The Sixes - Kate White

The Sixes by Kate White

First Paragraph(s):

Something wasn't right.  She sensed it as soon as she began to walk across the quad that night.  The weather was practically balmy, weird for late October, and yet the air carried the pungent smell of wood smoke.  But that wasn't the reason things seemed strange to her.  It was the deserted pathways.  Though Phoebe wasn't really used to the place yet, she expected to find more than just a few people crossing campus at eight o'clock on a Friday night.
     She'd veered left, planning to exit through the eastern gate, when with a start she discovered where everyone was.  About forty people--both students and faculty--were congregated in front of Curry Hall.  In the two months she'd been at Lyle College, she'd noticed that kids often relaxed outside this particular dorm, tossing Frisbees or lolling on the slope of the balding lawn, but tonight everyone was standing, their arms folded and their backs stiff, as if poised for news.
     As she drew closer, she saw what was drawing their attention: two campus police, as well as a local town cop, were speaking to an auburn-haired girl who appeared to be fighting back tears.  The dean of students--Tom something--was there, too, head lowered and listening intently to the girl.

My Thoughts:

I've been having a good time checking out older audios from my library.  I ran across The Sixes recently and remembered that I wanted to try another book by Kate White.  I also remembered that I was hoping I'd like the protagonist a bit better than the one in her book I read previously, The Secrets You Keep.  It was a win-win for me.  Narrated by Jennifer Cohn, The Sixes did indeed keep my interest.  And I did indeed like Phoebe Hall.  She begins teaching at Lyle College after being accused of plagiarizing in her latest book.  Phoebe's old roommate from boarding school is the president of the small college and offers her an opportunity to take a break.  Of course, who knew that a young female student would turn up dead?  Or that there was a secret group of women, known as 'The Sixes', who take the 'mean girls' designation to catastrophic levels.

Even though the story here was not completely new, I did race through the book.  It's an older one, published in 2011, and so some of the 'ripped from the headlines' parts were familiar.  I liked Phoebe and, though she had a tendency to ask questions and dig until she put herself in danger, the campus police and local cops were not terribly responsive.  In fact, they might be part of the problem.  It was hard to know who might be involved in the crimes.  There were lots of possibilities and the author shared just enough to make it possible that the perpetrator could be one of several.  I guessed a few things and missed a few.  If I run across another of Kate White's books, I'll try it.  I had a good time with this one. 

Blurb:

Phoebe Hall’s Manhattan life is unexpectedly derailed off the fast track when her long-term boyfriend leaves her just as she is accused of plagiarizing her latest bestselling celebrity biography.  Looking for a quiet place to pick up the pieces, Phoebe jumps at the offer to teach in a sleepy Pennsylvania town at a small private college run by her former boarding school roommate and close friend, Glenda Johns.  But behind the campus’s quiet cafes and looming maple trees lie evil happenings. The body of a coed washes up from the nearby river, and soon hidden secrets begin to surface among the students: rumors of past crimes and abuses wrought by a disturbing secret society known as The Sixes.

Determined to find answers and help Glenda, Phoebe embarks on a search for clues – a quest that soon raises dark memories of her boarding school days.  Plunging deeper into danger with every step, Phoebe knows she’s close to unmasking a killer.  But with the truth comes a deeply terrifying revelation: the past can’t be outrun… and starting over can be a crime punishable by death.