This ranks right up there, and should be listed with, the Shirley Jackson Award winners. Tight story, scary because they are like us characters, unseen horror, it has it all.

Jennifer McMahon is one of my all-time favorite authors and her newest book was fantastic. I read it in two days after having been in a reading slump for most of April. This story, like all the other books I’ve read by this author, is set in Vermont and has spooky elements, multiple timelines, and an emphasis on family relationships. It’s also inspired by Frankenstein. In the 1970s, Vi and her brother Eric are living with their Gran, a renowned psychiatrist whose clinic sits on a hilltop near their house. Gran is known for working miracles with her patients. When Gran brings home a young girl named Iris and tells Vi and Eric this is their new sister, they welcome her into their Monster Club. But where did Iris come from? What happened to her original family? And how can you uncover the monsters hiding in plain sight? In the other timeline, it’s 2019 and Lizzy Shelley is a well known cryptid hunting podcaster whose work brings her back to Vermont for the fist time in decades…

I truly just love everything I’ve read by this author and cannot recommend their books highly enough. If you like to be creeped out but not totally terrified, if you love books about the past and family secrets, and if you want to mentally travel to the great state of Vermont, you absolutely must pick up this book!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book doesn’t fit nicely into a specific genre box. It’s a suspense/mystery with some thrills, and added psychological aspects, but it is absolutely a beautiful mish-mash all its own. A Frankenstein, of sorts…

The year is 1978, Violet and Eric’s grandmother is a brilliant psychiatrist. They live in a house on the same grounds as the treatment center in Vermont where Gran works. Violet loves monsters and monster hunting, the classics like Dracula and Frankenstein are her favorite. One day Gran brings home Iris, a shy young girl who will now be living with them. Violet is over the moon - a sister? Finally? Iris joins in on the monster hunting, sneaking in to spooky drive in movies, and hiding out in their clubhouse. They are always looking out for one monster or another because, monsters are everywhere…everywhere.

Flash forward to 2019, Lizzy Shelley, monster hunter extraordinaire is heading to Vermont after another local girl has gone missing in a town overflowing with tales of a creature who lures people into the depths of the woods. Lizzie believes in monsters to the core of her being and she is determined to catch this one before it strikes the small town again.

Holy smokes. I cannot stop thinking about this book. At its core are the dynamics of family, nature vs nurture, the bond between siblings…
How well can you really know someone at the core of their being? How well can people put up facades to make you believe their version of the truth as reality? My jaw fell on the floor multiple times. I did not see the twists coming at all, AT ALL. Incredible. The end - perfection. This book is going to live rent free in my head for a while.

This was a pretty quick read. I finished it in one day while traveling.

In the first couple of chapters, I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it, but eventually the storyline caught my interest. The present day timeline wrapped up pretty quickly in the end and I felt like there were a couple of questions that the author left unanswered, but in general this was a pretty good book.

I'd recommend it to others.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The beauty of a book is in the eye of the beholder. Honest book reviews try to identify who the author is addressing. The Children on the Hill is an engaging book. While it is not my favorite Jennifer McMahon book, it is a close second, and a younger audience will adore it.

Vermont-1978
Dr. Helen Hildreth is a highly respected psychiatrist. She runs the Hillside Inn Hospital. The facility is known for its advanced, compassionate treatment of mentally ill patients. Additionally, Helen is raising her two grandchildren, Violet and Eric, after their parents' untimely death. She is an excellent grandmother, whom they call Gran, and the children adore her.

One day Gran brings home a little girl named Iris. Gran has the opportunity to help Iris overcome a traumatic childhood. Slowly, the children grow to love each other as siblings. They cherish spending time in the woods playing "monster" chase games. The trio has an imaginary club where they slay fictitious scary creatures. Violet, Iris, and Eric enjoy an idyllic childhood with Gran. What could happen?

The Children on the Hill is an atmospheric book with perfect creepy vibes. Readers encounter a Frankenstein undertone. The setting is an eerie sanitarium, but it is not hardcore horror. Jennifer McMahon is a master at writing delectable plot twists. This book is a fun, thrilling adventure. The author keeps readers on their toes. I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a spooky mystery without graphic violence.

The Children on the Hill is available for purchase on April 26th.

