Author: Jody Gehrman

Jody Gehrman is a novelist, playwright, actor, and singer-songwriter whose suspense fiction often turns professional intimacy into a source of danger. The Protégé follows Dr. Hannah Bryers, a respected forensic anthropology professor, and Winter Jones, her current and most promising graduate student at Mad River University. Winter conceals a plan to destroy Hannah’s career and safety. Alternating viewpoints place Hannah’s confidence beside Winter’s determination, allowing the psychological conflict to develop through competing versions of mentorship, harm, and revenge. Crooked Lane Books released this psychological suspense novel in 2023. Gehrman’s broader writing includes novels for teen readers, thrillers, and plays produced across the United States and internationally. That theatrical background suits The Protégé, where performance matters both socially and structurally: each woman studies the other, manages what observers can see, and tries to control the next scene. The novel uses an academic setting as a place where authority, ambition, and remembered injury can become inseparable.