Review: Night School by C.J. Daugherty

Night School (Night School #1)
Author: C.J. Daugherty
Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller
Release Date: May 21, 2013
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Description:

Allie's world is falling apart...

She hates her school. Her brother has run away. And she's just been arrested.

Again.

Now her parents are sending her away to a boarding school where she doesn't know a soul.

But instead of hating her new school, Allie finds she's happy there. She's making friends. And then there's Sylvain, a suave French student who openly flirts with her. And Carter, the brooding loner who seems to have her back.

Soon, though, Allie discovers Cimmeria Academy is no ordinary school. Nothing there is as it seems. And her new friends are hiding dangerous secrets. 

Night School is the first book in a fast paced new YA mystery series that follows our heroine, Allie Sheridan, as she finds herself shipped away to a private boarding school named Cimmeria Academy. Ever since her brother disappeared, Allie's been getting into lots of trouble - getting arrested, kicked out of schools, and fighting with her parents. Her parent's solution is to send Allie to a boarding school in the middle of nowhere - where there's no connection with the outside world and where she knows absolutely nobody. Things start looking up for Allie when she makes new friends, has the hottest guy in school interested in her, and finds herself liking the strange world at Cimmeria. Only this isn't a normal school and Allie's going to find out that there are lots of secrets at Cimmeria - ones that are dangerous and that concern her very life.

This was a superb thriller and a captivating first book in a series that promises to be addicting. The plot wasn't completely unique, with the setting of a private boarding school with the requisite snobby rich kids, the outcasts, and the harsh rumors - but the author made it into something so much more with a depth that had me hooked. The book takes a little while to get going, so it felt a little boring and slow at the beginning. Once the story takes off though - I literally couldn't stop reading. I found myself completely engrossed in the story and I had to find out what was really going on. There are magnificent twists and turns throughout the book - clear up to the ending - which definitely leaves you shaking your head and trying to figure everything out. The characters were interesting and well written. I liked Allie as the main character. She's broken about her brother and doesn't know how to deal with it - so she gets into trouble. You can see that she's upset and guarded, but eventually she lets her walls down and we get a glimpse of who she really is. I'm hoping that her character will continue to grow in the next book, which seems inevitable given how this one ended. Of course there's some romance in the book, even a bit of a love triangle - but I don't think that it interferes or overshadows the main story line. The guys add to the mystery of the school and what's happening, so I found that exciting. The plot was intricately drawn out in a series of mysterious events, thrilling adventures, and serious twists and turns. Up until the end, I was still reeling from everything going on - and the author hits you again with more surprises (which I loved). The ending definitely leaves you begging for more - I can't wait to see what will happen in the next book and how things will go from here. It's an intriguing plot because there's a lot shrouded in mystery - especially about the school and what happens there - but the author expertly avoids giving away too much at a time. I was still trying to figure out what was really up when the answer is revealed - and I didn't see that one coming. I really love thriller and mysteries, especially in young adult fiction. I don't think that there's enough of them out there and this series is definitely a great one to fill that void. I highly recommend this book to fans of YA thrillers and awesome mysteries, as I am already anxiously awaiting the next installment.

Before giving fiction a shot, CJ had already written a number of books about travel for publishers including Frommers and Time Out, worked as a journalist for Reuters, and as a crime and investigative reporter for newspapers in the US.

Over the years she's also been a hostess at a Cajun restaurant, a researcher for a university, a receptionist for an oil company, a ham seller at a Honey Baked Ham store, and a civil servant. She quite liked selling hams.

These days she writes thrillers. Night School was her first novel. The first book in the Night School series, it is now being translated into 19 languages. Night School: Legacy, is out now in the UK and France, and will soon be published in the REST of the WORLD.

You can hang out with her at www.cjdaugherty.com, on www.facebook.com/CJAuthor and on Twitter, where she is @CJ_Daugherty (Taken from Goodreads)