The Merciless (The Merciless, #1)

"The Merciless is chilling. Think Mean Girls meets The Exorcist."—MTV.com 

Danielle Vega delivers blood-curdling suspense and terror on every page of this thrilling debut novel. Fans of Asylum by Madeleine Roux and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will devour this terrifying series. 

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?

“Pretty Little Liars fans, get a sneak peek at your new favorite book The Merciless…a nail biting thriller.”—Seventeen Magazine

• ISBN10: 1595147225
• ISBN13: 9781595147226
• Publish Date: 12 June 2014
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 13 February 2024
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Razorbill
• Format: Hardcover (Deckle Edge)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781595147226

Reviews

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Star Rating: 2.5 Stars

This book, (as I’ve said throughout, in my updates) was just...

Meh.

Meh.

Uh... still Meh...

WAIT... WHAT? BOOM. FREAKING WTF PANIC ATTACK, SHIVERING, RACING HEART LEVEL SCARY AF.

(Special Epilogue in this special edition was also meh FYI...)

But that was just like the last 3 chapters or whatever & I feel like it might have only been due to the 1 in the morning, things that go bump in the night, overactive imagination factor. I almost feel like the whole book was a waste (God, I hate feeling like I’m being mean in my feedback, lol). Even IF the reveal/ change had been at at a half way point, I’d still be annoyed. It felt like the author used this book purely as some too long, too boring, & too drawn out introduction to a series, NOT a novel in its own right.

That said, the ending scared the hell out of me, and I can’t help but pick up book 2. I would not do that, were it not for the last 30-40 pages, here. I really think this could have/ should have been, I mean, at least 175 pages shorter.

I don’t know if that’s an unpopular opinion, but if it is, to each their own! :))

Can’t believe I bought more books in this series after one of my VERY rare less than meh level reviews, but that ending, though. Vega sure knows how to exploit someone with book buying binge tendencies by using the good ol' bait & switch' method on them with one short set of pages SO DAMN GOOD (& SCARY—FINALLY) (bait), that you're caught unawares when the book then rather abruptly ends(switch) — & then before you can even think about it your book buying addiction kicks in, as you say a 'oh, what the hell why not!' & have bought the next few books in the series in hopes they are as good as those last 30-40 pgs. Sigh. Smh at myself.

Meh.

[Stephanie]

What the hell did I just read?!

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

I just finished this and I'm sitting here wondering what the hell I just read. This book is completely insane and, let me tell you, this is not your typical YA read. The Merciless is chock-full of horror, gore, and suspense and kept me up late on more than one night hoping to see what happened!

The book opens with Sofia who has just moved to a new town. It's very "Mean Girls" in that she finds herself torn between the "cool kids," Riley, Grace, and Alexis, and the weird, gothic girl, Brooklyn, who everyone loves to hate. Sofia never really makes a choice between the two, but finds herself in a very unfortunate situation when Riley kidnaps Brooklyn, determined to save her from the demon she believes to be possessing her. From that point on, the suspense is palpable and left me never quite knowing what would happen next.

Somehow I managed to read this book without having read the full blurb (even though I thought I did) so everything was kind of a surprise! I've read some reviews that claim the blurb ruined everything, but even after having read it, I don't think this would be the case. I spent much of my time wondering if Brooklyn was actually possessed or if Riley just needed to be in an insane asylum. Vega writes in such a way that it is extremely difficult to know for sure.

Character development in The Merciless wasn't that impressive, but I honestly don't feel that much development is needed in the horror genre - especially in a story that takes place over a few days. The mean girls were mean, Brooklyn was weird, and Sofia was torn. There was one character that did seem to grow (or at least came to feel remorseful) and, while Sofia may not have grown as a character, per se, pieces of her character were being revealed up until the very end of the book.

The world building here was also so-so. Then again, the entire thing took place between a school and a couple houses, so not much needed to be said, in my opinion. The atmosphere was sufficiently creepy and that's really what matters to me.

Horror is (shockingly) the most important factor in the horror genre, and this book nailed it. The Merciless has it all - it made me cringe, if it was a movie it would have made me jump, it grossed me out. And the ending was totally unexpected (to me, at least). I'm disappointed that this doesn't seem to be a series, but Danielle Vega does have another horror novel in the works, according to Goodreads, and I can't wait to get my hands on it! I highly recommend The Merciless to any fan of horror.