Melinda Metz

Laura Burns

In this genre-bending YA thriller, will Sarah Merson's shiny new prep school change her life forever or bring it to a dark and sinister end?

A Novel

Sanctuary Bay

Colleen

3 Stars

I can't say that anything in particular drew me to Sanctuary Bay. I saw it on the new releases list at the library and requested it. I have low expectations from Young Adult books and Thrillers, so a YA Thriller does not have much chance of a high rating unless it really hits it out of the park. But I like to mix in some lighter reading, so I went ahead and read this.

The first thing I noticed when I got the book was that it was co-authored. I did not realize that ahead of time. On the Goodreads new releases list it only have the first author listed. I usually avoid books with multiple authors because they often lack a cohesive voice which leads to one-dimensional writing. Sanctuary Bay is no exception. The writing lacked depth, and I never cared about the main character. At times felt like it was going for a Gothic feel, but never met that mark.

This was by no stretch of the imagination "genre bending" as the publisher's blurb claims. I know publishers can slap whatever label they like onto a book, but really? I would love to know what they thought was so unique and groundbreaking about this book. Maybe I missed something, but it seemed to be a fairly standard YA Thriller. Although there were times when it was definitely trying too hard to distinguish itself. Unfortunately, they did this by trying to cram too many things into a short book, and the result was messy and underdeveloped. 

This is the story of a Sarah, a troubled orphan (clichéd much?) who gets headhunted by an elite boarding school. Within twenty-four hours of being contacted about being granted a scholarship she never applied for to a school no one has ever heard of, she is packed off to said boarding school. This top-secret, elite school is on a remote island off the coast of Maine. (Side note: There was nothing really tying this book to Maine other than that it does have thousands of islands. But else wise, it could have been set anywhere.) The school demands complete isolation (because that sounds psychologically healthy, right?). Once a student is on the island, they do not get to leave for any reason until they graduate. There are no holiday breaks, no family leave, no parental visitation, no phone calls home. Nothing but a care package from home every three months. Does that sound healthy to you? Any warning bells going off yet? Well, the only other things that have been on the island were a mental hospital and a Nazi POW camp. More warning bells ringing? Yeah. 

This complete isolation from the outside is supposed to force complete focus on school. But these kids seem to do everything except study. Within these rigid constraints reigns complete hedonism. Immediately after arriving, Sarah finds out that complete isolation has not stopped these kids from getting their hands on copious amounts of alcohol and drugs. They run around in complete debauchery. There is less studying and a lot more paying other people to do your homework by giving blowjobs sort of behavior. It takes the stereotype of prestigious prep school hiding dark underbelly and drives it far into the bizarre. 

Once on the island, the story has several time jumps that skips the bits about Sarah assimilating into the school. Presumably this is so they can skip to the thriller part, but it made the story feel rushed and robbed the reader of any chance to get to know the main character. The character of Sarah had some potential to be interesting, but that potential was cut off at the knees. She had an eidetic memory and a shadowy past. But these were really only used to further the plot. I never witnessed any depth of character. Despite her unique brain, she is reduced to a sheep who goes along with anything she is presented with due to her desperation to belong. It was also weird the way she talked about her brain like it was its own sentient being.

Sarah's character was biracial. There were a few feeble attempts at exploring racial identity, but they were not explored to any satisfactory depth. We wouldn't want any pesky emotional analysis or psychological insight clouding up the thrilling aspects. Instead, the whole situation was reduced down to a meaningless level. Since she does not feel she belongs to either race, she goes out of her way to racial profile every single person she meets despite often complaining about other people doing the same to her. It is the first thing she notices upon meeting anyone. So instead of exploring her identity, she just offers the reader a LOT of awkward descriptions of what race each character is.

The story just gets bizarre as it goes on. And it is not bizarre in any revolutionary way. No, as I mentioned before, it just tries to cram way too much stuff into one story. (view spoiler)[There was just too much going on: psych ward, experimentations, Nazi POW camp, government conspiracy... it was like The Manchurian Candidate meets Gossip Girl and it did not mesh well. The cult aspect was not intriguing enough. And despite Sarah's desperation to belong and copious amounts of drugs, having the innocent virgin so involved in the cult that she suddenly doesn't blink an eye about participating in orgies was too far fetched. (hide spoiler)] 

There was also a pathetic excuse for romance. It was probably just thrown in as a crowd pleaser, because how could we possibly have a YA book without a love interest? Scratch that - it is actually a terrible love triangle. The kind with angsty deliberation about which boy to go with. Big Spoilers: (view spoiler)[The speed with which she gets over boy #1's death to follow her animal magnetism towards boy #2 (who by the way just had his girlfriend murdered to which Sarah was an accomplice) was disturbing and implausible. But despite the deaths and the fact that boy #2 is an Asshole (OH, but a misunderstood asshole, so there you go), they team up and follow their passion for each other while going all secret agent on the evil corporation. YAWN. (hide spoiler)] It might have worked better if there was any character development or depth.

The ending was rushed. And it is followed by a terrible "Epilogue" which was entirely a blatant setup for the sequel. They obviously missed the point of a epilogue. 

Overall, it was a typical YA Thriller with nothing particularly thrilling about it. While it was an easy read, it had many clichéd aspects and tried to fit too much into a short book. The obvious loose ends and shameless cliffhanger left for the sequel where extremely off-putting. I probably will not read any sequels.

RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Originality: 2 Stars
Character Development: 2 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars

Sanctuary Bay A Novel

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