In the Hall with the Knife by Diana Peterfreund
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I completely loved this take on the Clue game/movie. I received a copy via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. In the Hall with the Knife will go down as one of my most enjoyed books for this year. I am an avid fan of the Clue movie.I especially love how the ending was handled. I do not want to spoil it for those who have not seen the movie. I have not played the game so I was unaware of the Orchid character. I have now gone and found an online version of the game and plan to familiarize myself with these updates. I was unaware that the game was evolving. This sounds like fun.

One thing I can say is that the reader does not feel like they are just reading a transcript of the movie. The author has definitely made her own twist on the story. The movie had comedic aspects where the book definitely has dark turns. They both provide a great mystery. It is difficult to discuss this book without some comparisons to the movie. My interpretation is that the author welcomes this as she is definitely a fan.In the Hall with the Knife includes some of my favorite book themes, i.e., mystery,young adult, in a boarding school environment. The book does a great job respecting how each of the characters are protagonists, Not just one of the characters. Each character has a background or problem they were escaping when choosing to come to the school-and throw in the antagonism from some of the locals and ramp up the tension with an emergency or disaster and each person starts to show more of their true character and secrets start to be exposed. It is a recipe for a well written story and a great beginning to a new series.