A review by nicolem_young
Coram House by Bailey Seybolt

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

 Book/Story: ⭐️⭐⭐
Book Cover: ⭐️⭐️⭐

Trigger Warning(s): Child Abuse (Physical, Emotional, Sexual)
Religion
Loss Of Spouse
Loss Of Child (mentioned)
Alcoholism (mentioned)
Pedophilia (mentioned)
POV: First Person
Series/Standalone: Standalone
First In Series: N/A
Trope(s): None
Spice: ️None
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Burn: Slow
Safe or Dark: Dark
Release Date: April 15, 2025

Please note that this book touches on some very sensitive subjects. I strongly recommend checking the trigger warning before diving into this. 

If you enjoyed Netflix’s docuseries, The Keepers, I think you will definitely enjoy this book. Both these stories give off similar vibes. If you are a true crime junkie, I think you will enjoy this book since it’s based on the true stories of St. Joseph's Orphanage. 

“It’s more like tearing off a hangnail. Painful, yes, to sever that thread of flesh. But also, a relief.”


Pros

- Bailey Seybold’s writing is lovely. It has an easy flow and is very engaging. It’s entertaining without being over the top. The author perfectly sets the scene of the story, being descriptive without being overwordy. You felt like you were battling the cold with Alex Kelley (FMC) at the Coram House next to the lake. You will definitely get sucked into the eerie theme.

- I think the main character being a true crime writer investigating events that have occurred at an orphanage was an interesting concept. 

- I enjoyed how the story was told in different formats. Audio transcripts of police interviews (I wish there were more of them) from children from Coram House (now adults) giving their testimony of things that had happened to and around them while at the orphanage, and the day-to-day perspective and investigating of the main character. 

“It’s like, once you’re broken, no one ever really believes that you can be whole again.”


- Flashbacks were sprinkled in nicely without disrupting the flow of the book. We were taken back in time at just the right moments. It was very nicely done. 

- I found MOST of the characters to be enjoyable and interesting.

-I didn’t see the end twist coming. As I think back, all the clues were there; I just didn’t piece things together. That was very well done. I ended up giving this book an additional half star solely based on that.

Cons

- One of my only qualms with Seybold's writing was that at times it did get rather repetitive. Alex was constantly going over the facts of the case, which we as the readers didn’t need to hear about. There were some scenes that didn’t do anything to progress the story; they were just sort of there. This unfortunately did slow things down a bit. There’s a lot to unpack with this case, sometimes too much.

Sidenote : This particular sentence both disgusted and humored me. “The air is damp and stale, like walking into a cloud of someone else’s breath.”- I’m sorry, WHAT!? 

- The story builds slowly (and I do mean SLOWLY), so if you are looking for a fast burn, this is not the book for you. This is not a fast-paced thriller by any means. I wouldn’t even classify it as a thriller; more like a mystery. 

- If you are also a fan of short chapters, this is not the book for you. Most of the chapters in the first part of this book are LONG. That, paired with the pace of the plot, made this very hard for me to get through. 

- This just felt very drawn out and could have honestly been at least fifty pages shorter. The point of the book still would have gotten across, and we wouldn’t be missing out on anything. 

“I’m just saying, plenty of us have good and bad in us. Just depends which way the balance tips that day.”


- The romance storyline didn’t mesh with the rest of the plot. It felt very forced and didn’t unfold organically. It just wasn’t believable. I also wasn’t aware that it was something that would be happening, as it wasn’t even hinted at in the synopsis. Honestly, it should have/could have been left out entirely. It just wasn’t needed. Seybolt was trying to add something to the story that was unnecessary.

- I just couldn’t get behind Alex as a main character. Something about her drove me crazy; perhaps I found her to be a bit pretentious, or maybe it’s because I found her to be rather flat. She was just sharing the story with us rather than living it. Was she too nosy? Was she just too bland? Did she come off as a know-it-all? I don’t know. There was just something about her I didn’t like. 

With that being said, I really enjoyed the fact that Alex was someone who had real-life problems that she was dealing with but was still level-headed and relatively responsible. Despite not being able to get behind her, I did find her to be reliable and, in certain ways, easy to relate to. More often than not in thriller books, FMCs are unreliable, confused, and easily manipulated. This was a great change of pace. I do wish all of the characters had more development and background information given to us. 

I wasn’t 100% sure whether to put this in the pros or cons sections, so I just shoved it here. 

- The last 25% moved way too fast. The entire book built so slowly until about 75%, and then we just hit the ground running. I wasn’t a big fan of the ending of this one. It wasn’t terrible per se, but I didn’t leave the story feeling completely satisfied. 

“That’s the thing with anger— you have to figure out what to do with it. You control it or it will control you.”


Overall, this was a good debut novel. I believe Bailey Seybold has a lot of potential and a promising future as an author.

P.S I wouldn’t bill this as a thriller but more of a mystery. There wasn’t anything really thrilling about it.

TLDR: AN INTERESTING SLOW BURN MYSTERY BASED OFF TRUE BUT SAD EVENTS! 

“Sometimes too late is the best we can do.”


As always, please remember that reading is subjective, and that’s what makes it so great. 😊 

I would like to thank Atria Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

This is my voluntary, unbiased, and honest review. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings