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Wednesday, October 8, 2014

R.I.P.

"They built it out of stone--dark gray stone, pried loose from the unforgiving mountains. It was a house for those who could not take care of themselves, for those who heard voices, who had strange thoughts and did strange things. The house was meant to keep them in. Once they came, they never left."

Title: Asylum by Madeleine Roux
Genre: Mystery/Supernatural
Length: 310 pages
The Peril: Dan, Abby and Jordan are attending a summer program for gifted students, but Brookline, the dorm where they are staying, used to be an insane asylum. And Brookline holds some very dark secrets (especially down in the locked lower levels). Dan is the first one to start seeing things that aren't there and having nightmares; but he's not the only one haunted by Brookline's disturbing past. Then a student is found dead. Was he killed by one of them, or by something else?

My Thoughts: Bad things happening in an asylum for the criminally insane is a bit of a cliche, but can you think of a creepier setting? No wonder Dan starts to question his own sanity. Roux even got me wondering what was real and what was just hallucination. My favorite part of the book, though, has to be the illustrations--unsettling black-and-white photographs of patients and rooms, some of which came from actual asylums. Talk about eerie. I did wish Roux had spent a little more time developing the mystery, especially the asylum's back story, but overall I enjoyed this book. It's suspenseful and scary and fun. (And a great second read for this year's R.I.P. challenge.

Happy Reading!

8 comments:

  1. Gahh!! Who puts campers in a former insane asylum?!? This sounds like it was a perfect pick for RIP.

    You must be very brave - the pictures would creep me out!

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    1. It was a fun read. And the pictures were very creepy; without them the book wouldn't have been nearly as scary. She has a second book out about these same characters that I want to check out. (Hopefully not set in an asylum.)

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  2. It sounds really creepy and scary! I would just like to know if it is YA or not?

    Kind regards,

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    1. It is a YA book...but one of the better written ones. It reads like a great mystery/ghost story.

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  3. *sigh* another one for the amazon wish list! lol.. good review! thanks!

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    1. I hear you about an ever expanding wish list of books...it grows faster than I can read. :) Thanks for commenting!

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  4. I love a good creepy setting in an insane asylum. Or I think I would!

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    1. I certainly wouldn't have been wandering around it at night like some characters...at least not without a REALLY good flashlight. :)

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