The Rabbit Club

Yates revisits the stiff-collared and secretive Oxford University setting of Black Chalk in his tantalizing latest, which chronicles a student’s discovery of nefarious deeds there in the mid-1990s. Alistair “Ali” McCain, 18, is the illegitimate son of renowned British rocker Gel McCain, who abandoned him as an infant. After returning to his birth country from California, Ali yearns to join the Saracens, a notorious secret society of upper-crust students. His feminist classmate, Izzy, a love interest, receives an invitation to the society’s annual first-week ball. Ali hopes she’ll bring him along, but she explains why she plans to decline: “Let’s just say I probably haven’t been invited because the rich boys of Oxford are interested in my views on gender and sexuality.” Eventually, Ali drops his father’s name to one of the Saracens and is invited to join their membership trials. But his realized dream quickly turns into a nightmare, as he comes to suspect that a professor’s mysterious death is linked to the group. Yates effectively builds suspense as Ali and Izzy face increasing danger, and a subplot involving Ali’s father’s reappearance adds depth. Dark academia fans ought to snatch this up. Agent: Jessica Papin, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (July)