This was my second dive into the Rory Moore/Lane Phillips series. While this one didn’t have as much insight into their pasts, it was still so good.

It starts out explaining some loose ends of the previous book and a case that Rory worked on. That was such a relief for me (and this is a no spoiler tidbit because it wasn’t the bulk case of the previous book).

In The Suicide House we join Rory and Lane on their trip to a prep school in Indiana. A teacher is accused of murder and a popular podcast is unearthing some interesting information about the case.

There were so many elements to this story. A group of students involved in a night of teenage fun ends in two murders. Now, the survivors are all coming back to Westmont Prep to commit suicide. We get to see if Rory and Lane can uncover the truth and dig up secrets hidden for years.

This was so gripping and thrilling. I can definitely say that Rory Moore is a favorite female investigative lead from now on and I cannot wait to read more of Charlie Donlea’s work!

This was my first Charlie Donlea book and it for sure won’t be my last!! There was so much going on from the very beginning between different timelines and journal entries which occasionally led to a little confusion about what exactly was important, but it also held my attention since I couldn’t find out how everything tied together fast enough! In the end, it all came together really really well. The chapters are also super short which i loved!! As for the characters, I did really enjoy Rory’s eccentricities and her unwavering drive to solve cases that no one else can. I will definitely be picking up Donlea’s other book involving Rory and her partner Lane and will be keeping my fingers crossed for more Rory and Lane in future books!

{Thank you to @netgalley and @kensingtonbooks for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review - pub date 7/28}

First, a thank you to Netgalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting for me. I'm always a suck for a seriously demented prep school setting mystery, and this was definitely that. I'm by no means squeamish when it comes to (fictional) murder - The Snowman is one of my favorite books after all - but I have to admit the killing here resulted in visual imagery I could've lived without. Not having read the first book in the series, but having really enjoyed The Girl Who was Taken, I went into this one thinking it would be more of the latter. It wasn't. While reading, my interest ebbed and waned, which I think was partly to due with the fact that there were too many characters and too many undelineated timelines that didn't transitional as seamlessly as they could have. It also didn't help that a couple of the characters had very similar names, I kept having to remind myself who was who. I did determine who the culprit was before the book concluded, but it did take me a while and I admit that I suspected an innocent for a good chunk of the story. I didn't love the book, but I may go back and read the first one, and if I do, I may second think my thoughts on this one. Charlie Donlea is a good writer, I just don't think that this is one of his best.

Wow. What an incredible ride this book offers. The author has an amazing talent of being able to weave each of her characters stories together without revealing true identities until the end. This book is a fascinating page turner that will not allow you to sleep until you finish it. Not only are the characters interesting but the author has created a heroine on the autism spectrum that wears combat boots. With all of her imperfections and quirkiness you grow to love and envy her brilliant mind and incredible attention. I would recommend this to anyone who loves mystery, This novel would make an excellent book club pick!

Rory is literally the character I have been looking for all my life. We have the same personality, she has my dream job, she is an bad ass in her Madden boots. She is what my vision board always looked like. I found out The Suicide House is #2 of Rory Moore/ Lane Phillips, so now I have to grab #1 and fan girl more.

When I head this was about a podcast and a Prepatory School, my mind automatically went to YA. I was not expecting this thriller whodunit wild ride that had me guessing every single chapter. Was it really a suicide? We’re they pushed? Is that a male or female staring through the keyhole? So many questions and so many answers.

I loved the characters in The Suicide House. Ryder and Rory were strong females that could save themselves. I was here for it. Lane was such a great balance for Rory, even though I felt he had a minor role in this book.

The ending is my actual dream come true. It’s like being in The Beast’s library in Beauty & The Beast. It was absolutely adorable and added the perfect touch to such a great thriller. 5 fantastic stars.

Also, a massive Thank You to Charlie Donlea on the authors note showing other books I could read with each character in it. I am reading to start reading Some Choose Darkness.

Thank you so much Kensington Books & NetGalley for the gifted copy. This comes out July 28th, and I can’t wait to hear everyone else’s reaction.

ARC received via Netgalley for an honest review

Woah. Just.. woah.

From the minute I picked up The Suicide House, I could not put it down.

It is a fascinating, gripping tale of murder, suicide (or is it) and the hunt for what really happened that night a year ago.

There were so many holy moly and WTF moments in this tale. As I turned each page, I was sure I knew what had happened. And each time, Charlie Donlea had left me on another wild goose chase, and left me scratching my head. Until again I thought I knew whodunnit.

I did have an inkling late in the story as to who it was, but not the full tale. I had no idea of motives or the whys of it all.

I was buddy reading this story, so my friend and I were constantly messaging each other with our thoughts on what was happening

In fact, at one stage I did say that one part had an I Know What You Did Last Summer vibe lol

Slowly but surely, Donlea pulled all the strings together, and this story came around full circle, the intriguing and horrible prologue now making sense.

