I was very engaged with this story all the way through and I found it to be very satisfying. I loved it, especially the twist!

In 1978, Dr. Helen Hildreth brings home a little girl who her grandchildren are excited about. In 2019 Lizzy Shelley travels to Vermont where a monster sighting has the town going crazy especially with a girl missing.
I was excited when Netgalley approved me to review this book. Just by the description alone I was hooked. The main character was interesting, and I love the way it jumps back and forth in time through different point of views. I did not see the twist ending coming and it kept me on my toes trying to guess what would happen next.

I read one of Jennifer McMahon's earlier books, The Drowning Kind, and was hooked on her as an author. I was delighted to see another one of her books come up on NetGalley, and was even happier when I received The Children on the Hill as an ARC.

The Children on the Hill has dual storylines. The first takes place in Vermont in the late 1970s when Gran, who works at a mental hospital for adults, brings home a child to her own grandchildren. This new child is silent and clearly traumatized and 13-year-old Vi and her brother Eric are tasked with helping her come out of her shell. They're part of a secret club that hunts monsters--because monsters are everywhere. The second storyline follows Lizzy Shelley, an adult monster hunter/podcaster. She's hunting another monster in Vermont.

The two storylines naturally converge and you learn who Lizzy really is and where the monsters are. Unlike The Drowning Kind, The Children on the Hill doesn't have the same level of creepy supernatural, but I think that's what makes it creepier. It's not ghouls and chupacabras that hunt us, it's those we know and least suspect. And, as someone who went to college down the road from an abandoned mental hospital, it had so much I hoped for. There were a few predictable twists and turns, but overall the book is a good ride.

I look forward to reading more of McMahon's books--both her backlist and whatever comes next.

#TheChildrenOnTheHill:⁣⁣
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“Sometimes things aren’t what they seem,” I said. “Isn’t that the truth.” ⁣⁣⁣

⁣⁣⁣ I finished The Children on the Hill right before I joined my wave, and boy, am I excited for y’all to read this one.⁣⁣⁣
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The Children on the Hill is a nod to Mary Shelley‘s Frankenstein to where you don’t really know who the true monster is and things are not only what they seem. There is a dual timeline, which I absolutely loved. I was thoroughly creeped out, but at the same time HAD to have the answers. This was such a bingable book. ⁣⁣⁣
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I was able to listen on audio and do a combo thanks to @simon.audio . Erin Moon had me really creeped out and brought the eeriness that McMahon wrote to life so well. Highly recommend the audio. There’s mixed media as well. (There’s a book the kids made and there’s excerpts from it) and I LOVED the child voice. It was the perfect amount of creep. ⁣⁣⁣
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I feel like there were two major twists in this story. The first one I guessed, but still enjoyed the story regardless. The second I had no idea was coming and ending/epilogue was so satisfying to me. Absolutely loved it. ⁣⁣⁣
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This is my first (gasp, I know) Jennifer McMahon book, but you can better your bottom dollar I’m about to go through that entire backlist because this was amazing. Thank you so much @gallerybooks and @simon.audio for the gifted copies. The Children on the Hill is out 4/26. (Which I thought was today.. so y’all forgive me) ⁣⁣⁣
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QOTD: What are your plans this weekend?

4 STARS! Atmospheric and thrilling, this is one of my favorite McMahon novels to date! This story follows Violet and Eric, living with their Gran- the director of a mental health facility called The Inn. Gran is an acclaimed doctor that has rehabilitated many lost cases, and Vi and Eric have been raised by Gran since the death of their parents in a home right next to The Inn. Both children are obsessed with monsters (vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein) and frequently write entries in their Book of Monsters and participate in their very own Monster Club.

One day, Gran brings home Iris- a young girl the same age as Vi, and Vi quickly accepts her as her new sister! But there are strange things about Iris- she doesn’t speak, she wears her clothes inside out and backwards, and she has no memory of who she is. As Vi helps Iris to adjust to life with them, she starts noticing some disturbing things about Iris. And it all seems connected to The Inn!

I thoroughly enjoyed this story with one major criticism. (SPOILER AHEAD)- There is a very brief scene where the 2 “sisters” kiss. It was completely unnecessary to the story, and I felt like it was put there for shock value. I see no reason to sexualize young girls, whom throughout the entirety of the story were viewed through the lens of extremely close sisters. I would have rated this story higher with the omission of that completely unnecessary event.

