Ghosts of Harvard

Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella. New York: Random House, 202. 384 pages. *****

Cadence Archer is determined to go to Harvard even though her older brother, Eric, committed suicide there last year. Against her parents wishes, Cady is determined to understand why Eric killed himself and what she and her family must have missed. Eric a genius paranoid schizophrenic, heard voices and the only thing left behind of his is a blue notebook of cryptic writing. Cady tries to make connections from Eric's life at Harvard and it's not long before she starts hearing voices of her own. The voices belong to people from Harvard's past and they are reaching out to Cady for help. Cady soon begins to question her own sanity and whether she is following her brother in his mental illness and paranoia. She begins to suspect that her brother was having an affair with his mentor and professor and if that was the reason he gave up and withdrew his submission from the Bauer Award.

Ghosts of Harvard is part mystery, part ghost story and history all rolled into one story. An intense tale of mental illness and suicide and its affect on the family left behind. Serritella is a master of the twisted plot. As soon as I thought I had it all figured out, a new clue appeared to take the plot in a different direction.

Having read her books written with her mother, Lisa Scottoline, this story was different from what I expected. Their joint writing ventures are a humorous look at life and light hearted in contrast to this thriller. A serious well-written mystery, which will keep you captivated and enthralled.

I received an ecopy for a review.

Francesca Serritella is the New York Times bestselling author of a nine-book series of essay collections co-written with her mother, bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, and based on “Chick Wit,” their Sunday column in The Philadelphia Inquirer. She graduated cum laude from Harvard University, where she won multiple awards for her fiction, including the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize. Ghosts of Harvard is her first novel.