Thank you, NetGalley and Gallery Books, Gallery/Scout Press, for inviting me to review this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I appreciate the opportunity.

This book is phenomenal. 5 stars! I liked the play on/references to Frankenstein. I loved the way the characters were built and the alternating timelines and points of view. It was so beautifully written and interwoven. It was heartbreaking but also had good female empowerment at times. This was my first Jennifer McMahon book but it certainly won’t be my last.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books to access to this ARC.

4 who’s afraid of monsters stars

Are you afraid of monsters? Children are often obsessed, and some are frightened of monsters. We used “monster spray” at my house to keep them away.

This atmospheric tale takes us back and forth between the childhood of a set of siblings and the more present day. Vi and Eric are being raised by their grandmother, she’s a famous psychiatrist and they live next door to the treatment center, the Hillside Inn, that she runs in Vermont.

Gran takes excellent care of them, but they are a bit isolated, being homeschooled and not allowed to befriend other children. One day Gran brings home a new “sister” to join the family, the very quiet Iris. Soon Vi and Eric have added Iris to their Monster Club, and they are teaching her all about the family while they put together their monster scrapbook. Vi starts to take an interest in what is happening at the treatment center and undertakes her own investigation.

In the modern-day storyline, we meet up with Lizzy as she works on her Monster podcast, she’s tracking down monsters all over the country and trying to catch them. She’s hot on the trail of her sister – has she become a monster? Will the past stay in the past?

With nods to Frankenstein, this one explores mental health treatment and the monsters that live inside all of us!

Thank you to Gallery/Scout Press for the copy of this one to read and review.

I really enjoy Jennifer McMahon's books, and this one was no exception. I really liked the dual timeline and thought it worked well for this book. This one wasn't as spooky as some of her previous works in my opinion. I didn't see the big twist coming until RIGHT before which is always fun.

The Children on the Hill is Frankenstein inspired by following Dr. Hildreth, a psychiatrist, and her grandchildren Vi and Eric in that past. Dr. Hildreth works at a well-renowned mental hospital with patients who are unstable and unable to be treated elsewhere. One day she brings home Iris, who is not a normal little girl. Dr. Hildreth, or Gran to Vi and Eric, asks them to treat Iris like family. Vi and Eric invite Iris to join their monster club, where they hunt down monsters lurking around their woods. They show Iris how monsters are everywhere, sometimes hidden amongst humans.

In 2019, monster-hunter, Lizzy Shelley travels around the world using her podcast to hunt for missing girls. She knows her sister is behind it since she taught her that monsters can be anywhere.

This was a dark, suspenseful, fun read. From the first page, I was constantly wanting to keep reading to figure out the monster of the story. Jennifer McMahon does a fantastic job of suspense with a touch of eariness. I would not say the book is scary, just daunting and a little nerve-wracking at times. I was a little sad that I guessed the plot twist at the end, but overall the writing was fantastic. I cannot wait to read more books by Jennifer McMahon.


Thank you Galley Books and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Scout Press Simon & Schuster for gifting me a digital copy of the latest thriller by one of my favorites, Jennifer McMahon. 5 creepy, twisty stars!

In 1978, Vi and Eric are living with their grandmother, Dr Hildreth, a renowned doctor who works with mentally ill patients at the institution on the hill above their house. Vi and Eric are very bright, homeschooled and have started The Monster Club, including a book detailing all they've learned. One day, Gran brings home Iris, a teenager, and tells Vi and Eric that she is their new sister. Iris is mute but soon warms up to the siblings. In 2019, Lizzy Shelley is a monster hunter and is convinced that her sister is behind a string of missing girls. She travels to Vermont to put an end to it.

Go into this one as blind as possible because the twists keep coming and will have you reeling! A take on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, this book explores the theme that there are monsters everywhere and inside us all. Told in alternating chapters between 1978 and 2019 as well excerpts from a news article, this is such a creepy, thriller that I literally could not put down. A definite must read - don't miss this one!

I have read two previous novels by Jennifer McMahon and was on the edge of my seat the entire time. When I saw that she had a new book ready to release, I instantly hit that "request" button on Netgalley. Now after reading my third book, McMahon is now an auto-buy author for me. Her eerie writing style is so perfect. She keeps me questioning every character's motive and guessing about the trajectory of the story. While I predicted a few of the twists, there were still a couple that I did not, and for that McMahon gets major props from me. I think most contemporary mysteries/thrillers are pretty lame and predictable but that is definitely not the case with her novels. I definitely recommend this one!

