*5 Stars*

ARC kindly received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Gripping. Thrilling. Unputdownable. There are many ways to describe the thrill of reading this book. From the get go, I was hooked. Another great novel from this author. I was immediately immersed into the world of this story, and I just had to know what was going on. How on earth was everything going to match up and play out? What as happening to these kids at the school, and how did the other mysterious characters fit in?

There are plenty of characters at play in this one, and I spent the majority of the novel wondering how they would all link together by the end. Donlea expertly plays everything out in a way that keeps you on edge, slowly putting together bits and pieces and coming up with your own theories.

I loved so many things about this book, and my favourite characters were Rory and Lane, along with Ryder. And maybe Gus too, by the end. They all played their own roles in telling this tale, and I enjoyed their individuality and the pieces they brought to the story.

I eventually pieced things together a little bit before the end, but only certain pieces, like one of my suspicions of who dun it. The other things came slowly, as piece by piece, Donlea reveals them all in one big finale.

There is certainly potential for many books after the ending of this one, and I absolutely cannot wait. Highly recommend, and bring on the next book!

I was hooked from page one! Could not put this book down! Let me just start by saying I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book. I absolutely loved it! This is the first book I have read by this author, I can assure you it will not be my last! Two students were slaughtered inside a high school. Absolutely gruesome. Now of course the case has become all the talk of a hit podcast, the suicide house. So many mysteries and questions still had even though someone has been convicted of the murders. I don't want to go into to much more detail and spoil anything for anyone. I was absolutely hooked like I said. It was absolutely creepy and kept me wanting more. You should definitely pick this book up!

3.5 stars

Book 2, Rory Moore/Lane Phillips

There is so much potential here, but this just didn’t cut it for me. Maybe I’m spoiled by Angela Marsons and her Detective Kim Stone series [book:Killing Mind|51458670] to fully appreciate Donlea's protagonist Rory. He certainly has dedicated a lot of time making her memorable, down to her Madden Eloisee combat boots (mentioned in almost every other chapter she’s in) and her Dark Lord stout. (not mentioned as often as the combat boots, but a very close second)

As I hinted above, there’s a lot of repetition writing, almost to the point of being insulting to the reader. I promise, I’ll never forget Rory has a photograph memory.
Besides all this, while the storyline did hold my attention, there was something missing. A lack of intensity and suspense I’m thinking. That 'thing' that keeps you thinking about the book long after you’ve put it down.

I’m on the fence on whether I’m going to continue this journey with Rory and Lane, but thankfully I’ve got some time before I need to make any decisions.

ARC provided by NetGalley

Wow, what a ride! The story features a secret society at an exclusive prep school, where a series of apparent suicides follows a double homicide. Things just don’t add up, and a team of quirky characters join together to solve the mystery. I really enjoyed this book, which really captured and held my attention all the way to the satisfying conclusion. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this e-galley for review.

The plot for this one was great!! I was guessing right along with the character on who did what and the mystery was just wonderful!! I loved the twists and turns and I really need to read book one now. The characters made the story even better and I could not put it down!!

I received a digital advance readers copy of The Suicide House by Charlie Donlea from the publisher (Kensington) for early review. The Suicide House is scheduled for release on July 28, 2020.

The Suicide House is the second book in a series that follows Rory and Lane, a forensic reconstructionist and her psychologist partner. While The Suicide House is part of a series, it is intended to stand alone or be read out of order. In this novel Rory and Lane are called in to assist with a year-old murder. Two students were murdered on the property of an elite boarding school last year, and a teacher was implicated, but attempted suicide before he could be brought to trial. A year later, students that survived the event are committing suicide in the same manner, one after another, suggesting there is more to the solved case than investigators initially believed.

The mystery plot aspect of this novel is an interesting one. We have a group of students who are playing a game as part of initiation into a secret student group when two are murdered. We have deaths continuing a year later that are tied to the original murders. We have an investigative journalist who is researching the mysterious murders on the side, producing a series of YouTube videos to document her research. We have another journalist producing a podcast investigating the murders as well.

Despite this interesting premise, I had one major issue with the plot. All of the threads mentioned above are introduced in the first 15% of the book. The main character(s) is not. Knowing that this was the second book in a series, I expected Rory and/or Lane to serve as our main character. Neither of these characters is introduced until we are 15% through the story. Since I had been introduced to so many other characters, including two who were investigating the murders, I found that I wasn’t actually sure who the main character of this novel was until the final chapter. Once Rory and Lane are introduced, we spend very little time with them, which made it difficult to connect with them as characters, and for the plot to feel cohesive.

Donlea presents this novel in third person (with the exception of some journal entries in first person). This allows Donlea to move through time and space. Mostly, we bounce between 2019 and 2020, between the night of the original murders and current time, but we do further back to an unspecified time when the murderer was a child and teenager. This jumping presents all of the pieces of the mystery, but we are getting bits and pieces from a multitude of perspectives, not primarily from our main character. New perspectives are added throughout the novel, even up to the climax. The result is that the reader has been given all of the information to piece together the mystery. But we don’t get to follow one investigator as they solve a case, pulling together clues and hints with them as they move forward.

