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).
