Accomplished journalist, CBC Radio host, and author Paul Vasey brings an impressive resumé to his YA debut, an historical novel detailing the dark side of a fictional Catholic boarding school. 

It is 1959, and 14-year-old Teddy Clemson is sent off to St. Ignatius Academy for Boys (“St. Iggy’s”) by his mother’s neglectful new boyfriend. Although Teddy makes friends, the arrangement takes a nightmarish turn as he quickly falls victim to the mental, physical, and sexual abuse perpetrated by the priests running the school.

Vasey uses his journalist’s skills to great effect in this first-person narrative. The book is compulsively readable with a briskly moving plot, and every word has its place; there are no extraneous musings or monologues on religion. Nor do the short, crisp sentences delve into needless sexual detail (anything beyond touching is referred to obliquely).

Vasey masterfully creates an unshakable feeling of creepiness. Take, for instance, one character’s description of a priest’s hand as a “big warm spider” massaging a certain part of his anatomy. Try getting that picture out of your head. There are several moments like this in the book, including the devastating finale, which will make readers both shudder and marvel at Vasey’s tremendous talent for creating searing images.

The clergy at St. Iggy’s are portrayed as one-dimensional villains, but considering their actions (either engaging in pedophilia or failing to report it), this presentation is understandable. The boys who endure the abuse react to their terrible circumstances with  authentic moments of profanity, rage, humour, bewilderment, and – because it’s the 1950s – lots of smoking.

This book is a stunner with definite adult crossover appeal, and one that effectively communicates the horrors of abuse without making readers feel like voyeurs.