I am new to Charlie Donlea's writing, so I did not know our main characters at all, but that did not affect anything. It has left me wanting more of Rory and Lane, and the end of this story has left me with the hopes of many, many more mysteries for me to solve.

I now also have a fantastic looking back catalogue to look up.

Thank you to Kensington Publishing Corporation and Bookish First for the complimentary ARC of THE SUICIDE HOUSE by Charlie Donlea (pub date 7/28/2020)!

I loved Charlie Donlea’s SOME CHOOSE DARKNESS last year, so when I saw his new book on Bookish First, I immediately used my points to get a copy even before reading the synopsis! I was therefore very pleased to learn that this was listed as book two in the Rory Moore/Lane Phillips series!

THE SUICIDE HOUSE begins big with a group of kids from Westmont Proeparatory High School playing a scary game in an abandoned boarding house, summoning the Man in the Mirror. In the end, two students are brutally killed and a teacher is fingered for the crime, though he is left permanently disabled by a failed attempt to kill himself in front of a train, so he is unable to answer the charges. In the year since this tragedy, two more students who survived that night have returned to the scene of the crime to kill themselves as well. The case has garnered a lot of attention in a true crime blog and a new serial podcast which is attempting to get more answers to what exactly a happened that night.

This book starts off creepy and had me hooked from page one. The author does an excellent job of giving you just enough detail to remain gripped to the pages, but with enough ambiguity to leave a lot of details to uncover as the investigation continues. Psychologist Lane Phillips is hired on by the podcast as a consultant and he in turn brings in forensic reconstructionist Rory Moore who is soon intrigued by the case. I especially enjoyed spending some more time with Rory Moore, a woman on the autism spectrum who has made the characteristics of this label into distinct strengths in her professional life and her hobbies (her doll reconstruction hobby makes a return as well and I again found this fascinating).

The mystery is laid out in alternating time periods, going back to the events surrounding the tragedy in 2019 and laying out the investigation taking place in 2020. Multiple points of view are involved as well in both time periods as the narrative follows students, school personnel, reporters, police and journalists. We also get snippets of the actual podcast itself in the beginning to introduce us to the events of 2019 and the remaining mysteries. All of this works really well to keep the story going at a good pace and I couldn’t help but keep flipping pages!

From the author’s note at the end, I now know that in addition to Lane and Rory, some of the side characters in this novel are also from Donlea’s prior books, but this book is absolutely written to work as a stand alone! I recommend adding this one to your TBR when it releases on 7/28/2020!

*5 Stars*

ARC kindly received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Gripping. Thrilling. Unputdownable. There are many ways to describe the thrill of reading this book. From the get go, I was hooked. Another great novel from this author. I was immediately immersed into the world of this story, and I just had to know what was going on. How on earth was everything going to match up and play out? What as happening to these kids at the school, and how did the other mysterious characters fit in?

There are plenty of characters at play in this one, and I spent the majority of the novel wondering how they would all link together by the end. Donlea expertly plays everything out in a way that keeps you on edge, slowly putting together bits and pieces and coming up with your own theories.

I loved so many things about this book, and my favourite characters were Rory and Lane, along with Ryder. And maybe Gus too, by the end. They all played their own roles in telling this tale, and I enjoyed their individuality and the pieces they brought to the story.

I eventually pieced things together a little bit before the end, but only certain pieces, like one of my suspicions of who dun it. The other things came slowly, as piece by piece, Donlea reveals them all in one big finale.

There is certainly potential for many books after the ending of this one, and I absolutely cannot wait. Highly recommend, and bring on the next book!

I was hooked from page one! Could not put this book down! Let me just start by saying I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book. I absolutely loved it! This is the first book I have read by this author, I can assure you it will not be my last! Two students were slaughtered inside a high school. Absolutely gruesome. Now of course the case has become all the talk of a hit podcast, the suicide house. So many mysteries and questions still had even though someone has been convicted of the murders. I don't want to go into to much more detail and spoil anything for anyone. I was absolutely hooked like I said. It was absolutely creepy and kept me wanting more. You should definitely pick this book up!

3.5 stars

Book 2, Rory Moore/Lane Phillips

There is so much potential here, but this just didn’t cut it for me. Maybe I’m spoiled by Angela Marsons and her Detective Kim Stone series [book:Killing Mind|51458670] to fully appreciate Donlea's protagonist Rory. He certainly has dedicated a lot of time making her memorable, down to her Madden Eloisee combat boots (mentioned in almost every other chapter she’s in) and her Dark Lord stout. (not mentioned as often as the combat boots, but a very close second)

As I hinted above, there’s a lot of repetition writing, almost to the point of being insulting to the reader. I promise, I’ll never forget Rory has a photograph memory.
Besides all this, while the storyline did hold my attention, there was something missing. A lack of intensity and suspense I’m thinking. That 'thing' that keeps you thinking about the book long after you’ve put it down.

