The first book that I chose to review for the blog is Asylum by Madeline Roux. This was one of the books that piqued my interest from my cataloguing pile. It was especially interesting because it came in around Halloween and I love to read scary stories around that time of year.
Synopsis: " For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, a summer program for gifted students is the chance of a lifetime. No one else at his high school gets his weird fascinations with history and science, but at the New Hampshire College Prep program, such quirks were all but required. Dan arrives to find that the usual summer housing has been closed, forcing students to stay in the crumbling Brookline dorm- formerly a psychiatric hospital. As Dan and his new friends Abby and Jordan start exploring Brookline's twisty halls and hidden basement, they uncover disturbing secrets about what really went on here...secrets that link Dan and his friends to the asylum's dark past. Because it turns out Brookline was no ordinary psych ward. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried." (from book cover)
Right away, the concept of this book intrigued me. Living in Weyburn, where we had a world-famous psychiatric hospital (the term "psychedelic was coined here) and hearing all about the ghost stories people had about it, I was eager to read a book where I could picture everything happening. The setting of the story is what caught my attention and Roux did a good job of describing it in the book. Very familiar, yet very eerie. I think that anyone picking up this book could picture the campus and the atmosphere of it.
The character of Dan was well done. I do wish that the relationship between Abby and Jordan was developed a little more. As the book goes on, their behavior is affected by the things they are thinking and experiencing and I found myself wanting to know more about what they were doing and about their thought process.
The "ghost story" aspect was very creepy, but I would've liked more carrots dangling and more information given to me as the story went along. When I read mysteries I like to be fed a few nibbles to get me interested in the big finish. I did find that a lot was alluded to, but I didn't find out a whole bunch until the climax of the book and the end. The way that Roux used the real-life pictures through out the book also added to the story. Being able to see the pictures that Dan was describing was very cool.
I was looking to be creeped out and to figure out a mystery and in the end, that's what I got. I enjoyed the book and I would recommend it to anyone that is into horror or thrillers. The book is available in the library right now and I would love to hear from anyone that's read it.
Happy Reading!
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