It was darker in the woods tonight, blacker than the other nights. It was damp and the air was thick. It smelled rotten. She could feel the evil lurking, but she kept walking forward… she had to find the monster and stop it. This wasn’t your ordinary monster… it was on another level. Not a vampire or a werewolf, nor Frankenstein or Bigfoot… this was the most evil type of monster of all and she was the only one who could find and kill it. Because that’s what you did with monsters… you killed them.

The Children on the Hill was different from Jennifer McMahon’s other books that I’ve read. Lizzy travels the country in search of local monsters, finding clues proving truth that the local townsfolk stories about their monsters are real. The reason behind her monster searching is so much deeper than she lets on, never sharing her personal story about a monster from her past.

It took me a while to get into and I wasn’t sure how it was all going to come together. It wasn’t as scary and eerie like I’m used to with Jennifer’s writing and I was preparing for a letdown… but then a twist came that I never saw coming and the ending blew me away. I once again was majorly impressed with Jennifer’s unbelievable storytelling. I never should have doubted her because this story was just so good!

If you’re a fan of monster stories like the classic Frankenstein and want to go on a monster hunt, then you DO NOT want to miss this newest book from McMahon!

Thank you NeGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC of this book in return for an honest review!

Let me start by saying that this Is my first book that I’ve read by Jennifer McMahon and it will definitely not be my last! She does such a great job with the twists in this book and makes you realize that nothing is ever what it seems and even if you think you have figured it out, just realize that you haven’t. She does a great job with the dual timeline and going back and forth between different characters POV. I never once got confused as to who was narrating or what was going on.

One of the things that I loved most about this novel was McMahon’s work with her characters. She did such a great job with the development of their characters and makes them so memorable. There were some slow plots in the middle of the book but once the end picked up, I didn’t want to put it down because I wanted to know how things were going to end.

Overall, I thought this was such a unique concept for a book and I love that she got her inspiration from Mary Shelley. I would definitely recommend this book and look forward to reading more books by her in the future!

This review will be posted to my Instagram blog (read_betweenthecovers) in the near future!

Nothing is ever what it seems in this excellent new supernatural thriller/horror novel from Jennifer McMahon. This author is an insta-buy for me, and I was (unsurprisingly) not disappointed with this new book.

Delving deep into the idea of what it means to be a monster, McMahon explores sisterhood, identity, and how we are all a little bit monstrous, deep down. What matters is what we do with it.

A definite recommend.

I enjoyed this book. The prose was well-written, and the characters were dynamic and jumped off the page. I thought the story was interesting and the plot kept me guessing.

This is a spooky and scary story about children who are not who they think they are. The story has two time lines. The children experience events from their 1970’s childhood, where they are involved in fantasy monster huntings. As adults their past experiences with “monsters” has continued to impact their future realities. I was totally surprised by the revelation that was at the end. This is a good book for anyone who loves suspense and stories with “monsters”.

The Children on the Hill is an interesting book. The general plot is that after Lizzy Shelly, a 50ish year old podcast host/monster hunter, reads about a child being abducted in the area she grew up in she finds herself flashing back to her childhood and her and her brother's interactions with Iris, the mysterious girl Lizzy's grandmother brings home from her work.

One of the biggest strong points of McMahon's work is her character work. She creates memorable characters that stick with you long after you finish reading. The other element of McMahon's writing that sticks out is how deftly she writes trauma and how the experiences in the past (maybe even distant past) have implications on us in the present. Interweaving these in the character of Lizzy was one of my favorite parts of this book and I could easily imagine reading another book starring Lizzy.

I think this book would be a hit with readers, especially those who love domestic thrillers mixed with some strangeness.

Thank you Net Galley for the free ARC. Good little horror story about mysterious goings-on in a hospital for troubled people.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC of this book. The opinions given are entirely my own.

A good portion of this book reads like a YA novel, which is not a bad thing by any means, it's just not what I would have liked from a book geared towards adults. I do think that McMahon should try her hand at a YA book though. If I were a teenager, I would have enjoyed this quite a bit more. This book requires you to suspend your disbelief a great deal, and when I was younger, I feel like I was better able to do that.

The larger twists at the end really require that.

