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The School
Having moved from California to New England, Vanessa Forbes begins attending a private school, but soon learns that the sinister place is trying to take over her mind.
- GenresHorrorYoung Adult
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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133 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 23, 2011
I really liked this one, from what I can remember. Hallucinations, possession, murder/suicide, perverted janitors. It was incorrectly placed in the children's section of a second-hand bookstore, and my eleven-year-old self was greatly impressed.
But what a godawful front cover.
But what a godawful front cover.
May 10, 2014
Vanessa, a young, free-spirited Californian girl is suddenly transported to a boarding school in New England after her parents get divorced. There is something wrong about the school, something sinister and she sees ghosts from previous lives, hears voices in the walls and observes the grotesque gargoyles decorating the rooftops, snarl and come to life.
Many years ago, Lisa King wrote a play called `Flowers of Darkness', inspired by the voices from the walls. Lisa had a hopeless crush on the charismatic headmaster who slept indiscriminately with the students. In a rage of jealousy fuelled by the school, which was built on a witches training ground, Lisa kills the headmaster and the two students in his bed. Now the story is replayed in detail, with the school wanting Vanessa. The main focus of the book is on the play, changed to `The Dark' for fear of reminding those on the board who remembered the rumours. At first when Vanessa arrives, you think she is the reincarnation of Lisa King, but then later it emerges that the school wanted her to take over from the current caretakers.
I read this book in Paperback and it was a good read. It kept me interested throughout. It had a steady, albeit slow built to the end, and the story was intriguing enough to make me wonder how it would all end.
Many years ago, Lisa King wrote a play called `Flowers of Darkness', inspired by the voices from the walls. Lisa had a hopeless crush on the charismatic headmaster who slept indiscriminately with the students. In a rage of jealousy fuelled by the school, which was built on a witches training ground, Lisa kills the headmaster and the two students in his bed. Now the story is replayed in detail, with the school wanting Vanessa. The main focus of the book is on the play, changed to `The Dark' for fear of reminding those on the board who remembered the rumours. At first when Vanessa arrives, you think she is the reincarnation of Lisa King, but then later it emerges that the school wanted her to take over from the current caretakers.
I read this book in Paperback and it was a good read. It kept me interested throughout. It had a steady, albeit slow built to the end, and the story was intriguing enough to make me wonder how it would all end.
March 24, 2022
3.5/5 stars
Not surprising in any way, but still fun!
Not surprising in any way, but still fun!
February 11, 2008
Hoo! Bad. I mean, real bad. But bad in a funny way. BMI specializes in horror novels that are bad in a funny way, I think. And they've published some real wangers, but this one may take the cake.
In 1931, a student at a new and exclusive Massachusetts girls' school is possessed by some kind of demonic entity (what, exactly, is never specified) and murders the headmaster, whom she has a crush on, and the two students she discovers him with. Fifty years later, the school (which IS the demonic entity... but we're still not sure what, why, or how) sets up the same scenario with a new cast.
Yup. Bad, I mean, bad. Predictable, silly, gratuitous. Four hundred pages of utter tripe. I laughed in every place I wasn't supposed to.
In 1931, a student at a new and exclusive Massachusetts girls' school is possessed by some kind of demonic entity (what, exactly, is never specified) and murders the headmaster, whom she has a crush on, and the two students she discovers him with. Fifty years later, the school (which IS the demonic entity... but we're still not sure what, why, or how) sets up the same scenario with a new cast.
Yup. Bad, I mean, bad. Predictable, silly, gratuitous. Four hundred pages of utter tripe. I laughed in every place I wasn't supposed to.
December 17, 2012
This entire book had the feel of a bad B-movie where a bunch of drunk kids get taken out by a lunatic at a camp or cabin. The excessive use of drugs and alcohol (not to mention sex) by 16-17 year old girls in a boarding school where no one noticed seemed a tad bit ridiculous. I did like Vanessa and Bobby but the other characters were totally unlikable. This is not an author I would read again.
February 21, 2025
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June 23, 2021
Lots of fun…!
Want to read
February 28, 2023I'd like to read the book please
Read
May 22, 2024DNF
I simply didn't find it interesting enough to continue reading.
I simply didn't find it interesting enough to continue reading.
July 17, 2024
I wanted to love this book so much. Written by the screenwriter of two of my favorite 70s B-movies, 'Invasion of the Blood Farmers' and 'Shriek of the Mutilated', but, hey, it was entertaining for other reasons. Lots and lots of exposition for one-dimensional characters.
Teenagers on coke and Jack Daniels vs. an evil school. Evil is explained in very vague terms and the prologue ultimately makes little sense. And it all ends with a lazy finale that makes you guess the authors had reach their quota of words (a constant disappointment with the last 80s Paperback Horror novels I read)
It's still hard for me to believe, but this book was adapted in Quebec (where I live), in 1990, into a film which added voodoo elements to the stew. Not seen yet.
Teenagers on coke and Jack Daniels vs. an evil school. Evil is explained in very vague terms and the prologue ultimately makes little sense. And it all ends with a lazy finale that makes you guess the authors had reach their quota of words (a constant disappointment with the last 80s Paperback Horror novels I read)
It's still hard for me to believe, but this book was adapted in Quebec (where I live), in 1990, into a film which added voodoo elements to the stew. Not seen yet.
Read
May 4, 2020I finally found it!!
So, I read this one in my early teens along side Christopher Pike slashers and the Fear Street series but I could not remember the exact name of it, I had vivid memories of the (way too mature for me at the time) plot and vague memories the cover art (a green apple? gold or purple letters?) but could never find it until today. I tried a search for "90s horror novels, boarding school" and as soon as I saw this cover I said: That's it! out loud.
I am sure it is real bad by modern standards but some of the trippy drug scenes and cult initiation ending stuck in my brain all these years.
Wow! I can't believe I finally solved this mystery.
So, I read this one in my early teens along side Christopher Pike slashers and the Fear Street series but I could not remember the exact name of it, I had vivid memories of the (way too mature for me at the time) plot and vague memories the cover art (a green apple? gold or purple letters?) but could never find it until today. I tried a search for "90s horror novels, boarding school" and as soon as I saw this cover I said: That's it! out loud.
I am sure it is real bad by modern standards but some of the trippy drug scenes and cult initiation ending stuck in my brain all these years.
Wow! I can't believe I finally solved this mystery.
July 25, 2025
It was an okay story but it dragged until like the last quarter of the book then it sped along to an ending.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews