Book Blurb:
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.
My Review: 4 stars – Guest Review
Suicide House was quite a ride! After reading the book synopsis and seeing that this novel incorporated a crime podcast (a la Serial). I was excited to see how closely this novel modeled after the real-life crime podcast that turned the world on its head. Two of the main characters, Rory Moore, a forensic reconstructionist, and Lane Phillips, a psychological profiler, have been featured in another one of Donlea’s novels, and I’d hoped their storyline would have been given more breadth. There were so many other key players, that the two of them got lost in the shadows.
Donlea’s books are always satisfying and keep me invested. In this one, it was the incorporation of the podcast that allowed more people to learn the outcome. I do wish however, that I’d have known more backstory on the “secret” society. Who formed it? How did they choose who joined? What were the actual perks of membership? Because there were a handful of storylines, it seemed like there wasn’t enough room or time to include these answers. Overall, this was a pretty well written thriller that I just flew through. Review by Guest Fairy Carly M.
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