The Professor: A Novel

by Lauren Nossett

Overview

“The Professor is a thoroughly gripping mystery about power, ambition, and the lengths we will go to in order to succeed. Pacey and full of tension, this one will stick with you long after THE END.” –New York Times and #1 International Bestselling author, Karin Slaughter


For fans of Tana French, The Professor investigates the darkest corners of academic life: ambition, lies, and obsession.

On a spring afternoon in Athens, Georgia, Ethan Haddock is discovered in his apartment, dead, apparently by his own hand. His fatality immediately garners media attention: not because his death reflects the troubling increase of depression and mental health issues among college students, but because the media has caught the whiff of a scandal. His professor, Dr. Verena Sobek, has been taken in for questioning, and there are rumors his death is the result of a bad romance. A Title IX investigation is opened, the professor is suspended, and social media crusaders and trolls alike are out for blood.

Marlitt Kaplan never investigated love affairs. A former detective turned research assistant, she misses the excitement of her old job, but most of all the friendship of her partner, Teddy. When her mother, a professor at the university and colleague of the accused professor, asks for her help, she finds herself in the impossible position of proving something didn't happen. Without the credentials to interview suspects or access phone records, she will have to get closer to a victim's life than ever before. And she quickly finds herself in his apartment, having dinner with his roommates, even sleeping in his bed. But is she too close to see the truth?

In her relentless pursuit to uncover the mystery behind Ethan’s death, Marlitt will be forced to confront the power structures ingrained in the classroom against the backdrop of a historic campus and an institution that sometimes fails its most vulnerable members.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250845375
Publisher:	Flatiron Books
Publication date:	11/14/2023
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	128,680
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Lauren Nossett is a former professor turned novelist with a PhD in German literature. Her first novel, The Resemblance, introduced Detective Marlitt Kaplan. The Professor is her second novel.
Lauren Nossett is a professor of German language and literature. Her scholarly work has appeared in journals and edited volumes. She attended the Tin House Summer Writers’ Workshop in 2015 and 2017. The Resemblance is her first novel. She currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Editorial Reviews

09/04/2023

Former Athens, Ga., police detective Marlitt Kaplan is just beginning to recover from the case that cost her her job—and almost her life—when she gets sucked into another slippery investigation in Nossett’s impressive sequel to 2020’s The Resemblance. The new case hits close to home: Marlitt’s old colleagues have teamed up with officials at the University of Georgia, where her mother teaches in the German department, to look into the apparent suicide of undergrad Ethan Haddock and the potential involvement of his German professor, Verena Sobek, who has been accused on social media of pursuing an improper relationship with Ethan. As a civilian asking questions (at her mother’s behest, in hopes of uncovering evidence to clear Verena’s name), Marlitt has no official standing—a fact she turns to her advantage when she sees a sign in Ethan’s former apartment advertising a vacant room and opts to move in, disguised as an academic researcher. Nossett gradually rachets tension through the use of multiple narrators, primarily Marlitt and Verena, who’s a vulnerable German-Turkish immigrant slowly crumbling under the pressures of academia (unsparingly rendered by Nossett, a former professor of German literature). Though a couple of climactic bombshells strain credibility, this is an emotionally resonant page-turner from a writer worth watching. Agent: Hillary Jacobson, CAA. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Lauren Nossett

"Impressive. . . . An emotionally resonant page-turner from a writer worth watching." —Publishers Weekly

“I can’t get enough of dark academic fiction, and Lauren Nosett’s takes the aesthetic into the frat houses in this college campus thriller.” —Crime Reads

“This chilling story has it all.” —Woman’s World

“A fast, fun read, that is nearly impossible to put down. . . . Every detail, every element of the story gets a payoff. . . . An intricately told tale.” —Paste Magazine

“Twisty, dark, and brilliant, The Resemblance is a chilling crime thriller that will keep you turning the pages faster than you can binge a true crime podcast.” —Sally Hepworth, bestselling author of The Good Sister

“A timely, expertly plotted mystery about power and privilege, The Resemblance will grab you from the first page and keep you guessing until the final twist. A captivating debut.” —Alafair Burke, bestselling author of Find Me

“A campus crime plunges a driven young detective into the shadowy depths of Greek life, where power and privilege hide sinister secrets. In The Resemblance, Nossett pushes the stakes ever higher, and the horrors of this hidden world feel all too real. A timely and compelling thriller, and a jagged new twist on dark academia.” —Laura McHugh, award-winning author of What’s Done in Darkness

“The Resemblance is a taut campus mystery that grows bigger and dives deeper into the community as the crime unfolds. Twisty turns with an emotional punch deliver a captivating read.” —Wendy Walker, bestselling author of Don’t Look for Me

“At once a careful, nuanced dismantling of toxic masculinity and an exploration of academia’s dark underbelly, The Resemblance is a powerhouse of a book that is as timely as it is terrifying. Perpetually twisty and full of chilling secrets, this masterful debut heralds Lauren Nossett as a fearless new voice in crime thrillers.” —Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, author of the The Girls Are All So Nice Here

“Haunting. . . . A sinister, addictive blend of self-aware police procedural and campus novel, this is the kind of book that slips its fingers around your throat and doesn’t let go.” —Ashley Winstead, author of The Last Housewife

From the Publisher

2023-08-30
When a promising student at the University of Georgia is found dead, a former detective searches for answers: Do all the fingers point at his professor, the start of a witch hunt, or the path to the truth?

Marlitt Kaplan has been itching to solve a case. For months, she’s been a pariah to the Athens PD after she refused to play by the rules while investigating a fraternity, resigned in disgrace, and damaged her relationship with her former partner and closest friend, Teddy. The whispers about her “assaulting a fraternity member” or having a “gender-coded psychotic break” only added fuel to the fire—literally: Someone broke into her house and set it ablaze. Now she’s living with her parents and bored senseless. That is, until the Athens PD takes Professor Verena Sobek into the station for questioning. Verena’s student Ethan Haddock was discovered dead from an apparent suicide, and rumors are flying that he and Verena had been sleeping together. Verena's facing a Title IX investigation, and Marlitt’s mother, her colleague in the German Department, begs her daughter to prove Verena’s innocence. Marlitt’s unease about working on behalf of an accused professor is no match for her desire to investigate again, so she steps into Ethan's world. Soon, she discovers that her secret wish that the case had been a murder investigation may be coming true. Family secrets, rocky romances, a potentially rogue officer, and vindictive students teem in Nossett’s sophomore novel. Despite a few opening chapters weighed down by exposition, the novel succeeds as a page-turning mystery full of potential suspects, exciting twists, and a few red herrings. Nossett adeptly uses narrative structure to play with readers’ expectations and crafts a mystery that sits in that sweet spot: dropping just enough clues so readers can investigate alongside Marlitt, but not so many that the ending feels predictable. She handles the premise of a former detective trying to prove the innocence of an accused abuser with care. It is no small feat to transform a potentially problematic, black-and-white plot into a thoughtful investigation of the ways academic power structures (and those of law enforcement) fail individuals, but Nossett pulls it off.

Come for the entertaining, well-crafted mystery, stay for the thoughtful critique of academia.

Kirkus Reviews