Very Bad People

     Evil and virtue aren't always clear cut. Legal and ethical don't always mesh. People can do awful things for perfectly good reasons. The world is a lot more complex and random than we'd often like it to be. Those are the themes running through Kit Frick's roller coaster ride of a chiller: Very Bad People. If you like thrillers set in private boarding schools you'll find the book as delicious 😋 😉 as sea salt caramel ice cream 🍦. 

     When Calliope was only ten her family minivan went off a road and into a lake. Miraculously she and her sisters--Lorelei (9) and Serefina (14 months)--escaped the sinking vehicle and made it to shore. Their mother drowned. No other vehicles were involved. There was no evidence of alcohol or drugs. Possible causes of the accident range from mechanical failure and distracted driving to murder/suicide. 

     "Dad says that sometimes, bad things happen to good people. Six years later, the cause of the accident is officially 'inconclusive'. Dad says that it was a terrible tragedy, and maybe that's all we'll ever get to."

     It isn't enough for Calliope. She's transferring to Tipton Academy, her mother's boarding school, hoping to get insights into the defining event of her life that could help her learn what really happened. 

     In her first week of classes Calliope gets an invitation to join the Haunt and Rail Society an ultra secret society with a plethora of security measures. 

     At first she sees membership as a good thing. Their mission is to expose "injustices, inequities, and bad actors" at the school. In their decades they've been the driving force behind some really important changes. 

     Not to mention her mother was a ghost. 

     But it isn't long until she realizes that she isn't comfortable with all the group's decisions and actions that seem at least borderline unethical at first and continue to go downhill. A vandalized yearbook leads her to information about a decades old tragedy: a student whose beliefs repulsed the then ghosts--a boy who may have fallen to his death...

     ...or been pushed.

     If you're seeking a solid page turner roller coaster ride of a chiller you owe it to yourself to get your hands on Very Bad People. I intend to check out Frick's earlier works when inter library loans are on again. 

On a purrrsonal note, these nights 🌙 are perfect for outdoor reading next to our (my and Eugene's) beautiful garden. It's a little bit of Heaven on Earth.

A great big shout out goes out to Eugene. 

Jules Hathaway 

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