WIN LOSE KILL DIE

Somebody has it in for the pupils of elite British boarding school Morton Academy.

After last year’s tragic boating accident left head girl Morgan dead and narrator Liz hospitalized with a head injury, Liz is looking forward to her final year before graduation. The first order of business: the secret Society of Jewel and Bone, replete with robes, candles, and a skeleton in a glass coffin. The group convenes to appoint Jameela as Morgan’s successor, and Liz’s roommate Taylor as her deputy. Jameela’s time as head girl is short-lived, however: At that night’s traditional senior pajama party, a serious asthma attack ends her life. Deputy head boy Frank raises the alarm, making a public scene in which he declares that Jameela was murdered—and soon, he’s dead, too. As headmistress Dr. Patel tries to keep her students focused on academics, the deaths continue to stack up, and red herrings abound. Morton Academy is isolated—an hour from the nearest major town, with anachronistic policies for students banning cell phones and social media and seriously restricting internet usage—which upholds the lack of outside scrutiny. Fans of dark academia whodunits will be on familiar ground but may find the final reveal anticlimactic, and pacing issues make unfolding events feel more disjointed than suspenseful. Most characters are cued white; contextual clues point to some ethnic diversity.

A plot-driven mystery that doesn’t quite coalesce.