I’m on the fence on whether I’m going to continue this journey with Rory and Lane, but thankfully I’ve got some time before I need to make any decisions.

ARC provided by NetGalley

Wow, what a ride! The story features a secret society at an exclusive prep school, where a series of apparent suicides follows a double homicide. Things just don’t add up, and a team of quirky characters join together to solve the mystery. I really enjoyed this book, which really captured and held my attention all the way to the satisfying conclusion. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this e-galley for review.

The plot for this one was great!! I was guessing right along with the character on who did what and the mystery was just wonderful!! I loved the twists and turns and I really need to read book one now. The characters made the story even better and I could not put it down!!

I received a digital advance readers copy of The Suicide House by Charlie Donlea from the publisher (Kensington) for early review. The Suicide House is scheduled for release on July 28, 2020.

The Suicide House is the second book in a series that follows Rory and Lane, a forensic reconstructionist and her psychologist partner. While The Suicide House is part of a series, it is intended to stand alone or be read out of order. In this novel Rory and Lane are called in to assist with a year-old murder. Two students were murdered on the property of an elite boarding school last year, and a teacher was implicated, but attempted suicide before he could be brought to trial. A year later, students that survived the event are committing suicide in the same manner, one after another, suggesting there is more to the solved case than investigators initially believed.

The mystery plot aspect of this novel is an interesting one. We have a group of students who are playing a game as part of initiation into a secret student group when two are murdered. We have deaths continuing a year later that are tied to the original murders. We have an investigative journalist who is researching the mysterious murders on the side, producing a series of YouTube videos to document her research. We have another journalist producing a podcast investigating the murders as well.

Despite this interesting premise, I had one major issue with the plot. All of the threads mentioned above are introduced in the first 15% of the book. The main character(s) is not. Knowing that this was the second book in a series, I expected Rory and/or Lane to serve as our main character. Neither of these characters is introduced until we are 15% through the story. Since I had been introduced to so many other characters, including two who were investigating the murders, I found that I wasn’t actually sure who the main character of this novel was until the final chapter. Once Rory and Lane are introduced, we spend very little time with them, which made it difficult to connect with them as characters, and for the plot to feel cohesive.

Donlea presents this novel in third person (with the exception of some journal entries in first person). This allows Donlea to move through time and space. Mostly, we bounce between 2019 and 2020, between the night of the original murders and current time, but we do further back to an unspecified time when the murderer was a child and teenager. This jumping presents all of the pieces of the mystery, but we are getting bits and pieces from a multitude of perspectives, not primarily from our main character. New perspectives are added throughout the novel, even up to the climax. The result is that the reader has been given all of the information to piece together the mystery. But we don’t get to follow one investigator as they solve a case, pulling together clues and hints with them as they move forward.

For me, this novel reveals one of the largest challenges in writing a mystery/thriller series. With each new novel, your main character will be presented with a new case/mystery to work through. That new case will bring new characters who are already attached to the mystery. The difficulty is in balancing developing the newly arrived characters as part of the case without losing focus on your already existing main characters. In my opinion, The Suicide House didn’t quite crack this challenge. I think this would have been a stronger novel if the journalist with the YouTube channel had taken over as the main character and we had spent more time following her investigation of the murders. If you read this one, let me know if you agree, or if you like the presentation of many points of view.

The Suicide House was an incredible rollercoaster of such amazing detail. Charlie Donlea really sold this thrilling story of messed up and terrifying characters. This was my first read by Charlie Donlea and I can tell it will not be my last. I am so grateful to have gotten this ARC e-book of The Suicide House because I now have another amazing author to look out for. Thank you Netgalley and to the publisher.

The Suicide House makes you feel like you can guess who and what is going on in this mysterious game of cat and mouse. You get to learn about the killers past and some of their present. But every so often you're thinking is this a student. is the the Man in the Mirror folklore real , or is it a teacher? But atlas at the end you are shook at what you have found out. The Suicide House is perfect for anyone who loves a good thrill.

An outstanding book by Charlie Donlea. The Suicide House is a follow up to "Some Choose Darkness" but can be read as a stand alone. Honestly though, Some Choose Darkness was so fantastic and I think you will enjoy the Suicide House more as you will get more character development.

In this book, a boarding school has a double homicide occur. Additionally, there have been suicides associated with the school.

I highly recommend this book. There are multiple twists that keep you guessing.

The characters are complex and well fleshed out. Rory Moore is a forensic reconstructionist and Lane Phillips is a forensic psychologist and their relationship is really well written.

Together, they investigate what is really happening at the suicide house. HIGHLY recommended this book and all books by Charlie Donlea.

Loved it!

