In the Hall with the Knife by Diana Peterfreund — ARC Review

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In the Hall with the Knife by Diana Peterfreund

Publication Date: October 8th, 2019

Summary:

A murderer could be around every corner in this thrilling YA trilogy based on the board game CLUE!

When a storm strikes at Blackbrook Academy, an elite prep school nestled in the woods of Maine, a motley crew of students—including Beth “Peacock” Picach, Orchid McKee, Vaughn Green, Sam “Mustard” Maestor, Finn Plum, and Scarlet Mistry—are left stranded on campus with their headmaster. Hours later, his body is found in the conservatory and it’s very clear his death was no accident. With this group of students who are all hiding something, nothing is as it seems, and everyone has a motive for murder. Fans of the CLUE board game and cult classic film will delight in Diana Peterfreund’s modern reimagining of the brand, its characters, and the dark, magnificent old mansion with secrets hidden within its walls.

Review: 4 Stars

I requested an ARC of this book because of a recommendation from Susan over at Novel Lives. She kept talking about how excited she was for this one and after she read it she told me that it was a good quick read. I’m so grateful that she got this book on my radar because I wound up really enjoying it. I grew up playing the Clue board game with my family and I absolutely love the movie. This Clue mystery re-telling gave me all the nostalgic feels and was everything I wanted it to be and more.

While the plot is similar to the board game, it differs quite a bit from the movie. I really loved that Diana Peterfreund decided to have the book set at a boarding school rather than a mansion. The classic suspects were students and school staff rather than party attendants. I absolutely love boarding school settings and the YA twist on Clue made it even more interesting. While there are many differences from the movie, the classic mystery still gave me major nostalgic vibes as I tried hard to puzzle out whodunit. The book had me guessing up until a chapter or two before the murderer was finally revealed.

The book was written in third person a the point of view switched between the student suspects. All of the classic Clue characters are present with the addition of Orchid, who actually wound up being one of my favorite characters. There were also two very minor characters, Karlee and Kayla, but they didn’t play a huge role in the book. Every student seemed to be hiding something and several of them had really good motives to kill Mr. Boddy, the headmaster. The teenage drama, secrets and betrayals really had me invested and interested in how this story would turn out.

Overal I am so happy that I got a copy of this book. I have to watch Clue again after reading this not only because I love that movie so much and Tim Curry does an amazing job as the butler in it, but also because this book has me feeling so nostalgic. I tore through this re-telling of the classic whodunit and thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. I am absolutely thrilled that this is going to be a series and I can’t wait for the next installment. If you like Clue, fast paced mysteries or boarding school settings I would highly recommend you read this book.