The Detained

Four avatars of high school stereotypes reunite 20 years later to face down their own pasts and a classmate’s ghost in Triana’s pedestrian horror riff on The Breakfast Club. Four classmates return to Bonneville under the impression it is the class of 1996’s 20th reunion. Unexceptional Phoebe escaped her hometown without looking back, became a child psychologist, and came out as a lesbian. The rage-driven, battered drug dealer Tyler Garfield has cleaned himself up and found success writing horror novels. Football star Bill “Champ” Robinson hopes to recapture some of his glory, now dissolved in a disappointing life with a shrewish wife. Cheerleader Sandy Lawson similarly hopes to find new ways out of her loveless marriage rut. They arrive to the cafeteria set up as it was for detention, with curmudgeon former PE teacher Noah Dixon waiting for them. As the four graduates and Dixon realize they are trapped, they discover shocking mementos that powerfully recall their shared complicity in the suicide of classmate Graham Mullen during their senior year. Triana rushes through the emotional meltdowns, recriminations, and drastic measures without allowing enough space for real chills. Only readers who do not mind the predictable will be satisfied by this quick, shallowly creepy tale. (Apr.)