Night School by C. J. Daugherty (review)

When sixteen-year-old Allie Sheridan has one run-in too many with the cops, her parents send her off to Cimmeria Academy, an elite boarding school isolated in the English countryside where all modern technology is forbidden. At first she struggles to find her place and to follow the school's numerous, strictly enforced rules, but she soon finds herself making friends and unexpectedly enjoying her new life. Her friends, though, are part of a tight-knit clique with a long history and plenty of secrets, and they aren't ready to share with an outsider. The school too seems to harbor secrets of its own, including a mysterious Night School with clandestine meetings and an unknown agenda. Then one of Allie's friends is murdered and another begins acting like a stranger, and Allie has to decide if it's worth the risk to discover and expose the truth. A fast-paced read with solid plotting and plenty of intrigue, this novel provides a diverting, straightforward summertime thrill. Characterization and the love story are underexplored, but this is all about suspense, and there the book delivers in spades. The boarding-school setting, with its spooky gothic atmosphere and the underlying elements of espionage and long-standing grudges, sets up a slow-burning tension that builds to an intense finale, with plenty of questions left unanswered as setup for a planned sequel.