The Detained

by Kristopher Triana

When Phoebe McBride returns to Bonneville for her twentieth high school reunion, she tells herself it’s the best way to confront what has haunted her since her senior year. There was one boy who never lived to see graduation, and in a way she blames herself for this tragedy. Now a child psychologist, Phoebe is determined to face her demons by going back, but those demons may be fresher than she realizes.

When she arrives at the school there are only three of her old classmates present—a bad boy turned writer, a fallen football hero and a popular girl whose life isn’t all she’d thought it would be. Bonneville isn’t even set up for a party—it’s set up for detention. Tables are aligned and her old P.E. teacher sits waiting. He always hosted detention back in her school days, but now he thinks he’s here to accept an award for all his years of service.

Soon the guests discover gruesome keepsakes waiting on their chairs. Horror and paranoia sink their claws into the class of ’96 as they are forced to revisit the worst memory from their youth, and ultimately pay for their past.

Genres: Horror, Novella, Fiction, Horror Thriller, Thriller, Mystery

112 pages, Paperback

First published March 6, 2018

About the author

Kristopher Triana is the author of Gone to See the River Man, Full Brutal, They All Died Screaming, Shepherd of the Black Sheep, Toxic Love, and more.

His fiction has appeared in countless magazines and anthologies and has been translated into multiple languages, drawing praise from Publisher's Weekly, Cemetery Dance, Rue Morgue, Scream, The Ginger Nuts of Horror and others.

Full Brutal won the Splatterpunk Award for Best Horror Novel of 2019, and Triana won the award again in 2022 for The Night Stockers, which he cowrote with Ryan Harding.

He lives in Connecticut.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When four people show up to their twenty year high school reunion, they find they're the only ones there apart from Coach Dixon and the gym is set up for detention, not a party. What binds Phoebe, Champ, Tyler, Sandy and the Coach together? And will they survive it?

Class reunions are awkward enough, what with having to socialize with people you didn't like decades ago. Imagine being trapped at one and being unable to leave? Even without the prospect of impending murder, that's a frightful proposition.

The Detained is the story of lingering guilt over the suicide of a classmate. If you want a lazy description, it's Poltergeist meats The Breakfast Club. What happens to The Brain, The Bad Boy, the Jock, and The Cheerleader after they've been carrying around guilt for twenty years and it's time to pay the piper?

Things start simply enough. People show up, get locked in, and then creepy turns to bloody. Will anyone emerge from the meat grinder unscathed?

That's pretty much all I want to divulge. The Detained is a powerful little novella and I'm glad I took Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing up on it. Four out of five stars.

[Janie · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I found this story to be fast moving and immersive, I must admit that I was not as impressed as I usually am by Kristopher Triana's work. The characters were somewhat cliche, and the use of the supernatural was disappointing to me. That being said, I still looking forward to reading anything that this author writes.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is going to be one heck of a 20 year High School reunion. Wait. Where is everybody? What is going on? How come there are only four of us former students and the old, loser gym teacher? This looks more like detention than a reunion. There must be a mistake here somewhere.

No mistake…but they are going to wish it was. This reunion is about to get real.

I have been meaning to read some Triana for a while now and have had a few of his sitting on my tbr shelf for way too long. When the opportunity came up to grab an arc of this one, I got right on it. Thanks Max and PMM Publishing for the opportunity!

This is a fast moving and unsettling tale. There are no wasted words here. No fluff. Just quick, solid storytelling. The Breakfast Club from hell. I really liked it and am eager to read more from this author.

[Michael Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kristopher Triana's The Detained is a bit like a haunted house (or in this case, haunted school) version of The Breakfast Club. Child psychologist Phoebe arrives at Bonneville High for her 20th reunion, to find only four other attendees locked with her inside the cafeteria and a grisly array of keepsakes pointing toward a student who each had wronged in various ways back in 1996.

