Psychological Thriller Review: The Intern | Michele Campbell

I always wait with great anticipation for the newest Michele Campbell book and I was so excited to finally be able to read her newest book, The Intern. With the fall weather and of course being back in school fulltime, I am all about books from the dark academia genre. I always love the setting of a college campus and this was particularly engaging for me because the main character is also a graduate student. I can relate to the pressure to balance school work, grades, opportunities to advance your career, and family demands.

In The Intern, a Harvard law student lands the internship of a lifetime with one of her professors, but secrets buried deep in their pasts may threaten everything. Gripping!

About the Book | The Intern

This is a spoiler-free review so just note that these descriptions of characters only include the notable people mentioned in the first part of the book. I didn’t include other characters or information that may appear after the first part of the book in either section.

Characters

Madison Rivera is a law student at Harvard and is an intern for Judge Conroy. Her brother is Danny and he has pled guilty to drug charges he says he didn’t do. Her ex-boyfriend is Ty Evans. Ty’s current girlfriend is Chloe Kessler. Her father is Doug Kessler, a partner in a firm where Madison has a job lined up for next summer.

Kathryn Conroy is an esteemed judge who also teaches a course at Harvard Law School, her alma mater. Her late husband is Matthew. Lucy is her cat. Nancy is the case manager in her chambers. Kelsey is the receptionist. Imani and Sean are her law clerks. Olivia was a former intern.

Ricky Pena is the main defendant in Danny’s case. Detective Charles Wallace is the arresting officer. Raymond Logue is his attorney who convinced him to plead guilty.

Plot

Madison Rivera has worked hard to pull herself out from her humble upbringing and stay on track to achieve the life she dreams of. Since her aunt helped her enroll at Catholic Prep and she saw a former student and current judge Kathryn Croft come speak, Madison has known she wants to follow in the woman’s footsteps, from undergrad and law school at Harvard to a successful career as a lawyer.

Not only is Madison taking a course at Harvard Law taught by Justice Kathryn Conroy, she’s been invited to apply for her open internship. Madison couldn’t be happier about the internship, if only she wasn’t harboring some secrets of her own. Secrets from her past, that could cost her not just the internship, but the degree she has worked so hard for.

It turns out that Madison’s brother Danny took the fall for a drug bust—one he insists he is innocent of despite pleading guilty—and Kathryn is the judge assigned to the case. With allegations of corruption to the highest level, Madison agrees to try to get more information, but how can she do it without jeopardizing her own opportunity? It may not matter, as Madison soon discovers the judge may be hiding things as well.

Did Kathryn know who Madison was when she offered her the internship? And what is really going on in her chambers? Will Madison’s lies come back and destroy everything before Madison can find out what is really going on…

Review | The Intern

Told in alternating POVs, the book starts narrated by a law student named Madison Rivera. Madison is enamored by her law professor Kathryn Conroy, having seen her speak many years earlier at her Catholic Prep school. I was glad we quickly got context on Madison because I didn’t love the idea that this could have been a book about an obsessed student. That’s not what this book is at all, and I didn’t include the description from Goodreads intentionally because I thought it skewed that way.

Madison is very bright, hard-working, and often trapped between her own ambitions and her desire to help her family. This is particularly relevant when she accepts the internship for Kathryn Conroy even though she has realized Kathryn is the judge on her brother Danny’s case. Madison and Danny lost their father when they were young and their mother slipped away in grief for a lot of their childhood. This led to a different living situations where Madison thrived, but Danny spiraled further from the boy he was.

Madison takes the internship, even while she weighs the pros and cons. But it becomes clear quickly that something is strange about this internship. She hears rumors that the former intern Olivia was fired, but the law clerks act suspicious when she tries to ask about it. The background screening and non-disclosure agreements seem extreme, even for such a prestigious office. Even the clerks seem troubled by the additional screening for a lowly intern.

Late one evening, Madison and Kathryn are the last two in the office and Kathryn invites Madison to housesit for her and watch her cat over the weekend. Madison agrees, but a strange man arrives on the doorstep aggressively trying to reach the judge. Further, the judge asks Madison not to let him in and has her hold the phone up to the intercom so she can pretend to be home. I found myself wondering what exactly was going on in Kathryn Conroy’s life. Who was this man? And why is the judge so secretive and protective with her security?

From there we switch to Kathryn’s POV. I won’t spoil what we learn about Kathryn, but let’s just say both her past and present were fascinating. I was riveted by her chapters. Kathryn was mesmerizing even through the pages of the book. Her past is dark and there is a lot to learn about Judge Conroy. I liked how her story was revealed across the book, with more secrets and twists each time we revisited her story. It was interesting to get Madison’s take on the current events, then switch to Kathryn’s POV, eventually dovetailing to the same moment but from her perspective.

The deeper I got into this book, the harder it was to put it down. I had to know what would happen next! I was on the edge of my seat. Every single chapter turned the story and I was never fully certain who to trust. Each time I thought I had it figured out, something else would get thrown in and change everything. Gripping and easily my favorite book from Michele Campbell to date.

Other books to check out

I’ve had a fantastic experience with every Michele Campbell book I’ve read. She writes twisted, plots, compelling characters, and jaw-dropping endings. I always love the settings and how the characters lives have plenty of secrets. There’s always at least one with a dark past just waiting to be revealed!

The dark academia vibes to the late nights at Harvard law school attracted me to The Intern. If you like books set around academic campuses, you will love She Was the Quiet One. In She Was the Quiet One, twin sisters are sent to a prestigious boarding school where they struggle to fit in. Meanwhile an esteemed couple who work at the school begin to have cracks in their marriage when the wife realizes she may not be able to trust her husband. When one of the sisters winds up murdered, everything is called into question.

If you liked the girl from the wrong side of town element to The Intern, you will love The Wife Who Knew Too Much! In The Wife Who Knew Too Much, a woman hung up on her high school crush finally gets the chance to be with him after his wife passes away, but then she finds a diary from his late wife calling everything into question.

Maybe it was Kathryn’s enviable life, closet, and home (and her past full of secrets) that enticed you. If so, you will love A Stranger on the Beach! A woman looks out of her beautiful, beachside home to see a stranger watching her. Later at her housewarming party, her husband arrives with another woman and the stranger from the beach is there to witness it all. But perhaps this stranger has more secrets than she realized…

Check out the book club starter guide from Michele Campbell on her website if this is a book you are reading with friends!

Thank you to St Martin’s Press for my copy. Opinions are my own.

About the Author | Michele Campbell

Michele Campbell is a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School and a former federal prosecutor in New York City who specialized in international narcotics and gang cases.

A while back, she said goodbye to her big-city legal career and moved with her husband and two children to an idyllic New England college town a lot like Belle River in IT’S ALWAYS THE HUSBAND.  Since then, she has spent her time teaching criminal and constitutional law and writing novels.  She has had many close female friends, a few frenemies, and only one husband, who – to the best of her knowledge – has never tried to kill her.