“Spellbinding… Surreal imagery, spare characterization, and artful, hypnotic prose lend Thomas’s tale a delirious air, but at the book’s core lies a profound portrait of depression and adolescent turmoil. Fans of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History will devour this philosophical fever dream.”

NO MAJOR SPOILERS

Random. Odd. Intriguing. Subtly dark, with an ambiguous ending. These words flitted through my mind as I stumbled through a story that felt like a weird episode of The Magicians. Even after finishing the book, I still don’t really get the point of the story. It felt unfinished, anti-climactic, unknowable, like a vivid dream recently awoken from that is too tangled and too random to describe coherently. There is a house, a school, students, professors, mind-control and mass hypnosis, plasm, secret experiments, mystery, ambiguity. Yet how to link them into any sort of decipherable pattern defies logic. 

I liked the writing. The plot was intriguing, but the ending left me with a what-the-hell-did-I-just-read kind of feeling. I have a feeling that this book will stay with me for a while, not in a pleasant recall of the story, but as a haunting, an eerie mind-fuck that is as unforgettable as it is indecipherable. 3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

 

Reviewed by:

Lori L. Fox

Added 2nd July 2020

 

NO MAJOR SPOILERS

Catherine House is a very upscale school that looks only for exceptional students to attend. Students who think outside the box. Those that are selected get a free education for three years. Those three years are served without the student being allowed to leave the premises.

The leading character is named Ines. She is excited to attend and at first she just couldn’t be happier. But then a tragedy occurs and things start to change.

The story then becomes a story of a prestigious school full of old and new secrets. As her third year begins she will need to make many decisions, and as she prepares to do so, some of the old secrets start to be revealed.

A gothic type novel which at times feels like it will be a horror novel, and at other times a novel of mystery and suspense falls in between. Depending on your preference, the story may not go the way you feel it should go. But it slowly builds to grab your attention and makes the effort of the read worthwhile.
A good first effort.

 

Reviewed by:

Richard Franco

Added 2nd July 2020

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Richard Franco