The Boarding School Behind This Room Has Eyes
When I was 14, my mom shipped me off to boarding school. Forty years later, while visiting my dad, I found old photos from those years.
I have the receipts for my latest thriller, This Room Has Eyes.
A year ago, while thinking about my next thriller, my time at boarding school as a teen popped into my head. Memories of my time there came flooding back, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized I could turn those experiences into a great thriller.
The school and story in the book are fictional, but many of the small details came from what I remembered about dorm life. Consider this a behind-the-scenes look at some of the real memories, people, and places that helped inspire the book.
The school I attended had a JROTC program that was mandatory for all freshmen and sophomores. My mom never mentioned that when she told me I was going to a new school. Having to wear a uniform, polish my belt buckle, spit-shine my shoes, and march under the broiling sun—nothing was thrilling about that for me. As soon as I served my two years, I was done.
Not every memory made it into the book, but remembering details like these helped bring those years back to life.
The dorm rooms back then were small and functional. They were also home for four years. We each had our own room, which was both good and bad, considering the dorms were ancient and, as far as everyone was concerned, haunted.
The school is more than a hundred years old, and I often wondered how many students had lived in my room and slept in my bed before me—and how many would come after. What had that room witnessed over the years? That thought eventually became the heart of the book.
The cool thing about boarding school is that you’re living with your friends 24/7. That was the best part. I remember tapping on the bulletin board above my desk to communicate with whoever was in the room next door. That memory inspired a scene in the book. Of course, 24/7 also meant you lived with your bully. And who hasn’t had one at some point, right?
Dorm life created friendships, rivalries, and grudges—the same kinds of relationships that resurface during the reunion in the book.
Of course, there was supervision. My dorm had four dorm advisors who took turns keeping us in line. They made sure our rooms were neat through daily inspections, that we did our chores, studied during nightly study hall, and didn't kill each other in the process.
This is me outside one of their apartments. There were two on each floor. The dorm advisors were cool for the most part. We hung out in their apartments all the time.
So while I had zero say in whether I wanted to be shipped off to boarding school, in the end, it gave me independence, lifelong friendships, and forty years of stories—and eventually, a killer thriller.
My own fortieth class reunion is next year, and after writing this book, I’m not sure going back is such a good idea. Kidding.
This Room Has Eyes arrives November 15. It’s a psychological thriller set at an isolated boarding school in Hawaii, where two women disappear from the same room forty years apart—and the room is the only witness.