The Dead House / Dawn Kurtagich / 448 pages

This book is disturbing.  The book is a collection of evidence - diary entries, transcripts of video clips, interviews with students and a psychologist - surrounding a fire at Elmsbridge school.  The only suspect is a girl with Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities) who also died in the fire.  While the book keeps counting down to "The Incident," there are many traumatic incidents that happen before the beginning of the book and during the countdown.  The main character's (Carly/Kaitlyn Johnson) parents died before the beginning of the book.  The main character is checked into a mental hospital of some sort and then sent to Elmsbridge boarding school.  A student goes missing, several students die, the misery is nonstop.  This is reminiscent of Shutter Island in that you can't trust the information from the main character as she devolves into psychosis - or demon possession, depending on the interpretation you prefer.


Amazon states this book is YA.  I personally wouldn't let a child under the age of sixteen read the version I listened to on audiobook. There is apparently an alternate paperback edition for grades 8 and up.  Parents will want to preview this before giving to a child - language, disturbing themes, occult/magic/demon possession, sexual situations, violence.


There is a companion novella The Dead House: Naida.

Out of Time/ A Time Travel Mystery/ Monique Martin/ 294 pages

Professor Simon Cross is interested in the occult.  He even teaches classes in the subject.  Elizabeth West is his assistant, drawn to him after attending his class.  One night Elizabeth arrives at Simon's house as he examines items once owned by his grandfather.  As both examine an unusual watch they are suddenly transported to another time.  In 1929, Simon and Elizabeth find themselves needing jobs as they try to solve the mystery of the watch.  The book was an interesting mix of historical fiction with a bit of the occult tossed in as well.  Along with solving the mystery, Simon and Elizabeth learn something about themselves.

THE DIVINERS / Libba Bray / 578 pages / First Book in a Series / Scotish-Irish Challenge (Evangeline Mary O'Neill AND Will Fitzgerald!)

The Diviners is the first in a historical fantasy series set in New York City during 1926 which centers on Evie O'Neill, a self-styled flapper with a talent for 'reading' objects. Her most recent use of this 'talent' ended with her being sent away from home to live with her Uncle Will Fitzgerald, curator of the Museum of American Folklore, Superstition and the Occult; more commonly called 'the Museum of the Creepy Crawlies'.

Seventeen year-old Evie is eager to explore all aspects of life in the big city. So when her Unc' Will is called to assist the police with a murder investigation, she can hardly wait to help out. Little does Evie know that she's not the only one with a special talent (a diviner) or that the so-called Pentacle Killer is more even dangerous than anyone could have ever thought.

Readers who enjoy Bray's other titles (the Gemma Doyle Trilogy; Going Bovine, or Beauty Queens) or who like to explore Prohibition-era settings, slang and all, should enjoy Libba Bray's occult mystery and will look forward to the next in the series.

Appeal Terms: Sassy, suspenseful, intricate.