Review - Asylum by Madeleine Roux

Picture this…

You are headed to a college prep summer camp.  On the one hand, you’re excited to get away and eager to learn new things.

On the other hand…the dorm you’re living in for the summer…yeah it’s an abandoned insane asylum.

Interested yet?

That’s exactly what you get with the first book in Madeleine Roux’s Asylum Series, Asylum. 

We start off learning about sixteen year old Dan Crawford.  Dan is like every normal kid, he wants to fit in and find new friends and be able to enjoy his summer learning new things and doing things he loves.  He starts off quite smoothly with awkward conversation with his roommate, followed immediately by being struck silent at the sight of a cute girl and a new friend that has a lot of issues going on back home.

Dan’s luck gets worse as he’s pretty much pressured into entering a locked door in his “dorm” that holds the secrets of the asylum.  Behind this door, lies the thus far undisturbed workings of the hospital that used to be.  Inside Dan and his new group of friends finds pictures, mementos, and even journal entries and descriptions of things that must have been happening within the asylum before everyone just up and disappeared.

As the summer goes on, Dan finds himself having strange visions, waking up with specific memory loss, and tons of questions he never had before.  His friends aren’t immune to the spooky goings-on within the dorm either as they quickly find out that insanity can manifest itself in many forms.  Add to that the sudden and unexplained deaths which are starting to occur and you have yourself one heck of a murder mystery going on.

Will Dan and his friends escape?  Will they be able to figure out who might be behind all these grotesque murders?

I actually really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the second in the series, Sanctum.  I’m very curious about how Dan, Abby, and Jordan’s adventures continue.  What secrets are still left unanswered and how will things resolve themselves?   If you are looking for a great mystery and ghost story, this book is definitely for you!  I suggest reading at night with a flashlight for ultimate scare factors. I ended up rating this book a 4.25 out of 5 stars on GoodReads.

Oh…and did I mention there are pictures?  LOTS of pictures.

Happy Reading!