The Female of the Species

Edgar Award-winning author Mindy McGinnis delivers a riveting contemporary YA novel that examines rape culture through alternating perspectives. A stunning, unforgettable page-turner.

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it.

Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence.

While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.

As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.

2017 Tayshas List Selection * YALSA Top 10 Best YA Fiction of 2017 * School Libray Journal Best of 2016 * Junior Library Guild Selection * The Globe and Mail Best Books of 2016 * Bustle’s Best Young Adult Books of 2016 * Mashable’s 8 Best YA Books of 2016 * Seventeen’s 10 Best YA Books of 2016 * CCBC Choices 2017 * 2018-2019 Louisiana Readers’ Choice Award Nominee * 2019 & 2020 Choose to Read Ohio Booklist

One murder connects them. Three perspectives unravel the truth.

• Vigilante Justice: When the law fails her murdered sister, Anna, Alex delivers her own brand of brutal punishment. She knows how to kill, and she doesn’t feel bad about it.
• The Antiheroine: Alex Craft is not a good girl. Driven by a cold rage, her quest for vengeance puts her on a path that could destroy everyone she’s starting to care for—including Jack and Peekay.
• An Unflinching Look at Rape Culture: From the high school hallways to the darkest corners of a small town, this novel confronts the casual violence and misogyny that led to Anna’s death.
• Three Unforgettable POVs: Told from the perspectives of Alex the hunter, Jack the athlete wrestling with his guilt, and Peekay the preacher’s kid who sees the good in Alex that no one else can.