(An actual review) The Crazy School

Madeline Dare is a reformed Debutante from Syracuse, New York. In the fall of 1989 she moves to the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts with her husband Dean. She takes a job as a history teacher at the Santangelo Academy, a “therapeutic” boarding school for outcast teens. One night a student named Mooney punches his fist through a window, and then revels in secret to Madeline that his girlfriend Fay is pregnant. Madeline vows to tell no one but her best friend and fellow teacher, Lulu. When Fay and Mooney are poisoned at Fay’s birthday party, Madeline is arrested for murder. She must then uncover the secrets of this “crazy school” and clear her name at the same time. The Crazy School is a follow-up to 2006’s A Field of Darkness.

The Crazy School is a somewhat accurate portrayal of damaged teens. The Santangelo Academy is a place my parents would most definitely send me if it were real. In fact I’m pretty sure my three brothers would’ve been sent there as well, though they would’ve ran away. The story does not divulge too much into the lives of the mentally-ill and drug addled teens, but instead focuses more on the murder mystery at hand. While I would’ve preferred a deeper look into their lives, I definitely enjoyed this story. Having not read the synopsis or the first book, I was very surprised when the two teens turned up dead, especially since the characters Fay and Mooney were so easy to relate to, I really felt sad for them. Though the book quickly turns into a darker more serious novel, it is filled with dry humor and silly characters like Madeline’s lawyer Markham and the stuffed-toy obsessed Mindy. It is nicely balanced out with the heartbreak felt within the character of Dhumavati, who is the school’s Dean of Students. This novel tackles hot topics such as teen pregnancy, without the political narrative being too overpowering, which I really liked. The ending was definitely not predictable, in fact I was a little shocked when the murderer was finally revealed. Actually I was very shocked! Though at times the book was a little slow-moving, The Crazy School is a good read filled with lots of mystery, a little suspense, and a dash of silliness good for those nights when you just can’t sleep.

I wrote this review a while ago, in fact it was one of the first I did. To sum it up, I love this book, and highly recommend it.