At the outset, I wasn't quite sure where The Detained was heading, and, sadly, I found myself disappointed that it ended up in supernatural territory. For me, the paranormal aspects initially felt a bit tacked on and too easy an answer. When all of the trapped alumni began to immediately seize upon the reality of their haunted cafeteria, I expected Triana to offer up a bigger and badder plot twist to redirect the story. Unfortunately, that twist never came. The haunted cafeteria plot, and the easy willingness of these former classmates to accept a ghostly foe, felt too convenient for me. I wanted a bit more depth and struggle, and for Triana to juke instead of jive, to lead us one way and then pull the rug out from under our feet with a grander reveal.

The Detained is certainly well written, and Triana puts his talents on display here, despite the story feeling a bit too basic, a bit too run of the mill. While it's an entertaining story to be sure, it just doesn't quite go far enough to make itself memorable. It's enjoyable enough, but not as ultimately satisfying as it should have been.

[Note: I received an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, and I would like to thank Max Booth III for the opportunity to read this work.]

[Mindi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to follow...

[Ingmar Weyland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great, not terrible.

[mena ౨ৎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

i wasn't quite sure how exactly to rate this book, but i tried my best.
i didn't hate this book at all, i'm just a little... perplexed? on booktok, i saw this marketed countless times as a "super disturbing and sick" horror book, but it honestly wasn't all that depraved as people are making it out to be. "the detained" would be a cool indie short horror film, or maybe a full-length film. it has a decent pace, especially for a novella, but it was lacking something and i can't quite put my finger on it. triana's book didn't really scare my socks off like i was expecting, but i could possibly just be desensitized.

[Alexa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m just trying to figure out how the FUCK it was Phoebe's fault. Why was she even a part of the carnage??



**** Spoilers ****



There's actually no reason for her to be there besides the final part where she is forgiven for being gay and rejecting Graham.

Another thing that bothered me was how dense and weak Graham was made to be. Mind you, this kid is getting his shit rocked on the daily, and his only friend is Phoebe. So you would think he would not fall for any obvious tricks…right?

WRONGGGGG!!!! *RED BUZZER*

FOR SOME REASON HE CHOOSES TO BELIEVE THAT THE POPULAR GIRL LIKES HIM BACK AND WANTS HIM TO BE NAKED IN THE STALL FOR HER.

[Meg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Laughably bad

“Phoebe rejected him because she’s gay and he committed suicide out of heartbreak” is the lamest fucking thing this book could have done. Everyone else was outright cruel to him, but the thing that got focused on THE MOST was his friend not returning his romantic feelings

He forgives her. Great!! She didn’t do anything that needs forgiving?? Sexuality aside, she didn’t feel the same way he did. That isn’t her fault. She didn’t. Do. Anything. Wrong. But great he put her through this horrific physical and mental trauma but it’s perfectly fine because he “forgives” her. And I guess he forgives her because she’s a lesbian? So if she were attracted to guys, would he have not forgiven her? “How dare you not love me DIE HORRIBLY!”

Gross. Gross. Gross.

Also this sort of thing doesn’t work in novella form. You need the build up of time, them being trapped and slowly losing it. Instantly turning on each other was too much.

[Alenna Burleson · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this story we follow a group of people who used to go to high school together. They are invited back for a reunion. When only four people and the old gym coach show up they start to question things. What ties them together? And why is the door to the gymnasium locked?

This was a good story. I didn’t see a lot coming and i think this was a very fresh read. I enjoyed the characters. The whole book was very cold which i love reading stories that give off that energy. The ending did however fall a little flat for me unfortunately. But overall a greatread.

[Richard Gerlach · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great novella. I kinda wish it went in a different direction than it did. But, it was enjoyable.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't as impressed with Triana's writing on this Novella. Decent story. Wasn't as disturbing or gory as I thought it would be. Great character development though definitely for novella length.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an advanced copy of The Detained for reviewing purposes.

I finished The Detained a few days ago and I've been stewing how I'm going to write my review. Obviously I gave two stars so I did have some issues. Before I start don't think that this is only a negative review. So I'm actually going to start with the positive.