Thank you to NetGalley for the book.

This book had a slow, slow burn and then the ending made no sense. There were a couple of twists but they didn’t add to the plot at all.

If THE CHILDREN ON THE HILL by Jennifer McMahon isn’t on your tbr yet…please add it ASAP!! Out 4/26, this book will be perfect for fans of Sundial by Cat Ward and The Institute by Stephen King.

This was my first McMahon book and I am blown away! Told in alternating time lines between 2019 and 1978, this creepy story reflects on the lives of a group of children who grew up on the premise of a boutique psychiatric hospital. Raised by their grandmother and renowned psychiatrist, the children do not have a traditional childhood. When they decide to dig deeper into their own pasts they begin to realize gran might not be who they thought she was. Flash forward to 2019, two of the children cross paths once again, but not in a way you would expect.

This book had me absolutely hooked. There’s something about the psychiatric hospital and experimental trope that pulls me in. If both of these timelines were written as separate books I seriously would have enjoyed both and that rarely happens for me. This book is original and haunting! McMahon writes the perfect balance of being atmospheric and detailed but also getting straight to the point and moving things along. Seriously everything I can ask for in a book.

I highly recommend this book to thriller and horror lovers and can see it being on my 2022 favorites list!

Jennifer McMahon does it again! Another slow burn thriller that is full of twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat until the end.

This was set in alternating POVs and timelines. We get Vi, set in 1978, a 13 year old girl living with her grandmother and brother. Her grandma is a doctor at The Inn, which is a hospital for the mentally ill. One day she brings home a little girl named Iris who can’t remember anything about her past.

We also get the POV of Lizzy in 2019. A world renowned “monster hunter” who is traveling the country hunting monsters for her podcast as well as trying to solve the mystery of missing girls who swear they have seen a monster before going missing, until one monster brings her back to Vermont, a little too close to home.

Although I had a feeling what the big twist was, there were a few smaller ones that I did not see coming. And the ending, that was mind blowing!! Jennifer McMahon already was an auto buy author for me, and this just solidifies that decision. I need to dive more in to her backlist while I wait for more new titles.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

In 1978, Violet and Eric live on the grounds of a renowned treatment center founded and run by their grandmother Helen Hildreth. Unusually bright, Vi and Eric are homeschooled and have started a "Monster Club", where they catalog and search for all varieties of monsters: vampires, Frankenstein, werewolves. When Gran brings home Iris, a young girl from the treatment facilty, Vi and Eric invite their new sister to join their club. In 2019, LIzzy Shelley is the host of a podcast called Monsters Among Us, but she's also on a personal mission: to hunt down a monster she knows better than most - her own sister.

You already know that I love Jennifer McMahon. I've read every book of hers but 2 (I checked and will soon remedy that!) and love them all. The combination of creepy and smart storytelling sucks me in every time. This one was no exception. There are also excerpts from a book written about the facility that lead us closer and closer to the dramatic end. These are short, fast-paced chapters that I couldn't stop reading.

This is another hit fromJennifer McMahon for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing me an advance copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Available April 26, 2022

I was excited to read this book after having LOVED The Drowning Kind. Jennifer McMahon does spooky/creepy stories so well!

This is a book about monsters, both real and make believe. It's got the creepy "asylum" type tone with Gran (Dr. Hildreth) who runs an Inn for those people society might deem monsters. She believes she can help them. Gran lives with her two grandchildren Violet and Eric, and brings home a young girl, Iris, she wants them to welcome into the family. The kids have a Monster Club of their own where they go out at the full moon looking for monsters. (I got serious Monster Squad vibes from this - iykyk!)

I was enjoying this book, but it wasn't necessarily WOWing me. I thought I knew where it was going and that it was going to be predictable... and then around 80% everything changed!

This was such a great spooky read, I just wish I had it during spooky season. I will definitely read anything else McMahon decides to put out!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review! Definitely check this out when it comes out in April!

The Children on the Hill, Jennifer McMahon’s newest horror novel, has so many elements that could have made this a standout: inspired by Frankenstein, a creepy hospital, a secret basement, an ambitious doctor, and a child who doesn’t remember her past. While this book had the makings of a creepy suspense story, it ultimately let me down.

