An Education in Ruin

June 1, 2020
A boarding school student on a mission infiltrates the in crowd. Collins Pruitt has relocated from Wisconsin to enter the Rutherford Institute, an elite California boarding school, as a third-year student. She has more on her mind than calculus and college applications, though. Collins' beloved aunt, Rosie, has compelled Collins to attend Rutherford and gather intelligence on Jasper and Theo Mahoney, upperclassmen brothers and golden boys whose mother is in a secret relationship with Collins' wealthy and influential investor father in order to get the Mahoneys out of crippling debt. Soon, Collins finds herself in over her head, not just with Theo's fast-moving and thrill-seeking group of friends, but with Jasper, for whom she's quickly developing real romantic feelings--even as he is wrestling with potentially life-ruining secrets of his own. Bass creates a vivid, evocative environment in both Rutherford and the coastal town surrounding it. However, the book is heavily front-loaded and wraps up abruptly, and it seems far-fetched that Collins would uproot her mostly happy existence on hearsay from her aunt without fact-checking with her father, with whom she's supposedly very close. Whiteness is situated as the default for main characters; diversity in peripheral characters is signaled through names. Well-written suspense overwhelmed by a flimsy premise. (Thriller. 12-18)

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August 28, 2020

Gr 9 Up-Collins Pruitt is lucky. Her father, mega-rich investor Jacob Pruitt, was able to get her into the prestigious Rutherford Academy. Collins's dad thinks she wants to attend Rutherford for the honor and the challenge of completing their rigorous academic program, but Collins has a different plan. Collins is actually at Rutherford at the behest of her Aunt Rosie in order to bring down Theo and Jasper Mahoney, the sons of the woman her father is having an affair with. As Collins inserts herself in Theo and Jasper's social circle, full of gossip and backhanded compliments, she begins to get close to Jasper-tall, brooding, annoyingly talented Jasper-which threatens to derail her entire plan. The narrative delves right into the story, which may throw off some readers who may be left struggling to keep up with what is actually going on; the fact that the story is told with interspersing flash-forwards to the end of the school year when Collins' plan comes to fruition may also lead to some confusion. Collins is an unreliable narrator, which in itself is not a problem, but she is not cunning or likable enough to root for or understand why she's entangled in Aunt Rosie's revenge plot, especially since Rosie is only mentioned in flashbacks. Collins also does not explain her actions, which may cause some readers to lose interest quickly. Race and ethnicity aren't explicitly discussed, though the characters seem homogenous and one Japanese American character has almost no dialogue. VERDICT Fans of E. Lockhart and Mindy McGinnis-or of boarding school fiction-might enjoy this, but will have to be willing to get past an unexciting narrator. -Tyler Hixson, Brooklyn Public Library

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