Jinxed: Thommy Hutson

Rising to stardom is paramount to the students attending Trask Academy of Performing Arts. Hidden beneath the stage, the scenery, the scripts, dialogue and the actors is something sinister that has lurked through the years and will soon be unleashed. The prologue introduces us to Amanda who is practicing her lines by herself and feels a presence but does not see who or what might be watching her. Trying to complete her rehearsal little does she know that these will be the last lines she ever speaks. But, why does she end with THE BABY?

In the present we need Layna, Max, Crosby, Nancy, Alice, Dillon and Sydney who are all hoping to create something special for the annual showcase that will feature one of these aspiring actors or magicians to stardom. Within the halls of this school is a dark secret that has been buried along with the manuscript that Amanda read and created and the end result will be a blueprint for murder. Getting to know Layna we realize that she has issues of her own to overcome as she claims she never knew her mother and her grandparents reared her from a young age. Max and Layna seem to be a couple except when Dillon seems to find his way into their space creating more friction than static electricity.

When Sydney decides to reenact what Amanda did and rehearse her lines someone is watching her and although she attempts to save her own life what happens leads everyone to think the pressure was too hard for her to bear and she ended her life. But, who opened and left the umbrella opened inside. You know that’s bad luck. Sydney’s death brings Layna into the limelight as Dean McKenna and a teacher close to him bring her in to discuss taking the lead to replace Sydney in the showcase.

Every step of the way you begin to wonder who is behind the murders as the Dean seems to think it’s just a passing fancy and Ms. D’Arcangelo is hiding something and Layna’s grandparents hid the startling truth about her mother’s death. Alice is helping her with her choice of what to read or perform for the Showcase and her relentless gum chewing can drive you crazy. Why would she be the next victim? Sydney’s final thought was she finally saw the inside of the conservatory. School officials found Sydney but nothing was to be spoken about it and Detective Parker and Daniel the guard would handle it for the Dean. But, something is off with Parker and the Dean as they seem to be at odds all the time and you begin to wonder who is in control. As the story progresses you realize that author Thommy Hutson has created something quite eerie and similar to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None!

The story takes many dark turns and Layna begins to not know who to trust and as Dillon and Max are at odds all the time and things happen when both are around it’s hard for her to tell which one might not be what they seem.

Nancy and Crosby are a pair and Max and Layna form an alliance to try and figure out what happened to their friends but not for long. Someone wants to make sure that this school pays for the murder of someone who burned in a fire years ago and the end result will be more than tragic as the author has readers stare at the killer in plain sight, creates a twisted and sadistic murderer who feels justified in what is being executed. But why?

Getting to know each of the characters that went to the school you remember from the prologue that the reason Amanda died was because of a college prank that sent the conservatory up in flames and she burned to ash. No one came to her rescue. No one cared. It was covered up but someone else was there, the killer and someone is hiding in plain sight and for that reason everyone would pay with their lives because this person wanted someone to rise to the stop at all costs. But who?

Every step of the way Layna hopes to turn things around and find out who is behind the murders but each time someone else is dead. What happens when she learns that her life is a big lie and that what she was told as a child by her grandparents is nothing compared to the truth? The killer is out there and when anyone like Alice, Crosby, Dillon, Sydney and even the Dean plus Ms. D is alone the end result is a knife that will take away any hope for this school because someone’s goal is to destroy the hopes of everyone in it. Why didn’t any of them realize that being alone gave the killer an advantage? .Sterotyping some of the characters, depicting their looks as hampering or favoring why they would be more popular, lies and betrayals that come easily to some and people you are supposed to trust that you learn you cannot. Would you open an umbrella inside? What about broken mirrors, seven years bad luck!

The title of the play is JINXED! A person that is believed to bring bad luck or a condition or period of bad luck that appears to be causing a specific person or things bad luck. But, in this case it appears that the jinx or bad luck is targeted at everyone in this school.

Things spiral out of control and anyone alone faces instant death as Max and Layna are about the only ones left or so it appear to be except for a dangerous killer. How does the author bring it all together and what is the fate of everyone in this school? Well if you ever read And Then there Were None you might think that everyone in this school will be gone. What happens when Layna is on stage and her mother’s play becomes the focus? The ending will leave you breathless and wonder just how far someone will go to enact the final scene of a play that you will realize has been JINXED!

Fran Lewis: Just reviews/MJ magazine

JINXED by Thommy Hutson CR: Vesuvian Books