The Madness Underneath: Book 2 (Shades of London, #2)

by Maureen Johnson

The New York Times bestseller!

A new threat haunts the streets of London…
Rory Deveaux has changed in ways she never could have imagined since moving to London and beginning a new life at boarding school. As if her newfound ability to see ghosts hadn’t complicated her life enough, Rory’s recent brush with the Jack the Ripper copycat has left her with an even more unusual and intense power. Now, a new string of inexplicable deaths is threatening London, and Rory has evidence that they are no coincidence. Something sinister is going on, and it is up to her to convince the city’s secret ghost-policing squad to listen before it’s too late.

• ISBN10: 0142427543
• ISBN13: 9780142427545
• Publish Date: 10 December 2013 (first published 1 February 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Speak
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780142427545

Reviews

[girlinthepages]

Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars

Lately I’ve been super into binge reading series, so as soon as I finished The Name of the Star, I immediately ordered the next two books from Amazon. I couldn’t get enough of the cold, drippy London setting, the ghost hunting, the unlikely alliances- I was hooked. I anxiously picked up The Madness Underneath hoping to return to Johnson’s unique tale that merged ancient London horror with the quirky and dark Southern roots main character Rory boasts.

While The Madness Underneath picked up fairly soon after the events of the first book, I feel like not a lot happened in this book. There’s this whole reveal with her boarding school, Wexford, being built on top of an old asylum, but I feel like the surface of that premise was barely scratched- instead, it’s very much a book to develop Rory’s character as she struggles with the aftermath of the events of book one, and how to find her place in a world where her priorities have radically shifted. I didn’t mind the lack of action in this book, as I really felt for Rory and what she was going through- being so isolated by her ability and not having anyone to relate too (although her school situation was getting a bit ridiculous- you do have to do your homework AT SOME POINT). The book then all of the sudden ramps up very, very quickly toward the end and while my ship finally sailed, it was overshadowed by a VERY VERY VERY TERRIBLE CLIFFHANGER/PLOT TWIST THAT WAS NOT OK AT ALL. I literally went on at length about how it ended to my poor boyfriend until he finally fell asleep on me but I couldn’t go to bed because I was so shook.

Also, I have to admit, while I definitely understand Rory is reeling from a semester full of trauma, I also felt like she was so sassy and skeptical of everything in the first book and she someone ends up getting manipulated a lot in this book. So while I appreciated all of the character development in this book, I also did find myself feeling like Rory went too far in the “woe is me direction” and become a malleable sheep for plot reasons.

Overall: While not as good as The Name of the Star (which is to be expected, since it doesn’t have the Ripper premise), The Madness Underneath is still a decent installment into the series that allows for a lot of character growth for Rory. Though it functions as a bridge book, I can’t wait to pick up my crisp, new copy of book three off my shelves and satisfy the feels left over from the brutal cliffhanger ending.

[layawaydragon]

The Good:

I'm still loving the characters and how the ghost hunters are set up. Though I'm sad not to see them really all come back like they used to be but I wasn't expecting a Kumbaya moment after Name of the Star.

I love how Rory dates and it's just dating. Instead of “insta-forever”, it's down to Earth and complicated and awkward and exciting.

I loved how Rory wasn't pushed or forced into being a tool for the Shades.

Rory's parents reactions made so much more sense than typical YA gives adults. It was refreshing to see and maneuver around them for desperate freedom.

And Rory's experience with PTSD and surviving the ordeal is just perfect. I probably would've quit if it wasn't done right. As much as I hate seeing great characters torn up (emotional attachment) but the story demands it and really, they wouldn't be as great without it.

However, Madness Underneath is not as good as The Name of the Star for a couple of reasons.

The plot isn't as tight. It feels disjointed. The first half is all teen drama with Rory's recovery, return, and the consequences. Which isn't bad to read or see. Obviously, after what she went through shit isn't easy. But the second half murder-mystery focus doesn't smoothly follow.

It's jarring going from the Shades inner turmoil and Rory to the murderers, like they were in the backseat and suddenly grabbed the wheel from Rory and Stephan.

