Down a Dark Hall
by Lois Duncan
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Book Summary Information
Author: Lois DuncanEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1990-09-01
ISBN: 0440918057
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Laurel Leaf
Book Reviews of Down a Dark Hall
Book Review: Excellent Paranormal Teen Story
Summary: 5 Stars
The first time I read this book was about 25 years ago when I checked it out from my school library. Though I did not recall the title or the author, through the magic of an Amazon discussion board, I got the information very quickly from another helpful reader and was able to obtain my own copy. Obviously, if it stuck in my mind all this time, the book is a good read, and I'm happy to report I enjoyed it nearly as much the second time as I did all those years ago.
Kit Gordy's father died several years back, leaving her and her mother alone. Nobody truly believed Kit saw her father in her bedroom on the night he died since he was out of town at the time, but now the memory is clearer than ever in Kit's mind. Her mother is about to remarry and take an extended European honeymoon, so Kit is enrolled in Blackwood Academy, an upscale, rural school for girls.
So her mother and new husband can catch their ship, Kit is left at Blackwood a day early. She should be thrilled at the school's picturesque setting, but instead, Kit is unnerved by a pervasive sense of evil. Her first night there, she is bothered by the fact that the hallway to the dorm rooms is stygian dark, and then she is plagued by disturbing dreams about being smothered by her bed's ornate canopy. She hopes her unsettled feelings will change once the school is full of chattering students, but then is surprised to learn that only four students have been accepted to attend the term. She befriends another girl there and has some good times, but no matter how pleasant her days, at night the old mansion's shadows darken, and the hallway to the student rooms is dreadfully dark.
Before long, the students at Blackwood start showing amazing talents in math and the arts, and Kit also notices that they all seem to be getting thinner. She often awakens with sore arms and fingers as if she had been playing hours of piano. Her letters to her mother don't ever seem to arrive, either. Other strange incidents among the students continue to occur and escalate, but Madame Duret, the headmistress, explains them all away, until one night Kit comes upon evidence that nothing at Blackwood is at it seems. Kit and the other girls are in terrible danger and there seems to be no way out.
One of the most important elements to the plot of this book is isolation, which is less and less a part of the modern world. The way it is done in this story is a bit dated, but since it could still work in a modern setting with a tweak or two, it remains believable. The story itself is chilling, with the sinister elements slowly building until its explosive climax. The ending could have benefitted from a little more fleshing out, but again, I believe that is a mark of the time period in which it was written. Books these days tend to drag endings out sometimes past the point where they should.
I enjoyed this book enough as a teenager to seek it out all these years later, and enjoyed it again as an adult. I highly recommend it.
Summary of Down a Dark Hall
Why does the exclusive boarding school Blackwood have only four students?Kit walks the dark halls and feels a penetrating chill. What tterror waits around the next corner?
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