Belinda Reviews: C J Daugherty's - "Night School"

Alyson Sheridan (please, call her Allie) has well and truly hit rock bottom; caught for the third time (and this time arrested) for spray painting the door to her principal’s office. The falling off the rails thing is not all her fault. Her brother Christopher ran away and it’s like the ground has fallen from beneath her feet. Her parents are on auto pilot and Allie feels the only way to make them sit up and take notice is to misbehave.

Boarding school was not on her list of places to go. But no modern technology and a strict daily routine seem to be just what Allie needed to make her fall into line. She makes friends easily and manages to land the hottest guy on campus, much to the indignation of the Queen Bee, Katie. All is well, until a tour of a walled garden leads Allie and Jo into the path of a unidentified snarling beast. Questions start being asked and odd answers trigger Allie to do some closer inspection of the people who around her.

As the one liner on the cover says; ‘When everyone is lying, who do you trust?’

Night School is one of many YA series set in a boarding school to come out in the last 18 months. Cimmeria is a brilliant environment for mischief to take place with minimal adult intervention. Guidance is usually given by older students or prefects more than members of staff.

Christi sets her book apart by removing the super natural themes and replacing it with a strong web of thrilling mystery that has every character captured with no chance of escape.

Speaking of characters, I found most of them to be likable enough, though Allie’s quick turnaround from being a sullen emo type, to fitting in with the country club set has me raising my eyebrows a little. The transition was perhaps a little too smooth to be believable.

I got this book as an uncorrected proof and judging by the page count on goodreads, about 130 pages are edited out. I managed to get all 456 pages read within 2 days on the lead up to Christmas (with life getting in the way and all). This is a really quick read and I would be happy enough to reread it numerous times. I was thoroughly entertained.

Put this one your list for the January book haul and you’ll find it will help to keep the boredom away for a couple of days at least.

http://www.christidaugherty.com/page3.htm

Paperback, 320 pages

Expected publication: January 5th 2012 by Atom