During their senior year of high school in a small Ontario town, five friends take turns on their birthdays choosing a group action that retaliates against behavior they find abusive or unjust: salting the ground around a Catholic church’s memorial to the unborn so nothing will grow there; planting a damaging rumor about a boy who framed his ex-girlfriend for steroid use, ending her student athlete career; setting up a group of boys who sexually harass girls in the school’s stairwell to be caught and punished; destroying the team’s uniforms after the basketball coach denies a transgender student a spot on the roster; and more. They successfully execute these covert missions with scrupulous planning, relying on their reputations as “good girls” to avoid suspicion. The girls’ (white) identities range across family structure, financial status, sexual identity, and rural/town residence. Their actions, sometimes cruel, offer the opportunity for thought and discussion of ethics and morality, as well as the pervasive role of gender and class privilege that shelter them from detection.

#1 New York Times bestseller E.K. Johnston returns with a contemporary feminist young adult novel about a small town, fierce friendships, and revenge served cold.

You will never suspect us,
But you’ll always wonder how we did it
. . . and why.

In the small town of Eganston, Ontario, five good girls have had enough. Having faced the best and the worst of their tight-knit community, Maddie Carter and her friends are tired of the unfair societal expectations placed upon them. When a scandal involving a local girl sparks outrage, Maddie and her friends decide it’s time to take matters—and justice—into their own hands. Together, they’ve decided that it’s time for a reckoning and that justice is their privilege to give.

Join these five young women whose struggles offer a powerful glimpse into the emotional and social challenges of adolescence.