The Merciless

by Danielle Vega

Paperback, 2015

Status

Available

Call number

813.6

Publication

Razorbill (2015), Paperback, 304 pages

Description

"The Merciless is chilling. Think Mean Girls meets The Exorcist."--MTV.com Danielle Vega delivers blood-curdling suspense and terror on every page of this thrilling debut novel. Fans of Asylum by Madeleine Roux and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will devour this terrifying series. 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. By the shockingly twisted end, readers will be faced with the most haunting question of all: Is there evil in all of us? "Pretty Little Liars fans, get a sneak peek at your new favorite book The Merciless...a nail biting thriller."--Seventeen Magazine… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member aimless22

Creepy, graphic story of a tortuous exorcism attempt by teenage girls.

16 more

LibraryThing member SydneyKrause

2.5/5 stars.

It was okay. It took a long time for me to actually be interested in the storyline and I didn't really care for any of the characters. It also wasn't as scary/creepy as I expected it to be after reading the description. The story really picked up in the last 40 or so pages though (plus

an unexpected plot twist) which did make me enjoy it more (which does make me interested to read the next book in the series when it comes out), however I found the majority of the book to be boring and disappointing.

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LibraryThing member EKAnderson

It's not every day that I pick up a book that makes me squirm. I have a pretty tough stomach for creepiness and violence and all that good stuff. I love shows like Dexter, have been known to watch horror movies alone in the dark, and one of my fave films when I was in high school was The Craft.

(Still love it, BTW.) THE MERCILESS by Danielle Vega made me a little barfy. And I think it was good barfy, if there's such a thing. It's a send-up to Mean Girls taken to an extreme, with a side of Bible thumping and a little exorcism for flavor.

Sofia is the new girl in town, and, since her mother is in the military, she's been the new girl a lot. Her past few experiences as the new girl have been pretty terrible, actually. She's used to being mercilessly bullied. And she's expecting about the same here, in this sweet southern suburb, until the queen bee Riley and her posse of popular girls take her under their collective wing. Sofia has also befriended outcast Brooklyn. And with all these new friends on her side, she thinks she's got it pretty sweet. But Riley has a serious hate-on for Brooklyn, who apparently used to be part of the cool crowd. She's changed -- so much that Riley has become convinced that she's possessed. And Riley's obsessed with Brooklyn is about to lead Sofia and her new friends down a dark, terrifying path. A path that leads to an abandoned house that once was their girlie hangout and has now become the place where Riley & Co. plan to exorcize "demons" from Brooklyn by any means necessary. And Sofia will have to either prove her loyalty or end up the next one tied up in the basement. THE MERCILESS is probably one of the most scary YA novels I've read in a while. It's not scary in the way that Nancy Holder is scary, or the way that Lois Duncan is scary. This is scary in the way that Stephen King at his goriest is scary . This is CARRIE on Steroids. Heathers meets Hostel. No punches are pulled. Nothing happens "off screen," and the reader isn't spared details. If you're looking to have your blood curdled anytime soon, this is the book for you.

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LibraryThing member titania86

* spoilers *

Sofia Flores moves to a new school in hopes of a new start. Her old school was full of people who just love to ridicule her. When Riley's overly religious, popular group accepts her, Sofia couldn't be happier. They drink together, have sleepovers, and seem genuinely nice. Brooklyn is

nice too, but Riley's group hates her for some reason. They used to be friends and had some sort of falling out. Brooklyn is everything Riley and her group isn't, but it isn't until Sofia sees Riley's boyfriend with Brooklyn. She's just being a good friend. She ever expected Riley to tie Brooklyn up in the basement and try to exorcise her. Now Sofia is torn between siding with her friends and their religious fanaticism or saving Brooklyn from who knows what torture awaits her.

Sofia right from the beginning is kind of desperate for acceptance. She faced humiliation at every turn at her old school and she just wants a new start where she can be happy. Riley, Grace, and Alexis accept her right away. She gets the high school experience she has always wanted: sleepovers, illicit drinking, and real girlfriends to pour her heart out to. They also happen to be weirdly religious. More on that later. Brooklyn is also an interesting friend. She takes her to get piercing and tattoos, not caring what the more conventional girls think (even though they drink and have no real room to throw stones). One day, Sofia sees Brooklyn all over Riley's sort of boyfriend. She feels more loyalty to Riley's group, so she tells Riley about it. She had no idea that their next sleepover would include Brooklyn tied up and bleeding in a vacant house with all the exits locked or nailed shut.

The excuse for Brooklyn's imprisonment is that a demon is inside her, making her do horrible things. Four girls who play lip service to religion and with no connection to the church, no guidance, and no knowledge are going to exorcise the demon out of her. Riley is the toxic queen bee of the mean girls group and wastes no time going all Hostel on that poor girl. Brooklyn is stabbed with knives, burned with matches, and almost drowned in a tub among other horrific things. Who knew teenage girls coud be so vicious? Riley is obviously the ringleader and delights in the pain she inflicts. The other girls are not quite so gleeful, but follow nonetheless. It's a sick game of follow the leader and the only one conflicted is Sofia who infuriatingly does next to nothing to stop her through most of the novel. Riley employs classic bullying techniques to keep everyone in line: threaten opponents with the same treatment, say opponents are possessed by demons as well, and cut off all exits in the house. This situation is the classic example of the majority witch-hunting the minority who is different whether it's because of religion or dress or any other random thing.

