MARGOT MERTZ FOR THE WIN

Margot returns, this time becoming immersed in the world of political strategy and scandal.

Following her spectacular but personally anguishing takedown of Roosevelt Bitches, a revenge porn site run by students at her high school, as detailed in Margot Mertz Takes It Down (2021), Margot is attempting to steer clear of her old business as a cleaner of people’s compromising online images. She pines for Avery, the guy she wound up falling for after she faked a relationship with him to further her investigative work, though he seems to want to remain just friends. Drawn into both his father’s campaign for state Senate and the race for class president at her high school, she is soon pressed to put her old sleuthing skills to work. Once again, heavy subject matter, such as sexual predation and misogyny, is balanced by Margot’s frenetic, intelligent, wickedly funny, expletive-laden, first-person voice as she wends her way through unexpected twists. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking—as well as unflinching in its portrayal of the costs of remaining true to one’s personal convictions—this volume’s open-ended conclusion suggests there may be more to come. Readers ideally should read the previous book in order to fully appreciate this one. Margot is White; Avery’s mom is Black, and his dad is White, and there is racial diversity among secondary characters.

A gripping sequel with a smart, flawed, indomitable protagonist.