The Dead House

July 6, 2015
Told through a retrospective collection of found evidence surrounding the deaths of several students in a boarding school fire, Kurtagich’s debut novel is deeply disturbing and fraught with emotion. Carly and Kaitlyn Johnson are two separate personalities sharing the same body and have done so for as long as either can remember. After the death of their parents, Carly and Kaitlyn’s time is split between treatment in a psychiatric hospital and studying at a British boarding school; it’s at school where their comfortable dissociative routine begins to unravel under mysterious and arcane circumstances. Their slowly expanding group of friends houses a traitor, and Kaitlyn is left to search for Carly after her alter ego’s persona disappears. Psychological self-indulgence wars with fascinating introspection as diary entries and transcripts of video footage and therapy sessions chronicle a teenager’s descent into and out of madness. Contrived tension and a haphazard time line ring a few discordant notes, but are balanced by insightful characterization and a detailed exploration of the importance of the emergent identity to the teenage self. Ages 15–up. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary Agency.

Charlotte Parry and Christian Coulson's narrations, coupled with eerie musical snippets, set an ominous tone that draws listeners into this horror story involving two teenage girls. The story includes police reports, psychiatric evaluations, "video footage," and diary entries surrounding the mysterious fire that claimed the lives of several students at Elmbridge High. Though Carly Johnson disappeared in the fire, it's the diary of Kaitlyn, a girl who seemingly did not exist, that causes the case to be re-examined decades later. The narrators infuse their performances with qualities that exemplify their characters' emotional states, making the two girls easily distinguishable. They do stellar jobs with the secondary characters, as well. A thoroughly entertaining and engrossing production. J.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2016 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

July 15, 2015
A collection of diary entries, video footage, medical transcripts, and emails is examined to determine the mental health of Kaitlyn Johnson, who allegedly caused the deaths of several teens in a boarding school fire. Kaitlyn is a complicated character, claiming she harbors two souls in her body. By day, the body is inhabited by sweet, shy Carly, while destructive Kaitlyn controls the body at night. The "sisters" have somehow developed a friendship and communicate through notes to each other, keeping their two identities secret from all but their immediate family. When their parents die in a car accident, Kaitlyn/Carly are committed to a psychiatric hospital and diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. Integration therapy upsets Kaitlyn, who feels it is designed to eliminate her personality entirely. But the story really takes a turn for the fantastical when Carly somehow gets involved in black magic, leading to her personality's disappearance. Kaitlyn's efforts to locate Carly are hindered by the menacing voice Kaitlyn hears and her nightmares of a haunted mansion. Soon, fellow boarding school students start dying violently, Kaitlyn falls in love with the wrong guy, and finally the novel reaches its fiery (though largely unsatisfying) end. This melodrama is communicated in a patchwork of formats that switches every few pages, a narrative contrivance whose "found" feel backfires. It's all just too much, and the varied narrative formats just compound the chaos. (Horror. 14-18)

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July 1, 2015

Gr 8 Up-This creepy boarding school novel meshes real world issues with a paranormal mystery in a fun but scary debut. Carly Johnson might have dissociative identity disorder, where the trauma of her parents' fatal car accident resulted in the creation of a nocturnal alter personality named Kaitlyn. Or there might be something supernatural at work, since Kaitlyn claims she and Carly have shared the same body and life since birth and may have been responsible for their parents' deaths. A stint in a mental institution doesn't help, and soon Kaitlyn realizes that the Carly personality seems to have disappeared. Told as an official report investigating the mystery of a fatal fire, this novel includes diary entries, notes, interviews, and transcripts from a video camera. One friend uses a fictional kind of Scottish witchcraft to unravel the mystery of the girls' identity, there's a complicated romance, and the diary itself, named Dee, becomes a menacing, ghostly apparition. Is this a creative exploration of mental illness, or a straightforward horror story? The multiple unanswered questions feel intriguing rather than frustrating. Fans of horror novels will appreciate the creepy photographs scattered throughout, and the multiple perspectives are smoothly integrated. VERDICT A worthy addition to high school horror collections.-Kyle Lukoff, Corlears School, New York City

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2015
Grades 9-12 Kurtagich's debut is a taut, psychological suspense novel centered around disturbed teenagers Carly and Kaitlyn Johnson and the horrifying series of events that culminated in a deadly fire at a residential high school. The time line is recreated through a series of police files, diary entries, transcribed video footage, and newspaper stories, revealing that Carly/Kaitlyn share the same body, with Carly occupying the daytime hours and Kaitlyn the night. The two communicate via a series of notes, and, although Carly's therapist believes she suffers from dissociative identity disorder, it's not clear which girl is the primary persona and which is the alter ego. When the Carly personality disappears from Kaitlyn's consciousness, she embarks on a grisly quest to find her in the dead house that is her mind. Not for the faint of heart, this is a gory and grimly compelling story, made more so by the novel's visual elements. Readers will be left wondering if the supernatural elements are real or all part of a troubled girl's damaged mind.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)