It began with the suicides. They’re calling it the crisis of Sun Valley University, and all the blame lies on one doctoral student.
Cheyenne Winters went too far. She was only there to conduct research for her dissertation, but three student suicides that occurred shortly before she arrived piqued her interest. Her interviews with twenty-one freshmen revealed that the suicides were not only related, but the university administration had been covering them up.
Now Cheyenne is involved in a major conspiracy threatening her own future and the lives of the students she came to study.
This book is the first in a series, Halls of Ivy, and centres around campus life.
I’ve never read a fiction book written quite like this one. Opening with a prologue the Author compels the reader to continue reading to discover how we came to this point, and in that respect it is well written and, at the same time, very deceptive as it promises more than it actually delivers.
It is composed of, what can only be described as biographies and transcripts of interviews the main female lead conducts with numerous college students; a third person narrative from the lead character and various students, all combining to make it seem more like reading a dissertation with a plot woven in, rather than an actual novel. Because of the way it is written, it did not have any deep character development, although the Author took steps to start placing the foundations of a back story and interesting character traits for the female lead, in preparation for future books in this series that she might appear in. One flaw the reader soon discovers about the lead is their way of narrating events, she does it in a very disconnected, concise and clinical way, almost as if she is continually giving evidence throughout this books pages. As to the rest of the characters, there are lots of them as can be expected in a campus life book, they all have generally small parts in the telling of the story and this leads to the reader not being able to really connect with any of them although, as in real life, there are some we like and some we just can’t warm to.
Location descriptions for Florida are very good, even down to the general complaint about the weather, but apart from that there was nothing in this book that really made it stand out in my mind and made me feel as if I were there observing the storyline unfold.
The idea behind this novel is very good, and taking place as it does on campus, it provides the Author with plenty of material for upcoming books in this series. This is a great little mystery book and fits very comfortably in that genre, so I am recommending it to those who are lovers of a good mystery and like to figure things out.
Cate's Book Nut Hut 