The Suicide House has a good amount of characters and two different timelines with these characters but it wasn’t too befuddling. The beginning definitely had me scrambling a bit but I imagine that was intentional to keep me as the reader guessing who is who.

I won’t deny that I felt a smug sense of satisfaction when we finally learned who the killer was and I GUESSED IT like a third of the way through the novel. I loved it though because even though I had a sense of who the baddie was I couldn’t figure out why or how. The puzzle pieces were too strewn about for me to compile it all together so early on.

The basic plot is that two teenagers end up murdered (one of them impaled on a wrought iron fence) and the rest seemingly start committing suicide because they can’t cope with it. Of course, the more we investigate the more we find things are a bit more muddy than that.

I also thought the red herring was well done. I recognized the person for what they were, but I still couldn’t figure out how that person would fit into the rest of the puzzle.

All in all I would definitely recommend this one to people. It’s a great murder mystery and kept me guessing up until the end, which was immensely satisfying.

I didn’t realize at first, but this is actually the second novel in a series! Luckily, they can be read as standalone novels so I didn’t whine in confusion the entire time. It was actually hilarious for me to read this, because my YA-reading brain was all “oh, they’re all in their early twenties!” That…was very wrong. Rory is 40 and Lane is 50, so clearly I need to read more adult books so I’m not shocked when the main characters are over 25.

I adored Lane and Rory as characters*! Lane is a former FBI profiler, and he’s both clever and thoughtful. I also loved Rory so, so much. She’s a brilliant forensic reconstructionist who’s also on the autism spectrum! Her skills are enhanced by that fact, and not inhibited. That was a fact I really appreciated. It was really interesting to me, seeing how she dealt with the stress of her life by restoring antique dolls. I would love to see OwnVoices autistic readers share their thoughts on this representation.

We also get many other different perspectives, however. We get to read from the killer’s journals, and a little from his point of view. There’s a journalist obsessed with the Westmont Prep killings named Ryder Harris, and a podcast host named Mack Carter. There were a few other chapters from multiple people, but I personally found it easy to follow.

Another aspect that was brilliantly done are the flashbacks. We get to see the students and teachers in the summer of 2019, in the events leading up to the murders. There are flashbacks to the killer’s past. Finally, we’re seeing the case unfold in present time. I was actually kept guessing until nearly the end!
While I appreciated getting to see the case unfold from different perspectives, there were almost too many. I couldn’t feel totally invested in most of them. It quickly became annoying, because I would become comfortable with one aspect of the case, and then BAM* we’d instantly slip into another time, another character, and another plot point.

My other complaint is that while I was interested, I never felt fully grabbed by the case itself. I like to be SHOOK. I like to be on the edge of my seat, breathless, gripped by a sort of insatiable hunger to discover what’s next. And sadly, I never quite felt that with most of this book, except for the ending.

I forgot to add the review of this book after reading it and now I can't quite recall most of what I read besides the basics, which is not a great sign. The book was fun enough and passed the time, but it didn't blow my mind.

I’ve read a few a Charlie Donlea books, but this one didn’t grab me as much as others have.

The bare bones of the story was great; the mystery and intrigue about Westmont Prep killings and the aftermath, the idea of a podcast uncovering the secrets, the secrets and the game, and having a neuro-diverse main character is pretty awesome.

Unfortunately I found the writing to be really repetitive, and the constant name dropping and product placement, as well as the in-depth descriptions of doll maintenance grated on me after a while, and detracted from my overall enjoyment .

All that aside though, there were many suspenseful moments and thrills to get me across the finish line.

Thank you to Charlie Donlea, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars - I received an early copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

CW: domestic violence/abuse, suicide, murder, depression

Summer 2019, tragedy struck Westmont Prep when a game at an abandoned house in the woods ended with two students dead. Since that night, four more people have gone back to the old house to kill themselves on the train tracks: three students and one teacher...only the teacher survived. The same teacher accused of murder.

A year later, a wildly successful podcast has come out chronicling the murders and theories about the game they played that night, The Man in the Mirror. Many people already had suspicions about the murders and what really happened that night, but once the famous podcast host is killed, a group including a reporter, a forensic reconstructionist, a criminal profiler, and a small-town cop dive deep into the secrets of the school to find out what really happened that night.


You had me at boarding school mystery 😍

I went into this book thinking it would be more along the lines of a ghost story but I am so happy to be wrong.

The Suicide House jumps between present day, the summer of 2019 and a unknown person’s journal entries. The journal entries were the perfect additional to make this story a true mystery. Throughout the whole book, I was convinced the journal belonged to one of two people...and I was wrong. The twist was a legitimate one and it was so refreshing to read a thriller that wasn’t super predictable. Or predictable at all for me...everything we come to find out honestly came as a huge surprise to me.

I will definitely be going back and reading more Charlie Donlea books.