Bad Habits

AN APPLE BEST BOOK OF FEBRUARY It is almost impossible to find the words for a truly original novel such as Bad Habits, a primal scream of a book that could be written only by this author at this time. Amy Gentry is in utter control of this anaconda of a story as it twists, squeezes and lashes out at the reader. And all the reader can do is stare helplessly back, mesmerized. In case it's not clear, I loved it.' Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of The Sunburn and Lady of the Lake A whip-smart psychological thriller from the author of Good as Gone (aNew York TimesNotable Book),in which a grad student becomes embroiled in a deadly rivalry that changes her into someone unrecognizable to her strugglingfamily, her ambitious academic friends, and even herself Claire Mac Woodsa professor enjoying her newfound hotshot status at an academic conferencefinally has the acceptance and admiration she has long craved. But at the conferences hotel bar, Mac is surprised to run into a face from a past shed rather forget: the moneyed, effortlessly perfect Gwendolyn Whitney, Macs foil, rival, and former best friend. When Gwen moved to town in high school, Clairethen known as Mac, a poor kid from a troubled family who had too much on her platesaw what it meant to have. Money, sophistication, culture, the very blueprints to success. Mac had almost nothing, except the will to change. Change she did, habitually grinding herself to work as hard as straight-A Gwen, even eventually getting admitted into the same elite graduate program as Gwen. But then Mac and Gwen become entangled with the department's power-couple professors and compete head-to-head for a life changing fellowship. The more twisted the track toward success becomes, the more Mac has to contort herself to stay one step aheadwhich deception signals the point of no return? Jack-knifing between Macs world-expanding graduate days and the crucible of the hotel and its unexpected guests, Bad Habitsfollows Macs reckoning between her hardscrabble past and tenuous present. What, exactly, did Mac do to get what she has today? And what will she do to keep it? With taut, powerful prose, Amy Gentry asks how far well go to get what we want--and whether we can ever truly leave the past behind.