Angela Cardenas knows she's probably not the best or most well-behaved daughter out there. But then again, she's 15, her grandfather just died, and her parents are being completely mean and forcing her never to see her boyfriend, Trevor, again. It's tough being a girl.

Still, Angela's parents decide she has had enough chances, and they forcibly enroll her at Hidden Oak, a school for dangerous girls. When Angela arrives, she and the other new girls listen to one of the school's teachers explain the rules and mission statement behind Hidden Oak. The particularly haunting motto is, "You are your own worst enemy. And together we will defeat that enemy."

While the treatment of the girls during their "orientation" is horrible, Angela has little trouble finding her niche with a few girls: her roommate, Carmen, who is timid and shy; Riley, who seems to hate Angela but puts up with her anyway; and Juin, their half-French ringleader. Together, they form a "coven" and try to determine what is going on at Hidden Oak. But just as they're starting to figure some things out, girls from their orientation group start to disappear, and it isn't until Angela herself disappears that she realizes what's happening: the teachers are dividing them into dangerous girls who can be corrected and dangerous girls who cannot.

Of course, Angela must do a little detective work. Desperate to learn the history of the school and find out the fate of her cousin, Pilar, who has also attended, she just can't help getting on the bad side of some of the teachers, especially Mrs. Vienna, who seems to have a special vendetta reserved for Angela.

THE SCHOOL FOR DANGEROUS GIRLS is excellently crafted. One part HOLES, one part PREP and one part THE SHINING (the school is even situated in Colorado and becomes nearly invisible and non-existent during the heavy winter snows), its beginning is strong, with plenty of suspense, mean characters, and even subtle commentary on what defines promiscuity and how girls should use their sexuality. As the book draws to a close, however, it loses its uniqueness and tries too quickly to tie up loose ends. It is there that I fell a bit out of love with the novel, as its extremely clever premise ended predictably.

Despite this shortcoming, though, THE SCHOOL FOR DANGEROUS GIRLS is one of the best new works of fiction I've read lately. Its snappiness and meanness will appeal to fans of Gossip Girl and the like, and its clever premise and plot will appeal to fans of mystery and suspense. Best of all, Eliot Schrefer does not shy away from realism, which is both refreshing and jarring. It made me respect him all the more, but it made the book that much creepier because it seemed like Hidden Oak could actually exist.