Ghosts of Harvard

March 1, 2020
A Harvard freshman investigates the suicide of her schizophrenic brother and finds herself chasing a conspiracy and hearing the voices of the dead. Cady Archer is determined to attend Harvard even though her beloved older brother, Eric, killed himself there. Considered a genius in math and science, Eric suffered from schizophrenia but had stopped taking his prescriptions, and his yearlong mental health spiral into paranoia and delusion still haunts Cady and her parents. Cady is attending Harvard against her mother's wishes, but she's driven by a need to understand what happened the night Eric died. Her quest leads her to a handsome, seductive friend of Eric's, the professor with whom he was working on a secret project, and something more troubling: voices in her head. Is Cady suffering from schizophrenia, too? Or are the voices she's hearing truly ghosts, real people who once lived on the Harvard campus and faced their own dilemmas there? The question of Cady's mental health is interesting, and Serritella--best known for the essay collections she writes with her mother, thriller writer Lisa Scottoline (I See Life Through Ros�-Colored Glasses, 2018, etc.)--brings the famous campus to life in a vivid way. She also effectively explores the aftermath of loss and grief on a family. But Serritella is on shaky ground once the story veers into the supernatural. Cady's conversations with the ghosts are tiresome and ultimately don't add much to the narrative. In fact, they detract from what could have been a solid psychological thriller. Her conversations with Bilhah, a slave who is terrified her son will be sold away from her, feel uncomfortably like pandering. The book is repetitive and far too long, and though the endgame strives to shock readers with twists, it's ultimately unsatisfying. A thriller that fails when it turns to the supernatural.

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March 15, 2020
After coauthoring best-selling essay collections with her mother, crime writer Lisa Scottline, Serritella steps forward with a many-faceted first novel. As its enticing title suggests, the Harvard campus is the setting, a fraught one for Cadence as her freshman jitters are exponentially intensified by the fact that her adored older brother, Eric, was a brilliant Harvard physics major until, afflicted with schizophrenia, he committed suicide. Cady is determined to understand exactly what happened, but Eric's ghost is not the only one haunting her. As she tries to decode one of his notebooks, glean information from his enigmatic adviser and seemingly charming friend, and reassure her grieving parents, she gradually discerns that the voices she's hearing are personae from Harvard's cloaked, morally compromised past. Serritella makes keen use of quantum theories about time and simultaneity in this busily plotted, emotionally astute, thoughtfully paranormal, witty, and suspenseful drama involving historical figures, academic ruthlessness, and the tragic riddles of mental illness. Serritella has also created a sensitive and searching tale about the courage and fortitude of a smart young woman in mourning and in peril.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

May 4, 2020
Serritella debuts with a brisk, entertaining coming-of-age story about a young woman trying simultaneously to find out who she is and uncover the truth about her brother’s death. Cady Archer begins her studies at Harvard University less than a year after the death of her older brother, Eric, a Harvard student and the golden child of the family whose schizophrenia has long been a source of trouble in Cady’s life. She and her parents have been devastated by his suicide, and now Cady wants to know what happened and what her brother’s life was like at Harvard. Using one of Eric’s cryptic notebooks like a treasure map, Cady wanders the campus and talks with Nikos, her brother’s friend, and Mikaela Prokop, his faculty advisor, who explain how he stopped taking medication as he became increasingly dedicated to his physics research on entanglement theory. Her desire for resolution also sparks an interest in geocaching (scavenger hunts based on GPS locating) and she begins to hear voices: first, one that helps her out in a history class; and then one that helps her escape a rapist. Serritella has a wonderful touch for her secondary characters—there’s a Professor Hines who is a note-perfect caricature of a tenured Harvard professor—and Cady herself has a great voice. Readers of campus mysteries will love this surprising and intricate bildungsroman.

Starred review from April 1, 2020

DEBUT Harvard freshman Cady Archer is on a mission to discover what happened during her brother's time at Harvard that caused him to take his own life last spring in his junior year. It's a solo journey portraying freshman loneliness and finding one's way surrounded by people who have unknown motivations. In addition Cady starts hearing the voices of ghosts of former Harvard students. After veering into the surreal, the story returns to very human, if not always positive, motivations. As false friends reveal themselves, Cady finds her own inner direction and ways to heal and move forward. Finally she learns to differentiate herself from her family while gaining strength from the connection they all share. VERDICT Those who like novels by Joe Hill and Pat Conroy will also enjoy this his first novel by Lisa Scottoline's nonfiction coauthor (and daughter). The book begins as thriller and ends as a story of personal growth and redemption. The writing is vivid and engaging, and it works for adults as well as for mature young adult readers. [See Prepub Alert, 11/11/19.]--Cheryl Bryan, Orleans, MA

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2019

After a nine-book, New York Times best-selling series of essay collections cowritten with her mother, thriller queen Lisa Scottoline, Serritella offers debut fiction starring Harvard frosh Cadence Archer, trying to understand her brilliant, schizophrenic older brother's suicide on campus and noting sinister doings--including ghosts from different eras--as she begins to investigate. Then she starts hearing voices herself.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.