March 7, 2022
TV producer and writer Lloyd’s middling debut, a gory horror thriller set in the 1980s, starts strongly, but underdeveloped characters and a familiar plotline undercut the momentum. Hard-boiled insurance investigator Sam Gregory, a Korean War vet, is dispatched by his employer to Danforth Putnam, an upscale prep school located on its own island off the Massachusetts coast. A valuable 11th-century manuscript was stolen from a supposedly uncrackable library safe, a crime the police don’t take seriously. Sam interviews students and staff members to get some leads, an inquiry that coincides with a rampage on the island by a possibly demonic something that cuts a bloody swath through the island’s residents. The slaughter gives the gumshoe another, and more pressing, mystery to solve at his own peril. The unremarkable depiction of a creepy boarding school harboring dark secrets from its past matches a climax unlikely to impress or surprise those who have read this kind of book before. Seekers of genuine scares will have to look elsewhere. Agent: Richard Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment.
September 1, 2022
Danforth Putnam is an exclusive boarding school on an island off the coast of Massachusetts. The students there are a combination of privileged nonconformists and wards of the state. When a book goes missing from the library vault, insurance investigator Sam Gregory is called in to find it. He encounters divas, jocks, geeks, and the oddest faculty ever. When students begin to disappear, Sam discovers that there are mysterious forces at work on the island. Intrepid student Harriet is both saved by and saves Sam. The resulting bond helps them to solve the mystery and survive its unveiling. This is TV writer and producer Lloyd's (Modern Family; How I Met Your Mother) debut novel. He combines the hard-boiled detective genre with horror, carnage, and laugh-out-loud humor. His characters are saintly and demonic, often at the same time. VERDICT Narrator Chris Ciulla delivers characters with skill and success, including the deadpan detective, the crabby librarian, and the steroid-obsessed football player. Highly recommended.--Joanna M. Burkhardt
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