★★★彡
Summary:
Forgive us, Father, for we have sinned
Brooklyn Stevens sits in a pool of her own blood, tied up and gagged. No one outside of these dank basement walls knows she’s here. No one can hear her scream.
Sofia Flores knows she shouldn’t have gotten involved. When she befriended Riley, Grace, and Alexis on her first day at school, she admired them, with their perfect hair and their good-girl ways. They said they wanted to save Brooklyn. They wanted to help her. Sofia didn’t realize they believed Brooklyn was possessed.
Now, Riley and the girls are performing an exorcism on Brooklyn—but their idea of an exorcism is closer to torture than salvation. All Sofia wants is to get out of this house. But there is no way out. Sofia can’t go against the other girls . . . unless she wants to be next. . . .
In this chilling debut, Danielle Vega delivers blood-curdling suspense and terror on every page. By the shockingly twisted end, readers will be faced with the most haunting question of all: Is there evil in all of us?
Summary:
Forgive us, Father, for we have sinned
Brooklyn Stevens sits in a pool of her own blood, tied up and gagged. No one outside of these dank basement walls knows she’s here. No one can hear her scream.
Sofia Flores knows she shouldn’t have gotten involved. When she befriended Riley, Grace, and Alexis on her first day at school, she admired them, with their perfect hair and their good-girl ways. They said they wanted to save Brooklyn. They wanted to help her. Sofia didn’t realize they believed Brooklyn was possessed.
Now, Riley and the girls are performing an exorcism on Brooklyn—but their idea of an exorcism is closer to torture than salvation. All Sofia wants is to get out of this house. But there is no way out. Sofia can’t go against the other girls . . . unless she wants to be next. . . .
In this chilling debut, Danielle Vega delivers blood-curdling suspense and terror on every page. By the shockingly twisted end, readers will be faced with the most haunting question of all: Is there evil in all of us?
I want to start this review by saying that this was my first experience reading horror. I am a fan of horror movies because they somehow manage to scare me and make me laugh at the same time—weird, I know—but I was a little nervous to read this for the very same reason I like books more than movies: they feel more real. But after the rave reviews it received, I just knew I had to read it.
If you read a few reviews for this book you will notice a trend. Many people who are not into horror and scare easily have read this book and loved it, because, although it is creepy, they were still able to get through it. My experience was not like this; I went into the book expecting—wanting—horror. I wanted to get that rush of excited fear. Unfortunately, nothing in the book really scared me. There were things that grossed me out and made my skin crawl, but nothing made me afraid to look at my reflection in case something was standing behind me, or scared to be in a room alone.
I probably would have enjoyed this book more if it were what I'm calling "real horror", but I still liked it. The entire time I was reading I was pretty sure it would turn out to be a 3-star, but that ending (last page and a half) shot it up to a strong 3.5-stars. I absolutely loved the ending. On a side note, The Shining by Stephen King has now moved way up in my TBR list; I feel like I need something to compare this book to and The Shining is the perfect something.
If you read a few reviews for this book you will notice a trend. Many people who are not into horror and scare easily have read this book and loved it, because, although it is creepy, they were still able to get through it. My experience was not like this; I went into the book expecting—wanting—horror. I wanted to get that rush of excited fear. Unfortunately, nothing in the book really scared me. There were things that grossed me out and made my skin crawl, but nothing made me afraid to look at my reflection in case something was standing behind me, or scared to be in a room alone.
I probably would have enjoyed this book more if it were what I'm calling "real horror", but I still liked it. The entire time I was reading I was pretty sure it would turn out to be a 3-star, but that ending (last page and a half) shot it up to a strong 3.5-stars. I absolutely loved the ending. On a side note, The Shining by Stephen King has now moved way up in my TBR list; I feel like I need something to compare this book to and The Shining is the perfect something.
"I snag my thumb on the lunch tray's metal edge, and a crescent of blood appears beneath my cuticle. It oozes into the cracks surrounding my nail, then spills over to one side, forming a perfect droplet, almost like a tear" (1).
This is how Danielle Vega chose to introduce us into the world of The Merciless. The more I think about it, the more I think it is freaking brilliant. She set a tone for the story with the first two sentences that she continues throughout the book, slowly but surely increasing the yuck-factor in her blood-curling descriptions.
The thing that bothered me the most was how unconnected I felt to the characters. However, I did admire that none of them were perfect. In fact, they were all pretty messed up. They were all hiding something, and not the kind of somethings that you forgive and forget, but the kind of somethings that are so twisted you won't be able to look at humanity the same way.
