Confessions of a Literary Addict

This is not a spoiler-free review, so please be careful of (mild) spoilers!

 

The Merciless by Danielle Vega
Series: The Merciless #1
Genres: Young Adult, Horror, Thriller
Release Date: Published June 9th 2015 by Razorbill
Format: Paperback, 282 pages
Rating: 3/5 Crabapples
Find it here: Goodreads || Book Depository

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.

By the shockingly twisted end, readers will be faced with the most haunting question of all: Is there evil in all of us?

Okay, so, I am so mixed about this book. I was iffy going into it after having heard so much about it being Mean Girls on something weird, and even from the beginning I was getting those exact vibes as I went. However, despite being confused, I was definitely pulled into continuing along just to see who the bad guys were. I went back and forth a bunch of times with who I thought it was pulling the strings, if Brooklyn was really as bad as the girls thought she was or if the girls were the ones who knew what they were talking about.

The things that happened during the exorcist though, jesus. I was grossed out the entire time, sitting in the airport and making faces into my book. Some of the things that happened gave me chills, not because they were graphic necessarily, but because they were simple enough that I could easily picture what it would be like for it to happen.

Having finished the book, I do really wish I had managed to get it read in time for Halloween, because, despite not liking the ending very much because the twist was twisted but we were left in the dark after being twisted, it was definitely creepy at times. Especially if you were like me and you couldn’t figure out who the bad guy was. It was a great read for the spooky season, and if you plan on reading it, then I definitely suggest reading it then. Just be ready for an ending that might leave you going “OH HELL NAW THAT CAN’T BE IT” like I was.

I am still fuming about that. I really wanted more and the way it ended kind of left me angry. Arg.

I’ll get over it. At some point. Probably.

… As I am fixing up this post to be published, I just found out a sequel is in the works for this. I swear that wasn’t there on Goodreads before. I would go back and delete my previous statement, but I’m getting too much entertainment from this to do so, so. There IS a sequel! This is no longer (never was? I swear that wasn’t there before, swear. Okay maybe it WAS and I just never saw it. I’m so sorry.) a standalone novel, and there is a second one to be published next year. Huzzah!

Anyway, that’s all for this review! If you’ve read the book, let me know what you thought of it!

(Also, found a really cool fancast by Tumblr user reservoircat. I’m including it because I really loved it and I want to start including more things like this in my reviews.)

Seychelle Gabriel as Sofia Flores
Vanessa Hudgens as Riley Howard
Maisie Williams as Brooklyn Stevens
Elle Fanning as Alexis
Kat Graham as Grace

Thanks for reading!