ouroboros Cycle
“Imagine a book where Hogwarts exists in
The Hunger Games universe and its students have more in common with Villanelle from
Killing Eve than Harry Potter––sound like fun? Then you’re gonna love the seriously bad ass mayhem of Tara Platt’s new novel,
Prep School For Serial Killers. Platt has a real penchant for clever writing and dark humor…but it’s the way she makes you feel for the psychopathic, anti-heroine at the center of this maelstrom of murder that’ll truly break your heart.”
- Amber Benson, author of The Witches of Echo Park, the Calliope Reaper-Jones series, and actress from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