The premise of the story is intriguing. Four former classmates and a former teacher end up at a reunion. Only it's not a real union since they are the only ones there and it's setup like detention with items that bring back haunting memories for each person. That's all I needed to be interested to see what happens. We are introduced to each character and later given more detail about each one. All of this takes place over the span of the book, it never feels rushed and is placed at the perfect time. All of this combined kept me turning page after page up to the last maybe 10 pages or so. Kristopher Triana definitely has talent with his story telling but there is some work to be done-at least with The Detained.

So here's where it went wrong. There are mild spoilers ahead. My first issue was how everyone too easily decided a ghost was the cause for all the weird stuff happening. Yes they initially blamed each other (and mainly Phoebe even though what she did really wasn't cruel at all- lesbian or not) but that didn't last long then instantly went to ghost. Not family members or a friend that maybe none of the characters knew about but ghost. I was able to let that slide a little. I did find it strange that Dixon died and it just kind of happened and Champ and Sandy never really asked or wondered what happened to him. They bought in to he's exploring too easily. Where the story reaches its climax is where everything went downhill for me. Sandy and Champ's deaths fit into the story well enough but Tyler's just felt forced to me. Then the gym fills with blood which goes beyond a ghost's capabilities just like the snow during summertime. Then Phoebe magically goes from the tunnel behind the stage to the bathroom where Graham spent his last moments then emerges from the school to the parking lot where all the cars are. All of these events came out of nowhere. I get this is supposed to be the doings of Graham's ghost but it's too far-fetched for me. Now for the biggest problem for me personally. I don't know if I missed something along the way or maybe the ending is lost on me but did all the pills Phoebe took at the beginning cause hallucinations? Extreme ones where she actually injured herself not Sandy? Was this all a dream? Did she ever actually go into the school? If it was a dream or hallucination then why are there other cars? I tried to go back and reread this part but I still have the same questions. Up until Tyler killed himself I was very engrossed but after that I was left with the above confusion.


There is potential here but unfortunately the ending let me down. Even with that I'm thankful I was selected to read this early and give my honest opinion.

[Vendetta · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, just remember to value what you spend your time on because you can’t get it back🫶🏼

[Nicole Amburgey · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happens when you take a former jock hoping to reclaim some of his faded stardom; a former cheerleader attempting to relive her glory days; a former bad boy looking to shirk his old reputation; a good girl – still a good girl – trying to assuage her guilt; and a former gym coach hoping to get his due from a school that has, in his mind, slighted him for decades?

What happens when they all show up in the old high school gymnasium expecting their 20-year reunion and award ceremony - and instead find themselves in an almost empty room set up for detention?

What happens when the little reminders of a former classmate start showing up?

You get "The Breakfast Club" – blended with a substantial dose of supernatural revenge.

I feel like any more of a description would start to give away the plot – so I will stop there. "The Detained" was an enjoyable novella, filled with a solid cast of characters and a healthy measure of violence. The story evolves quickly, without feeling rushed, and organically weaves enough backstory in to bring the reader up to speed and without pulling the reader away from of the story.

My only complaint – as it often the case with novellas and short stories – is that I wanted the characters to feel more fleshed out. They all had unique voices, but I wanted to understand their escalating behavior more. I wanted more of the ‘why.’ This is not so much a critique of the author as it is of the format.

Overall, a recommended read – especially now in 2018. Not to get too political, but in this era of commonplace school violence and bullying, this is a very timely read.

Do yourselves a favor and check out Kristopher Triana – he is one of the most refreshing voices coming out of this new generation of horror novelists!

[Jaxx Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

Phoebe has avoided her high-school reunions for the last two decades, she hasn't been interested in returning to the place which reminds her so strongly of Graham Mullen. Now, she steps back into her old school and finds the ex-coach-turned-principal, a bad boy who's changed, a jock who hasn't, and a cheerleader who is still a bitch. They have all been lured by invites to their High School Reunion (or some sort of ceremony for his efforts to the school, in the principal's case) and now, it seems, they will find out what they're really there for.

