THE HOME is Wendover Home. Located in the Appalachian Mountains, Wendover is a former mental institution that has been renovated into a group home for troubled kids. Wendover is not only inhabited by living residents, there are also the ghosts of long ago patients from Wendover's past as a psychiatric facility residing there.

Freeman Mills is new to Wendover but not to group homes. He has several problems stemming from abuse he suffered at the hands of his father. Freeman is a fan of macho type movies stars like Clint Eastwood and Al Pachino. Freeman also has some special talents he acquired during the horrid tortures he survived in his past.

Francis Bondurant is the director of Wendover Home and he has some secrets of his own. Also on staff at Wendover is newcomer Starlene Rogers, Randy, Allen, Dr. Paula Swenson, and the mysterious Dr. Kracowski. Dr Kracowski conducts specialized treatments in Room Thirteen on certain residents of Wendover that are not standard group therapy.

Freeman gets acquainted with some of the other kids who live at Wendover such as Deke, Dipes, Isaac and Vicky. Freeman intends to go in and stay only long enough to find a way to escape, but soon becomes involved in the lives and circumstances of the others who live at Wendover.

Freeman's father was a mad scientist in the truest sense of the word and his actions have not only created Freeman's problems, but have influenced Dr. Kracowski and has ties to the mysterious Trust that funds Kracowski's experimental treatments. Just who are the Trust and why are they so interested in Freeman and Freeman's psycho father? What is the purpose of the "treatments" that Dr. Kracowski conducts? The answers are disturbing yet the questions behind them are things people have wondered about and questioned throughout time.

I started this book this morning and read straight through the book this afternoon. THE HOME is an engrossing read, the action drew me in and I *had* to turn the page and see what would happen next. If you like mysteries that will also send a chill up your spine, then THE HOME is just the ticket.