Nightmare Academy (The Veritas Project) (udgave 2003)

Writing: 4.5; thrilling writing from Frank Peretti that drives a story through with suspense and intrigue.
Theme: 4.5; the Springfields, who form the Veritas Project, are contacted when runaway and homeless kids begin to disappear and are initiated into a mysterious "Knight-Moore Academy," before suddenly turning up with no knowledge whatsoever of their pasts.
Content: 4.5; a little incidents concerning violence are depicted, and there a few flawed philosophies present, but they are portrayed in the correct light; there are a few moments where kids disrespect adults, but in most cases, the adults are either clearly wrong or the kids are shown to be in the wrong.
Language: 5.0; nothing objectionable.

The second installment in The Veritas Project, Nightmare Academy follows the Springfield family as they are called upon by Morgan, an agent of the President, to solve a mysterious case involving the Knight-Moore Academy, where homeless and runaway kids are drawn to an almost unbelievably wonderful fantasy land where they control the state of things, as if they rule the "government" of the isolated campus. The survival of the fittest is the philosophy that dominates the Academy, and soon the Springfield twins Elijah and Elisha go undercover to enter the Academy. As they get to know both the good and bad sides of the student body, the twins uncover the dark secrets possessed by the ruthless staff of the Academy and are drawn deep into a plot filled with intrigue and murder when all traces to them disappear, leaving their panicked parents to scour the nation for them. I just finished reading the previous book, Hangman's Curse, and it was quite a thrilling read. I felt a rush to continue the series and jump into the second volume, and it didn't disappoint. While it was a different theme from the previous entry -- it did seem to be more "weird" and "freaky," with a lot of bizarre happenings -- it still possessed the same intriguing and suspenseful story, and the characters were great and wonderfully developed as well. You get to know and care for the good characters and to lovingly despise the bad ones, and by the end of the story I was thoroughly entrenched into it. I will say I was a little disappointed in the ending, a similar one to the previous book, in which things are rather glossed over and we don't get a thorough farewell to the one-off, standalone characters and a nice bookend to their relationships with the main cast. All in all, it was a thrilling read and I was able to get through the duology in just a space of five days or less. It is a bittersweet endeavor, however, as there are only these two volumes and, I doubt, there will be any more, seeing as how it has been nearly two decades since this book was released. Highly recommended for fans of the first book and of Christian/suspense literature. It's definitely a thrilling read. ***Finished January 20, 2020*** ( )

A great book, and an interesting way to introduce teens and young adults to Christian literature. ( )

Peretti never fails to capture my attention in his books. In a place where there is no rules, Elisha and Elijah are definitely pushed to their limits. "Where there is no knowledge, there is no truth."The government has an undercover project to test learning environments and how the children learn and respond. They attempt to brainwash kids into believing whatever they say. They have a new program every year and to make sure no one finds out, they abolish the 'camp' sites after the summer. In the recent program they get homeless 'volunteers'. In these camps the teachers are strict, the kids loose the sense of right and wrong, and it is up to the undercover agents to figure out why.

I got a tad confused at times, but in the end everything fits together. I loved how the kids at the camp learned to start their own 'government', it really shows that, without rules, everyone runs a muck. ( )

Elijah and his sister go undercover to investigate a mysterious school that is sheltering runaway teenagers for a sinister purpose.

it has grate suspence and a good plot ( )