The very ending is complete and utter bullshit. Apparently, Brooklyn really is possessed by demons. Just ignore that Riley is obviously a total socio/psychopath who doesn't think twice about victimizing someone for something pretty minor, threatening her friends, and bullying anyone who gets in her way. The ending is supremely stupid and says that Riley was right to do all these awful things. It seriously disgusts me and I will never read anything by Danielle Vega ever again. Up until the very end, the story was a rather interesting look into mean girls to the extreme. One other flaw is that there's simply no suspense. It's the book version of the Saw films. No build up or actual creepiness. Just descriptions of torture which does not make good horror.

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LibraryThing member sszkutak

Whatever you read about this book could not possibly prepare you for the violence and creepiness of this book- and I mean that in the best way possible. The Merciless follows the new girl in town, Sofia, who befriends a few girls on her first day of school. In this group is Brooklyn, the loner, and

then Riley and her posse of Alexis and Grace, your teen Bible study/popular girls group.

Sofia is shy and trying to fit in, while all the other girls are trying her out as a new friend. Sofia gets wrapped up in a spy-like operation for Riley and then all hell breaks loose (no pun intended). When Riley decides that Brooklyn is evil and needs an exorcism, the book becomes a madhouse of fire, knives, stabbing, drowning and an overall terrifying experience for Sofia.

I am not even sure where to start on this one, so how about the most obvious – the cover. The pretty pink cover with an upside down pentagram is a marvelous expression of what is to come inside the book. A mix of religion, good and evil, and pop-princesses gone bad; it was the creepy I wanted out of this book. Danielle Vega did a wonderful job pulling the reader in with this plot, Sofia seems like a normal shy girl and you are really pulling for her to make friends and enjoy her new home. Little by little things seem off in the story and then BOOM!!!!! All the creepy.

Vega’s descriptions were the best and worst part of this read, at one point she is explaining the sound of ripping ones nails off with a knife (gross right?! You have NO idea HOW gross?), this gave me shivers and I had to put the book down for a moment while I tried not to get sick. BUT that being said… this was an amazing book! There is a crazy twist ending that I was NOT expecting even after being forewarned by the synopsis. If you are a fan of violence, horror, and the heebie-jeebies … you should read this.

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LibraryThing member lesindy

Mean Girls meets The Exorcist, The Merciless is a great horror book. Sofia is new to the town, and the popular girl Riley has Sofia spy and pretend to be friends with the social outcast. Soon Riley's group is doing strange things, and Sofia has to face some hard truths.

This book had some genuinely

spooky things. Well-written, with a sense of dread, this book sucks you in. Now the ending part did drag on, but it was worth the ending. Can't wait to read the other two books in the series.

This was a library book.

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LibraryThing member pennma05

Mean Girls meets The Craft. I was hoping this would be really good and creepy but it was mostly just me cringing the entire time at the very graphic violence. I don't think I will be reading the sequel.

LibraryThing member KWadyko

Super creepy...you definitely start questioning everything that's going on...cannot wait to read book 2!

LibraryThing member ireneattolia

this was complete insanity, just utterly batshit, 10/10 would read again.

LibraryThing member LibrarianRyan

Sofia is the new girl in school. She just wants to make friends, and be included instead of a laughing stock, like at her old school. At first she meets the rebel of the school Brooklyn, and cute boy Charlie. But Riley is the “It” girl at the school. Everyone wants to be her friend. She is the

bubbly, bouncy, god loving leader of the pack. And leader is just the way to put it. Did I mention she is crazy.

You read that right. Riley is crazy. She insistes that her crew (Riley, Alexis, and Grace) have to perform an exorcism on Brooklyn, and Sofia has to help. They steal of into the night, to an abandoned house, tie Brooklyn to a post and proceed to do terrible things to her. All in the name of getting right with the Lord. Sofia, knows what is going on is wrong. She does, but she’s stuck. Literally. Riley has nailed all the windows and doors shut.

My friend said this was the best horror novel for teens she had read in a while, and while yes, it was better than any others I read this year, I didn’t find it wowed me. The violence and cruelty are intense. The turnabout wasn’t completely expected, but wasn’t that off beat either. As I was reading this book I kept wondering how it could spawn two sequels. When you get to the end, you want the sequel, but I don’t need a sequel. I will probably read them since I own them, but this will not be a book I read over and over again. That being said it would make an AWESOME horror movie.

#beatthebacklist #george These friends have to be thicker than thieves to perform an exorcism and torture someone together.
#Mountt

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LibraryThing member roses7184

Well, this absolutely wasn't what I expected it to be. I picked up The Merciless because it was billed as YA horror, and I'm a sucker for anything labeled as such. Watching an author take a horror story, and gently manipulate it for a YA audience, is tons of fun for me. Sometimes they're amazing.