This novel was a 4.2 star novel for me. The author sets a very dark and atmospheric scene in both time lines in this story. The children are “monster hunters” as is Lizzy in the second timeline. However, through the story, they learn that there are all types of monsters in many different forms hiding in plain site. This was a twisty, yet satisfying read with lots of shocks and surprises. I highly recommend this novel.





https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58438554

Thank you to @netgalley, Gallery Books, and Jennifer McMahon for the ARC of The Children on The Hill! This book will be available in just a week on April 26th!

In 1978, Dr. Helen Hildreth works at her treatment center in Vermont for the mentally ill. She is well known for her compassionate work. When she is at home with her grandchild Eric and Violet, she is known as Gran. She teaches them everything they need to know about life. But then one day Gran brings home someone to live with them, a young girl named Iris. Iris is skittish, and does not behave like a normal child. Gran asks Eric and Violet to treat Iris like she’s their sister. Iris eventually comes out of her shell when Eric and Violet invite her to their monster hunting club, where they catalog different types of monsters and ways to defeat them. Iris and Violet do everything together, including trying to figure out where Iris came from.

In 2019, Lizzy Shelley is a host of a popular podcast called Monsters Among Us, and is traveling to Vermont where there are rumors that a young girl had been abducted by a lake monster called Rattling Jane. Lizzy is determined to hunt it down, because of all people, she knows that monsters are real - and one of them is her very own sister.

Wow! This book was so good! It kept me on my toes the entire story. I could never figure out what was going to happen, and even when I thought I knew, I was wrong. This story is dual timeline, taking place is 1978 and 2019. I have a BS in Psychology and I really enjoyed the psychological aspects in this one. This story is also multiple POV from Violets perspective, the Monster and Lizzy. I love that the story goes back in time so that you can understand why the book ended the way it did. I have only good things to say about this book. Please pick it up if you are a psychological thriller fan!

This horror/suspense, inspired by Frankenstein, follows a group of siblings starting in 1978. Siblings Vi and Eric live with their grandmother on the grounds of her renowned psychiatric treatment center in rural Vermont. Then Gran brings home another girl one day - Iris - and she joins Vi and Eric on their adventures. Outside of homeschooling, caring for their pets, and exploring the grounds, the siblings also have the Monster Club. This club is where they categorize information on all types of monsters, including how to defeat them because, as Vi explains, monsters are everywhere. Now, in 2019, the host of popular monster-hunting podcast, Lizzy Shelley, is on her way to Vermont. A girl has disappeared from a small town and rumor is that the local monster took her. Where the police are sure the girl just ran away, Lizzy knows some monsters are real and one is her sister.

TW/CW: medical experimentation, eugenics, abduction, arson, animal death

I really loved the characters and their dynamic. And as someone who normally finds almost all children in fiction annoying, that is really saying something. I loved Vi, Eric, and Iris and McMahon does a fantastic job of introducing the reader to their dynamic and their whole world of imagination. The side characters were also really well done, especially since we get them from the Vi's POV so they were maybe a bit more like caricatures (the grumpy lady working the front desk, for example). Lizzy was an instantly compelling character for me, since she's a grown adult who genuinely believes in these monster hunts she's going on. I loved her lone-wolf attitude but then how she could flip on the charm and get information out of people for these investigations. These were the types of characters who we know must have had very interesting lives and I wouldn't be mad if we could read more of those earlier bits (I want to see Lizzy hunt down all the monsters!)

I think the dual timeline aspect worked well but it was a situation where I was much more interested in one timeline over the other. This felt like a 70/30 split between the 1978 timeline following Vi and the 2019 timeline following Lizzy - I was much more interested in the 2019 events. Looking back at the chapter titles in the ebook, I was suprised that it was split nearly 50/50: Vi has 19 chapters and Lizzy has 17 chapters (however, I didn't go back through the whole book to count pages). Maybe readers who prefer Vi's chapters in 1978 will feel differently than I did about the balance between the two timelines. I so badly wanted to follow Lizzy as she hunted this monster and I loved the chapters we get from 2019. McMahon did a great job of linking the two timelines by having something come up in one that we then see mirrored in the other timeline. I always appreciate when authors do this because it does help the story feel like a more cohesive whole. We also get, mostly later on in the story, some excerpts from articles that allude to some tragedy and I really wanted more of those. They very much felt like an easy way to get some information to the reader that our POV characters might not know about. I think these breaks helped remind the reader that we were working toward something bad and it helped to re-up the tension when it had been a bit more relaxed.

