I could not get into this book at all. I found the writing style based at young adult which is not supposed to be the age group reading it. I am sorry. I just could not get into it.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Although this mystery was intrigiuing and well written with strong characters, the effect of all the "missing" f's throughout was hugely distracting. (OFERING, OF for OFF and anywhere in the text where there should have been double f's!)

This was not a book for me, but I think for the right reader it could be a great reading experience. I was intrigued by the premise, but the story itself didn’t meet my expectations. The overall story was interesting (which is why I think others could really love this) but it was too much history of Harvard/history in general and not enough mystery for me.

I’ve been mulling over “The Ancient Nine” by Ian Smith and I’ve come to this conclusion: perhaps the novel isn’t sure what it wants to be. Does it want to be a book about secret societies at a college campus? A book about religion? Academic research? Romance? Oftentimes it felt that the author was juggling too many threads, making it for a disjointed reading experience.

The novel started strongly enough as the reader is introduced to Spenser Collins, a pre-med basketball player starting out at Harvard University who is punched into the university’s most exclusive all-male members club, the Delphic. He and another student become obsessed with learning more about the dark, troublesome underbelly of the Ancient Nine, a secretive group within the club. It is not your traditional mystery, and possesses many elements of academic research, religion, interesting information about Harvard and its history, even a focus on the sinking of the Titanic, which I particularly enjoyed. Up until the middle half of the book, I was coasting, enjoying the complex mystery tremendously, but I began to skim as I grew closer to the end. There were too many extraneous pages on religion that I thought didn’t add to the story.

A particular thing I didn’t care for was Spenser’s romance with an off-campus student, Ashley Garrett. I didn’t feel like it added anything to the story nor did I believe it when they became serious very suddenly. For me, it was a distraction. To echo another reviewer, I would have enjoyed the novel had it just stuck to the mystery and didn’t make mention of the numerous scenes that objectified women. Granted it was commonplace for the time, taking place in 1988, and let’s be honest, it still is, I would have enjoyed it more had it bucked the trend and not included the boys only mentality and good ol’ boys clubs. I received an advance copy from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for a candid review. The book will be published on September 18th, 2018.

The basic plot line- two men of opposite circumstances meet while joining a secret society at Harvard and find themselves caught up in an old mystery- is pretty darn good. Spencer and Dalton are both well written and believable. Because it's set in the 1980s, women and the way men view them, are presented in a way that some might find unacceptable but which is typical of the time. Don't let that diminish your read, especially if you like puzzly sorts of reads. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Recommend this one for fans of complex, sometimes a bit out there, long standing mysteries.

The Ancient Nine by Ian Smith Book Review
 A murder mystery at Harvard involving a secret society with lots of twist & turns. Sounds like that movie with Paul Walker, The Skulls, right? On the surface, sure. But, The Ancient Nine is more than that!

Punched Into Society 
We meet Spenser & he is the underdog of the story. Who doesn't love an underdog? Despite many struggles, he enters the elite world of Harvard. Quickly, he's invited to enter this super exclusive & long revered secret society. From there, it's one twist after another. I'm serious. Ancient Nine goes deep with the layers of secrets, past coming back to explain current events & lots of money thrown around.  

Bring On the Drama
Some people have it so easy. Reading Ancient Nine, you hear tales of paths carved out with a gold carpet laid atop for some people. I can't even wrap my head around it. Honestly, it's fascinating. Their world filled with decadence & deep-seeded secrets is fodder for a drama lover like myself. I can't get enough.

Dr. Ian Smith
Ancient Nine has a really great pace with lots of steady action. Despite all the turns & many layers to the story, it's easy to follow. Blindly, I read the book & love it. Only when I'm writing this review did I realize the author is Dr. Ian! Whaaaaaat? Sarah & I know him from Celebrity Fit Club on VH1. He always seems cool on the TV & I'm a fan. First, he always dresses nicely, is a straight shooter & seems like a genuinely nice guy. So, I think it's really cool he wrote this bad-ass book. 

THE VERDICT
I am Really Into This book! This is a fun & twisty thriller. If you're down to read all about secrets & the drama surrounding the rich & elite in the hidden world of secret societies, The Ancient Nine is for you! 

Special thanks to Ian Smith, St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for providing our copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

Remarkable read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and at times questioned if certain things were truth, rather than fiction. This even prompts me to travel to Harvard to inquire more on these landmarks. Great, great job, Ian. Two thumbs up

So I mostly picked up this book because it was set at Harvard. My sister works there and I’ve been back to visit and it makes such a great setting for any number of books. I was intrigued by the title and the mysterious club that this book centers around.

Spencer Collins thinks his life at Harvard will be all about basketball and pre-med; hard workouts and grinding work in class. The friends he’s made when he hits the storied ivy-clad campus from a very different life in urban Chicago are a happy bonus. But Spencer is about to be introduced to the most mysterious inner sanctum of the inner sanctum: to his surprise, he’s in the running to be “punched” for one of Harvard’s elite final clubs.

