What a terrible book! This is an insult to YA, to professional writers, and the industry in general. I don't understand why HarperCollins published this. I hate that I bought the entire series and now have to finish it because I couldn't stand this novel at all. It felt like a fanfic written by a small town teenager who was bullied by the 'cool kids' for being a nerd and this was a self-insert where the smart and nerdy character meets other like-minded teens at a place meant just for smart people like them and everyone is accepting and please stop. I hate abandoning books so I just had to rush through this one and get it over with, but there are two more in the series and from what I was presented with here I don't believe it'll get much better.

There was promise in the kindles of the idea. I like the concept of interweaving historical photos with a story but everything was so poorly done, from the writing and the plot with the characters in between. It felt terribly organized and the pacing was absolutely terrible! It went into horror real fast with Joe's murder and that was a bad plunge. I should've gotten that sort of feel from the very start with this novel but instead I got 'creepy' and was slammed in the face with a general aura that didn't fit well with everything that came before it. I was expecting a psychological horror and it didn't even deliver on that. Not enough foreshadowing to make sense of Dan's condition being related, but more so there were so many moments that were predictable - and not in the good way where the author gives you the hints and you get to piece it all together satisfactorily.

The characters were terribly unbelievable - every single one of them. Not only were they poorly developed ("we're nerds and everyone here understand us and we're all geniuses and this is our place to shine"), but the dialogue was atrocious! Nobody speaks like that - not the adults, and definitely not the teens (really, officers wouldn't act like that). There were so many scenes and lines that didn't need to be added, it was just boring and awkward interactions between the main three that were so painful to experience. It's as if the author was a socially awkward kid that would imagine conversations with similar people who'd of course have the perfect responses and are so understanding and they'd get along swimmingly. Another reviewer mentioned that these kids bonded far too quickly and blew up too soon and that is absolutely right. They barely knew each other and acted far too open with each other so soon (like Jordan opening up with his feelings on occasion), and that romance happened way too quickly and unnaturally (also, their first kiss was ridiculous - that just wouldn't happen). The characters were terribly one-sided, too. Look at Jordan playing with his 20-sided dice and being so good in math, isn't he such a nerd? Look at nerdy Abby with her art and her fashion sense. Look at history nerd Dan wanting extra credit so badly. Aren't they the perfect nerds? The author was absolutely terrible job at fleshing out the characters - great job at stereotyping, though. Let's not forget that OOC moment for Abby when she bawls her eyes out at Joe when she tries not to get in trouble. With how her character was built, she should've been making fun of girls like that not stupidly using what a stereotypical woman would to get her way. And again, they all got irrationally mad at each other and blew up far too often (we still didn't get an explanation for the scene in Jordan's room, did we?). Yes, even teenagers don't act that fiery - especially not with friends they bond with on the first day. The three friends were also pretty isolated, too. There weren't any conflicts worth talking about that happened around them except for the asylum. In a school full of teenagers, everything went great and the only things that affected them were directly related to them already (either conflict between them or conflict related to the asylum). Did saying it twice make it any more believable? Oh, and it doesn't make sense for Felix to go from spindly to muscular in the short period of time that passed. There is a complete lack of disconnect from the real world and the author's perception here.

The entire situation was unbelievable, too. So there's this school-but-not-a-school where smart people can enrol in classes that aren't graded as sort of a college prep situation but the characters aren't finished with high school yet and somehow everyone there is a genius in one subject/field and can be taught by professionals for just a few weeks...for no real purpose. Like a nerd summer camp - but for all the nerds - and everyone is pretty cool with each other. Oh, and there is conveniently an asylum turned into a dormitory that exists where nothing has actually been moved from there or taken for collections. It's not torn down because of its historical significance? Well there aren't any preservation methods in place at all. You can't have something needing preservation being placed in a situation where just anyone can fool around - and just anyone did. There would not be a college on the grounds of a place with historical significance; nobody would do that! Not without wanting to tear the place down. Can't tear it down? They'd be building elsewhere. Everything was just so convenient and not well thought out at all.

I don't even think I want to get into the plot and how unorganized it was. Even if I were to suspend my disbelief with the characters and the setting, I still would not have enjoyed this book at all. Dan's condition, the group's adventures, the history of the asylum, and actions from the outside were poorly interwoven. Dan also kept thinking up things - clues and 'coincidences' - that would not have come to him organically and would not have been made by the reader; the author had to make him think it so that something could be explained and it should've been something hinted towards then realized instead.

I'll say it again: I can't believe this book was published. It should have been worked and reworked over and over again before submission. As it is now, it simply doesn't cut it. YA can be hit or miss when it comes to quality so I don't want anyone to think this reflects the genre in its entirety. If you want creepy YA, try elsewhere. If you want a good read, try elsewhere. The only people who will enjoy something like this simply don't understand that they're being cheated out of better experiences - better books. So keep looking and you'll see that you can find more enjoyment out of well-written and well-plotted work and not something that hits just enough things you like to grab your interest.