I found the ending to be a bit anti-climactic, mostly due to the pacing. The build up was fantastic but when the final reveal comes, it is cleaned up so quickly and cleanly that it didn't give me enough time to really sink into the situation. I loved the plot points on paper, but I just wanted one of the last scenes to last longer and have the main conflict resolution be handled in a more complex way. I think the way this ending reveal was handled then made the final twist, again, less impactful overall. I wanted a bigger build up, more conflict, and higher stakes than what we ended up getting but since I didn't have any problems with the actual plot points themselves, I think this might just be a me-issue. If I'm putting my ex-English major hat on, I think that this quick clean up of the main climax sort of mirrors the earlier discussions in the books about monsters and their inevitable fate. We, the reader, have been trained by years of reading and watching these type of 'monster' stories that we're fully aware of how these ending climaxes usually turn out. However, the subversion of this was really interesting and while it was maybe less satisfying from a gut-reaction sort of lens, I can admit that it is more interesting from a thematic analysis.

I loved the way the horror is implemented in this story. We know from the description of the book that this was Frankenstein-inspired and I think that comes across very obviously. I could see some readers finding this a bit too heavy-handed, but I thought the references were earned well enough in the world of the story that I didn't have a problem. I also think readers who aren't familiar with Frankenstein will have no problems following along. At first, I thought maybe we'd just be more in the psychological/philosophical horror realm and discuss what being a 'monster' really means and how one's identity can impact their lives. And, to be fair, we for sure get some of those themes, but I was glad that we get a bit more into the medical/science type horror as we get into the later part of the book. I read Frankenstein in my college Gothic Literature course and I absolutely loved it, so I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it already.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read and found it much more compelling than I was expecting. I do wish the dual timelines were balanced a little differently and that the ending pacing was tweaked, but otherwise this was a really fun time.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC

Expected publication date is April 26, 2022

Lizzy Shelley is on the hunt for monsters, preferably of the supernatural kind, as host of a popular podcast The Book of Monsters. But there is one monster from her past that Lizzy just cannot hunt down, until a teenage girl goes missing, with her disappearence fitting all of the characteristics of her childhood monster's modus operandi. Now, Lizzy thinks she has an opportunity to catch this killer, but that will require returning to Vermont to revisit her past. Can Lizzy face her own demons and stop a possible killing in the process, I implore to read The Children on the Hill and find out.


Simply put, Children on the Hill is a superb horror novel. It was sharp with disturbingly thought provoking yet subtle social commentary. It balanced the scientific and the supernatural elements brilliantly. It tugged on you heartstrings with an endearing coming of age story, that was ultimately heartbreaking. The pacing was excellent, the story takes off right away, as the reader I never got bored, and I was vested in both timelines; generally when reading a dual timeline I find myself drawn to one timeframe over the other, that was not the case with this book since Lizzy's and Vi's stories were both equally compelling. In my opinion, the novel represented women in horror well as intelligent and educated protagonists, not just victims to move the plot along which I think is so important. I loved that even if you read the book carefully and realized early what the plot twist may be, you were never really sure because McMahon left such good red herrings, yet more shocking surprises, even for the savvy reader, was still to come. Well done I cannot wait to recommend this one.

Holy Ratched meets The Orphan! This one was a top notch⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️for me.

This beauty will be published on April 26, 2022 🤌🏼

As a psychology major I ✨love✨ reading books that relate to my field but also tick all the boxes for unpredictable twists, relatable/interesting characters and current social allegories. This. Had. Me. Wrapped.

This dual timeline suspense will had me at the absolute edge of my seat (🛌) and wtf’ing all over the place. 💣 I read it in three hours!

Jump between 1978 and 2019 to find out what really happened to the three children raised by Dr. Helen Hildreth in a house on a hill in the shadow of the Inn. Monsters come and go from this tiny Vermont psychiatric hospital, but are they really always as they seem?

