Meddlehart Academy is an exclusive, elite boarding school nestled in the mountains of Colorado. It is also the last place Lawson Heyward was seen alive. A year and a half after his disappearance the night of prom, his younger brother Sutter and his friends Carter, Greyson, Fallon, and Margot set out to find him and the legendary founder’s treasure he was hot on the trail of. To do so, they must join the secretive treasure-hunting Order of the Vipers and endure their initiation trials. Meanwhile, someone who seems to have all the answers keeps leaving them notes with clues. Who could it be?

The story is told in a 3rd person, multi-POV style through the core trio of the quintet: Sutter, Fallon, and Grayson, who also happen to be in a love triangle. Readers who favor the  found family trope will enjoy this crew. Each of them (save Carter) suffer from alienating home lives that make Meddlehart a home away from home. Sutter’s father is overbearing in maintaining the patriarchal status-quo. Margot’s family seemingly cares more about their business ventures than her. Grayson found his mother dead from an overdose and his famous father is neglectful, contributing to his depression and deep anger. Fallon’s parents died in a car crash, leaving her with intense abandonment trauma. The friend group largely reads as white, Carter is described as having dark-brown skin. The plot itself revolves around Sutter, but Fallon is the heart of the novel (and not just because the romance subplot hinges on her decision between the two boys). Her Hermione-like bookwormishness and rule-following is the moral center of the group.

Dark academia abounds in this story, which starts with a morose tone of a cloudy day and dives deeper and darker as the mystery unfolds. Light violence at the beginning (fistfights) makes way to murder (off-page), but isn’t gruesomely described. The ending satisfyingly resolves both the mystery and the love story, but is not all happy endings. Perfect for fans of We Were Liars, This Place Kills Me, and One of Us is Lying looking for their next fix.

Reviewed by Kristin Arsenault, Mountain Valley High School, Rumford