Asylum

This is not my first dance with Roux. I tried Allison Hewitt is Trapped and couldn't get through it. Asylum is better. It grabs your attention right away and it is very fast paced. I think that's the problem, it is TOO fast paced. There is no investigation into anything, the descriptions are short and shivery. The pictures help. In fact, the best thing about this book is the pictures. They do more to set the mood than anything else. We know, pretty much right away, we are in the hands of an unreliable narrator. The relationship between Dan and everyone else feels false and forced. Clearly he is completely set apart from his amigos (the ones he is supposed to be so tight with- after two days of knowing them). Jordan is an ass, and mean to Dan and I'm not sure why because I thought he was supposed to be the comic relief and a sympathetic character. One problem might have been that the reader does not get to know the characters as they are normally BEFORE they are plunged into crazytown. Abbey was completely unpredictable and obsessed with something that doesn't even seem related to the story, let alone making up part of a romantic duo (that relationship comes off as a complete fail and just drags the story down). Seriously, with such a short time to plot the story, the romance was so unneeded. What was needed was more background from the locals and horror stories that surrounded the school/asylum. As for the big bad, it's confusing, and barely makes any sense.

So, it's a little spooky, very atmospheric, but swiss cheesy in storytelling and doesn't feel solid when it lands.