Sometimes the past is better off buried. Senior year is finally over. After all they've been through, Dan, Abby, and Jordan are excited to take one last road trip together, to visit Jordan's uncle in New Orleans. But on the way, the three friends notice that someone appears to be following them. Then Dan starts receiving phone messages from someone he didn't expect to hear from again-someone who died last Halloween. As the strange occurrences escalate, Dan is forced to accept that everything that has happened to him in the past year may not be a coincidence but fate-a fate that ties Dan to a group called the Bone Artists, who have a sinister fascination with notorious killers of the past. Now Dan's only hope is that he will make it out of his senior trip alive. In this third installment of the New York Times bestselling Asylum series, found photographs help tell the story of three teens who exist on the line between past and present, genius and insanity. Read all the mind-bending books in the Asylum series.
The Asylum books and I haven't exactly seen eye to eye. Asylum was arguably the creepiest book in the series, drawing on the mental-hospital setting that allows for all kinds of spookiness. Sanctum, I'm afraid to admit I had completely forgotten reading. If it weren't for the short note I wrote after completing it, I probably would have said I had skipped it. Its story surrounding a carnival fair didn't do anything for me.
Fast-forward to Catacomb. Our heroes take a road trip together, visiting abandoned buildings and graveyards. I really enjoyed this setting, and the travelling was very well done. Road trips can sometimes lead to disjoined narratives and storytelling that relies on "and then that happened, and then.." Ms Roux expertly ties together the different bits though, letting character motivations lead the story.
The trip ends in New Orleans, another promising setting. It reminded me of Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton, another lovely YA book that features a Gothic New Orleans. Catacomb captures both the feeling of history and the day to day use of the city as a tourist destination.
Sadly, the mystery at the core of Catacomb never 'clicked' for me. It continues the hints that have been set out throughout the first two books, and I'm afraid the climax of these bits of info felt underwhelming and not particularly interesting. Perhaps I might have been more invested if the characterisation had been deeper? The villain seemed more like a caricature than a human possibility, and at this point not even the beautiful photographs could preserve the creepy atmosphere for me.
There was plenty of good in Catacomb, but ultimately this series just doesn't suit my taste.
