Fleet Hall Admissions : A Gothic Psychological Novel of Memory, Silence and Belonging.

by Louise Richmond

242 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 15, 2026

Reviews

[Alisha E]

Giving a Voice to the Forgotten

I picked up Fleet Hall after the author recommended it to me when I asked indie authors on TikTok to share their books, and I went into it knowing very little about what to expect. I’m glad I did, because part of what made this book so compelling was never being quite sure what was happening. Was Fleet Hall haunted? Was Mara slowly losing her grip on reality? Or was something else entirely unfolding around her?

Mara arrives at college to study psychology and moves into Fleet Hall, a building with a history she doesn’t yet understand. As that history begins to reveal itself, the story becomes about something much bigger than what may or may not be happening within the walls of an old asylum.

For me, the most powerful part of Fleet Hall was its reminder of how easily people can be dismissed, pushed aside, and eventually forgotten. Women were once institutionalized because they were experiencing postpartum depression, anxiety, dementia, or simply because their families could no longer, or no longer wanted to, care for them. Their lives continued behind closed doors while the rest of society moved on.

And in many ways, that makes this story feel incredibly timely. We may understand more today, but we still have a tendency to distance ourselves from experiences that make us uncomfortable. It is much easier to dismiss someone’s pain when we don’t understand it than it is to sit beside them and try.

Without giving away where Mara’s story leads, I think what stayed with me most was the idea of being remembered. Of allowing someone who had been forgotten to be seen again, heard again, and to have her story matter.

Fleet Hall may draw you in with its mystery and unsettling atmosphere, but what stayed with me was its humanity. It is a story about the people society forgot and the importance of remembering that every one of them had a life, a voice, and a story worth telling.

Five stars from me, and another indie author I’m very glad I discovered.

[E Singer]

Okay, I need to read the blurb better. I totally went in to this with thinking I was reading a book about a haunted school. There are several hints that the school might be haunted from the beginning. The suspense of wondering when the tension would rise to ghostly apparitions or possession…never came. However, reading Mara’s descent into depression and anxiety left me with a different kind of tension. This book was beautifully written. It was a slow read for me, but not in a bad way. I was curious, I felt compelled to watch Mara’s struggle. This book had me questioning society and my own experiences. It delves into personal struggle with losing identity and how those around simply choose to watch, or participate in a person’s downward spiral, rather than help someone. It was dark, it was uncomfortable, it was infuriating, and forces the reader to look introspectively about the choices they make when engaging with society. Who do you want to be? How do you want others to perceive you? Will you give up your own identity and make compromises that you don’t agree with just to fit in? I highly recommend this book if you want an emotional read.

[Charlie Robinson]

I loved this dark academia thriller.
The characters in Fleet Hall: Admissions are brilliantly written, no one is purely good or bad, which kept me guessing the entire time. The main character's struggle to fit into such a toxic, intense school felt so real.

Louise Richmond does a great job of building a creepy, slow-burn tension between the students and the professors. If you like psychological suspense with lots of secrets, you should definitely read this.

[Joanne Abbott]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Absolutely gripping — I couldn’t put it down!

Fleet Hall completely pulled me in. From the very beginning, there was something unsettling and compelling about the story that made me want to keep reading.

The atmosphere is fantastic, and the characters feel complex and believable. I particularly loved the way the story gradually unfolds, keeping you questioning what is really happening and what you can trust. There are moments of tension and mystery that genuinely stayed with me after I’d put the book down.

What impressed me most was how emotionally absorbing it was. It isn’t just a story about secrets and suspense — there’s a real sense of loss, friendship, memory and belonging running underneath it all.

I finished it wanting to talk about it with someone, which for me is always the sign of a great book!

Highly recommended. Five stars from me. I really hope Louise Richmond writes more books like this!