Sanctuary Bay

November 2, 2015
Sarah Merson spent her childhood in foster care after her parents were murdered when she was three. Suddenly, she receives a mysterious full scholarship to Sanctuary Bay Academy, a ritzy prep school on an island off the coast of Maine. The school attracts the children of the world’s wealthy and powerful, even though no student is allowed to leave the island until graduation. Inevitably, the reasons for this turn out to be sinister, as well as related to the decrepit ruins of an asylum on one end of the island and a set of WWII POW cells dug into the school’s bedrock. Burns and Metz, who have collaborated on Crave and other titles, build a suspenseful and satisfying narrative full of subtly creepy details, which derails near the end due to an implausible explanation, complete with a villain-explains-all monologue. Still, the majority of the story is well-written, somewhat campy fun, teetering between a psychological study of teenage peer pressure and an over-the-top horror flick. Ages 14–up. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House.

November 15, 2015
An impoverished serial foster child finds herself enrolled in the world's most exclusive preparatory school. Sarah's memory is not only photographic, it is incredibly vivid. Her earliest memory is of her parents' murders, after which she was placed in foster care. She doesn't know why she has been given a scholarship to the prestigious Sanctuary Bay Academy, but, stunned by the luxury of the school, she sees it as her best chance to escape poverty. Of course, all such posh schools have secret societies, and Sarah joins the Wolfpack, which promises future power but demands complete loyalty and sacrifice. When the club goes too far and one of her roommates disappears, however, Sarah teams up with the school rebel, handsome Ethan, the scion of a famous family. Her uncanny memory comes in handy as they investigate what turns out to be an evil plot for world domination. Keeping romance and sex on the back burner, Burns and Metz maintain the suspense until they reveal the underlying cause of the trouble in the school. Then they lapse into formula, introducing a nasty villain who, as all villains should, obligingly explains the entire nefarious scheme, thus sparing the authors further effort in plot development. Despite its flaws, the book is good entertainment until the ending, which leaves the storyline in limbo, waiting for a sequel. Fun enough, till the formula sets in. (Suspense. 14-18)

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December 1, 2015

Gr 10 Up-Within the grounds of a seemingly perfect prep school, Burns and Metz reveal a world of violence and secrets. Sarah Merson is an orphan with a freakishly perfect memory. There are a lot of things she'd rather forget, and she has much to learn when she is unexpectedly accepted into a prestigious boarding school on a remote island in Maine. At Sanctuary Bay Academy, the people are beautiful, the academic expectations are high, and the risks are, literally, life and death. After being swept into an even more secret society within the school, Sarah soon discovers that what lies beneath the pristine exterior is a rocky foundation of blood, bones, and a cruel conspiracy that may even reach from beyond the grave. Genuinely enjoyable from start to finish, this novel would lend itself most fully to those who enjoy gritty, grotesque exposes of superficially perfect people and places. The authors successfully create an intricate environment on the isolated island, and readers will likely find it just as easy to become immersed in the plot as the characters become immersed in the school itself. The protagonist self-identifies as coming from a racially mixed and ambiguous background, which lends itself to the character's sense of alienation and "otherness." VERDICT A quickly captivating account of an outsider's new life inside a world of prestige, pleasure, and pain and her struggle to find acceptance and herself and to survive.-Emily Grace Le May, Providence Community Library, RI

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2015
Grades 9-12 Orphaned following the murder of her parents and then shuttled from one foster home to another, Sarah learned long ago not to expect much from life. When the offer of a full-ride scholarship to Sanctuary Bay Academy arrives, Sarah is suspicious but hopes it will permit her to make a fresh start. The school, isolated on an island far from anything, is state-of-the-art and almost seems too good to be true: friends, facilities, and maybe even a boyfriend await. Yet Sarah senses that there is something dark beneath the cheery veneer of students and staff. What lies beneath the school besides caves and tunnels? What secrets are being kept from the rest of the world? This mash-up of private-school lit meets mystery novel meets conspiracy theory should keep readers guessing as the horror continues to mount. Jenny Hubbard's Paper Covers Rock (2011) and Elizabeth LaBan's The Tragedy Paper (2013), with their elite-school settings and dark secrets, would both make interesting companion reads.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
Foster teen Sarah, who keeps her exceptionally sharp memory secret, is shocked to get a scholarship to elite prep school Sanctuary Bay in Maine. Once she's initiated into the school's secret society, seemingly innocent activities are revealed to have undertones so insidious Sarah doubts her own perceptions. Mystery, romance, and some familiar psychological-thriller elements keep the plot moving.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)