Charger Arts & Entertainment

Lois Duncan is Down A Dark Hall

Allison Coffey, Charger Staff

Lois Duncan is known to everyone as the goddess of suspense. Of all the books I've read of hers, I've only been disappointed with I Know What You Did Last Summer. Until now.

When I first started reading Down a Dark Hall, I had high expectations of it, since it was a Lois Duncan book and all. However, I was sadly disappointed.
The characters were relatable and the plot was well planned out, just like a book should be. I found it rather boring.

It starts out telling about Blackwood, a boarding school for girls, and the four girls who will be living there until Christmas (Kit Gordy, Sand Mason, Lynda Hannah and Ruth Stark). The four of them are there to help Madame Duret with her little...experiment.

The girls soon start excelling at different subjects--Ruth at mathematics, Sandy at poetry, Lynda at painting, and Kit at music.

Madame will later sell what they do as "found" projects from famous writers, painters, and musicians who died way too early in life and still had a lot of talent that the world needed to see or hear.

The girls soon learn, obviously, that they are being used, and try escaping for weeks, finally being able to leave during a storm after they learn about Madame's past experiments and burn down the house.

The ending is left open a little, letting the reader decide what happens next.

Although this isn't the best book I've read, it was able to keep my interest for a while.

Article prepared for web by Joy Wheeler