I hadn't read a Kristopher Triana book before this one and I really enjoyed this short little punchy novella. The constant pressure and tension was suffocating, I found myself concerned with where the exits were a couple of times and had to shake myself. The action gets going nice and fast, and with a book this short it really needs to. The ante is upped constantly with each page turn creating more anxiety and danger, the people unravelling just as the story does.

The setting of a high school was, in this case, perfect. I loved the idea that the characters were in an adult form of detention, and the way that things kept creeping up in the scare-ometer was done super well. I hated most of the characters, but then, that's kind of the point of this one, I think. They're all completely useless in a catastrophe and also awful awful people, which made the whole book far more enjoyable.

This one was whiplash quick and devoured in one sitting of around 2 hours, I was hooked! Triana has a new fan.

[Thomas Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

His earlier work has drawn praise from sites like Publisher’s Weekly and Rue Morgue, while Jack Ketchum referred to his forthcoming novel Full Brutal (Grindhouse Press, 2018) as “compulsive reading”. It seems that Kristopher Triana has burst onto the horror scene in a big way. Indeed, his debut novel, The Ruin Season (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, 2016) garnered almost universal critical acclaim, with many reviewers praising his brutal honesty and his ability to tackle difficult social issues. In his latest book, he takes a small group of people and forces them to come to terms with a tragic event from their past, and also to pay the price for the part they each played.

Triana does an excellent job of exploring each of the characters while keeping the story moving forward. The flashbacks are handled well, giving just enough detail each time to provide insight without taking the reader out of the story completely. His imagery is extremely vivid, especially towards the end of the book when the supernatural presence really comes out to play. All of this, combined with Triana’s dark story-telling style, delivers an engaging and entertaining read that will keep you gripped from beginning to end. The pacing, characterisation, imagery, and storytelling is executed perfectly. A fine example of why the novella length is so perfectly-suited to the horror genre.

To read the full review, please visit This Is Horror.

[Spooky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really didn't enjoy this one. Please note I didn't find the book terrible or anything, I just couldn't really think of anything positive to start off with because most of it was just 'ok'. I started reading this book seeing all the awards the author had won, and had my hopes up. Nothing about this book was traumatizing or horrific. It was so beyond the realms of realistic it killed the immersion and made it not scary. I also feel like none of the characters 'got their comeuppance' so to speak. There wasn't enough regret or guilt to make them seem tortured by what was happening, just smug annoying people. With the characters being so awful you'd think you'd get a feeling of satisfaction when they where killed but the deaths where boring with no sense of real torment.

There was also the fact that the main character rejecting the vengeful spirit due to being a lesbian was referred to as a cause for guilt right up until when she was 'forgiven'. She goes on to say that with his forgiveness she realises she shouldn't have felt guilty to begin with with, but reducing this to one sentence right at the last paragraph made it feel like an afterthought that had been crammed in. That felt icky.

Again these things didn't make it something I regretted reading or anything, these are the things that made sure it wouldn't be memorable for me or something I'd recommend to others. It's possible I just haven't found the genre of horror books that I'll really enjoy yet!

[Shee Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE DETAINED
⭐⭐⭐ 3/5

Read this in one sitting. This is one of the books that has been in my TBR for a long long time. And crazy me forgot that I have this book. I was kinda having a hard time what to read next when I saw this and just picked it up this morning.

The story was good. Entertaining enough to pass my time. The characters were all ridiculously crazy especially Sandy. That bitch. I hate her. As well as the coach. I just never thought that a supernatural element would be mixed in the story. I thought this would be a classic revenge type of story which sold me out at the first place when I got this book. But still, I like the story, just not my favorite tho. I think this is one of Kristopher Triana's backlist books, and even then I commend his writing style! It was freaking good only that I was surprised by the course of this book headed that I didn't see coming.

I'd still recommend this book to any horror fans as this one is not as gory and extreme like Kristopher Triana's other books. Fun to read still. Though I think this isn't available now in amazon.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up in honor of Independent Bookstore Day from Butcher Cabin Books.

cw - suicide, bullying, slurs, attempted rape, uhhhhhh 

This book is still a little rough in the writing but I really enjoyed getting to know every ugly thought of these characters and hating them. I think Triana really tapped into who they were and how they would think, and how they would align. The visuals Triana wrote in here were wildly cool and the ending felt pretty satisfying. 