The Delphic Club is known as “the Gas” for its crest of three gas-lit flames, and as Spencer is considered for membership, he’s plunged not only into the secret world of male privilege that the Gas represents, but also into a century-old club mystery. Because at the heart of the Delphic, secured deep inside its guarded mansion club, is another secret society: a shadowy group of powerful men known as The Ancient Nine.

Who are The Ancient Nine? And why is Spencer—along with his best friend Dalton Winthrop—summoned to the deathbed of Dalton’s uncle just as Spencer is being punched for the club? What does the lore about a missing page from one of Harvard’s most historic books mean? And how does it connect to religion, murder, and to the King James Bible, if not to King James himself?

The Ancient Nine is both a coming of age novel and a swiftly plotted story that lets readers into the ultimate of closed worlds with all of its dark historical secrets and unyielding power (summary from Goodreads).

This book had a lot to recommend itself. A mysterious club at America’s most prestigious institute, a very thinking and intellectually driven mystery full of questions. At first glance the summary for this book seems to have a lot of different components….how would the King James Bible fit into Harvard? It sounds unrelated and a little all over the place, but as you read the book, you will find that it’s really not scatter brained in the way that I thought it would be.

Everything weaves together and the mystery itself fits perfectly into the intellectual institute itself. I expected this book to be smart and it is on many levels. So why the three star rating if it had an interesting mystery that was intelligent and unique? For me, the female aspect.

This book is very much meant to be about male privilege and ‘good old boys clubs’ and had a lot of ‘locker room talk’. This book was set in the 1980s and yes male privilege was very much a thing at prestigious institutes such as this. Many of the students at Harvard (and similar institutes) are rich white males who thrive on the boys only mentality and good old boys clubs. In that respect, the author did a great job being true to reality—-but that doesn’t mean that it was any easier to read—-especially for a female reader.

The way that the male characters talked about women and treated them, was in a word—terrible. I had a hard time getting past that as a female reader. On one hand I liked how the author really stayed true to the concept of male privilege, but at the same time I felt like it was too ‘in your face’ and it was a little off putting.

I loved the mystery parts but some of the aspects of the plot just weren’t for me. Does that mean this wasn’t a good read? No, not at all. By all means, read this for the mystery because the mystery is smart and interesting, just be ready for large doses of ‘locker room’ talk and female objectification. Do I think the author thinks this way about women? No I don’t. I think he is writing within the scope of the time period, setting, and characters in a way that other writers might talk about slavery etc, but again that doesn’t make it any easier to read.

Challenge/Book Summary:

Book: The Ancient Nine by Ian Smith

Kindle Edition, 352 pages
Expected publication: September 18th 2018 by St. Martin’s Press
ASIN B079DV448K
Review copy provided by: publisher/author in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own
Recommendation: 3 out of 5

Genre: Mystery, thriller

Memorable lines/quotes:

This book drew me in right from the first page! This is a perfect fall book, especially for fans of other college-based lit like A Secret History or even A Little Life.

I enjoyed this book.. The mystery and suspense made this a page-turner. The characters are three-dimsional and the storyline was steady. The pace of the story keep my attention.

This is a very Interesting book. It takes you behind the scenes on the final clubs at Harvard. As the story goes on it uncovers so many secrets that have been held back for generations. Spencer finds out all the mystery and secrets. Good book

The Ancient Nine is a mystery thriller about hidden dark secrets, privilege, power, history and secret societies. I got hooked from the very first page finding it hard to put my tablet down.

The story is well-written and well research. A well-built plot and sub-plots and twists and turns when you least expected. Well rounded, and believable characters that will give you the chills after some google research (supposedly the story is based on real events).

The one of the few things Spenser Collins and Dalton Winthrop have in common is that both are students at Harvard. However, they become good friends and while trying to uncover a mystery, they found themselves in danger. (I'm sorry, buit this is all you getting for me. I hate spoilers!)

This was a very interesting and entertaining read and highly recommend it!

This mystery set on Harvard’s campus in 1988 has, at its core, a clever plot. However, the pacing gets bogged down with extraneous Harvard trivia and overly detailed step-by-step fact-finding on the part of the two principle characters (it reminded me a bit of The Historian). Overall, a good weekend read.

The Ancient Nine

A Novel

by Ian Smith, M.D.

St. Martin’s Press

General Fiction (Adult)

Pub Date 18 Sep 2018

I am reviewing a copy of The Ancient Nine through St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley:

Spencer Collins is not your likely Harvard prospect, although he is smart and funny, he’s also strapped for cash, but he’s determined to succeed so he calls his Mom for help!Dalton Winthrop is just the most recent of a string of privileged men with money in Cambridge! He has the ease that comes with belonging.

Despite their differences Spencer and Dalton find enough in common to become friends. Spenser is ready to join the Delphic Club, one of the most exclusive all male final club that goes back to the nineteenth century. The Delpic had titans of industry as well as the Hollywood elite joining as well as heads of the states even power brokers among its members!

