Tag: thriller

I went into this book was very different expectations than what came out of it. Dark academia is my favorite kinds of stories and I thought A Lesson in Vengeance had it in spades. There was an interesting and inclusive cast of characters, a big question mark around one Felicity, and a story that really caught me off guard at the end.

CW: mental abuse, physical abuse, animal death

Here’s more about A Lesson in Vengeance

Felicity Morrow is back at Dalloway School.

Perched in the Catskill mountains, the centuries-old, ivy-covered campus was home until the tragic death of her girlfriend. Now, after a year away, she’s returned to graduate. She even has her old room in Godwin House, the exclusive dormitory rumored to be haunted by the spirits of five Dalloway students—girls some say were witches. The Dalloway Five all died mysteriously, one after another, right on Godwin grounds.

Witchcraft is woven into Dalloway’s history. The school doesn’t talk about it, but the students do. In secret rooms and shadowy corners, girls convene. And before her girlfriend died, Felicity was drawn to the dark. She’s determined to leave that behind her now; all Felicity wants is to focus on her senior thesis and graduate. But it’s hard when Dalloway’s occult history is everywhere. And when the new girl won’t let her forget.

It’s Ellis Haley’s first year at Dalloway, and she’s already amassed a loyal following. A prodigy novelist at seventeen, Ellis is a so-called “method writer.” She’s eccentric and brilliant, and Felicity can’t shake the pull she feels to her. So when Ellis asks Felicity for help researching the Dalloway Five for her second book, Felicity can’t say no. Given her history with the arcane, Felicity is the perfect resource.

And when history begins to repeat itself, Felicity will have to face the darkness in Dalloway–and in herself.

My thoughts

I’m not a huge fan of thrillers. Most of the time, I either figure out the murderer by the end or the ending is so convoluted that I end up throwing the book across the room. This time, I was totally thrown off guard. I was expecting one thing and it went in a completely different way that I didn’t even imagine. There were definitely clues to it throughout the story, but it just doesn’t hit until the truth comes out.

The setting of the book was my favorite; an old home with tons of history. I loved how generations of girls went there and most of them study literature. There’s a few references to some great horror books written by women while you read along. I also loved the whole underground “skull and crossbones” style coven that’s mainly for girls who come from affluent families. While I’m not a huge fan of books where everyone is super well off, super rich, and super entitled, I thought it was interesting with a character like Felicity who’s dealing with the loss of her best friend/girlfriend, Alex.

The plot itself moved slowly digging more deeply into Felicity’s psychosis rather than having her chase clues across campus to find out some truth. I loved the usage of witchcraft and its presence in young people’s lives. The school with the underground coven, the witchcraft practiced by the founders of the school, the tradition that’s passed on from generation to generation of students, and the stories that get passed down as well. It was interesting to see how steeped Felicity was in that reality; how she truly believed there was dark forces at the school, how the author makes you believe it too.

Ellis was so determined to prove that magic didn’t exist while you’re constantly reminded through Felicity that it does. There were moments in the book where I was so worried for Felicity because there was something about Ellis that you couldn’t put your finger on. You couldn’t tell if Ellis truly liked Felicity or if this was all a ploy to have Felicity play into Ellis’s hands. Because you’re reading the book through Felicity’s perspective, that’s the only perspective you get. You want to know more about Ellis and you think that there’s something going on there that you didn’t see before, but you only know as much as Felicity does. That unreliable narrator really made it more intriguing to figure out what’s really going on.

I thought it was interesting that all these characters were way beyond their years. They’re all supposed to be seniors in a private school, but they lived and acted way older. It surprised me the most to find out that Ellis was a 17-year-old Pulitzer Prize winning author who smoked cigarettes and drank bourbon while using a typewriter to write her stories. But there was still a level of naivete within all of them. They were still young in so many ways despite it. I wish the other characters, (Leona, Kajal, and Clara) were a bit more fleshed out. You get glimpses into their worlds and who they are, but then the plot reverts back to Felicity and Ellis’s relationship. I would have loved if their involvement in the story was a bit deeper.

The only things I didn’t like about this story was that it didn’t end with a paranormal trope. I was hoping for some ghosts to come out and stir things up or magical witches coming down to bring their vengeance, but they’re used in a different way than I imagined. I won’t go into it because it will definitely spoil the story.

Overall, it’s a spooky one with some atmospheric vibes, a lot of unanswered questions that get the most unique answers at the end. It’ll keep you reading and then it will slap you in the face.

I received a copy of A Lesson in Vengeance from the publisher. My opinions haven’t been influenced by the author or the publisher.

