Book: The Merciless
Author: Danielle Vega
Pages: 278
Read On: My Kindle
How Long It Took Me To Read: 1 day
Plot 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. . . .
General Thoughts: I wanted to read this book because it was being described as a mix between Mean Girls (one of my all-time favourite movies) and The Craft (a 90s golden film, if you haven't seen it you've simply got to!). Now, having read the book, I can say the Mean Girls part is true enough, there are some elements especially in the beginning of the book that were fairly Mean Girl-esque. But The Craft was sorely missing, perhaps the groups of girls in this book and their dynamics were slightly like the girls in The Craft, but other than that there wasn't any witchy-ness in this book.
Also, the fact that this was a horror novel really drew me in.
Things I Liked:
1. This book is freaking hardcore. The torture scenes will turn your stomach. It was intense. So if you are sensitive to descriptions of violence, this might not be a book for you. But I liked that this book didn't shy away from actual violence. The exorcism was intense, creepy and really graphic.
2. I really liked Brooklyn, she was sassy, fierce and tough.
3. The action in book was past-paced and the 278 pages moved quickly. I wasn't bored for a minute.
4. I loved the truths that came out from the three mean girls during the night of the exorcism. The half-truths, lies and hidden secrets that these girls kept from each other was interesting.
5. The twist in the end was really good and I didn't see it coming.
Things I Didn't Like:
1. Even at the end of the novel, I felt like I barely knew Sofia. I didn't get to know her at all and I didn't really like her.
2. For a horror novel I wasn't scared for a second. It was gruesome but not scary.
3. This is now going to be a book-series, I didn't know that and I don't quite care about it. This really doesn't need to be a series in my opinion..it really could have been one book.
4. The last 20 pages were so rushed.
Rating: 2.5/5
This isn't a bad book but it didn't live up to my expectations.
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