The Forbidden Room

by Sarah Wray

Taken to live at Oak Hall Children's Centre, Jenny begins a very different life, confined to a wheelchair and dreaming of an earlier time filled with love, family and friends. Then Helen and John Holland offer her a foster home with their son. But when she discovers an old diary beneath a floorboard, she unravels a horrifying secret.

Genres: Young Adult

257 pages, Paperback

First published January 18, 2007

Reviews

[ItzSmashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This one was fairly enjoyable, I found the lead character relatable and was intrigued by the mystery. But it was quite slow paced at times and I found myself struggling to stay interested in parts. The eventual reveal was quite predictable but was well executed on the whole. This is a YA horror though so a lot of my criticisms are understandable given the target audience.

When jenny is adopted by a nice couple, she is overjoyed and loves to play with their young son Steven. But when she starts to notice that both her and Steven are getting sick, she is in a race against time to find out what her new parents are doing in the secret " experiments" room before it is too late for both of them.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a litle disappointed with this book.
I exspected it to be more of a thriller than it was.
I loved the detail and the way it was written though and if it wasn't for the ending or the fact it wasn't scary at all I would've loved it!

[becs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, although I was expecting more of a thriller with a big twist, which it didn’t quite deliver. That said, it was still an engaging and easy read that kept me intrigued by the mystery throughout. As well as being different from anything else that i’ve read.

[Sarah Delport · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Story but the Ending wasnt as good as i hoped..

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good story, sad and scary all rolled into one :)

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was an easy read with a decent enough story.

[Nicki Chalder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good start but a poor finish.

[Gabe · Rating 2 out of 5]

The easiest way to define this novel would be with a single statement: when I found out this was a debut, everything made sense.
Seriously, when I started reading this, I immediately clocked how similar the writing was to that of a Year 11 doing their GCSEs. The unnecessary decription, the characters that sounded older / younger than they should be, the almost predictable plot. It kind of felt like I wasted my time on this, even though I read it in like 3-4 hours.
The only good thing I have to say about this is that the ending is kind of fun.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time reading this author and it was a well written young adult novel.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant YA debut novel. Was happy to stay awake to finish this (5am). It was very different to what I usually read. The story flowed so well it could easily be read on one sitting at only 257 pages. The protagonist is a 14 year girl and a double leg amputee; in children's care home after losing her mum in a car accident. She resigns herself to never being fostered but then the perfect family come along....A great easy read 5*

[Jayne]

Teen fiction about a crippled young teen who thinks she has no hope of being fostered let alone adopted. So when John and Helen Holland chose her, it seems almost too good to be true. Well, you know what they say about things that seem too good to be true.

What's in the forbidden room? Why is it forbidden?

[Rani Killian · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read for anyone who likes family mystery

[Koyasan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't get it. Where's the wow factor??

[Vee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when I was about 12 and I loved it.

[Yusra Asad · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it

[Mikhaila]

Good book, really interesting and the reason i got into science

[Yvette Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

So much spoon feeding by the author. The clues were so obvious and repeated so often! I worked out what was going on pretty much as soon as Jenny arrived at the foster family's house. The rest of the book was like "come on, let's get to it already!". I generally like YA but this was too dumbed down for me.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to give this one a bit lower of a rating because I really did not feel that it met the genre of 'thriller'. Maybe a snippet here and there but overall I really wasn't feeling any thrills. I liked characters, and though the plot was quite unique, as well as the writing style being decent, but if you are looking for thriller I would suggest trying somewhere else.