Oozing Atmosphere..
The fourth outing in the Mallory Dawson Crime Thriller series finds Mallory going undercover at a private girls school where something is badly amiss. Amidst suspicious death, strange messages, old cults and serious assaults, Mallory has her work cut out if she is to find out exactly what is happening there. Oozing atmosphere with a well imagined dark academia setting, a well drawn cast and a puzzling plot, this is a worthy addition to this excellent series.

3.5 ✨
I picked this up as I'd enjoyed the authors previous work... or so I thought.
Actually turns out I was mistaken.
What a great mistake to make, because I'll definitely be reading her again.
I liked how well this works as a stand alone, despite being part of a series. That's always a tricky one to do right.
Enjoyable main characters, and an interesting case.
Academic settings are always feel a bit sinister, and rightly so in this case.
I followed the clues and was pleased I got things right.
So I felt smug and entertained at same time.
Enjoyable writing and great setting.

Sarah Ward never misses and this is another absorbing mystery from her. Mallory Dawson is asked to work undercover at an elite girl’s school to investigate the sudden death of a teacher. The claustrophobia of the setting and the cold, dark Welsh winter contributes to the tension as Mallory is drawn deeper into the mystery, and I galloped through the book needing to know how it was resolved.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This audiobook captures the dark side of academia, on both the student and professorial level. Sure to be a hit with fans of dark academia.