Fourteen year old Grant Taylor has had problems. So when he is picked up for shoplifting his mother decides that she has only one choice – her son must be enrolled at a specialist school for delinquent children: Knollwood Academy.

Dreeson "Coop" Cooper is an artist. When he receives a call from the Knollwood police department telling him that his uncle Eb has died suddenly he gives up his job as a teacher to move to the town and find out what happened.

On arrival he begins to realise that there is something strange going on in the town. As he starts to investigate his uncle's death he starts to think that it was somehow linked to Knollwood Academy so he decides to get a job as an art teacher at the college to allow him to find out the truth about what it going on.

But they couldn't possibly have imagined the truth about the Academy – that they would find themselves in the middle of a battle for the future of the world and there is no guarantee that any of them will survive what is to come.

The Academy is a very original story. At the very beginning you are made aware that there is a battle going on between God and the Devil, Angels and Demons but you are not sure how this relates to the Academy. However, as the story progresses the situation becomes clear and the war commences.

I always like reading stories where I know more than the characters although this can mean that I get very frustrated when they fail to see what I consider to be glaringly obvious. With The Academy, although you are aware of facts that the main characters have not discovered you do not feel that same frustration as Coop and Grant do begin to realise the truth.

I like an original premise and although the idea of good versus evil is not too original the way that Scarlett Dean has handled it certainly is. Dean is a superb writer. She creates stories that want to be read and that you, the reader, don't want to put down. If you have never tried one of her books then The Academy is as good a place as any to begin.

Synopsis
When fourteen-year-old Grant Taylor becomes the newest student at the Knollwood Academy for delinquent boys, he discovers the real danger lies inside the school. Are the tortured screams and mutilating accidents all a ploy to frighten the rebellious students, or is there something truly evil lurking in the Academy?

Grant befriends the new art teacher, Dreeson "Coop" Cooper, in an effort to uncover the truth about paranormal occurrences and altered classmates. Their worst fears are confirmed with the discovery of a mysterious black book rumored to be Satan's bible. Time is running out as they hurry to decipher the book's archaic script and learn evil's true plan before it can destroy the world...