The Mortons
A Novel
-
-
5.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $18.99
Publisher Description
“A fresh, fun, and sneakily hilarious dark academia romp.” —People
“Slippery, sinister, and so much fun.” —Charlotte McConaghy, New York Times bestselling author of Wild Dark Shore
Meet the Mortons: In this family, murder is currency—and business is booming.
The Mortons are a modern-day, old-money dynasty with impeccable taste, from their exquisitely crafted cocktails to their expertly tailored vintage garments. They are also stone-cold killers. For the Mortons, homicide is heritage.
They, along with the other crime families, send their progeny to Helshire College, where legacy students learn to exercise control over their wealthy peers. Jessica Morton has always excelled at Helshire, secure in the knowledge that she is the prodigy of her generation. Now, having committed her first kill, it should be Jessica’s moment, her honor. But that kill will cut more ways than one, unknotting a series of revelations spanning the Mortons’ country estate, the New York City art world, and Helshire itself.
Sharp and hypnotic, The Mortons is an epic novel of alliances and power, loyalty and kinship, and the consequences of ruthless ambition.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Husband and wife authors Westerfeld (Uglies) and Larbalestier (My Sister Rosa) team up for a page-turning tale about an "Old Money" family who sustain their power and wealth by training each new generation in the art of murder. Jessica Morton is a college student at Helshire, where she is expected to "incorporate" the rich and powerful families of other students by ensuring their loyalty to the Mortons and thus allowing the clan to get away with murder. The Mortons regularly kill their own, and Jessica is tasked by her grandmother with killing her younger cousin, Peter, whose rebellious nature poses a risk to the family. Jessica does the deed by enticing Peter to climb up an old building on their campus and causing him to lose his grip and fall. After Peter's death, Jessica wins her family's blessing, but when she learns of Peter's association with rival families and his possible motive for turning against the Mortons, she questions her family's righteousness. It adds up to a bracing and searching story about the lengths a child will go to make their family proud. Readers won't want to put this down.