Dalton knows firsthand that the Delphic just doesn’t open membership to anyone! He knows this because his great uncle is one of the oldest living members, so he grew up with stories on club rituals, so why is his great Uncle so secretive about the Ancient Nine, a group of alums who are not known but who holds the power over the club, what they say goes. These men who are hidden in the shadows hold the oldest and darkest secrets of Delphic, including what happened to the student who snuck into the clubs large brick mansion in 1927 and was never seem again.

Dalton leads Spenser deeper and deeper into the recesses of the club to try to make sense of everything. But with each piece of information they realize they are in more and more dangers themselves.

I give The Ancient Nine five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

I really did enjoy this book! At first I thought it was going to be a slow reading one, but it wasn't! Great story line and a number of characters. Highly recommend!

In The Ancient Nine Dr Ian Smith creates an ivy league secret society at Harvard. Dr Smith created likable characters who feel like personal friends. Fiction mixed with facts from history, with bread crumbs thrown in for the reader to follow the mystery, makes The Ancient Nine an interesting read. I was given an early copy to review.

Not my cup off tea. Rich boy friends poor boy. Join a secret society trouble ensues and lives are in danger. Reminds me of the movies can't remember the name of them but pretty much the same thing. Movies were better.

I've heard of Harvard's final clubs, and the Presidents and millionaires who were members before their rise to fame & power. So, I was intrigued by the premise of this book; especially when it was based upon true events. I was not disappointed!

The story of 1988 Harvard students Spenser Collins, a disadvantaged black athlete from Chicago and his friend Dalton Winthrop, a student from old wealth whose family lives in a mansion near Harvard, was hard to put down almost from the start. When Spenser receives a surprise invitation to be "punched" by the ultimate final club, the Delphic, they get drawn into the mystery of a young man who disappeared attempting to find the secret room in the Delphic house in 1927. They are determined to solve the mystery and also to find the secret room.

Their search through archives, various libraries, and precious old books was thrilling to read, and I learned so much in addition to being pulled into their quest. I highly recommend it for those who love books, mysteries, and story twists.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in return for my honest review.

This book tells the story of a boy who gets involved in things that are much bigger than just him.

This boy, who has just entered Harvard, is very childish, just like his friends. That's where the trouble started for me.

The writing itself wasn't a big problem. It was simple and sometimes over-explained things (like a kegstand) but I understand why the author would do this. What I don't understand is why the author always described women's bodies in such a lewd way (saying how their clothes fit them, how curvy they were, etc.) and why sexism was so present in this book when it didn't build the story up and didn't change the atmosphere of the book.

Another thing that bugged me was the social commentary, especially when he said that arguing both sides of an issue is too politically correct, when it's actually a logical way to proceed when it comes to heated arguments prone to biases. The author sometimes got it right but, more often than that, didn't. There was a lot of eye-rolling thanks to that.

But all of that could be redeemed by the book's plot, right? If the plot were very good, it could overshadow the odd creative choices, right?

The plot started out pretty okay and it grew in complexity over time.However, there were some major plot points that I ended up predicting. The way the whole mystery was solved was anti-climactic, but at least it wasn't just reading articles (unlike the rest of the book).

All in all, I expected a lot more from this book. Perhaps I even set the bar too high, not every mystery will be as great as Gone Girl and Into the Water.

Rating: 3 stars

‘…you might be the way we crack the Ancient Nine.’

Spenser Collins and Dalton Winthrop, two students at Harvard, unlikely friends. Spenser, a poor black boy from Chicago, is smart and athletic, determined to succeed. Dalton is the latest in a family of moneyed Winthrop men to attend Harvard. Dalton belongs in ways that Spenser cannot.

Their friendship is strengthened when Spenser is ‘punched’ by the Delphic Club, one of the most exclusive of Harvard’s famous all-male- final clubs. The Delphic was founded in the nineteenth century and counts heads of state, power brokers, titans of industry as well as Hollywood legends amongst its members. So, where does Spenser fit in? Dalton is well aware of the exclusivity of this club: his great-uncle is one of their oldest living members. But there’s said to be an even more exclusive group within the Delphic Club: The Ancient Nine. The identities of the Ancient Nine are unknown, they are rumoured to be a shadowy group of alumni with absolute power and who protect the Delphic’s darkest secrets. One of those secrets: what happened to a student who was last seen sneaking into the Delphic mansion in 1927, and was never seen again?

Step by step, Spenser and Dalton become caught up in this mystery. Step by step, Spenser faces the processes for acceptance into the Delphic Club (also known as ‘the Gas’). Spenser and Dalton find clues, eked out like breadcrumbs in the forest, but there’s always some additional twist. Are their lives in danger? And how is it that the members of the Delphic know so much about Spenser?

I found this novel entertaining and enjoyed following the various clues. I’m not a huge fan of novels about secret societies with their (often) arcane, exclusive rituals. What held my attention in this novel was trying to work out why Spenser had been ‘punched’ by this particular group. I was also curious about what had happened to the missing student in 1927, and a certain mystery about a seventeenth century book.

Although I enjoyed the book, I was disappointed that the ending seemed to indicate a continuation of the status quo: exclusive, privileged people protecting their own.

‘Just like old times.’

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith