Books Like The Night It Ended

One of the factors that makes for a compelling story is having characters from different backgrounds thrown together in an interesting setting. This has made boarding schools a favorite amongst many authors as it is a contained environment in which characters typically have no choice except to interact with each other. These stories can also be taken in many interesting directions, such as comedy, action, drama, and even horror. For example, in The Night It Ended by Katie Garner, a criminal psychiatrist named Madeline Pine is called to help investigate a mysterious death at a boarding school for troubled teenage girls. When she arrives at the secluded campus, she finds that everyone has secrets, including herself. For more stories where boarding schools and secrets play a prominent role, check out the following books like The Night It Ended.  The Murder GameBy Carrie DoyleThe Murder Game by Carrie Doyle is the story of Luke Chase, a teenager who made history as a child when he managed to escape from a kidnapping. However, all Luke wants is to be a regular teenager and put the past behind him. While attending a private boarding school, Luke is excited to experience some freedom by sneaking out to the woods one night to drink with friends and even flirt with the new British girl at his school. Unfortunately, the next morning comes with the startling revelation that a teacher has been murdered in the same spot where Luke and his friends have been partying. All the evidence points toward Luke’s roommate and best friend Oscar being the prime suspect. Luke has to put his famous survival skills to the test to try and clear his friend’s name, but his efforts put him in the crosshairs of the real killer. PrepBy Curtis SittenfeldPrep by Curtis Sittenfeld is set against the backdrop of the prestigious Ault School in Massachusetts. Lee Fiora is a fourteen-year-old who becomes enamored with the boarding school after seeing the glossy brochure depicting how idyllic everything there is. She leaves her family in South Bend, Indiana behind to become a scholarship student at Ault, but she always feels like an outsider. Nevertheless, she manages to create a hard-won place for herself at Ault by the time she’s a senior, but then her behavior begins to take a very public self-destructive turn. I Have Some Questions For YouBy Rebecca MakkaiI Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai is set at a New Hampshire boarding school where Bodie Kane spent four largely miserable years in her teens. It is the place where her former roommate, Thalia, was murdered in the spring of their senior year by the school’s athletic trainer, Omar. However, Bodie is content to forget her past and is making a living as a successful film professor and podcaster. She does find herself inexorably drawn to the case when the school invites her back to teach a course and she begins digging deeper into what really happened. In the process, Bodie realizes that she might have known something back then that could have solved the case while the police overlooked suspects in their rush to convict Omar. Good Girls LieBy J.T. EllisonGood Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison is set at The Goode School which is perched atop a hill in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia. This prestigious boarding school is known as Silent Ivy as it accepts only the best and brightest making it the school of choice for the daughters of the rich and influential. It has long maintained an elite status for its long-held traditions and honor code, resulting in preparing young women for their futures at Ivy League universities. However, just below the surface lies the cruelties of the secret societies and dubious behaviors of the privileged young woman at Silent Ivy who expects to get away with murder. No one questions these things as long as students pretend to follow the rules and uphold appearances, but when a popular student is found dead the truth can no longer be ignored.PrivateBy Kate BrianPrivate is the first book in the series of the same name by Kate Brian and is set on the beautiful, tradition-steeped campus of Easton Academy. Fifteen-year-old Reed Brennan wins a scholarship for the school and sees it as an opportunity to get away from her pill-popping mother and ordinary suburban life. However, when she arrives at the elite boarding school she discovers that although she’s been accepted she still feels like an outsider looking in. Reed vows to do whatever it takes to be accepted into the inner circle of the Billings Girls, consisting of the most beautiful, intelligent, and intensely confident girls on campus. Unfortunately, she discovers that while they hold all the power, the Billings Girls have skeletons in their closets and won’t stop at anything to keep their secrets private.The Broken GirlsBy Simone St. JamesThe Broken Girls by Simone St. James features two timelines, which are both centered around a boarding school named Idlewild Hall. In the 1950s it was a place for girls who are troublemakers, illegitimate, too smart for their own good, or who no one wants. During the timeline set in the 1950s four roommates bond during their time at Idlewild Hall until one of them mysteriously disappears. The other timeline is set in 2014 and follows a journalist named Fiona Sheridan whose elder sister’s body was found twenty years ago near the ruins of Idlewild Hall. Although the case was closed and her sister’s boyfriend was convicted of the murder, Fiona still harbors doubts about what really happened. This prompts her to write a story about Idlewild Hall when she discovers an anonymous benefactor is restoring the building. However, this leads to a shocking discovery during the renovations.