The Merciless by Danielle Vega

The Merciless by Danielle Vega

Release Date - June 12, 2014

Publisher Website - Penguin/Razorbill
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages - 279 pages
My Rating - 4/5
**received in exchange for an honest review from the publisher**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

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?

Teenage girls performing an exorcism. That's basically all that it took to sell me on Danielle Vega's gory debut. The novel delivers everything the synopsis outlines, and definitely made me keep the lights on after finishing.

This novel is going to appeal to a very specific group of readers. Those who flinch at gore, and blood need not apply. The unflinching, brutal way Danielle paints the horrific events that transpire makes it almost impossible to look away. You're swept away in this mob mentality, but are hopeless to stop it. You're caught in the grasps of Danielle's storytelling the same way Sofia is caught in something she can't control. It feels like you're spiraling down this demented rabbit hole and all that is left to do is wait and see what the other side looks like. It's just as intense as you expect, and even perhaps more than you bargained for.

The shiver inducing contrast between the innocent exterior of these girls, and the brutality that they are capable of is brilliantly shown. The seeming normal gossip about boys, the red wine, the decadent desserts, all paint a picture of a sleep over. It's just one that has gone horribly, irreversibly,  wrong.

This novel's tension is built by keeping you on the edge. Each time you think the worst has happened, Danielle proves you wrong. This escalation only serves to build the unease I felt as things quickly crossed the point of no return, and kept me engrossed in the story. The tension does dwindle a little in the later half, and therefore the pacing isn't quite as strong, but the stunning use of it previously made it, for me, a minor issue.

While the novel has many solid points, the second half didn't quite measure up to the fantastic start. It offered a few thrilling turns in the story, and but didn't quite match the tone of the rest of the novel. It's saved by the rather impressive final passages that left me reeling as it changes how you see the story completely. Danielle Vega did a fantastic job with this aspect of the story. She routinely makes you think that you're reading one story, while showing you that you're actually reading another. This allows for some delicious tension as you never quite know where the story is going to end up.

In the end the story I wanted wasn't exactly what I got, and my view of the ending is a little jaded by that. However, it's a strongly written, chilling look at find evil in the most unexpected places. It's a page turner in every sense, and horror fans will be delighted with the plots twists and turns. Just be sure to read it in the daylight!

New To My Book Closet

It's that time of the week again. Time to show you what bookish goodies made their way into my home and book closet (to be saved from the evil book eating cat monster named Aria). This is inspired by the various "mailbox" posts out there (eg. In My Mailbox by The Story Siren, and Stacking the Shelves by Tynga's Reviews).

Some amazing things in my mailbox this week. First up, Penguin Canada delightfully made my week awesome by sending me a copy of The Merciless to review! The back of the ARC is my FAVOURITE! The whole "Forgive us, Father, for we have sinned" is chilling and fits with the story. I am looking forward to diving into this soon.

The Merciless by Danielle Vega (goodreads)

I also got a finished copy of Red Rising from Random House Canada. I've been hearing amazing things about this title, and I am excited to check it out for myself. I also picked up a copy of Entertainment Weekly this week, due to the chilling (yet beautiful) cover for Gone Girl! I LOVE this cover. SO MUCH. It's perfect. That is Nick and Amy. I am excited to see this brought to life. I am less excited about the changes, but hopefully since the author is writing the screen play, it works.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown (goodreads)

Let me know what you got in your mailbox this week!

Happy weekend, and happy reading!

2014 Most Anticipated - The Merciless

The next (and last) pick on my 2014 Most Anticipated list is one whose synopsis chilled me the second I read it. Danielle Vega's The Merciless takes exorcism and mixes them with highschool Shiver, right?!

Just check out this Goodreads synopsis and you'll be as desperate to get your hands on it as I am.

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?

NEED IT NOW! If this is not enough to make you want to get your hands on this title, perhaps Danielle's Q & A will give you that extra push.

1. Describe The Merciless in three words

Blood. Sacrifice. Secrets.

2. How would you describe the narrator (or main character) of this book? 

I only need one word for this--lonely. Sofia Flores is an army brat whose mother is constantly dragging her to new cities. She'd be the first to tell you that making new friends is a challenge (and finding a boyfriend is borderline impossible.) So when three gorgeous, popular girls at her new school start acting friendly, Sofia's excited--so excited she overlooks the creepier parts of their personalities. Like how their smiles never seem to reach their eyes. And that they're all obsessed with Brooklyn Stevens--an edgy, hipster girl who's pretty strange herself.  

By the time Sofia realizes who the girls she's become friends with actually are it's much, much too late. 

3. Are you able to share a secret about one of the characters, the world, something that inspired something about the world/characters?

ALL of my characters have secrets. We're talking big, juicy secrets. The kind you can never say out loud if you want your friends to stay your friends. But giving away their secrets would spoil the fun so, instead, I'll give away one of my own. It's the reason I wanted to write horror stories in the first place. 

You know those urban legends you tell around a campfire? The ones you know aren't real because they always happened to someone's cousin's friend's brother? Well I happen to know that one of them is 100% factual. I know because it happened to my mom when she was a teenager. 

My mom had been sleeping over at her friend Debbie's house when they noticed something on the ceiling they were certain hadn't been there the night before: two tiny, little holes drilled into the plaster.

