'St Anton's university college is a cradle for privileged young men and women. With its Elysian lush green lawns and buildings of golden sandstone, it seems like a place where nothing bad could ever happen. One weekend, members of the college cricket team go to the mountains for a wild weekend away. Things spiral rapidly out of control, and a young Malaysian student they dragged along with them as part of a cruel prank goes missing. When the boy is found by some bushwalkers on a rock ledge, barely clinging to life, most people think it's because of a fall, but the St Anton's men know better. The stress of keeping their collective secret however becomes harder and harder to bear, and even the heavy wrought-iron fences of the college can't keep out reality... Dark, dangerous, bloody and visceral, this is a story of power, prestige and the pack mentality that forms the underbelly of campus life at a prestigious university. With overtones of The Secret History meets Brett Easton Ellis, this is the debut of a thrilling new Australian writer.' (Publication summary)
Epigraph:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare
–John Keats, 'Ode on a Grecian Urn'
The man who has a conscience suffers whilst
acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.
–Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