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I wanted to read something different than I normally read, so I picked up The Project by Courtney Summers. I had read Sadie from Courtney Summers a few years ago and remember really liking it, so I wanted to see if this one would be just as good. While it didn’t read like a thriller, it did leave me with a lot of things to think about. If you need a thriller story that will test your understanding of the human psyche, then this is the book for you!

Here’s More About the Book

Lo Denham is used to being on her own. After her parents died, Lo’s sister, Bea, joined The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt. Thanks to its extensive charitable work and community outreach, The Unity Project has won the hearts and minds of most in the Upstate New York region, but Lo knows there’s more to the group than meets the eye. She’s spent the last six years of her life trying—and failing—to prove it.

When a man shows up at the magazine Lo works for claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo sees the perfect opportunity to expose the group and reunite with Bea once and for all. When her investigation puts her in the direct path of its leader, Lev Warren and as Lo delves deeper into The Project, the lives of its members it upends everything she thought she knew about her sister, herself, cults, and the world around her—to the point she can no longer tell what’s real or true. Lo never thought she could afford to believe in Lev Warren . . . but now she doesn’t know if she can afford not to.

My Thoughts

Alright, I’m going to try and do this without spoiling the book. I wasn’t surprised at all by the big reveal towards the end of the book, but it did tie so well into the rest of the story. Truly, this story really blew me away with how suspenseful Courtney Summers laid out the book, but I was also so intrigued by The Unity Project, the mental state of all the characters, and how someone could be enticed to join what feels so obviously a bad idea.

I was expecting this book to be a thriller with a central villain and a central main character that was targeted by said villain. However, I got a completely different book. Yes, it was suspenseful and it did have some thriller-y components to it, but I felt like this book was much darker than just a villain coming out to get you. If you’re looking for a more traditional thriller book, this isn’t going to be it. Instead, it’ll make you think. It’ll make you wonder who truly saves you when you’re having a rough time with life.

The first part of the book reads like your typical thriller. There’s a dual timeline; one present and one past timeline that’s slowly making its way to the present. The way that it’s written gives you that suspenseful feeling because of the marked time moving forward. There’s also very little information. It was also written in dual narratives; Lo and Bea. Lo’s narrative is the present one as she uncovers more about what’s happening in the Unity Project while Bea’s is the past one as she shares her side of the story. There were a few threads you had to follow along like Lo trying to get this story about The Unity Project while also looking for her sister. There’s also her sister’s story and where that leads. But then you also have Arthur who lost his son to the Unity Project and how he wants someone wants to expose the group. And on top of that is all the mist hiding the secrets behind The Unity Project. While some threads did seem to fall off, others did carry through the rest of the book and really painted this intriguing picture.

For all intents and purposes, it sounds like The Unity Project is just another cult trying to prey on young people who’ve experienced trauma in their life. It’s based on Christianity, but also renounces religion because Lev Warren, their leader, believes himself to be the savior of humanity. Throughout the novel, there’s a lot of references to God and Christianity and how if you do good, then you’ll be able to walk the same path, except the path is with Lev Warren. It wasn’t too heavy on the religion, so if you’re not a fan of religious stories, then this won’t bother you. However, it is a topic that comes up a lot.

I thought it was interesting how this plays out and I appreciated Lo’s perspective to keep you as the third party instead of having you fully believe that Lev Warren is God. I can see the appeal for folks to join The Unity Project, but as you continue through the book and you slowly see the reveal it suddenly becomes less enticing. In fact, by the end of the book, I had my hands in fists.

What I found interesting is that the enemy here isn’t any one specific person. Yes, you can say that Lev is this bad guy, but Courtney Summers really makes you question that as well. We, as outsiders, all think that cults are bad. Every cult that’s existed in American history has ended in some terrible way and it turns out their leaders are borderline insane. But this book explores the other side of being in a cult and that makes you think. If so many people believe in what he’s saying and find comfort and solace in his help, then how can he be such a bad person?

I found myself asking this question throughout my read. I loved that Courtney Summers gets into this and makes you question the widely adapted belief that cults are bad. But they help people. They give people purpose. They help those who need help and save those from a world that hasn’t been kind to them. This was so obvious at the end. When everything is said and done (trying to avoid spoilers here), how the folks from The Unity Project reacted to what happened really made me pause. You would think that a place that does bad things would ultimately be happy to escape from it, but these folks weren’t and that was the most interesting part.

I truly appreciated Courtney Summers for writing a thriller that stepped outside the box of what a typical thriller is supposed to look like. She definitely kept the suspense going and while I felt there was a lull in the middle of the book, I was never not hooked to this story and what happens at the end.

I received a gifted copy of this book from Wednesday Books. My opinions have not been influenced by the publisher or the author.