The Protege By Jody Gehrman Summary

Jody Gehrman pits the drive for revenge against the equally vital will to survive, in this chilling psychological suspense novel in the vein of Samantha Downing and Layne Fargo.

Dr. Hannah Bryers, anthropology professor and forensics expert at the prestigious Mad River University, takes pleasure in examining corpses, but small talk and living people fill her with dread. When she’s not teaching, she analyzes the decomposing flesh of murder victims around the globe.

Winter Jones is Hannah’s most promising graduate student. She’s intelligent, cunning, and dedicated, but she’s got her agenda for coming to Mad River: to bring Hannah Bryers down. She’ll stop at nothing to make her life implode. In alternating narratives, Winter systematically robs Hannah of the things she values most: her reputation, her job, and—ultimately—her safety.

When dangerous mistakes are made in her lab, Hannah has no idea who would have it out for her and would be willing to risk students’ lives. As the incidents become deadly, many suspects come to light. Hannah won’t go down without a fight. She has to figure out who is sabotaging her career and killing people; her life depends on finding answers.

The Protege By Jody Gehrman Review

Do you like well-written, evil characters? Then buckle up because Jody Gehrman has a new novel you won’t put down. The Protege is Gehrman’s latest, released March 7th, propelled by Winter and Hannah. Winter is a devious college student after revenge on the unsuspecting Hannah. This wickedly intelligent thriller finds Hannah studying and implementing The Art of War by Sun Tzu to manipulate her way into becoming Hannah’s Teaching Assitant. Once she accomplishes her goal, Winter works on Hannah’s life. One by one, she set’s up Hannah with brilliantly planned decimating events that begin to unravel Hannah and her life.

Gehrman’s writing is spot-on. The writing nails an atmospheric college campus, anatomically correct linguistics, and dark humor. She integrates Hannah’s teaching with her love for examing corpses with precision. And Winter’s character is unrelenting. She will put lives in danger for revenge. And why? I won’t say, but the slow reveal- piece by piece is well pieced together.

Thank you to Dreamscape and Crooked Lane Books For An Arc.

The Protege By Jody Gehrman Setting

First, let’s talk about the name of the university where this all takes place- Mad River University. Jody Gehrman utilizes The Protege’s university name as a foundation to build a living, breathing setting. This campus setting is at once a learned, advanced university and yet sinister, begging for misfortune. The surrounding town has that feel of local life, where everyone knows everyone, and word travels mighty fast.

The Protege By Jody Gehrman Characters

Yes. Back to characters, because they deserve the time. Winter’s character is written as one of the most realistic, cunning characters I’ve read in a long time. The bounce from Winter to Hannah’s point of view works well. Both characters maintain their core qualities throughout the plot and drive toward two different goals. Throughout Winter’s point of view, she quotes directly from The Art of War, going as far as to explain why she chose it. This grounds Winter’s character and her actions to be as realistic as her character is ruthless.

On the other hand, Hannah’s character is steadfast in her dedication to teaching and working with the local police. Unfortunately, her introverted ways isolate her from sharing what is happening, having a life, and finding true friends. One of her friends, Amy, is brilliantly written as a no-holds-bar tinder hopping woman. Her character’s placement often brings comic and emotional relief to the story.

The Protege By Jody Gehrman Final Thoughts

If I’m going to nitpick anything about The Protege, it is that it takes a little while to get off the ground. But, conversely, I love when you know who the antagonist is from the beginning and the execution is solid. It is easy for that structure to go awry, but Gehrman pulled it off flawlessly.

The audiobook was well done with Hannah and Winter’s points of view.