A chilling murder in a prestigious prep school is at the heart of this riveting new novel from acclaimed author Charlie Donlea, featuring forensic reconstructionist Rory Moore and her psychologist partner, Lane Phillips.
Inside the walls of Indiana's elite Westmont Preparatory High School, expectations run high and rules are strictly enforced. But in the woods beyond the manicured campus and playing fields sits an abandoned boarding house that is infamous among Westmont's students as a late-night hangout. Here, only one rule applies: don't let your candle go out--unless you want the Man in the Mirror to find you. . . .
One year ago, two students were killed there in a grisly slaughter. The case has since become the focus of a hit podcast, The Suicide House. Though a teacher was convicted of the murders, mysteries and questions remain. The most urgent among them is why so many students who survived that horrific night have returned to the boarding house--to kill themselves.
Rory, an expert in reconstructing cold cases, is working on The Suicide House podcast with Lane, recreating the night of the killings in order to find answers that have eluded the school, the town, and the police. But the more they learn about the troubled students, the chillingly stoic culprit, and a dangerous game gone tragically wrong, the more convinced they become that something sinister is still happening. Inside Westmont Prep, the game hasn't ended. It thrives on secrecy and silence. And for its players, there may be no way to win--or to survive. . . .
TITLE: The Suicide House
AUTHOR: Charlie Donlea
PUBLISHER: Kensington Books
PUBLISH DATE: July 28, 2020
GENRE: Thriller, Suspense, Mystery
FORMAT: DRC
PAGES: 304
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
MY REVIEW
First off, how have I never read this author before! The Suicide House by Charlie Donlea introduced me to a whole cast of characters that are so richly portrayed and so intriguing, imagine my joy when I found out I could read more about their stories!
The Suicide House is a multifaceted story with a fairly large cast of characters yet I never felt confused or had to jump back to see who was who, for me, this is a wonderous thing! I love a story that plays out like a movie in my head, when each character is real and emotive with a story so vividly described that I become emotionally invested in both the characters and the story.
The plot is so tight and the twists so very twisty with red herrings that kept the story moving forward at a rapid pace. There was a grisly murder scene at Westmont Prep a year ago, supposedly an open shut case when the main suspect, a teacher, tried to commit suicide but the detective on the case, Detective Ott has never been quite satisfied with the case’s conclusion and when a popular podcaster decides to look into a rash of student suicides that occur at the prep school over the following year, Lane Phillips a famous forensic psychologist and criminal profiler along with his girlfriend Rory are invited to have a look. While I enjoyed all the characters, I absolutely loved Rory, a Forensic Reconstructionist with a slew of quirks that make her perfect for cold cases.
“Most people avoided confusion and chaos. Rory was drawn to it. The mysterious and unexplained intrigued her, and she could no more ignore them than a moth could resist a light source.”
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will be reading more by Charlie Donlea in the future. A great big thank you to Kensington Books, Charlie Donlea & NetGalley for providing me with this DRC in exchange for my honest review.
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