Review of "The Suicide House: A Novel of Suspense" by Charlie Donlea

In this 2nd book in the 'Rory Moore/Lane Phillips' series, the criminalists looks into deaths at a private school. The book works fine as a standalone.

*****

Classy 'Westmont Preparatory High School' in Peppermill, Indiana used to pride itself on graduating ALL its students and sending them on to good colleges. 



Then starting on June 21, 2019, a string of tragedies ruined the school's statistics. Two students were murdered on that summer solstice night, and - in the subsequent year - two more students committed suicide.

The institute's losses were the media's gain. Crime blogger Ryder Hillier has a blog devoted to the Westmont deaths.....



….. and television newsmagazine host Mack Carter has a podcast, called The Suicide House, about the incidents.



Mack Carter rents a house near Westmont Prep, and in the summer of 2020 hires Chicago forensic psychologist/criminal profiler Lane Phillips to contribute to future episodes of the podcast.



Lane leases a cottage in Peppermill and cajoles his girlfriend, forensic reconstructionist Rory Moore, to follow him a couple of days later.



Lane specializes in psychotic killers and Rory is a cold case expert, so they're good 'gets' for The Suicide House podcast.

Up to this point the blog and podcast covered the following: Two students named Andrew Gross and Tanner Landing were brutally killed in an abandoned house on the edge of the Westmont campus on June 21, 2019. A few days later the prime suspect, a chemistry teacher called Charles Gorman, threw himself in front of a train near the abandoned house, and is now a vegetable.



In the following months, two friends of the dead boys, Bridget Matthews and Danielle Landry, also threw themselves in front of trains, and died.

It turns out that Westmont Prep has a secret club, called 'The Man in the Mirror', that meets at the abandoned house.



Each year the club extends invitations to a few juniors, who must perform harrowing challenges to become members. All the dead students were associated with The Man in the Mirror, and - as the story unfolds - more deaths follow.

Lane and Rory make it their mission to unravel all the mysteries at Westmont Prep, and endanger themselves in the process.

The book is very complex, with several subplots. Moreover, the story skips back and forth between the summer of 2019 and the summer of 2020. Thus there's a lot to follow, but once I got into the rhythm I was able to keep up.

A strong point of the book is the wide array of characters, including students; faculty; administrators; parents; journalists; police; and more. The best character is forensic reconstructionist Rory Moore, a woman on the autism spectrum whose favorite beverage is Dark Lord beer.



Rory has trouble making eye contact and is most comfortable wearing a beanie hat; big glasses; and Madden Girl Eloisee combat boots.





Rory also has OCD, which she controls by restoring damaged antique dolls. In this book Rory reconstructs an Armand Marseille Kiddiejoy German baby doll, and the scenes of Rory working on the doll are instructive and interesting.



I won't give away plot secrets but I will say that Charlie Donlea is a master of misdirection and twists. For me the plot is a bit overly contrived, but I enjoyed the book and recommend it to fans of suspense novels.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Charlie Donlea), and the publisher (Kensington Publishing) for a copy of the book.

Rating; 3.5 stars