I did enjoy this modern retelling of Frankenstein, kicking around the idea once more of what it means to be a monster, and whether monsters are created or truly born that way. It's a fun idea to kick around, and it might lead to fun book club discussions if you're inclined to use it as such.

However, I wanted more of the doctor's side of things. Why were her beliefs this way? What is her past? Unfortunately, her side of the story is lacking.

This was very good, in my opinion. It goes back and forth in timeline, between 1978 and 2019. Back in 1978 the story follows three children, and that time period is the bigger mystery. In 2019, Lizzy is trying to find a monster that kidnaps girls. Her life is full of adventures monster hunting.

There was a twist I MAYBE saw coming, and one I definitely didn't. I enjoy books like this that slowly unravel the mystery for you, in such a way you don't want to stop reading so you get answers. It didn't scare me, but it did feel a bit sinister and it was unique. And kind of messed up, too.

This is a hard one for me to rate. It started off slow but once it finally accelerated it did so super quickly. I had a feeling about one of the twists from the beginning but the other twists were interesting and kept me into the story. I don’t think I would read this book again but I did enjoy it, as I do with most of Jennifer McMahon’s books.

Holy Snowballs! I love every book I've read by Jennifer McMahon and The Children on the Hill was awesome!!

I was literally hooked from the first page until the last and did not want it to end! It was so engaging and very well written book. So excellent!!!!!!

This is the first book I've finished by Jennifer McMahon although I own all of her other titles based on positive reviews. I have a habit of "book hopping" if something doesn't keep my attention for very long or if there is a lull in the story. Basically I am a distracted, impatient reader. This is of course my own short coming and not the the author's as I know it takes time to paint a vivid story.



Although the story starts out with a slow burn I am definitely glad I kept reading. I loved the theme of monsters and the mention of classic horror movies and novels. Jennifer McMahon has a beautiful writing style and I enjoyed the dual timelines that are commonly featured in her books.



There are many twists within this story that I did not anticipate, although the twist within the middle of the book regarding the monster's origins was hard for me to comprehend for a while, as the personality of the character in prior chapters didn't really match up to the present character. In addition, I felt a bit underwhelmed by the main plot twist although it did tie the story together nicely.



Overall, this was a great read with some genuinely creepy moments that kept my attention throughout the book. I am already eying the other books by this author on my TBR shelf.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy.

More like 4.5 but rounded up. I love the way the author played with the monster metaphor, exploring the complexities between the creator and the created and who’s really the monster. I thought Vi, Iris, and Gran were well-drawn characters, although Eric seemed inconsistent and just there to fit whatever was necessary for the plot at the time. I guessed the main twist early, but it didn’t detract from the novel. What did detract was the abrupt (imo) switch in the monster’s personality once she learned the truth of her origins. I wished we’d learned more about the years in between Lizzy’s childhood and when we meet her now, as I didn’t feel the person she was in the past lined up with who she became in the present (not saying people don’t grow and change, but they almost felt like two fundamentally different characters). The writing was gorgeous. I love McMahon’s style. I thought the final twist in the afterword was too much whiplash after the second twist at the end of the novel about what the monster had been doing all these. I feel the story should’ve stuck to one or the other and committed to one message about the monster. Overall, I really enjoyed the story, and I will read McMahon’s next work. I hope she push the speculative angle in her works even more one of these days.

Wow! I absolutely loved this book! This was a dual timeline book that’s inspired by Mary Shelley’s classic novel, Frankenstein. Just like in Frankenstein, the story is creepy, pulse pounding, intense and dark. And, as in other books by Jennifer McMahon, the dual timeline is incredibly well done. I really enjoyed trying to figure the mystery out along with the protagonists. Fantastic book.

I feel like I've been long overdo for a really good book in this genre. Although it was a pretty classic psychological mystery/thriller - the extra elements that McMahon brought to the story were really interesting and entertaining, and I loved the varied timeline, different insets of writing, and multiple perspectives.

I hate to name all of the themes the I loved for fear of spoiling the story - but one that is obvious right up front is the use of classic horror movie monsters. I love how the use of monsters frames the story, and how it's a young girl who is obsessed with monsters, and a middle aged woman who hunts them - just a really fun twist on the gender roles that are usually reserved for boys and men. There are some big surprises and twists that I - even looking for them as a seasoned reader of this genre - didn't expect and I really commend McMahon for managing to both use tropes, but also imagine new pathways.

