Madeleine Roux’s Escape From Asylum was described as a “terrifying prequel to her Asylum series.”

I did not find it terrifying. It was disturbing, though. It was another YA novel but I overlooked it, considering it was supposed to be very scary. Again, disturbing yes, scary no. (The only YA novel I’ve found scary thus far was The Monstrumologist.)

Psychiatric hospitals have a special place in the American psyche (no pun intended). People were sent there for all kinds of reasons, even those who didn’t belong there and were frequently subjected to brutal, cruel experiments under the guise of “treatment,” which is sort of what happens here.

In this story, it seems pretty obvious that Ricky didn’t belong in an asylum. He was a kid who got into some trouble, not an honest to God sick person or a criminal or whoever else they committed there. His stepfather, who clearly dislikes him, has him committed with the complicity of his mother who, Ricky thinks, would let him come home if he could just talk to her. He isn’t like the other patients – there’s a man who thinks he can fly (sick) and a woman who killed her husband (criminally insane).

Unfortunately, Ricky’s time seems short when the (psychopathic) warden decides to enroll Ricky in his program that will not just “cure” him but will “perfect” him. Ricky decides he needs to escape immediately, and with the help of sympathetic nurse and a fellow patient, he sets his plans into motion.

I don’t really remember much about what happened at the end of this story, except that Ricky turns out to be gay, and I can’t exactly remember if that’s why he was sent to the asylum, or if he did something where I said, “Wow, he’s not really innocent.” I seem to recall the latter.

What I do recall is the feeling of horror when I realized the warden was experimenting on his guests, for lack of a better term. I should have honestly seen that coming, what else could be happening at an asylum like this? Much like the revulsion we feel when we watch what doctors used to do to asylum patients in documentaries, I felt that with this book. The claustrophobia, the feeling of helplessness and inevitability. The atmosphere was good.

But the story didn’t make me want to read more of the ‘Asylum’ series, and so I probably won’t. It wasn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t good enough to make me want to read more.

Tagged: authors: madeleine roux, books: escape from asylum, genre: horror/terror, genre: supernatural, genre: YA