For me, this novel reveals one of the largest challenges in writing a mystery/thriller series. With each new novel, your main character will be presented with a new case/mystery to work through. That new case will bring new characters who are already attached to the mystery. The difficulty is in balancing developing the newly arrived characters as part of the case without losing focus on your already existing main characters. In my opinion, The Suicide House didn’t quite crack this challenge. I think this would have been a stronger novel if the journalist with the YouTube channel had taken over as the main character and we had spent more time following her investigation of the murders. If you read this one, let me know if you agree, or if you like the presentation of many points of view.

The Suicide House was an incredible rollercoaster of such amazing detail. Charlie Donlea really sold this thrilling story of messed up and terrifying characters. This was my first read by Charlie Donlea and I can tell it will not be my last. I am so grateful to have gotten this ARC e-book of The Suicide House because I now have another amazing author to look out for. Thank you Netgalley and to the publisher.

The Suicide House makes you feel like you can guess who and what is going on in this mysterious game of cat and mouse. You get to learn about the killers past and some of their present. But every so often you're thinking is this a student. is the the Man in the Mirror folklore real , or is it a teacher? But atlas at the end you are shook at what you have found out. The Suicide House is perfect for anyone who loves a good thrill.

An outstanding book by Charlie Donlea. The Suicide House is a follow up to "Some Choose Darkness" but can be read as a stand alone. Honestly though, Some Choose Darkness was so fantastic and I think you will enjoy the Suicide House more as you will get more character development.

In this book, a boarding school has a double homicide occur. Additionally, there have been suicides associated with the school.

I highly recommend this book. There are multiple twists that keep you guessing.

The characters are complex and well fleshed out. Rory Moore is a forensic reconstructionist and Lane Phillips is a forensic psychologist and their relationship is really well written.

Together, they investigate what is really happening at the suicide house. HIGHLY recommended this book and all books by Charlie Donlea.

I didn’t realize at first, but this is actually the second novel in a series! Luckily, they can be read as standalone novels so I didn’t whine in confusion the entire time. It was actually hilarious for me to read this, because my YA-reading brain was all “oh, they’re all in their early twenties!” That…was very wrong. Rory is 40 and Lane is 50, so clearly I need to read more adult books so I’m not shocked when the main characters are over 25.

I adored Lane and Rory as characters*! Lane is a former FBI profiler, and he’s both clever and thoughtful. I also loved Rory so, so much. She’s a brilliant forensic reconstructionist who’s also on the autism spectrum! Her skills are enhanced by that fact, and not inhibited. That was a fact I really appreciated. It was really interesting to me, seeing how she dealt with the stress of her life by restoring antique dolls. I would love to see OwnVoices autistic readers share their thoughts on this representation.

We also get many other different perspectives, however. We get to read from the killer’s journals, and a little from his point of view. There’s a journalist obsessed with the Westmont Prep killings named Ryder Harris, and a podcast host named Mack Carter. There were a few other chapters from multiple people, but I personally found it easy to follow.

Another aspect that was brilliantly done are the flashbacks. We get to see the students and teachers in the summer of 2019, in the events leading up to the murders. There are flashbacks to the killer’s past. Finally, we’re seeing the case unfold in present time. I was actually kept guessing until nearly the end!
While I appreciated getting to see the case unfold from different perspectives, there were almost too many. I couldn’t feel totally invested in most of them. It quickly became annoying, because I would become comfortable with one aspect of the case, and then BAM* we’d instantly slip into another time, another character, and another plot point.

My other complaint is that while I was interested, I never felt fully grabbed by the case itself. I like to be SHOOK. I like to be on the edge of my seat, breathless, gripped by a sort of insatiable hunger to discover what’s next. And sadly, I never quite felt that with most of this book, except for the ending.

I forgot to add the review of this book after reading it and now I can't quite recall most of what I read besides the basics, which is not a great sign. The book was fun enough and passed the time, but it didn't blow my mind.

I’ve read a few a Charlie Donlea books, but this one didn’t grab me as much as others have.

The bare bones of the story was great; the mystery and intrigue about Westmont Prep killings and the aftermath, the idea of a podcast uncovering the secrets, the secrets and the game, and having a neuro-diverse main character is pretty awesome.

Unfortunately I found the writing to be really repetitive, and the constant name dropping and product placement, as well as the in-depth descriptions of doll maintenance grated on me after a while, and detracted from my overall enjoyment .

All that aside though, there were many suspenseful moments and thrills to get me across the finish line.

Thank you to Charlie Donlea, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars - I received an early copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

CW: domestic violence/abuse, suicide, murder, depression

Summer 2019, tragedy struck Westmont Prep when a game at an abandoned house in the woods ended with two students dead. Since that night, four more people have gone back to the old house to kill themselves on the train tracks: three students and one teacher...only the teacher survived. The same teacher accused of murder.

