What Boys Learn
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Jan 6, 2026
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A twisty, jaw-dropping psychological thriller that unravels a mother's worst nightmare—that her child is capable of terrible violence—when her teenage son becomes a suspect in the murder of two classmates, from the author of The Deepest Lake.
Over one terrible weekend, two teenage girls are found dead in a wealthy Chicago suburb. As the community mourns, Abby Rosso, the girls’ high school counselor, begins to suspect that her son was secretly involved in their lives—and possibly, their deaths.
Abby doesn’t want to believe Benjamin hurt anyone. But she’s seen the warning signs before. Two decades ago, her brother was imprisoned for a disturbing crime—he was only a little older than Benjamin is now. And Abby has more troubling memories from her own adolescence that confirm what boys and men are capable of. As Abby searches for the truth about what happened to her students, she’s forced to face the question: Has she been making excuses for Benjamin for years?
Swirling with sharp questions about family and masculinity, What Boys Learn unravels a mother’s worst fears.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An Illinois woman suspects her troubled son of foul play in this unsettling psychological thriller from Romano-Lax (The Deepest Lake). After 17-year-old Sidney Mayfield dies of an apparent suicide in the suburbs of Chicago, her hotheaded father blames high school counselor Abby Rosso for missing the warning signs. Then Sidney's best friend, Izzy Scarlatti, turns up dead in a motel, and the authorities begin to suspect that both girls were murdered. Meanwhile, Abby tries not to worry when she finds women's underwear hidden among the belongings of her lonely teen son, Benjamin. But Benjamin is caught stealing Izzy's diary, and police learn he sent the girl threatening texts before she died. Though Benjamin maintains his innocence, Abby has her doubts, particularly given her brother's psychopathy. Desperate for—and terrified of—the truth, Abby sends Benjamin to a psychologist and launches her own investigation into the girls' deaths. Cartoonish villains and an overcomplicated backstory somewhat diminish the story's impact, but on balance, Romano-Lax delivers a tense, twist-riddled exploration of toxic masculinity, parental insecurity, and generational trauma. It's a thought-provoking suspense tale.
