Asylum

By Madeleine Roux 

     Finally, I was able to track a copy of this book and finished reading this interesting first book in the series.  This is when Jordan, Abby and Dan first meet during the New Hampshire College Prep program.  A program letting interested high school students check out college life.  The trio meet at Brookline Dorm, which used to house a psychiatric hospital.  Dan is an introvert, he has questions about his life before his adopted parents, and is fascinated with history.  Abby is artistic and beautiful.  Jordan is a math wiz, who is afraid to show his true self to his parents.  How do these three very different people become such fast friends.  

     On one of their first nights at Brookline, they happen upon an old office in the west wing.  Full of old paperwork, pictures, and a hidden stair well that is crying to be investigated.  What they find on the multiple trips to the west wing can be very disturbing.  For one the old warden at the hospital was shares Dan's name.  The warden had taken it upon himself to cure criminally insane patients through rather extreme measures.  One such inmate is Abby's Aunt Lucy and another patient is the notorious mass killer "The Sculpture".  When people start missing and some people are killed, the program is in danger of being cancelled.  Friendships are pushed to the brink and a crazy killer is on the loose.  Of course things get interesting when Dan is at the center of all of the killings and his lapses in memory are not helping matters.  How are these mysterious texts going out and putting people in danger? Who is behind all of the drama?  

     This book is a good build up to the rest of the series, I will definitely be reading "Sanctum" quickly.  I did enjoy this book, I am giving it a 4 out of 5 stars and would suggest it for grades 7th and up.  The protagonist is a young man and it is told from his view point, so it would be accessible to either gender.  This is another book that if you are open to the supernatural and believe in ghosts you would enjoy this book and the whole series.  

Links 

Author - Madeleine Roux

Images from Brookline Asylum

College Prep Programs for high school students