Cover of Redemption Prep by Samuel Miller. The title and some academic symbols against a stone wall

About the Book

Title: Redemption Prep
Published: 2020

Cover Story: Open All Night
Drinking Buddy: Someone Hurt You
MPAA Rating: PG 13 (cartoonish violence, language, drug use)
Talky Talk: I Have Questions
Bonus Factor: Private School
Bromance Status: Summer School Classmate

Cover Story: Open All Night

A nice blend of the technological and traditional nature of the preparatory school. Kind of looks like a late night diner or a University of Phoenix ad, though.

The Deal:

It’s 1995. In the Utah desert lies Redemption Prep, possibly the most exclusive school in the world. You can’t apply and you can’t visit. It’s invite only. Only the best of the best are asked to attend: geniuses, athletes, and other gifted kids. And not just book learners: chess masters, entrepreneurs, orators, etc. Anyone who is better than their peers is allowed to study in this unstructured, church-sponsored school, for free. Just who is paying for all this is never explained to the students or their parents. And this isn’t the sort of place that holds family weekends or encourages you to go home for the holidays. The students must concentrate on their projects and developing their talents.

But then something goes wrong. A kid name Eddy freaks out at church, screaming about very strange things. Weird ‘maintenance men’ start showing up on campus, but they seem more like security. And Emma Donahue, one of the most popular girls on campus, vanishes. What’s going on?

Drinking Buddy: Someone Hurt You

Two pints of beer cheersing

This story is told from the viewpoints of three people, all of whom are searching for Emma. There’s her best friend Neesha, her boyfriend Aiden, and weird guy Evan. I really could have gone either way about liking these guys. Neesha is a drug dealer, but her drugs are for mental performance enhancement. Plus her entire family immigrated to the US when she got the Redemption scholarship, in anticipation of her making the big bucks. Aiden is an arrogant basketball star. However, his father expects him to get a contract with the NBA and wants him to ignore his girlfriend’s disappearance. And Evan is a creepy stalker, but he’s also the only one who realizes the danger Emma may be in. I dunno. They didn’t thrill me, but I rooted for them all the same.

MPAA Rating: PG 13 (cartoonish violence, language, drug use)

There was enough sneaking around after dark, mysterious figures, and conspiracies to keep me interested. On the other hand, the three POVs kind of slowed things down, with repeated information and cutting to other characters at critical scenes. Also, there was pretty much no romance that didn’t border on unhealthy.

Talky Talk: I Have Questions

It breaks my heart that my college years are now historical fiction, and the author absolutely did not capture the period. In fact, I kept forgetting that this book was set in 1995, not 2020. Apart from a throwaway joke about a novel new thing called ‘the internet’, there was almost no evidence this book did not take place in the present. Perhaps the author didn’t want the kids to have access to cell phones, but there are ways around that, especially at a restrictive boarding school. Also, there were anachronisms, such as a kid referencing Dragon Ball Z, at a time when that was unknown outside of Japan. That’s always a pet peeve of mine; it smacks of sloppy research.

The book also took a sudden science fictiony twist at the end. It worked, but I thought I was reading a thriller and the genre change felt like a bait and switch.

Still, the book was gripping enough to keep my interest, so I will be picking up the sequel.

Bonus Factor: Private School

A mysterious school where talented and unusual children are encouraged to develop their gifts, all the while battling hidden dangers and sinister staff members. Harry Potter or X-men?

Bromance Status: Summer School Classmate

I’m in this for the short haul. The sequel better pick up the pace.

Literary Matchmaking

We Know It Was You (Strange #1)

For a much worse book about a boarding school mystery, read Maggie Thrash’s We Know It Was You.

Asylum (Asylum #1)

Or Asylum by Medeleine Roux.

The Girl in the Picture

Or The Girl in the Picture, by Alexandra Monir (which was pretty good).

FTC Full Disclosure: I received a free copy of the book from the publisher, but no scholarship to a private academy.

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Brian wrote his first YA novel when he was down and out in Mexico. He now lives in Missouri with his wonderful wife and daughter. He divides his time between writing and working as a school librarian. Brian still misses the preachy YA books of the eighties.