Burning Girl: A Novel

Drew Burke is twenty--a working-class college student in Baltimore. Seduced by the wealth that surrounds him, Drew finds himself drawn into a complex and sensually charged freindship with Bahar RTichards and her brother, Jake. Then, over an intimate long weekend at the Richards family home, certain shocking details about Jake's past come to light, and the more Drew learns, the more he suspects he hasn't heard the whole story. Torn between brother and sister, whose versions of the past don't quite match, Drew becomes caught in a maze of half-lies and manipulations as he tries to figure out who to trust, and, ultimately, who to love.

A young scholarship student, the rich girl who befriends him, her handsome brother who wedges himself dangerously between the two; a rape, a murder, horrifying photographs found at the crime scene; and the undeniably sensual draw our hero feels to both sister and brother, who may or may not have blood on their hands. Fresh from the success of his critically acclaimed debut, Hey, Joe, Ben Neihart delivers a searingly intelligent, emotionally gripping thriller with a triangle of betrayal at its heart.

Drew Burke is twenty -- a working class college student in Baltimore. Seduced by the wealth that surrounds him, Drew finds himself drawn into a complex and sensually charged friendship with fellow student Bahar Richards and her brother, Jake. With Bahar, its a soulmates bond, with Jake, it's a romance born of a fierce sexual attraction. But a strange wall of mystery surrounds Jake, which Drew can't seem to penetrate. Then over an intimate long weekend at the Richards' family home, Jake confides to Drew that in high school he was wrongly accused of a grisly crime. The more details Drew learns, the more he suspects he hasn't heard the entire truth -- from Jake or Bahar. Torn between brother and sister, whose versions of the story don't quite match, Drew becomes caught in a maze of half lies and manipulations as he tries to figure out who to trust and, ultimately, who to love. Fierce, haunting and fuelled by an undeniably powerful voice, Burning Girl established Ben Neihart as a major new talent of his generation.A young scholarship student, the rich girl who befriends him, her handsome brother who wedges himself dangerously between the two; a rape, a murder, horrifying photographs found at the crime scene; and the undeniably sensual draw our hero feels to both sister and brother, who may or may not have blood on their hands. Fresh from the success of his critically acclaimed debut, Hey, Joe, Ben Neihart delivers a searingly intelligent, emotionally gripping thriller with a triangle of betrayal at its heart.

Drew Burke is twenty -- a working class college student in Baltimore. Seduced by the wealth that surrounds him, Drew finds himself drawn into a complex and sensually charged friendship with fellow student Bahar Richards and her brother, Jake. With Bahar, its a soulmates bond, with Jake, it's a romance born of a fierce sexual attraction. But a strange wall of mystery surrounds Jake, which Drew can't seem to penetrate. Then over an intimate long weekend at the Richards' family home, Jake confides to Drew that in high school he was wrongly accused of a grisly crime. The more details Drew learns, the more he suspects he hasn't heard the entire truth -- from Jake or Bahar. Torn between brother and sister, whose versions of the story don't quite match, Drew becomes caught in a maze of half lies and manipulations as he tries to figure out who to trust and, ultimately, who to love. Fierce, haunting and fuelled by an undeniably powerful voice, Burning Girl established Ben Neihart as a major new talent of his generation.