Review- The Merciless (Danielle Vega)

Synopsis

Forgive us, Father, for we have sinned

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. . . . 

In this chilling debut, Danielle Vega delivers blood-curdling suspense and terror on every page. By the shockingly twisted end, readers will be faced with the most haunting question of all: Is there evil in all of us?.                                         - Goodreads.com

My Review 

As a rule I usually steer clear of horror, mostly because I’m a big scaredy cat. But when I was at the library recently this book stood out on the shelf in front of me. Begging me to read it with its prettily bound hot pink cover of innocence. Let’s get one thing straight, this book is anything BUT innocent. It’s brutal, creepy, messed up ….and I loved every second of it.

Without giving too much away, the book is about Sofia, the new girl in school who befriends a group of well to do Christian girls who she sees as the safe option, when compared to Brooklyn, the tattooed and pierced misfit. However, Riley the leader of the God Squad, has a thing against Brooklyn. Apparently they use to be friends but then one summer she changed and now she’s gone darkside. Things escalate quickly and the next thing you know all of them are in a basement torturing Brooklyn as a means of exorcism to rid her of her so called evil.  Our poor main protagonist is caught in the middle of a deadly game with no escape.

"Nails line the window frame, sealing it shut...For a long moment I just stare at the nails trying to keep myself from hyperventilting or dissolving into tears. Riley isn't crazy enough to lock us all in here, to nail the window shut so we can't leave. But even as this thought occurs to me, I know it's exactly what she's done. I'm trapped here with her- we all are."

- Danielle Vega (The Merciless)

This book was not what I was expecting in terms of content. I thought for a YA book the horror element would be down played quite a bit. But Danielle Vega seems to have gone all out and really not held back in this area (however I am a horror novice, so what do I know). She manages to write a creepy but also somehow believable tale of torture which keeps you guessing and trying to figure out the end fate of our protagonist.

I would highly recommend this book if you want something a bit different from the normal YA read. For a scaredy like me, I managed to hold it together and even get a good night’s sleep (of course with all the lights in the house on).

Things I loved about the book:

• How the cover is a direct contrast to the darkness encased in this book. It serves at a good message that your perception of someone/something can be so different from what it actually is inside.
• The goriness.
• That none of the characters were perfect. 

Things I didn't like about the book:

• The ending was a little weird. Wouldn't have been my first choice for an ending but it did wrap up pretty nicely.

My rating: 4/5