The story is told in two timelines; 1978 and 2019. The 1978 timeline was intriguing as it follows Vi and Eric who live with their gran, a renowned psychiatrist. When gran brings Iris to live with them, Vi vows to help Iris figure out who she is and where she came from. On the flip side, the 2019 timeline didn’t work for me, it follows podcaster and monster hunter Lizzy as she searches for her long lost sister who she believes is abducting young teens. I found the 2019 timeline to be less interesting and the monster hunting was a bit over the top/implausible. The ending was also abrupt and the conclusion left me with many unanswered questions.

Overall, I’m settling on 3 stars (4 stars for the 1978 timeline, 2 stars for 2019 timeline). While I didn’t love this one, I’m still interested to see what McMahon writes next.

Thank you to Gallery/Scout Press and Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Jennifer McMahon is an immediate add-to-cart for me. Last year's The Drowning Kind was haunting in the best possible way, and I still recommend it often--not to mention The Winter People. So when I saw The Children on the Hill available, I smashed that request button so hard and could NOT WAIT to dive in.

From Goodreads:
A genre-defying new novel, inspired by Mary Shelley’s masterpiece Frankenstein, which brilliantly explores the eerie mysteries of childhood and the evils perpetrated by the monsters among us.

1978: at her renowned treatment center in picturesque Vermont, the brilliant psychiatrist, Dr. Helen Hildreth, is acclaimed for her compassionate work with the mentally ill. But when she home with her cherished grandchildren, Vi and Eric, she’s just Gran—teaching them how to take care of their pets, preparing them home-cooked meals, providing them with care and attention and love.

Then one day Gran brings home a child to stay with the family. Iris—silent, hollow-eyed, skittish, and feral—does not behave like a normal girl.

Still, Violet is thrilled to have a new playmate. She and Eric invite Iris to join their Monster Club, where they catalogue all kinds of monsters and dream up ways to defeat them. Before long, Iris begins to come out of her shell. She and Vi and Eric do everything together: ride their bicycles, go to the drive-in, meet at their clubhouse in secret to hunt monsters. Because, as Vi explains, monsters are everywhere.

2019: Lizzy Shelley, the host of the popular podcast Monsters Among Us, is traveling to Vermont, where a young girl has been abducted, and a monster sighting has the town in an uproar. She’s determined to hunt it down, because Lizzy knows better than anyone that monsters are real—and one of them is her very own sister.

The Children on the Hill takes us on a breathless journey to face the primal fears that lurk within us all.

I absolutely loved this book. From the first page, McMahon creates an atmospheric, creepy read that sets the tone. The alternating timelines worked really well here. Violet's relationship with Iris and the Monster Club was an excellent journey into childhood imagination juxtaposed with the visceral underlying fear that pervaded their everyday lives--wittingly or not. I got some serious American Horror Story/Shirley Jackson vibes here, and as McMahon is drawing from Shelley's influence, this isn't surprising. One of the quintessential horror works in history, it would be difficult to do justice to Frankenstein without the nods and allusions, but McMahon seems to do this effortlessly.

Overall, The Children on the Hill is a 2022 must read. I can't wait for everyone to read it so we can all scream about it together.

Huge thanks to Gallery Books for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review consideration.

I overall really enjoyed this book. Jennifer McMahon is such a great storyteller and I feel like I could perfectly see everything as it was happening play out in my head like a movie. We are following two timelines here: past and present. In the past a brother and sister live with their “Gran” as they call her and one day Gran brings home a new child. She’s acting strange and no one knows for sure where she even came from. The three become friends and start a Monster Club where they hunt monsters. I won’t give anything away from there but the book was inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and I really enjoyed how that tied in. Overall another great read for me by this author and I can’t wait to read her backlist.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Monsters are real! They are all around us. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Jennifer McMahons latest book, The Children on the Hill which releases on April 26, 2022 is a scary, creepy story that brought back memories of watching Frankenstein as a child. It’s storyline is dual genre, both horror and mystery and dual timeline. It was a book that once I started reading, I just couldn’t set it down. The characters are all developed really well. The children, Vi, Eric and Iris, I really grew to care about. It was the grandmother, who although she appears to be kind and loving, that I really dispised. She was pure evil in my mind. There is a twist in the story, involving Vi and Iris’ characters that surprised me, shocked me really, that made it all the more interesting. I own and have read many of Jennifer McMahons books and I feel that this is her best work yet. I know it’s my favorite and one I’ll be recommending to everyone I know that reads. I’d like to thank Gallery Books for accepting my request and NetGalley for the arc to read, review and enjoy. I look forward to release day so I can purchase a physical copy to add to my home library. This is an awesome read and I’m giving it a 5 star rating. If you like books that have a little creep factor that keep you reading late into the night, then you need to check this one out. You’ll be glad you did!

