RMS Review: The Purgatorium by Eva Pohler

Title: The Purgatorium   
Author: Eva Pohler
Published: 'December 16, 2013
Rating:

Seventeen year-old Daphne Janus is floored when her parents agree to let her accompany her best friend to a getaway resort on an island off the coast of California. She doesn't know her parents have sent her to the Purgatorium as a last-ditch effort to save their child.

Her best friend and life-long neighbor takes her to a mostly uninhabited island with a wildlife preserve on one side and Chumash Indian ruins on the “haunted” side. The resort might be beautiful, the beach pristine, and the views from the headland amazing, but strange things begin to happen that soon have Daphne running for her life. At first she finds the therapeutic games thrilling: the ghosts that visit her room, the dropping elevator, and the kayak incident are actually kind of fun once she recovers from them. But when her horse bucks her off during a trail ride and she becomes lost on the haunted side of the island, it’s not fun anymore, and she wonders if her parents have sent her there to help her or to punish her.

This one keeps you guessing!!!

At the beginning of the book we meet Daphne, who is going to a beautiful island resort before, in her mind, she does “something” drastic. Little does she know, she has been sent there by her parents as a last ditch effort to save her. Once she starts feeling like something just isn’t quite right with this Dr. and the island, there is no stopping her from finding a way to get home. Only she can’t decipher what is real anymore. Between the legends of the island, perfectly timed incidents, and truths, half truths, and flat out lies she may very well be stuck. Will she get off the island in one piece or will she be trapped??? That’s just ONE of the mysteries you will enjoy unraveling.

Purgatorium was an excellent read. At times I kept saying “what is really going on”? The author throws many curve balls your way and you keep thinking you have it figured out…but you don’t. I felt bad for Daphne carrying around all that guilt. Maybe the Drs methods weren’t so crazy after all, but I would still like to choke her out. I also was getting very angry with Cam. What kind of sick game is he playing anyway??? Or is it a game????

If you like mystery that really keeps you guessing all the way to the end, then this is a must read!!

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!!

Review submitted by Tonia Dellinger, RMS Reviewer.