"After waking up with a strange taste in her mouth and mysterious bruises, former child beauty queen Jessica Clink unwittingly begins an investigation into a nefarious deep state underworld. Equipped with the eccentric education of her father, Dr. Clink (a professor of Boredom Studies and the founder of an elite study group on idleness, affect, and crime known as "The Devil's Workshop"), Jessica uncovers a disquieting connection between her former life as a pageant queen and an offshoot of Project MKUltra known as MONARCH. As Jessica moves closer to the truth, she begins to suspect the involvement of everyone around her, including her own mother, Grethe (a former beauty queen turned spokesperson for a Norwegian cryochamber device built to halt the aging process for suburban housewives). With the help of Christine, her black-lipsticked riot grrrl babysitter and confidant, Jessica sets out to take down Project MONARCH. More importantly, she must discover if her first love, fellow teen queen Veronica Marshall, was genuine or yet another deep state implant. Set in the '90s, obsession with the tragedy of the dead girl's body -- Calvin Klein heroin chic, JonBeneĢt Ramsey, and Nicole Brown Simpson-is confronted by the radical potential of feminist vengeance"-- Provided by publisher.
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