The thing that bothered me the most was how unconnected I felt to the characters. However, I did admire that none of them were perfect. In fact, they were all pretty messed up. They were all hiding something, and not the kind of somethings that you forgive and forget, but the kind of somethings that are so twisted you won't be able to look at humanity the same way.
"I've hung out with girls like her before, the girls who skip third period to smoke cloves in the bathroom and pierce their ears with safety pins. It's always exciting for a while , but they never become real friends. I usually spend most of my time truing to prove that I'm cool enough to hand with them.
Still, beggars can't be choosers. So when Brooklyn winks at me and says "Later," I smile and wave back." (5)
Meet Sofia Flores. She moves every six months due to her mother's job, and therefore has no friends, but she's otherwise pretty normal. She is trying to put behind what happened to her at the last place they lived, where she was bullied and then betrayed by her only friend.
She has just moved to the tiny army town of Friend, Mississippi with her mom and sick grandmother where she is immediately invited into the "it-girl" circle formed by Riley, Alexis and Grace. They seem to have a problem with Brooklyn, the first girl in school Sofia talked to. But don't worry, they only want to help her. Or do they?
She has just moved to the tiny army town of Friend, Mississippi with her mom and sick grandmother where she is immediately invited into the "it-girl" circle formed by Riley, Alexis and Grace. They seem to have a problem with Brooklyn, the first girl in school Sofia talked to. But don't worry, they only want to help her. Or do they?
Brooklyn Stevens sits in a pool of her own blood, tied up and gagged. No one outside of this dank basement walls knows she's here. No one can her her scream.
Sofia Flores knows she shouldn't have gotten involved. When she befriended the popular girls on her first day at school she admired their perfect hair and their good-girl ways. They said they wanted to save Brooklyn. They wanted to help her. Sofia didn't realize they believed Brooklyn was possessed.
Now, Sofia's new friends are performing an exorcism on Brooklyn—but their idea of an exorcism is closer to torture than salvation.
Oh, oh.
That's what you'll find in the inside book cover of this book. So, going into the book you already know that the good girls are not that good. There are hints that Sofia doesn't give much attention to, such as how Riley's smile never seems to reach her eyes or how she has no reaction to finding a dead, skinned cat. I mean, hello, but I'll let that one go.
Throughout the novel I was trying to figure out if Sofia had a mental illness, like maybe what she was narrating was not actually happening. I definitely considered her an unreliable narrator. I will not tell you how it ends, but the last page and a half make her narration make a lot more sense. I'm pretty sure Vega will make a series out of this one, and although I would have liked it to be a stand-alone, I will definitely continue with the series.
Another thing I was not a fan of was how predictable this book was most of the time. I knew what would happen halfway through the book before I even started it, and the only real surprise was the ending, which was not really all that surprising when your really think about it.
There's barely an romance in The Merciless. Sofia does have a love interest called Charlie, but he is barely in the novel at all. I liked that it was not strongly romantic, but I think it would have been better if Sofia didn't have a love interest at all, and instead the pages went to something better e.g. world building.
The Merciless by Danielle Vega is the kind of horror people that don't read and/or like horror will enjoy. That does not mean people that do like horror will not like it, but they might find it lacking.
Have you read The Merciless yet? What did you think?
That's what you'll find in the inside book cover of this book. So, going into the book you already know that the good girls are not that good. There are hints that Sofia doesn't give much attention to, such as how Riley's smile never seems to reach her eyes or how she has no reaction to finding a dead, skinned cat. I mean, hello, but I'll let that one go.
Throughout the novel I was trying to figure out if Sofia had a mental illness, like maybe what she was narrating was not actually happening. I definitely considered her an unreliable narrator. I will not tell you how it ends, but the last page and a half make her narration make a lot more sense. I'm pretty sure Vega will make a series out of this one, and although I would have liked it to be a stand-alone, I will definitely continue with the series.
Another thing I was not a fan of was how predictable this book was most of the time. I knew what would happen halfway through the book before I even started it, and the only real surprise was the ending, which was not really all that surprising when your really think about it.
There's barely an romance in The Merciless. Sofia does have a love interest called Charlie, but he is barely in the novel at all. I liked that it was not strongly romantic, but I think it would have been better if Sofia didn't have a love interest at all, and instead the pages went to something better e.g. world building.
The Merciless by Danielle Vega is the kind of horror people that don't read and/or like horror will enjoy. That does not mean people that do like horror will not like it, but they might find it lacking.
Have you read The Merciless yet? What did you think?