At first, I had a bit of a hard time getting into the adult monster section going on here. I love all things paranormal, scary, twisted and psychological, but for some reason the monster thing wasn't settling. I LOVED the kids in their youth, living next door to a facility with their very own evil Dr "grandmother". Picturing their club house and book about monsters brought me to my own childhood imaginations which kept me engaged for sure.
Ms McMahon, you have a brilliant talent for storytelling, and i can't wait to see what comes next! Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for this ARC. Much appreciated!

Jennifer McMahon is such a great storyteller! I've never been disappointed. This book was thrilling, exciting, chilling at times and overall wonderful.

It's told in a few different parts/storylines, so she brings you to the edge of one part only to switch gears and pick up on one of the other storylines. I couldn't put it down and every time I thought I knew what to expect next, I was wonderfully surprised.

I love Jennifer McMahon's books. They always have such strong plots, great twists, and powerful topics. The Children on the Hill might be my favorite from her so far, I read the entire book in one day, and could not put it down. I never saw the twist or the ending coming, and I can almost guarantee you will never guess the ending either. It was a complete surprise.

The book jumps between 1978, where we meet Violet and Eric, who live with their grandmother. She is a renowned psychiatrist at a treatment center in Vermont. One day, she brings home Iris and tells the kids to consider her their new sister, and 2019 where we meet Lizzy Shelley, host of the popular podcast, Monsters Among Us who is on the hunt for a monster who abducts girls in towns that have a local monster.

This is one of the books that will stick with me for a long time to come.

4.5/5 stars
Thank you to Galley Books, Scout Press and NetGalley for the digital ARC

I found this to be a rather uneven book. I enjoyed the timeline set in 1978, which dealt with the children and their grandmother and I thought the way their story unfolded was suspenseful. But, the part set in 2019 was not nearly as enjoyable. The characters in this part seemed one-dimensional, the monster hunting seemed juvenile and tedious and the plot really broke down at the end. So, while I did like things about the book, I feel it didn’t really live up to its potential.

My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.

What a creative web Jennifer McMahon can weave. Every time there is just enough spook factor to makes you want to look over your shoulder. I really enjoyed the alternating timeframe giving the reader the main character perspective from adulthood and childhood. Jennifer really laid out the back story while leaving just enough mystery until the end. And that ending was very unexpected and utterly satisfying! I was waiting for this story to take an unrealistic turn and instead was given a conclusion that left me hopeful.

While I always find Jennifer’s writing to be captivating, the one downer I found with this book was an exuberant amount of unnecessary detail. Especially when it came to listing items to draw out a point. This kept happening far too often in the first half of this novel and felt as if there was some need to meet a word count, which I found displeasing. Nonetheless a minor downer that I start skimming over as I read.

I don’t often pick up the horror genre, but I always find myself enjoying Jennifer McMahon’s story telling (and love for her home state intertwined within it.) Her writing is like butter, seriously, her words are always smooth and glide off the page. There is an ease to reading a Jennifer McMahon novel. Her books are always thought provoking, have you devouring every word, and makes make-believe seem like a factual possibility. Each time Jennifer has me believing in the ghost stories she spins and, in this case, monsters. Again and again, I highly recommend Jennifer's books!

I am OBSESSED with this book! The monster premise kept me so intrigued and fascinated, and there is a twist that I absolutely did not see coming and did, in fact, audibly gasp over.
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McMahon created such a wild story and such interesting characters, and the premise of eugenics was done SO well, in my opinion.
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I don’t want to say too much, but this story follows dual POVs from a back and forth in time perspective. It follows the lives of 3 children living with their grandmother in the late 70s, who runs a place called The Inn for people with severe mental illness. It also follows Lizzie in the year 2019 as she lives out her career as a professional monster hunter. The twists, the turns, the plot, all of it… absolutely phenomenal. If this isn’t already on your TBR, add it ASAP!
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Catch me running to read everything she has ever written now because her writing and storytelling is simply immaculate.
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Thank you so so much to @netgalley and @gallerybooks for letting me read this a little early! This book will be published on April 26, so everyone keep your eyes peeled!