readinginthewings 's review for:

Coram House: A Novel by Bailey Seybolt

4.5

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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After her husband’s death and the failure of her last novel, true-crime author, Alex Kelley, gets hired to ghostwrite a book about an historic orphanage, Coram House, in Burlington, VT.  The abusive crimes against the children there in the 1960’s are well-known, but the disappearance of one little boy captures Alex’s interest.  As she begins her research into the past, she discovers the body of an old woman by the lake.  She is convinced that this murder is connected to Coram House’s past, but how?

Coram House had me captivated from the very first page.  It has a dark, almost gothic, atmosphere, and while it is a steady, slow burn, I was fully engaged the entire time and sped through it, unable to put it down.  Seybolt’s writing was extremely evocative and there were some lines that hit me in the chest with their power and imagery.  Based on a real orphanage, I found the story utterly fascinating.It is a beautifully written mystery, with twists that kept me guessing and left me entirely satisfied.