The Wreckers

Drafting

Hallenord High is supposed to be Alexis’s ticket to science success—especially with a Nobel Laureate teaching her biology class. Earning an A in Advanced Biology with Mlle. Perigord means a sought-after place as one of her research assistants. But when students begin going missing at Mlle. Perigord’s behest, Alexis pushes back with frightening consequences.

When the odds are stacked against us, we must become the wrecking ball.

When Alexis gets accepted to prestigious Hallenord High, she’s pretty sure she’s hit the jackpot. As a geek, she’s thrilled about their robust science budget—and the fact that the Advanced Biology teacher is none other than Mlle. Perigord, a Nobel Laureate. There’s already stiff competition to have her as a senior year internship advisor, a position that would make Alexis an Ivy League shoe-in. 

Mlle. Perinord has for years been on the cutting edge of biology research, using her students as (very willing, cultish) subjects for a new device called The Book. The Book, a device that slowly vivisects patients, allows Mlle. Perigord to study anatomy without muscular damage, all while the patient is alive. Automatic entry into the Advanced Biology lottery is part of the draw of Hallenord, and, Alexis is led to believe, being chosen as a subject is an honor beyond compare. Alexis is happy to fall in line if it means meeting the great expectations of her parents.

But as the midpoint of junior year approaches and competition for the internship spot intensifies, Alexis realizes that more and more students are going missing from Mlle. Perigord’s classroom—not just the requisite one chosen by lottery. She approaches the dean and other faculty seeking an explanation, and she’s met with cool dismissiveness: there is nothing wrong at Hallenord. The kids who were chosen will be returned, safe and sound. They, too, genuflect to Mlle. Perigord’s intentions. Alexis is unconvinced and soon discovers those kids who are taken for experimentation usually don’t return, and if they do, they are forever changed.

When Alexis’s roommate is taken during the night and put into a van marked with an insignia Alexis has never seen before, she tracks down a connected research facility with the help of her friends. The company only has one benefactor: the US government. A terrifying fate unspools before Alexis: either Mlle. Perigord and Hallenord are sanctioning the deaths of their own students in the name of profit outside the law, or even worse, they are operating within its bounds. Her roommate’s life rests in her ability to find out. Even if she does stop the Book Program, Alexis isn’t sure she can change the course of history—but with her friends forming a dissenting sect of students known as the Wreckers, with Alexis as its figurehead, she’s going to do her best to try.

One Liner

A teen girl finds herself at the center of insidious secrets hiding the true identity of a killer in a small Connecticut town.

Comps

NEVER LET ME GO by Kazuo Ishiguro, CATHERINE HOUSE by Elizabeth Thomas

Audience

Teens who enjoy gothic horror with dystopia elements that pull apart power structures, schooling, and the subjugation of teens to the whims of power-hungry politicians and administrators

Word Count

Estimated 75,000