MNSTR. They’re here and they’re real.

Thank you so much @netgalley and @scoutpressbooks for access to this eARC ❤️

3.8 Stars

One Liner: A few hits and misses

The story begins in 1978 in Vermont. Dr. Helen Hildreth is a psychiatrist who cares for the mentally ill at the Hillside Inn. She lives with her two grandkids, Vi and Eric. The duo is smart, intelligent, and loves their Gran. When Dr. Hildreth takes home a pale young kid, Iris, Vi takes the responsibility to help the girl come out of her shocked shell. But things go wrong when carefully hidden secrets are dragged into the open light.
It’s 2019, and Lizzy Shelley has earned her name as a monster hunter. Her podcast, Monsters Among Us, is popular with the public. Lizzy knows monsters are real and decides it’s time to tackle the monsters from her past when a young girl disappears from Vermont. Where does her monster hunt take Lizzy this time? Will she come out alive, and at what cost?
1. It’s more of a YA book (older teens) than adult horror, and I won’t call this horror despite the monsters.
2. The climax concept is wonderful, even if the execution didn’t sustain the intensity.
3. The narration is well-paced (at least for me), and the last third picks up more speed.
4. The characters didn’t feel as if they gave their full in the present track. The past was much better.
5. Still, the timelines blend very well and without any jerks or bumps.
To sum up, The Children on the Hill felt more like a YA novel and was enjoyable for most of it.
Thank you, NetGalley, Gallery Books, and Gallery/Scout Press, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
#NetGalley
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Link to the full review added.

I have truly enjoyed some of the authors previous books and some of them have been mediocre, and sadly this one falls into that category unfortunately, because of the ending. It fell super flat. There were points that it kind of dragged, but the writing style in the good parts made up for it. It was very atmospheric, which I loved! This is about the monsters all around us, living among us and Frankenstein is often referred to.
Dr. Helen Hildreth works as a psychiatrist at a treatment center in Vermont and does a lot of her research at her farmhouse basemen and her grandchildren live there with her and are fascinated by the work that she does with the patients, and in their spare time, they are writing a book about Monsters. One day Helen comes home with Iris, a young girl that won’t speak and asks the kids to make her feel like home but not to tell anyone that she is there. Slowly, Violet and Eric manage to befriend Iris and pull her out of her shell and help her remember exactly what happened to her that brought her to their grandmother.
Then in 2019, we find Lizzy, the host of a podcast called Monsters Among Us, and she travels to Vermont when she finds a lead about a girl who has gone missing after a monster sighting in the town. Lizzy believes in monsters and hopes to be able to prove it and find the girl, especially since she believes the monster could be her sister! Lizzy had to change her identity after some traumatic stuff happens but we don’t find out exactly what it is until later into the story. It’s a slow build, but it’s worth the ride. It had potential to be 4 stars but I’m sticking with my 3,5 rounded down to 3 because of the ending.
Thanks to Gallery/Scout Press and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

The Children on the Hill takes place in two times - 1978 and 2019. In 1978, Dr. Hildreth a psychiatrist at a facility known as "The Inn" lives with her two grandchildren, Vi and Eric, and a young girl she took in, Iris. Vi is thrilled to have a new sister and quickly draws Iris into the family and into the club she and Eric started - The Monster Club.

In 2019, Lizzy Shelley is the host of a popular podcast and monster hunter. When a girl goes missing near the town near "The Inn," Lizzy goes there hunting down the monster that took the girl all the while knowing the monster is her own sister.

I was instantly intrigued by the Frankenstein references in the synopsis of this book and knew I had to read it. I assumed it would be another retelling, lots of fun, but much the same as the others I've read. How wrong was I? While this book is a nod to the Shelley classic, it has twists and turns and thrills all its own. It truly explores what it means to be a monster, what can turn a person into one, and how there might be a chance that a monster can change, turn into something better.

This will have you second guessing what you think you know the whole way through, the benchmark of a great mystery, but will eventually leave you with a satisfying, tied up ending.

I usually like McMahon's work, but I had a hard time with this one. It couldn't capture my attention. I tried. Thanks NetGalley, Gallery Books, Gallery/Scout Press