Super enjoyable and quick read, it was witty, fun, dark, suspenseful, and emotional. I'd definitely recommend to lovers of the genre.

Thanks to @netgalley for this Advance Reader Copy!

I'm so torn on what I want to rate this. I loved the first 50% but then I felt like it got a bit slow, but then there was a twist that brought me back into the story immediately but then I didn't enjoy the ending, but then there was an afterword that I absolutely loved. After typing that out, I think I'm going to land on a 4-star rating. This is definitely different than what I've read from Jennifer McMahon before but ultimately, I enjoyed myself and I found it hard to set the book down at quite a few points throughout the story. It's light on the horror and more of a familial character study with some horrific aspects thrown in but I was intrigued nevertheless. I will continue to pick up more from this author in the future, I think this solidified her as an auto-buy for me. Even if I'm not always scared while I'm reading her works, I'm always intrigued and I always enjoy what she comes up with.

One more amazing book by this author. She quickly became one of my favorite authors after just a couple books. She consistently tells amazingly creepy stories that keep my attention from beginning to end. 5/5 stars!

Thanks to netgalley and Scout press for the ARC of this book. What an eerie, Gothic setting for a story about monsters (both real and the ones that live in our minds). Jennifer McMahon weaves a wonderful tale about what happens when the monsters we seek are actually us. A perfect setting, great characters and a fast paced story make this a great novel to get lost in. Can't wait to read more from this author.

This is not the first book I’ve read by this author, and it certainly won’t be the last. She’s an automatic buy for me. Her stories suck you in. You think you’ve got it figured out and then something out of the blue sneaks in. If you love a good story, and one that may or may not involve ghosts of some kind - grab all of her books.

This is a hard one for me to rate… if it was labeled as a YA it would be 4-5 stars easy… but this is labeled adult horror, and it felt very young to me, especially the ending. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun to read, I wanted to keep going to see what happened despite me being annoyed at parts with how situations were handled. And I was prepared to forgive the young annoying situations if the ending came through in an adult way, even if it didn’t have a twist… but it felt like a middle school spooky story kids would tell at slumber parties for a laugh.

First, thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review…

This is a book about monsters, the monsters we can’t see, the monsters that look like regular people. Frankenstein is referenced a lot in this book and you can tell this book has definitely taken inspiration from the classic tale which I absolutely loved. We have 2 children growing up with their grandma on their farm, their grandma is a doctor, she does her research in their basement and is the top boss at the inn that is a host to asylum patients, which is conveniently right on their land, just a quick 5 min walk away. 2 children quickly become 3 when their Gran brings a little girl home who doesn’t remember anything prior to that day. She has scars and won’t talk but Gran confides in Vi, one of the children, to bring her in like a sister, to help her get back to as much of a normalcy as possible. We have 3 different perspectives, Vi, one of the children, brings us through their childhood experiences. We have Lizzy’s point of view, which is them as adults but we don’t know which sibling Lizzy is since she changed her name when she was young, after some traumatic event happened when they were young. We just don’t know what that event is until much later. Then we have the Monster’s point of view, the one who is taking the kids. It really is a fun concept that I enjoyed for the majority of my reading.

The annoying… might be considered spoilers, but I tried to be as vague as I could. Don’t read if you hate spoilers of any kind!-
- a 40 year old woman who is convinced that telling the cops her estranged sibling might be involved in the disappearance of many children,who she believes are being murdered, won’t believe her, so she doesn’t. Maybe if she was 15 but as a grown woman?
- Her brother saying she is imagining things when there is obvious proof, especially after knowing what he knows in the end 🙄.
- a 40 year old woman, instead of letting a cop get involved let’s a teenager she doesn’t know get involved in a very dangerous situation.
- the ending, obviously I can’t tell you that bit but once you read it you will understand what I mean, whether your a fan of it or not.

I still think if this sounds like a book you would enjoy, please read it. It was silly at parts, annoying in some others but I still had a lot of fun reading it. So what to rate it? Do you see my dilemma? It was a 5 star in some parts, 4 in others, 3 in the annoying, that ending gets a solid 2 possibly even a 1 from me… 3.5? 🤷‍♀️