The Dead Student by John Katzenbach

 

This is not a very good novel. It's inconsistent about POV, it's cluttered--though at least thank the gawds there aren't any stupid twists. The omnicompetent sociopath with the long-term plan that rolls to its conclusion without hiccup or hesitation ... that's several real strikes against the novel, right there. The prose is reasonably clear, and the characters who aren't the sociopath are well-drawn--though whatever future they have is not likely to be pleasant. The ending is morally ambivalent, in ways that might be thought-provoking if the novel were more intelligent.