Jennifer McMahon's newest release is inspired by Frankenstein, and I think it's one of her most compelling books to date. The Children on the Hill is set on two timelines: In 1978, siblings Vi and Eric live with their grandmother, renowned psychiatrist Helen Hildreth, on the sprawling grounds of her lauded treatment center. One day Helen brings home Iris, a mysterious girl Vi's own age, and Vi and Eric quickly introduce her to their world of monster hunting and uncovering secrets. But they aren't quite prepared for the dark secrets that await them in the treatment center's basement. Meanwhile, in 2019, monster podcaster Lizzy Shelley is travelling to Vermont, where she's recently learned of a missing girl -- the latest in a series of missing girls across the country, all of whom claimed to have an encounter with a creature of local legend right before they disappeared.

McMahon writes such textured, intriguing novels, and The Children on the Hill is no exception. Her writing is evocative and her plots are complex and addictive. She's a master at writing grown-up ghost stories, but The Children on the Hill is not quite that. It's eerie, to be sure, but the true horror here comes not from things that go bump in the night -- but instead from the realization that monsters are real, and that they can wear very human, very familiar faces. Through her vivid, complex characters, McMahon explores the effects of trauma, the magical mysteries of childhood, and, like Mary Shelley before her, the dangers of playing God.

The Children on the Hill is at once a coming-of-age story, a horror novel, and a cautionary tale. McMahon takes on well-worn themes with this novel, but does so in a way that is genre-bending and feels completely fresh. It's not my favorite of her books, but it's a solid entry to her bibliography and makes me excited to read whatever she dreams up next.

I pick up Jennifer McMahon's books with a bit of trepidation. I really didn't enjoy The Winter People, but The Drowning Kind was pretty brilliant. If I look at The Children on the Hill as the tie breaker, McMahon ends up a winner.

I love that she took inspiration from Frankenstein to start this story, and its (partial) setting in the 1970s makes it my jam. All in all, this is a wonderful choice for anyone looking for a spooky, but not entirely scary, book. Perfect for fall reading!

Thoughts: This book was EVERYTHING. The writing was intriguing and drew me in from the very first page. I loved both the past and present chapters, and couldn’t get enough of both storylines. The idea of the children’s monster club was so interesting and the home for the mentally ill was dark and ominous. Lizzy’s Monsters Among Us podcast was so unique and I loved that she had a tie to the crime she was investigating.

This story was so creepy and I loved the dark and chilling tone the author uses. The pacing is perfect and she weaves together two perspectives to culminate in the perfect ending. I did think of one more twist that would have added to the story, but the ones that did happen were intriguing and worked so well. I loved this story for the build and the journey, and think it is written perfectly for a dark mystery lover. Even though the twist was predictable, the ending was not. 5-stars!

"There are as many ways to make one as there are monsters. But you must ask yourself: Who is the real monster? The creature being made, or the one creating it?"

When I first read Frankenstein at age twelve, I was understandably expecting a story about the horror of monsters. By the end, I was in tears and it was my first understanding of the concept of "man being the real evil." Jennifer McMahon's latest release, The Children on the Hill, is truly an inspired tributes to the work of Shelley.

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’s 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.

--

At times creepy, suspenseful, and surprisingly emotional, this story hooked me in right from the start. The story of two sisters, told across two timelines, and from more than three different perspectives flowed way more than I initially thought it would or could.

As an avid reader of thrillers and mysteries, it is very hard for me to not ruin the surprises for myself by continuously picking apart the story. But while I did have my theories fairly early on, that did in fact come true, I still truly loved the suspenseful and emotional buildup to the final twists - some that even I did not see coming.

This one will definitely reside in my top 20 releases of 2022.

4.276/5

This is the second novel I've read from McMahon and again she did not disappoint. The Winter People first attracted my attention and this novel lives up to the horrific excitement of the first.
It is a wonderful homage to Mary Shelley. Just give that some thought.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for allowing me to read and review this ARC.

The Children On the Hill by Jennifer McMahon is a monster tale set in Vermont and told through two different timelines, 1978 and 2019. We get to know the main characters as children in 1978 and then again as adults dealing with the fallout of the trauma they endured as children. There are also various monsters mentioned throughout the book that add to the spooky setting. Just when you think you've got the tory all figured out a big twist appears. Read and enjoy!

Holy smokes I loved this book! I enjoyed it from the first sentence until the last and flew thru it like a mad woman!

I have read at least one other book from this author and she is famous for her dual time line stories and is one author who can really make them work in her favor. I'm not able to pinpoint which I enjoyed the best however in this particular story because at different times they both had a different type appeal that drew me in and made me want to stay up into the night to finish the story.

