I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Catacomb by Madeleine Roux
Series: Asylum #3
Published by HarperCollins on 9/1/15
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 332
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Sometimes the past is better off buried.

Senior year is finally over. After all they've been through, Dan, Abby, and Jordan are excited to take one last road trip together, and they're just not going to think about what will happen when the summer ends. But on their way to visit Jordan's uncle in New Orleans, the three friends notice that they're being followed . . . and photographed. Then Dan starts receiving messages from someone he didn't expect to hear from again—someone who died last Halloween.

When the trio arrives in New Orleans and the strange occurrences only escalate, Dan is forced to accept that everything that has happened to him in the past year may not be a coincidence, but fate—a fate that ties Dan to a group called the Bone Artists, who have a sinister fascination with notorious killers of the past.

Now Dan's only hope is that he will make it out of his senior trip alive.

Short and Sweet Review

Senior year is over and Dan, Abby, and Jordan reconnect to go on a road trip before starting their first year in college. The group is on their way to New Orleans to visit Jordan’s uncle, but along the way they make a few stops and notice that someone is following them and taking pictures. Things only get worse in New Orleans when a group called the Bone Artists seem to have a connection to Brookline.

This is the last installment in this trilogy. I will admit that this wasn’t my favorite book. The first 25% where they kept stopping so that Abby could take pictures for her project was slow. Dan is getting messages from Micah that are sort of like a warning and one of those texts clues Dan in to the fact that the group is being followed. We also get more information about Dan’s birth parents which I liked. The group meets Oliver and Sabrina, Oliver was a friend of Micah’s and he’s also been getting text. Oliver thinks that Dan can help him repay his debt to the Bone Artists. Jordan and Abby don’t trust Oliver and Sabrina and they were really rude to them and spent most of the book being mad at Dan and blaming him for the things that were happening. Abby and Dan are still dating, but I don’t understand why because there doesn’t seem to be any chemistry between them. The ending was good but it also felt a little rushed.

Overall this was a good book but I think the first two books are the best. The plot is good and I liked the mystery surrounding Dan’s parents and how the Bone Artists had a connection to things that went on at Brookline.

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Sanctum by Madeleine Roux
Series: Asylum #2
Published by HarperCollins on 8/26/14
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 353
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Dan, Abby, and Jordan remain traumatized by the summer they shared in the Brookline asylum. Much as they'd love to move on, many questions remain, and someone is determined to keep the terror alive, sending the teens photos of an old-timey carnival, with no note and no name. Forsaking their plan never to go back, the teens return to New Hampshire College under the guise of a weekend for prospective students, and there they realize that the carnival from the photos is not only real, it's here on campus, apparently for the first time in many years.

Sneaking away from sample classes and college parties, Dan and his friends lead a tour of their own—one through the abandoned houses and hidden places of a surrounding town. Camford is hiding a terrible past, and the truth behind Dan's connection to the asylum's evil warden is more terrifying than Dan ever imagined.

Short and Sweet Review

Dan, Abby, and Jordan are going back to Brookline. After the traumatizing summer they had there it seems like even when they left someone wants to keep the terror going. The trio has been receiving photos and even Felix gave them a set of coordinates to properties close to campus. So the three go to campus as prospective students and try to get answers.

Our characters are back at New Hampshire College and that’s when they realize that the pictures they’ve been sent featuring a carnival is actually happening on campus grounds. Dan and his friends know that the only way to get answers is to sneak away from their guides for the weekend and visit the coordinates that Felix gave them. This book still has the creepy vibes that the first book gave us. Dan still sees things through the eyes of Daniel Crawford and he’s also seeing the ghost of children.

The group learns a lot more about the past of Brookline and even learn that there’s a cult in the midst of everything. It was interesting to see how much the group uncovered. This book had me flipping through pages just to see what would happen next. I was always worried for the characters something about the campus and the people on it are not right.

I’ve enjoyed reading the first two books in this series and I’m excited to see what’ll happen in the third especially because we’re leaving Brookline behind. What I love most about this series is the creepy vibes and the pictures sprinkled in it!

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Asylum by Madeleine Roux
Series: Asylum #1
Published by HarperCollins on 8/20/13
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 321
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, the New Hampshire College Prep program is the chance of a lifetime. Except that when Dan arrives, he finds that the usual summer housing has been closed, forcing students to stay in the crumbling Brookline Dorm. The dorm was formerly a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.

As Dan and his new friends Abby and Jordan start exploring Brookline's twisty halls and hidden basement, they uncover disturbing secrets about what really went on at Brookline . . . secrets that link Dan and his friends to the asylum's dark past. Because Brookline was no ordinary asylum, and there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Short and Sweet Review

Dan is at the New Hampshire College Prep program for the summer. This is important to Dan, he’s an outcast at his school so this is his chance to make friends before college. The only thing that’s not exactly easing to think about is the fact that the dorm the students are staying in used to be an asylum. Dan does make some friends, Abby and Jordan. The trio end up exploring the asylum and learn some disturbing facts about their new home for the summer.

I found Asylum to be an enjoyable read. I will admit that some parts were predictable but that didn’t really bother me. I thought the setting was creepy and the pictures just added a lot to the book. Sometimes I found the pictures scarier then what was actually happening. Dan, Abby, and Jordan all have some unexplainable things happen to them that kind of makes them feel like they’re losing it especially Dan. We do learn that Dan may have a connection to the asylum which maybe why he feels like things are speaking to him and why he’s having strange dreams about being places in the asylum he’s never seen before. I didn’t really care for the romance I thought it was better when Dan and Abby were just friends. There was a cliffhanger at the end. I plan on finishing the rest of the series just to see how everything works out. Even thought the book may have been predictable it kept me engaged and I just wanted to see what would happen next!