A year later, a wildly successful podcast has come out chronicling the murders and theories about the game they played that night, The Man in the Mirror. Many people already had suspicions about the murders and what really happened that night, but once the famous podcast host is killed, a group including a reporter, a forensic reconstructionist, a criminal profiler, and a small-town cop dive deep into the secrets of the school to find out what really happened that night.


You had me at boarding school mystery 😍

I went into this book thinking it would be more along the lines of a ghost story but I am so happy to be wrong.

The Suicide House jumps between present day, the summer of 2019 and a unknown person’s journal entries. The journal entries were the perfect additional to make this story a true mystery. Throughout the whole book, I was convinced the journal belonged to one of two people...and I was wrong. The twist was a legitimate one and it was so refreshing to read a thriller that wasn’t super predictable. Or predictable at all for me...everything we come to find out honestly came as a huge surprise to me.

I will definitely be going back and reading more Charlie Donlea books.

I would rate this book a 3.5 out of 5. The book had several plots to follow which made it a little difficult to follow at first. Eventually I was able to connect the plots to start predicting- which was never accurate. This story had many twists and the ending was unpredictable. I wish I knew this Rory and Lane friendship was developed before this novel. I will definitely read the first book and the rest to come.

I loved the way a popular podcast was a major part of the story. I also loved the boarding school setting which was perfect for murder and a secret society. This is a great mystery that will hold your attention as the mystery unfolds. Thank you NetGalley for my ARC.

Charlie Donlea does it again, as always. I was glad to have read Some Choose Darkness first because it gave me insight into Rory. But at the end, I saw that two of his other books that I have waiting on my nightstand also give glimpses into Suicide House, Summit Lake and Don't Believe It. I may need to read those sooner than I was intending to now!

Donlea has a style that pulls you in immediately and never let's go. But add to it the mystery of a boarding school murder and the suicides of those who survived it, and I'm hooked. I loved the little snippets of the journal entries and the other character's lives because they kept me guessing on who was who and who was ultimately responsible. I was constantly changing my mind on who was behind the journal entries!

I loved the mythicalness of The Man in the Mirror and how kids can get caught up in those beliefs. Yet, even though they were following a ghost story in their game, there was nothing unworldly happening in the book. It gave it that that adult spin on the child's game, while still keeping you guessing if there was a bit of truth to their game and someone far more sinister behind the beliefs, wanting to be The Man in the Mirror.

I absolutely loved this one and highly recommend any of his books!

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This was a good story. I read it in two days and was intrigued by the mystery. However, it was really repetitive and I found myself skimming paragraphs at least once per chapter. I did learn more about restoring porcelain dolls than I expected. My only other problem was that the names were so similar that it got confusing - Mack and Mark, Ryder and Rory, Gavin and Gwen - I found it took me out of the story. I would still read other books by this author - this appears to be one in a series, but not having read the others did not negatively impact the story. I did like the Ryder and Rory characters and would read more about them.

3.5 stars, rounded up
The Suicide House brings back the team of Rory Moore and Lane Phillips. Rory is a forensic reconstructionist and Lane is a psychological profiler. For this plot, they undertake an investigation into the gruesome murders of two students at a prestigious boarding school which leads to the subsequent suicides of four others.
The school seemed odd from the get go. It requires therapy for all their students, not just the ones with serious issues. Part of that therapy is journal writing, which figures into the plot.
The book goes back and forth between current day and one year earlier, in the time leading up to the murder. Short choppy chapters keep the reader off balance. It started off slower than his other books and it took longer to draw me in. Donlea throws lots of red herrings into the mix to keep us confused. I was definitely up in the air as to who was behind the murders. But I also felt that the story was forced, that there were too many red herrings.
Rory, who is on the spectrum, is an interesting, complex character. She continues to remind me of Genevieve Lenard, Estelle Ryan’s MC. I recommend her books to those who enjoy Donlea and vice versa.

A boarding school with a mysterious murder. The accused murderer kills himself in front of a train and the friends of those killed slowly begin to do kill themselves as well. The local cops believe the case is closed, but some think things are a little suspicious. Rory and Lane need to use their unique skills to solve the mystery. What is going on at this boarding school.

This was a fun read! It was like Cold Case and Criminal Minds rolled up into a book. I love Rory so much and now I feel that I need to read the others by this author. The story went back and forth between a lot of characters. At first I struggled a little at keeping them straight, but once I remembered who was who, it was fun. It went back and forth between a year ago when the murders took place and the present. The reader learns the events that lead up to it, but it doesn't make a lot of sense at first. It all comes together in the end and it was... woah! There was a part where I kept trying to close my eyes, like a would in a movie, but it's hard to read with my eyes closed. I recommend this book for mystery/thriller fans.

I loved The Suicide House by Charlie Donlea. It is a great psychological thriller with lots of dark and twisty turns. This is the second book that features Rory Moore but can be read as a stand alone. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it for anyone who loves a good mystery and thrillers. Thank you Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was lucky enough to win a digital galley of THE SUICIDE HOUSE from a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thanks for the early look, and have a safe summer!