Hitlist

Quinn Cotti has a 4.0 GPA and can hack the school database. From her phone. While driving. And when her reputation is trashed by cyberbullies, she can concoct the perfect revenge. But when her computer virus posts a secret video and a classmate commits suicide, she learns her detractors had unexpected motivations. She's had a low-grade crush on Jake since seventh grade, when she imagined him the noble prince of the Cybertown family. By junior year, his charm is as potent as the California Chronic stashed in his room and he has her naked faster than you can say safe sex. However, any illusions she has about Jake are gone when he ditches her for a tall blond thirty minutes later. What happened with Jake at the party was a huge mistake and just how huge is clear the next day when he brags about their encounter on the HitList website. Before she can dwell on that heartache, more guys chime in and within four miserable weeks, she finds her reputation's gone from class brain to school tramp. Writing a computer virus seems the perfect revenge on all the HitListers. And it is-up until the suicide of a gay classmate. First off, why? Then she begins to worry-what if there are more? Soon the cops are sniffing around. Getting caught means losing her scholarship. Meanwhile her research into other possible suicides has her wondering who was really behind all the slander in the first place. And why is Jake acting all caring and concerned, when he was the one who smeared her in the first place? HitList is a novel as fresh and frightening as the day's headlines, that exposes cyber bullying from three points of view: the victim, the villain-and the one who's both. .. KIRKUS REVIEW An impulsive high school cyber-prank spirals dangerously out of control in Rawson's visceral, compelling debut YA novel. Barton High, in a fancy Chicago neighborhood, is a typical school full of freaks and geeks, and senior Quinn Cotti belongs to the latter category. Despite a strong aptitude for computers, her socioeconomic status ensures that she can only make it to her dream school, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a scholarship. Unfortunately, that passport to success may be in danger. In an impulsive move, she once had a drunken sexual fling with her longtime crush-a dreamboat named Jake Vanadel. Now, it appears that Jake has posted their encounter on HitList, an online site that lets kids brag about their "scores." After other men also put her on their lists, she finds that her school reputation has changed to one of promiscuity. Determined to take revenge, she unleashes a computer virus that hacks her fellow classmates' social media accounts and posts their unsavory material online. The virus, however, takes on a life of its own, spawning unintended consequences that affect a host of Barton students, including, among others, the slimy Eli Edimas, son of a high-powered attorney; and Cameron Price, a bullied gay kid. As Quinn and Jake try to contain the damage, they come to know the "thorny fact that lies and truth have equal weight," and that honesty may be the only way out of the mess. The novel's characters seem to be cast from a standard high school playbook, and, as such, they often stick close to stereotype. That said, the story scores high marks for its taut pacing and for Rawson's pitch-perfect ear for teenage talk. It also clarifies the nuanced nature of cyberbullying, in which distinct definitions of perpetrators and victims are difficult to come by; after all, Quinn may have unleashed the virus, but her actions also ring true for someone who's been publicly shamed. A precise portrait of the teen zeitgeist that reassures readers that, despite indications to the contrary, the kids are all right. https: //www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/k-rawson/hitlist/

About the Author :
K. Rawson lives, works and writes in the far west Chicago suburbs with her family. Okay, Iowa. And they're cats.