My mom and Debbie freaked out. Wouldn't you? Turns out the attic was directly above Debbie's room, and they got it in their heads that some crazed psycho killer had drilled the holes in the ceiling to watch them sleep. They told Debbie's parents but, of course, they came up with some nonsense parent explanation for what happened. Like maybe the ceiling was cracked or something? Or maybe the holes had been there all along. My mom and Debbie weren't convinced, but it was better than the alternative. Debbie's parents plastered up the holes and, after a week or so, everyone forgot about the whole thing. 

Then, a few months later, my mom was staying the night again. She and Debbie had just turned off the light and crawled into bed when they heard something. A kind of scratching noise coming from the ceiling. They immediately remembered the holes they'd found during their last sleepover, and leapt out of bed and ran for Debbie's parents. Together, the four of them crept up to the attic to see who was there. 

But the attic was empty. The only thing they found was the tiny spot on the floor where someone had started drilling a new hole. 

Now, my mom and Debbie were totally freaked. This just proved that someone was up there! But Debbie's parent's insisted the plaster was just caving in and told the girls to go to bed--they'd fix it in the morning. So Debbie and my mom crawled back into bed, but they couldn't sleep. They stared up at the ceiling, terrified, until finally--

"Someone needs to check under the bed," Debbie said. My mom immediately realized she was right. Neither of them would be able to sleep until they knew there wasn't a killer hiding beneath them. The girls played a quick game of rock, paper, scissors to see who would do it. My mom lost, so she crouched down on her hands and knees and peered into the darkness. 

There was something there. My mom reached forward, and pulled out an old shoebox. She took off the lid... 

Inside, she found a drill covered in fresh plaster.

4. This book revolves around girls attempting an exorcism. What kind of research did you do for this aspect of the book?

Let's just say I hope the police never look at my Google search history! I started by digging into all of the creepiest, strangest rituals of traditional exorcisms. But my characters are teenage girls, not priests, so traditional wasn't going to cut it. I had to get more creative than that. In the end, I researched everything from the most vile forms of torture (both mental and physical) to how to perform a bathroom baptism and what's the most delicious thing to eat late at night. Now I know lots of creepy things: like how to break someone's knee cap, that you can drown in a bathroom sink, and caramel corn dipped in Nutella is absolutely heavenly. 

5. What 2014 release are you most looking forward to?

Hands down it's Dreams of Gods and Monsters, by Laini Taylor. My heart will not rest until I know what happens to Karou and Akiva and Zuzana and Mic.

A huge thank you to Danielle for taking the time to answer them! This title is one of the ones I am desperate to get my hands on as soon as possible. The answer to question number 3 is terrifying. I wouldn't sleep for a long time! VERY creepy. It gives me even higher hopes that The Merciless will be terrifying.

If you want to learn more, check out the author's twitter, or the publisher's website for more information.

The Merciless will be in stores August 7, 2014. Pre-orders for this title are available at some retailers if you want to take advantage of that.

Amazon

Chapters

Let me know in the comments what you think of the synopsis, or just flail over how much you want to read this too. Also, check back soon for a contest where you could win one of my featured titles (be sure to pay attention to these Question and Answers as they'll help).

Weekly Obsessions

The awesome Kelly at KellyVision started posting a weekly post highlighting whatever she happened to be obsessed with that week. I LOVE this idea, so much in fact that I will be doing it myself every Saturday.

A smaller obsessions post this week! Here are my obsessions this week:

BOOK
Cover and synopsis of Sublime by Christina Lauren

This one totally took me by surprise. I hadn't heard anything about it, and the big announcement created a lot of buzz. After reading the awesome synopsis I immediately ran to add it to my Goodreads account. Seriously, read this amazing sounding synopsis

Sublime is the story of two teens, Lucy and Colin, who fall in love, but the the problem is … Lucy's a ghost.

Slowly, she begins to remember more about her life and death as daredevil Colin take himself to the edge of death where their realities overlap so he can be physically closer to Lucy.

Lucy starts to wonder if she's Colin's salvation or the means of his demise.

A different take on the ghost falling for a living person thing. I am curious about how Colin is a daredevil and what he does in order to be closer to Lucy. Either way, I am very much looking forward to getting my hands on this. Oh, and that cover? I like it... A LOT!

The Merciless by Danielle Vega

The Penguin Summer catalog came out. Naturally I looked at all the upcoming titles to see which ones would grab my interest. I immediately had this amazing synopsis catch my eye

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?

So, obviously, The Merciless is high up on my 2014 wishlist at this point. I am sure there are other books that handle this topic, but this sounds so fresh from what is currently out there. I basically NEED this NOW! The part about the shockingly twisted ending? YES! YES! YES!

Ghost House by Alexandra Adornetto

I know next to nothing about this novel. All I needed to hear was Gothic Romance and I was in. I can't wait to find out more though because that title...I LOVE ghost stories.

OTHER

Lauren Oliver coming to Ottawa

Lauren Oliver will be at one of the public libraries here in Ottawa on Monday. I am beyond excited that Ottawa is FINALLY getting some events and I am looking forward to going to listen to Lauren talk about her books.

So what are you obsessed with this week?