Dazzled by Books

"Asylum" by Madeleine Roux was a whole lot better than what I was expecting. I originally purchased an ecopy of this book because it was one of the epic deals on epic reads and I have been interested in it for awhile but I don't do well with horror stories so I thought that maybe this book would be perfect for my plane ride on my most recent vacation. I ended up not reading this book on the plan. I slowly found out that when you have a 5 am flight and you don't live in the town of the flight, by the time you are flying you don't want to read because your eyes hurt so bad from being awake so early. I ended up starting the story right before bed time and soon thought that it might be a bad idea but come to find out that I didn't think the story wasn't as frightening as some may have lead me on.

I wouldn't necessarily classify "Asylum" as a horror story, maybe more a thriller and a mystery. I do have to say it was a very interesting tale that I was drawn into right away. Who wouldn't want to know what spooky things could go on in an old asylum? Normally this is the part that I go on and talk about the story but I am going to change it up a little today. I want to comment on Roux and her book first. I was amazed by the writing for debut author Madeleine Roux. It has been awhile since I was truly drawn into a novel and was hooked right away.

Roux has a great writing style. I don't feel like she used a lot of fancy wording but she structured her sentences perfectly. I truly think this story is incredible. The plot may not be very complicated, Ii mean it is pretty much like your normal haunted house type story but it is the fact that Roux was able to draw my attention in right away and keep it When I wasn't trying to finish the novel, I would find myself thinking about it or wishing that I had the book in my hands to continue reading. For a debut author to blow me away like this is pretty impressive to me. Several kuddos to you Roux.

Abby, Jordan, and Dan are part of an early college program for school. The schools dorms though are held in an old asylum. Abby and Dan learn how they may be connected to this asylum. What they thought could be coincidence turns out to be anything but a coincidence. Abby and Dan want answers but then Jordan is feeling left out. What is going on at the asylum? When people end up murdered and no one seems to know what is going on, Dan wants to figure it out. How is he involved and why does he seem to be involved with everything? What is going on with his memory?

I think Dan is a great main character. It was fun getting into his head a bit and knowing what he was thinking in order to figure out the mystery going on. I would have to say that my own curiosity about what was going on matched Dan's. I enjoyed digging deeper and deeper into the mystery. Abby made a great companion for Dan. Her curiosity and her persistence matched perfectly with his. I think these two make a great team together. Jordan was a little bit of the odd ball in the bunch. He seemed to fit well with the other two but then there are moments that Jordan just seemed to be a little off. Jordan then began to separate himself from the other two so it just seemed a little weird to me with how he was acting. I guess only time will tell about what is going on with him.

I really enjoyed "Asylum." I thought it was a great book and I am looking forward to more. Roux brings a great haunting thriller to readers and i definitely think it is worth a read. I had a lot of fun trying to figure out the mystery going on. I definitely think this is a story to read if you like a some mystery to your day.