Jane Bean
Book 1 of The Main Man Trilogy.
Harry Flashman, Tom Ripley and Bryce Walker meet in a backwater town in the Wye Valley and morph into a teenager called Darren. When Leroy mysteriously drowns in the river, the lives of three of his classmates – Darren, Joel and Grace – become inextricably linked. Leroy was Joel’s only friend. He was also Grace’s twin brother. Bound together by their common grief, Joel and Grace become inseparable. Darren is a bully and narcissist, with no empathy or feelings of guilt. And Leroy was also Darren’s friend. Jealous of Grace and Joel’s relationship, he plans to split them up. Both Joel and Grace have a crush on him and Darren easily tempts them into a secret relationship with him – Grace as his girlfriend (involving underage sex) and Joel as his partner-in-crime. But their triangle of friendship is doomed to fracture under the weight of so much jealousy, lies and deceit. Revenge inevitably follows, and as Darren’s hedonism spirals out of control, the safety, happiness and goals of all three of them are under threat. But one of them has the luck of the Devil. And only one of them can emerge unscathed.