Alex Kelley, a true crime writer, knew her second book was a failure. When she received an opportunity to work as a ghostwriter about an orphanage with a dark history she accepted the offer. She needed the money and a change of pace. Set in the dead of winter in Vermont, CORAM HOUSE, by Bailey Seybolt, is inspired by a true story. Early on Alex realized there is much more to this job than meets the eye. As she waded through stacks of documents which included the testimony of those who were at Coram House fifty years ago, she learned that in 1968 Tommy, a nine-year-old boy, either drowned, ran away or possibly never existed. Her quest for answers drew her deeper and deeper into the investigation. After she came upon the body of a murdered woman with a shocking past, Alex was certain the crime was somehow connected to Coram House. But how does she prove it?
Coram House is a dark and intense story about an orphanage that was supposed to care for children. However, it was actually a place of abuse and torture. Alex is a protagonist who comes with her own baggage. Having lost her young husband and with a failing career, she immerses herself in her research. Working practically around the clock, she becomes almost obsessed with the missing child. Did he actually exist? The secondary characters are a varied group and it soon becomes evident that some know more than they are willing to divulge. Following Alex's investigation takes readers into the life of a crime writer. It's a life that can take many different paths and might reveal shocking secrets.
Well-plotted and full of tension, CORAM HOUSE is an engrossing story that holds the reader's attention from start to finish. Highly recommended.
Sharp Objects meets I Have Some Questions for You in this haunting novel—inspired by a true story—about a crime writer who risks everything as she investigates the mystery of two deaths, decades apart, at a crumbling Vermont orphanage.
On a blistering summer day in 1968, nine-year-old Tommy vanishes without a trace from Coram House, an orphanage on the shores of Lake Champlain. Some say a nun drowned him, others say he ran away. Or maybe he never existed. Fifty years later, his disappearance is still unsolved.
Struggling true crime writer Alex Kelley needs a fresh start. When she’s asked to ghostwrite a book about the orphanage—and the abuses that occurred there—she packs up her belongings and moves to wintry Burlington, Vermont.
As Alex tries to untangle the conflicting stories surrounding Tommy’s disappearance, her investigation takes a chilling turn when she discovers a woman’s body in the lake. Alex is convinced the death is connected to Coram House’s dark past, even if local police officer Russell Parker thinks she’s just desperate for a career-saving story. As the body count rises, Alex must prove that the key to finding the killer lies in Tommy’s murder, or risk becoming the next victim.
Drawing inspiration from the real-life stories of St. Joseph’s Orphanage, Coram House “reckons with both the long aftermath of violence and the hazards of writing true crime. It is an eerie, suspenseful mystery, sure to find readers among fans of Tana French” (Flynn Berry, author of Northern Spy).
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