Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug-dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. In fact, by age twenty, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most prestigious universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. Their eight windowless “tombs” are the well-known haunts of the rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street’s biggest players. But their occult activities are more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living.

REVIEW:
I confess I found this book a little hard to get into at first, and sometimes felt the bounce between present and past was a little contrived, but once I got immersed into the story, I found myself letting go of those irritations. Alex is a complicated character- fragile when dealing with personal things but strong and resilient when it comes to protecting others. The supernatural/magical elements were really interestingly handled, with most people unaware they exist and some of those in the know seemingly barely so. I found the solution to the mystery well drawn, though perhaps overly complicated as one of the most interesting elements was only fleshed out at the very end; I would have preferred that possibility was raised.explored earlier in the novel with only the identity of the person involved kept from the reader. Nevertheless, an enjoying read that left me hungering for the second installment.