Frankenstein has always been one of my favorite childhood monsters and I love what Jennifer did with it here amongst the three children. As bits begin to become apparent as to what has happened to Iris the story begins to open up and build and build until the twists start appearing and flooring me and once it was all said and done I could have kicked myself for my mistake in the reading that was so darn clever! Kudos to Jennifer for another fine tale!

I went into this book blind and truth be told, my expectations weren’t very high. The dual timeline and the chapters were a bit slow but the last portion of the book really delivered a punch. I didn’t anticipate any of the twists and I’m very satisfied with the ending.

Special thanks to Gallery Books and Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

This book is a great read . Two kids living on a hill with their grandmother who is the head of a mental hospital she runs down the hill. There is a creep Factor here when Grandma brings home another child, a girl and she's staying with them instead of in a room at the mental hospital. What is going on here anyway the story unfolds and I liked it better than I thought I would.. I would recommend this book to my friends. Three and a half up to four stars!

I usually really enjoy Jennifer McMahon’s work, The Children on the Hill just didn’t do it for me. I couldn’t get into the plot or the way it was written. I did finish it, but unfortunately it was only a 3/5 stars for me.

I received the advanced reader copy of THE CHILDREN ON THE HILL, thank you NetGalley. I started reading it a few months ago and couldn’t get into it. I put it down and finally went back to it. I am so glad I did.

I ended up really liking this one. I really liked the alternating timelines in this one and the setting in Vermont. I thought the premise of living on the grounds of a psychiatric institution was super interesting. I guessed where some of it was going, and that’s okay. I really liked the ending. I can’t wait to read this author again.

Are monsters real?

In 1978, Vi and her brother Eric are sure that the answer to this question is yes, and with their monster club, they're excited to find the monsters that go bump in the night. When their grandmother, a brilliant phychiatrist, brings home a little girl named Iris, Vi knows that she'll be able to teach Iris how to open up and help fight monsters with them... until the true monster shows itself, and it's nothing that Vi ever imagined.

In 2019, Lizzy Shelley is still on the hunt for monsters even through her brother Eric, now Charlie, is dead set on leaving that world behind. With her own podcast, Lizzy's goes to where the monsters take her, until one gets a little too close to home.

I absolutely loved both stories in this novel, and jumping back and forth was a really fun way to figured out what happened to Vi, Eric, and Iris back in the 70s. Everything seems so idyllic, but this is quickly shattered, and in 2019 Lizzy is still picking up the pieces of the fateful night everything burned to the ground.

What happened to the children on the hill? Only one way to find out.

I hope you aren't scared of the dark.

Fabulous and spooky. My first by this author was a treat. Great writing and very atmospheric too. Pick this one up and you will be in for a real treat.

👶👹😈 BOOK REVIEW 👶👹😈

Thank you @Netgalley, @Gallerybooks, and @jennifermacmohanwrites for the e-arc of The Children On The Hill, and my bookish friends for the hard copy of the book! I am excited for the discussion as I read this book as part of the buddy read with #thrillerobsessedbuddyread!

“We carry all our traumas, all our body memories with us”

Thoughts 💭: I was grateful the approval of this novel as I love complex psychological thrillers. There are some books that you want to savor, and others that are just like a television show - fast paced, engaging, historical fiction. Although the book initially starts slow, it explores so many interesting ways in which it reimagines Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein tying to themes of scientific experimentations, eugenics, and monstrosity.
As the novel unfolded, we learn that there are three children Iris, Vi, and Eric under the care of Dr. Helen Hildreth fondly called Gran by them. Things change when Vi discovers that the life that she has been living is a ruse as she discovers that her grandmother has been experimenting with human life, and using practice of eugenics to “reform” children/girls who were seen as monsters in the society (involved in juvenile detention, drugs, and alcohol) and transforming them into something else. As the truth comes out, one of the children recognizes that she has become a monster - a product of scientific experiment. The author refers to Nazi experiments that occurred during the Holocaust as well - that we as humans are capable of monstrosity as well - and it has happened historically not just in wars, but the reason why sanatoriums have been abandoned since the 1970s and 80s in the US was due to their unethical treatment of those considered “unworthy” of citizenship because they were viewed as othered due to their identities as mentally challenged. The novel, then, follows a similar path to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as the story comes to a close, and ends on a good and hopeful note. If you haven’t read it yet and enjoy horror/suspense/psychological thrillers, this is an amazing book to add to that collection.

QQOTD ⁉️: I won’t lie as I was reading it, I dozed off and had a nightmare filled with young creepy people and random showers that started to spray without my control (I have always been scared of plumbing noises). What was your strangest nightmare that you have ever had?

