The Ancient Nine, Ian K Smith

Spenser Collins An unlikely Harvard prospect, smart and athletic, strapped for cash, determined to succeed. Calls his mother—who raised him on her own in Chicago—every week. Dalton Winthrop A white-shoe legacy at Harvard, he’s just the most recent in a string of moneyed, privileged Winthrop men in Cambridge. He’s got the ease—and the deep knowledge—that come from belonging.

Contrary to likelihood, these two find enough common ground to be friends – cemented in Spenser being ‘punched’ to join the Delphic Club (one of the most exclusive of Harvards famous all male final clubs – Dalton, having familiar links to the club, knows that don’t just offer membership to just anyone. Dalton (his Great-Uncle one of The Delphic Clubs oldest living members), stews over his Uncles cryptic nature regarding The Ancient Nine, a shadowy group of alums whose identities are unknown. They protect the Delphic’s darkest and oldest secrets—including what happened to a student who sneaked into the club’s stately brick mansion in 1927 and was never seen again. Dalton steers Spenser into deeper and deeper recesses of the club, and beyond, to try to make sense of what they think they may be seeing. But with each scrap of information they get from an octogenarian Crimson graduate, a crumbling newspaper in the library’s archives, or one of Harvard’s most famous and heavily guarded historical books, a fresh complication trips them up. The more the friends investigate, the more questions they unearth, tangling the story of the club, the disappearance, and the Ancient Nine, until they realize their own lives are in danger.

The Ancient Nine, had me engrossed from the first page. Combining an intricate history of both Campus and Town (Harvard and Cambridge), Smith effectively created an enticing and authentic novel. Intertwining knowledge with an intense descriptive ability, Smith has created an intensely realistic world, where it is not hard to envision the setting, or the events describe.

Enter the romance aspect – usually Romance tropes are overplayed, but this one was done delicately enough, that it didn’t weight too heavily on the story line – it grounded the novel, turning it from an intense thriller – in what could have almost been an alternate reality – to a novel constructed in our time. Add in the complexities of politics, and mora dilemmas, and the presence of characters fatal flaws, this surprisingly intriguing read, left me wanting more.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. For more, visit https://ljkastermanslibrary.wordpress.com/