It's ending was satisfying either. It doesn't feel like a conclusion or that much headway was made at all. We're right back to inner and inter-group turmoil. I'm sure the twists and character progression will bloom in the next installment. Or hope at least.

But The Madness Underneath doesn't feel like it's own book. It's just a bridge between the first and third with an identity crisis. Sadly, it's classic middle book syndrome. I'll still be continuing but that's due to loving the characters, this version of London and wanting resolution. The twist didn't spur me to the next book.

In fact, it's really been months since I finished this and I still haven't continued the Shades of London series. It's on my list but it's dropped down from “Must Read Now” to “Whenever I feel like it” because of Madness Underneath. Maybe thinking and writing about it will get me moving on but I dunno.

[readingwithwrin]

“After that, I felt like I had two lives. There was the me I had been before the attack, the one people knew and wanted to relate to. The one people wanted to comfort and fix. And there was another me, a hidden me that no one ever saw. There was a me who had tasted death. That me knew things others people didn't know.”

This book to me was a slight disappointment compared to the first one. While I knew it most likely wasn't going to have a huge ongoing case like the first book did, I guess I was just hoping for more crime fighting. I did love the book it was just a little to all over the place. Things did pull together in the end for the cases but there were still alot of loose strings. Strings that I have a feeling we wont get tied up in the third book.

I really did love though how Rory struggled with everything and didn't just bounce back like alot of protagnist do. It was refreshing to see her have trouble in school and with her relationships after being stabbed.

I will be reading the third book though due to the fact that I love the way Maureen keeps holding my interest in the characters and whats happening in the series.
Plus I have to find out whats happened to Stephen, and where in the world Charlotte is been taken off to.

See more reviews like this on my blog

[Nessa Luna]

Read this review, and many more on my blog October Tune!

When I read the first book in this series, I was hooked. A killer copying the murders of Jack the Ripper (which I have always found an interesting subject), a girl who can see ghosts and a secret ghost-fighting team. I loved it! So I was trilled to find out it was a series, and I was even more thrilled when I found out the second book was out already. I didn’t buy it until last month though, because there were so many other books that I wanted to read, and I just kept this book on my wishlist, until last month when I though tit might be a good idea to finish some of the series that I had started.

I had hoped for a little bit more action, like in the last book, when they confront the Ripper-copycat, but this book was mostly about Rory getting back to Wexford and getting back to her normal life (and failing miserably). I was really happy when Boo, Callum and Stephen came back into the picture, because I really liked them in the previous book.

Eventually, the action started to happen, and I got more and more excited about this book. There wasn’t a lot of ‘big’ action like in the last book, but the last couple of pages made me sob like a small child whose ice-cream had just fallen on the ground. This only made me want to read the third book even more, even though that won’t come out until March next year (!!!!!!)

Out of all the characters, and not counting the ghost-squad (aka Boo, Callum and Stephen), I liked Jazza the most, because she was just so relaxed around Rory, not really fuzzing about her, and I just liked the fact that she knits when she’s nervous (I just like people who have the patience to knit). Charlotte got her place in the ‘characters I like’ category as well, because she changed since the last book (I guess that bang in the head did something good to her). And I just felt pretty bad for her during the last parts of the book, she got abducted by these crazy people and they still haven’t found her by the end of the book, and I hope that she’s alright because omg.

Like I said earlier, the last couple of pages made me cry, and I think people who’ve read the book know what I am talking about, and I just have one question for the writer: Why?! WHY?!?!?!?!?!

There wasn’t really anything I disliked about the book, except maybe for the lack of action, but hey you can’t have everything you like in one book!

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a Chapter



If it's possible I think I liked this The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson better than the The Name of the Star! I decided that I wanted to finish this series before moving on with the Truly Devious series and I'm really happy with my decision!

Johnson really expands on the possibilities of the first book and then layers in more mysteries. I didn't think that was even possible! She takes the things that we learned in The Name of the Star and then gives us more details to realize the full potential of what's happening. I really liked that Rory spent most of the book learning more about the history of the sight and more about what that will mean in her day to day life.