#JenniferMcMahon #TheChildrenontheHill #Gallerybooks #Netgalley #thrillerobsessedbuddyread #bookstagram #instabook #book-photography #bookporn #igbooks #ilovereading #bookhaul #bookhoarder #bookaddiction #bookstoread #whattoread #fortheloveofbooks #bookblogging #bookpics #weekendreads #bookrecs


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What a great read! The eugenics angle was a delightful surprise... It was done tastefully and put a nice twist on the creep factor here. Imagine...your grandma is the head Dr at the mental hospital she runs down the hill and all the staff knows u and your brother and then boom, here comes another child, a girl, and she's staying with the family at the house instead of in a room at the hospital, and wouldn't you be just a little curious about wtf is going on? Like REALLY going on?? Of course! The unfolding of everything was done beautifully and expertly. I really enjoyed myself here. 4 stars!

Thanks netgalley for giving me the advanced pdf so that I can share my thoughts and opinions with y'all 🧡

THE CHILDREN ON THE HILL by @jennifermcmahonwrites is yet another powerhouse of a spooky horror/mystery combo novel and once I saw that it was inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein I KNEW I would be into this one. This is my second Jennifer McMahon book and I am 100% on board with reading anything she has written as I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery in this story and was basically scarred for life by THE WINTER PEOPLE (in the best way that a book can scar you forever).

PAST
In 1978, Violet and her little brother Eric live with their Gran, Dr. Helen Hildreth in Vermont. Dr. Hildreth is known for her work with mentally ill as a psychiatrist at the local treatment center. While Gran is at the "Inn" as they call it, Vi and Eric spend most of their time hunting monsters and writing (Vi) and illustrating (Eric) their very own monster book. When Gran brings home a young girl they call Iris who is around Vi's age, she is excited to finally have a sister. But their new companion can't remember her past or her real name and at first doesn't even speak. As Vi tries to help Iris remember who she was before and where she came from, Vi knows she will have to disobey her grandmother and get into the files in the Inn to get to the truth. What she finds is more surprising than she expected.

PRESENT
In 2019, Lizzy Shelley is a semi-famous host of the podcast Monsters Among Us. She spends most of her time on the show, investigating urban legends and keeping in touch with her brother Charlie whose name is hard to remember since they have both changed their names since childhood. Lizzy is headed to Vermont where Rattling Jane, the local legendary monster, has purportedly taken a young girl. Lizzy believes this latest attack is part of a string of events by the same person pretending to be multiple local legends. She is after this monster because she believes it may be her sister.

In my opinion, Jennifer McMahon is the queen of dual timeline stories and has a way of weaving together past and present events that keeps you on your toes because you know the characters are revealing the information to you in the exact order that will lead you to the glaring conclusion but you have to pick up the breadcrumbs and follow along the way to get there. I can feel her creepy suspense in my bones and the only way to scratch the itch of knowing is to finish the book as frantically as possible. I have to say I was surprised by the ending of the future tense storyline of this one in the best way.

This book is a story of monsters among us and how those monsters are sometimes brought into existence. Like Frankenstein, these monsters are often misunderstood due to circumstances beyond their power not to mention that it often starts to get hard to tell who the real monster is, the creation or the creator.

Absolutely read this book if there is any part of you that likes spooky mysteries with complicated characters, dual timelines, and exploring the monsters among us.

Thank you to the author, @netgalley, and the publisher @gallerybooks for the e-ARC.

#thechildrenonthehill #jennifermcmahon #gallerybooks #netgalley #booknerd #constantreader #horrormystery #monstersamongus #booksta #booksofig #igbooks

Sadly I just don’t think this author is for me. This was my second book by her and unfortunately I found no creep factor, the flashbacks to the main character’s childhood didn’t always feel purposeful and I was bored. I really wanted to love this one, and I tried but really, really just not for me. I hope others enjoy it!

Jennifer McMahon knows how to write a chilling book...with enough eeriness and fear-factor that keeps a reader engaged with both the story and the characters. Lizzie Shelley and her brother Charlie have made new lives since they were the children on the hill......and have new names to help them move on. But the monsters still call to Lizzie...and she has become a well-known monster-hunter. Lizzie and Charlie were raised by their grandmother, who ran The Inn--where she treated psychiatric patients with very unorthodox methods while furthering her study of eugenics. As Lizzie chases down monsters, she finds clues that will lead her to her most feared monster ...her sister. The dual timelines and excerpts from a book written abaout what was found at The Inn, lead the reader down a twisted tale where the children find their true stories, along with the reader. The "end of the chase" brings with it a few surprises and an ending that is both surprising and anticipated. Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the opportunity to read and review this advance reader copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #ChildrenontheHill #NetGalley.

I had a hard time getting into this book. I think I found the writing slow and slightly too fantastical for a fiction book. It felt more like magical realism at the beginning, so I wasn't in the right headspace for it. Overall, it was just OKAY for me.

Yoooo Jennifer McMahon does it AGAIN. This was a page-turner and a twist that I DID NOT see coming. Highly recommend.