Obedience

Book excerpt: At the beginning of the fall term at Winchester University, in rural Indiana: On the first day of class, Professor Williams presents a startling scenario to the students in his Logic and Reasoning 204 course: A young girl has gone missing and the class has until the end of the quarter to find her or she will be murdered. The students believe Williams’ tale is nothing more than a logic puzzle, but soon three of them - Mary, Brian and Dennis - stumble upon a real-life, unsolved disappearance that sounds eerily similar to the one Williams described, the case of Deanna Ward, a girl who went missing 20 years earlier and was never found. Each of them becomes obsessed with the two women and the professor, a shadowy figure himself. As the real world and Williams' puzzle begin to merge, the three young people are thrown into a complex and horrifying game of deception. What’s real, what’s fiction, and how far will the students go to obey authority? 'A taut and timely thriller that explores the dark side of academia, where classrooms are dangerous and paranoia abounds' Karin Slaughter ‘Obedience draws you in and never lets you go – and what a ride’ David Baldacci