In The Name of the Star Rory's just learning about what has happened to her and how a very select group of people use that ability. In The Madness Underneath she's learning a bit more about what this actually means and even goes into how this might affect the rest of her life. I think Rory's character developed pretty nicely due to the reflection and knowledge she gains in this book.

I actually really missed a lot of the secondary characters from Wexford. Jazza, Jerome, Alister, and even Charlotte only received maybe 20 pages or so. I do understand that Rory's life has grown past that stage. Perhaps we're meant to feel that as I'm sure Rory is too. I'm hoping they'll make more of an appearance in The Shadow Cabinet.

I'm beginning to learn that Maureen Johnson is the queen of cliffhanger endings. I immediately wanted to go find my copy of the last book and just dive right in. I know myself better than that though. It is not worth risking burn out so I am going to force myself to read a book or two between them. She has tempted me though!

[jnikkir]

{ This review can also be found at my blog, There were books involved... }
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This book's blurb is not lying when it says you will be on the edge of your seat until the very end. Or at least, you will be on the edge of your seat at the very end, because Maureen Johnson is cruel and unusual and this is one of the worst cliffhangers I have ever experienced IN MY LIFE. I will be billing her for my therapy later.

But despite (and possibly because of) that, I adored this book.

The Madness Underneath has a very different feeling than The Name of the Star. My first impression, after finishing it, was that it felt like the first half of a longer story-arc - all the loose ends aren't neatly tied up with a bow, even before "The Thing" happens and we're left with the worst cliffhanger of all time (OF ALL TIME - I'm not getting over this one). Sorry. So, all the loose ends don't get tied up, which is admittedly a little disappointing.

This book is also much different in its pacing. The Name of the Star had a tight progression of events, with the Ripper-timeline of subsequent murders, which kept the plot moving forward at a steady and fast pace. The Madness Underneath still has plenty of ghosts and mysterious deaths, but the timeline isn't there. And without the timeline and sort of countdown-like suspense, it felt like the stakes weren't as high (at least re: the murders) as they were in Book 1. It make things move a little more slowly, because the only thing driving the plot for a large portion of the book is Rory's own curiosity about the new string of murders.

Additionally, a lot of the slow pacing came from the fact that, instead of a fully plot-driven focus, Madness focuses a lot on Rory's personal struggles and emotional state. After what happened at the end of book 1, Rory just wants to return to Wexford, and for things to go back to normal. She's desperate to find somewhere she belongs, but she ends up having to lie constantly to the people she's around. She falls behind with her schoolwork, and she just can't seem to work her way back into life at school like she wants to. It's clear that the place she belongs is no longer Wexford, and she has a really hard time when she begins to realize that.

I actually didn't mind the focus switching to Rory, though. I found myself really feeling for her struggles, and being drawn along with her as she loses all the normality she wants so desperately to get back. It's heartbreaking at times, but I didn't see any of that as a negative for the story. I know some people did, but I'm too attached to her character to feel like it was any kind of disservice to the plot, if that makes sense.

...Gosh, from what I said above, it sounds like this book is a real downer. =/ But I rated it 5 stars, right? Well, there's a reason. My absolute favorite thing about this book was Rory and Stephen.

Confession: I am a shipper. Give me a great OTP in a book or TV show, and there is no turning back. Originally, I had my doubts that there would be any major shipper FEELS in this series, especially after Book 1 was pretty light in the meaningful-romance department... But oh boy was I wrong. Rory and Stephen sneaked up on me slowly, and wormed their way into my heart before I really had time to process it. They're just... ugh, so good together. Their relationship grows so realistically from where it started in Book 1, and I especially loved seeing Stephen slowly realize that Rory is someone he can open up to and be himself around, while Rory realizes the same thing about Stephen. Their relationship is so well-developed, and sweet, and genuine. Ugh. Okay, I'm gushing. I'll stop. But seriously.

So, yeah. They're the real reason this book gets 5 stars from me, if I'm being super honest. The pacing may have been slower and the plot not as tight and tied up at the end, but this book just pushed so many of my emotional buttons, I can't NOT give it 5 stars. This is one of my new favorite series, and I cannot wait until Book 3.