The setup from this book made me think of a horror version of Breakfast Club, especially with five total students and a teacher and, hello, the detention room. The idea itself is incredibly cool, but I wanted something more. I wanted to be scared, but I didn't really get a chance to connect with these characters on an emotional level and get scared with them. 

3.5 stars for the reference.

[Sierra · Rating 2 out of 5]

-SPOILERS-

Very fast paced and enjoyed the story as well as the creep factors. Was well done as a horror book but there were two grammar/spelling mistakes and it was rather predictable.
Also, didn’t like that the survivor was made to feel guilty for simply not being romantically into a guy? Her only “crime” was not returning feelings but still wanting to maintain friendship. Gay or not, that was fucked and should not have been a main part of the book. It’s giving homophonische and misogyny because how DARE a woman say NO without a sexual identity based reason?? The ending being “I forgive you” okay fuck off. He forgives her for? Not wanting to fuck him? For being gay? Author is out of touch and really needs to look in the mirror.

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit, I'm a sucker for reunions gone wrong. People reuniting, holding grudges, secrets, and desires in check that may have been simmering for years is a setting I could read a million times and still love. So, I was excited to read about a "reunion" party that quickly goes south. Especially with the idea that everyone had something to do with a death in the past. I thoroughly enjoyed this novella. The way that everyone quickly devolved as the events continued to ramp up was very believable to me. But, without spoiling anything, there were two characters story lines that I wasn't fully on board for how it ended. But if you want a quick, twisted novella about guilt and the way it effects some people, I think this is a great read!

[Lee ⚜ · Rating 1 out of 5]

How do you manage to make something so cliché and corny without it veering into something at least ironically good?

I was recommended this book by a friend and picked it up after her glowing review of ‘This is the worst book I’ve ever read.’

Every character here is such a cardboard cutout cliche that I genuinely questioned why someone would even bother writing this. The story isn’t unique, nor is it particularly engaging. This story has been done countless times and The Detained brings nothing even remotely new to the table.

This book has nothing to give except for maybe a baffled laugh at the authors expense.

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming back to school for what they thought was a reunion, turned out to be a way the school geek got revenge. Well, it was very clever in the fact that they started turning on each other (mostly because Sandy is bat shit crazy and obviously forgot her xanex) and killing each other. One of my questions is why would Tyler kill himself for Phoebe, like does he not know that shes a lesbian or what?! I wished this story would have been longer so that it didn't seem so abrupt but I ain't mad either. It was a pretty easy read and of course I pictured old classmates for every role of the book!

[Makency Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun ride this novella was to read. I read this in one sitting and truly couldn't put it down. The cast of characters was developed just enough that I grew to like and despise all of them. There wasn't as much gore as some of his other works, but the scenes where it is prevalent were very satisfying.
I don't want to give anything away, but I will say that the book had a very unique storyline and quite the twist. I expect nothing less from Kristopher Triana! READ KRISTOPHER TRIANA!

[celeste · Rating 2 out of 5]

not the kind of horror i enjoy. i honestly thought this was gonna be more rooted in reality based on the synopsis of the book but it wasn't, especially towards the end; it took what little creepy stuff this book had going on for it and turned it into some supernatural shit i didn't sign up for.

[Allison McKeen-Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, quick fix. This fits squarely in the genre of high school revenge horror. If you enjoyed Carrie, you’ll probably enjoy this.

If I have one complaint about this book, it’s that its pretty cookie-cutter for the genre. Nothing terribly surprising for the reader.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I still enjoyed this, the characters felt very one-dimensional and not really what I come to expect from Triana's writing. They definitely feel like novella characters and more like caricatures.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shorter than what I was expecting, but a good read. I wasn't sure what to expect, Never having read this author before . I was expecting it to be more.... violent, perhaps. But I'm glad it wasn't. It was a decent story with a good draw and conclusion.

[M.H. Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and clever!