Mary’s Pick of the Week: Coram House by Bailey Seybolt

Rumors swirl around the abandoned orphanage, Coram House.  It sits perched on the shores of Lake Champlain in Vermont – and it’s purported to be haunted by the ghosts of residents who may have been abused or killed by the very people who were there to care for them. Ghost-writer Alex Kelley comes to this assignment with ghosts of her own; her husband has been dead for three years, and while a once-successful writer, her last turn at a crime tell-all was a disaster.  Eager for a fresh start, she takes an assignment to work with a wealthy lawyer who’s got his own reasons for revisiting the tragedies that took place at Coram House.  She’s tasked with going through piles of files and watching police interviews on old VHS tapes.  One former resident plays a key role in the investigation and the nuanced details paint a vivid portrait:

“Sarah Dale’s hand goes to the top button of her blouse, just below her throat, and twists, as if trying to loosen the collar.  Then she goes still and looks right at the camera.  You can leave Coram House but you can’t leave it behind.”

While this could have been a run-of-the-mill thriller, Seybolt’s debut shows skills equal to more experienced authors.  Characters are well-written and complicated, and locations are so detailed, you may need to grab a blanket and turn up the lights as this book is a chiller.  Coram House is reminiscent of the Dublin Murder Squad books by Tana French and Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island; the orphanage and the lake that fronts it almost feel like characters themselves. I like my mysteries with emotional heft, and towards the end, our narrator has a moment of real insight: 

 …”because love is a debt paid only in loss eventually, one way or another.  You cannot open the door to one without the other.  But you also never know what will come next.  Joy on the heels of sorrow on the heels of joy. And we don’t get to pick.”

If your curiosity has been piqued, you may also want to check out the non-fiction story this was based on: Ghosts of the Orphanage: a story of mysterious deaths, a conspiracy of silence, and a search for justice by Christine Kenneally