I have to admit, I have a love-hate relationship with psychological thrillers. My favorite movie of all time, Silence of the Lambs, terrifies me every time I watch it, and yet I still watch it. One of my favorite TV shows is Criminal Minds, but if you want to know a secret, I cannot watch it at night, and especially not if I am home alone, despite the fact that I have several very well-trained guard dogs to keep me safe. My imagination is just too good at it’s job. However, I am still very drawn to scary stories that focus on mental illness and psychology. When I saw the book Asylum, I was instantly drawn to it. I have always been intrigued by mental institutions of the past. Something about them just really interests me. Beyond the title of the book, there are pictures, creepy, old-looking pictures, throughout the whole thing. This reminded me of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, which I also enjoyed. Plus, Asylum has two other books in the series, and I really love it when I find a book that has MORE in case I love it.
I started the book on a Friday. I read a few chapters. The chapters are short, so I didn’t get very far. I got distracted, and it wasn’t until Saturday morning that I picked it up again. I then stayed up much later than I should have (my normal bedtime is about 9 pm...and I stayed up until almost 1 am) finishing this book. I won’t say the ending completely surprised me, but it did have its twists, and it was definitely suspenseful. The pictures, the psychological nature of this book, and then general creepiness lead me to be scared, I am not going to lie. The characters in this book could be more developed, but I think that will happen in the books to come (I have the second book, but I think I might need to take a break from the series. Kind of like watching a cartoon or a cooking show after watching a scary movie to clear your mind).
The setting of this book is what really makes it. In college, I went to OU. The university owns a collection of buildings that we called “The Ridges.” They, at one time, were the Athens Lunatic Asylum. Thousands of people, both mentally ill and completely misunderstood, were housed there. It is known as one of the most haunted places in the country. Like the asylum in the book, it was closed down during the Reagan administration, and most of the patients were simply released into the community. While I was at school at OU, I did a LOT of research on the Ridges and its very rich and unique history. This all tied in with the main building in the book, which was also owned by a university, and then began HOUSING students in it. Talk about terrifying.
I would definitely recommend this book if you like psychological thrillers or are interested in the history of institutions and mental illness. There is romance, suspense, and a bit of history, and it centers around three teenagers who choose to spend their summer taking classes to advance their educations. Obviously, it was right up my alley. Let me know what you think!
I started the book on a Friday. I read a few chapters. The chapters are short, so I didn’t get very far. I got distracted, and it wasn’t until Saturday morning that I picked it up again. I then stayed up much later than I should have (my normal bedtime is about 9 pm...and I stayed up until almost 1 am) finishing this book. I won’t say the ending completely surprised me, but it did have its twists, and it was definitely suspenseful. The pictures, the psychological nature of this book, and then general creepiness lead me to be scared, I am not going to lie. The characters in this book could be more developed, but I think that will happen in the books to come (I have the second book, but I think I might need to take a break from the series. Kind of like watching a cartoon or a cooking show after watching a scary movie to clear your mind).
The setting of this book is what really makes it. In college, I went to OU. The university owns a collection of buildings that we called “The Ridges.” They, at one time, were the Athens Lunatic Asylum. Thousands of people, both mentally ill and completely misunderstood, were housed there. It is known as one of the most haunted places in the country. Like the asylum in the book, it was closed down during the Reagan administration, and most of the patients were simply released into the community. While I was at school at OU, I did a LOT of research on the Ridges and its very rich and unique history. This all tied in with the main building in the book, which was also owned by a university, and then began HOUSING students in it. Talk about terrifying.
I would definitely recommend this book if you like psychological thrillers or are interested in the history of institutions and mental illness. There is romance, suspense, and a bit of history, and it centers around three teenagers who choose to spend their summer taking classes to advance their educations. Obviously, it was right up my alley. Let me know what you think!