Book Review - The Crazy School by Cornelia Read

Synopsis:  Madeline Dare has finally escaped rust-belt Syracuse, New York, for the lush Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. After her husband's job offer falls through, Maddie signs on as a teacher at the Santangelo Academy, a boarding school for disturbed teenagers. Behind the academy's ornate gates, she discovers a disturbing realm where students and teachers alike must submit to the founder's bizarre therapeutic regimen. From day one, Maddie feels uneasy about smooth-talking Dr. Santangelo but when she questions his methods, she's appalled to find that her fellow teachers would rather turn on each other than stand up for themselves, much less protect the students in their care. A chilling event confirms Maddie's worst suspicions, then hints at an even darker secret history, one that twines through the academy's very heart. Cut off from the outside world, Maddie must join forces with a small band of the school's most violently rebellious students-kids whose troubled grip on reality may well prove to be her only chance of salvation.

First Line:  "Halfway to Christmas, Forchetti stated the obvious:  "You can't teach for shit." "

Random Quote:  "They had a woodstove cranked up inside, flames jumping red-orange behind the isinglass in its doors.  The air was roasted so dry that breathing made my septum ache."

Review:  Another excellent book in Cornelia Read's Madeline Dare series.

The Berkshires in winter - Image via Wikipedia

Madeline has escaped Syracuse for somewhere that's not a lot better - a private school for troubled teens in the Berkshires.  She's teaching English and disturbed by the cultlike way the school is run - think EST with teenagers and you'll have a sense of the place.  When two of her favorite students turn up dead, Madeline knows something bad is happening.

Read expands on Madeline's life with her husband, Dean, and on her life in this second novel.  She introduces new characters, including Sitzman and Wiesner, two teens from the school that you can't help but love.  More Sitzman and Wiesner, please!

Once again great plotting, fun story, cool atmospherics, and growth in the main character.  This was very hard to put down and I can't wait for the next one.

Reading Challenges:  2010 100+ Reading Challenge, 2010 Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge