By Liz Soares
Fiona Sheridan is a freelance journalist in a small town in present-day Vermont. Her older sister, Deb, was found murdered on the grounds of the deserted Idlewild Hall, once a girls’ boarding school, in 1997. The ensuing investigation, arrest and conviction of the killer tore the town apart.
Fiona has never been able to stop thinking about her sister's death. You could say it haunts her. Now, an investor has bought the old school and is planning to renovate and reopen it. Fiona wants to write about it. The more she uncovers about the school’s history, however, the more tangled the story becomes.
In 1950, Katie, Ce-Ce, Roberta and Sonia are roommates and best friends at Idlewild. They each have their own issues—Idlewild was a school for “troubled” girls—and their parents are out of the picture.
But these supposedly tough girls are afraid. Each has had an experience with the ghost that is said to haunt the campus. Her name is Mary Hand, and for years students have made notes in their textbooks about her presence. Mary seems to know about the problems that brought them to Idlewild.
Life at the school is like a sentence. The girls persevere, until one day, the unthinkable happens—one of them disappears.
Simone St. James artfully alternates these two stories, which eventually intersect in a satisfying and believable way. Both mysteries—past and present—are strong and suspenseful. Fiona’s relationship with a local police officer is intriguing in its complications.
Idlewild Hall is eerie and desolate in its prime, and downright spooky in its modern derelict state. It casts an atmospheric pall that neither the reader nor the characters can escape. Though I’m not usually a fan of the paranormal, I thought the ghost plot line added an interesting, other-worldly element that enhanced, rather than detracted from, the mystery story lines.
The true test of mystery and psychological suspense novels is their resolution. Readers need to have all loose threads tied up. What was once unfathomable must become crystal-clear. The wrap-up of The Broken Girls does not disappoint.
This book intrigued me from the outset, but somewhere in the first third of the novel, after starting to get to know the 1950s students, I had a hard time putting it down. It was full steam ahead to the finish—which is just the kind of novel I was craving to help me through this long, snowy winter.
In 1950, Katie, Ce-Ce, Roberta and Sonia are roommates and best friends at Idlewild. They each have their own issues—Idlewild was a school for “troubled” girls—and their parents are out of the picture.
But these supposedly tough girls are afraid. Each has had an experience with the ghost that is said to haunt the campus. Her name is Mary Hand, and for years students have made notes in their textbooks about her presence. Mary seems to know about the problems that brought them to Idlewild.
Life at the school is like a sentence. The girls persevere, until one day, the unthinkable happens—one of them disappears.
Simone St. James artfully alternates these two stories, which eventually intersect in a satisfying and believable way. Both mysteries—past and present—are strong and suspenseful. Fiona’s relationship with a local police officer is intriguing in its complications.
Idlewild Hall is eerie and desolate in its prime, and downright spooky in its modern derelict state. It casts an atmospheric pall that neither the reader nor the characters can escape. Though I’m not usually a fan of the paranormal, I thought the ghost plot line added an interesting, other-worldly element that enhanced, rather than detracted from, the mystery story lines.
The true test of mystery and psychological suspense novels is their resolution. Readers need to have all loose threads tied up. What was once unfathomable must become crystal-clear. The wrap-up of The Broken Girls does not disappoint.
This book intrigued me from the outset, but somewhere in the first third of the novel, after starting to get to know the 1950s students, I had a hard time putting it down. It was full steam ahead to the finish—which is just the kind of novel I was craving to help me through this long, snowy winter.
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