Hallowe’en is all about setting a mood, right? If you’re looking to be fully creeped out, I’ve got just the ticket.
Asylum, by Madeleine Roux
HarperCollins, ISBN: 978 0 062 22096 7
I am, I must admit, fairly easily creeped out if a book can pass my strong bullshit-0-meter and skepticism. It’s not easy, since I’m not often drawn to horror, I am not interested in paranormal stuff, and meh, a lot of it is clearly just fantastical and doesn’t get under my skin. But once a book passes those marks and captures my imagination? CREEPED. OUT. Like, I make my husband walk me to the bathroom in the middle of the night creeped out. And this one? Well, let’s just say my husband is happy I didn’t need to go the other night because it is a good one. *shudder* Want to get in on how good this was? Lemme tell you…
Daniel and a handful of other high schoolers are lucky enough to be chosen for a college prep camp at a New England college – an are put up in a dormitory that has a history as a former asylum. It’s a forbidding building, but they aren’t too worried – until Daniel finds a weird picture in his drawer, and then he and two new friends decide to start digging around in the history of the place, starting with the locked old asylum offices. The kids who start looking become drawn into spiraling weirdness as it seems like a former inmate has come back to life and they discover bizarre connections between themselves and the past.
The book itself is full of atmosphere and builds suspense well, but the photos really add to the feel of the book, providing visuals of the photos and artifacts that the teens find in the long-buried sections of the building. On the whole, the book is chilling, and kept me turning pages to see how this would all end. If you are into getting yourself well weirded out in time for the scary season, this book should fully do the trick! Or, you know, treat. 😉
I’m already skairt! YIKES!!