Sometimes they're my favorite horror stories. Sometimes, unfortunately, they fall short.

I'm willing to suspend disbelief to get lost in a book like this. If the author is willing to build the background, get me invested in the characters, and set up the tension, I'm all in. It doesn't matter if the villain is a giant cockroach or a serial killer clown. I'm in. I just need to feel like I'm being slowly lead toward an epic climax. Which is why The Merciless lost me after the first few chapters. I never felt like I actually knew Sofia. Her so-called "friends" were barely introduced before she fell head-over-heels in adoration of them. Every single plot point seemed too convenient. Nothing felt organic. Worse yet, this book relies heavily on gore and shock value. I'm all for that, if it's done in a way that adds to the story. In this case, it felt forced.

The other issue I had was that this book is really heavy on the use of God. I understand that the concept of good vs. evil, or God vs. Satan, is often used in stories like this. It makes sense, because it sets a line between what we consider to be normal human behavior, and what lies waiting in the darkest part of some people. What bothers me, is when there is no preface for the use of God. Up until the end of this story, Riley and her friends simply felt like fanatics. No reasoning behind their behavior. No set up. Just crazy religious fanaticism. As for Sofia, she mentions early on that she isn't really religious. Yet, she's willing to go along with everything these girls tell her to do. Even when she knows it's wrong.

Which brings me to the last point, and that's the fact that there is nothing redeeming about Sofia's character. It's like those really terrible horror movies where you actually hope all the characters die. You're not really invested in them. They make terrible decisions constantly. By the time the movie is halfway over, you're just hoping that they'll hurry up and die in some spectacular way. Add in an ending that drove me mad, and you have a 2-star rating.

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LibraryThing member readbybrit

To sum it up, this book was bizarre.

The synopsis essentially spoils 75% of the novel. When I initially read the synopsis, I expected what was mentioned to only be a portion of the novel but it went on for 150 pages. Same scene, same setting. At some point, I was so tired of reading about it I went

back and tabbed where the scene started just so I could see how long this really was.

The concept of the plot in theory was fantastic! I was looking forward to reading it but when I got into the bulk of the story, I was disappointed. Everyone's actions, words, and just about everything was incredibly one-dimensional. Now, that's not always a bad thing, but in this case it made for everything being just unbelievable, but not in the exciting sense. It wasn't even the type of unbelievable where it could be laughable and funny. When I got to the very end, I just rolled my eyes and set the book down.

This book was very gory. I can't recall a time I've had a physical reaction to gore in a book but I had a few reading this. There was one scene where I was trying to read the book but also cover up the book at the same time while squirming in my seat and I ended up yelling out loud. If you like gore, this book is for you. There was also a scene with bugs, lots of bugs and I absolutely hated it. I hate bugs and reading about bugs did not go well for me. The scene only lasts a few pages but beware: BUGS, specifically cockroaches.

Despite my disappointment with the plot execution and the characters, this book had readability. I continued reading purely because I wanted to know what happened, even if I was kind of over it. It was a very bizarre read but even with all of the issues I had and how unbelievable the dialogue was ... I could see myself reading the sequel.

Don't rush out to buy this one, maybe request it from your local library, but stick it on your TBR for a rainy day if you're looking for something that tackles a darker horror topic with a light hand.

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LibraryThing member leahlo89

Ok, I'm going to be really honest with this review. This is one of those one of those books that after you finish you say "WTF did I just read?" I originally bought this book around Halloween because it was supposed to be super creepy and dark with all sorts of Mean Girls meets satanic cult stuff.

Seriously, WTF DID I JUST READ. I pretty much told y'all everything that happens in my full review because I want to save you the trouble of reading it yourself. This book was terrible and I really would like my time back that I wasted on it. It was gross, disturbing (not in a good way), and had a really poor storyline. It was gory just for the sake of being gory and shocking. The characters where cliche and predictable. Apparently this is going to be a series, but I warn you not to even waste your time on book one. AWFUL. I'm going to be generous with my star rating only because I try to only give one star ratings to books I truly could not finish.

For my full reivew, visit my blog .

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LibraryThing member Jonez

Well...that was...an experience. Wow. Where to begin with this? Pretend your angst ridden middle schooler was writing horror fiction inspired by bitchcraft films and mean girls. Now, pretend she turned it in as part of a creative writing project and you were called in by that instructor as well as

a school counselor and another member of the administration to discuss what may be wrong with your child. That about sums up not only the writing of this book, but the overall feeling about this book after reading it. Im sorry. I should be kind, but I really can't find much of anything about this one I liked. I'm giving it a star because it borrowed creatively and it almost had a twist good enough for a campy horror movie. It was kinda original in its own way. I liked the cover art idea. Ummm...yeah that's all I got.

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LibraryThing member sublunarie

Boy, that escalated quickly.

LibraryThing member SimplyKelina

This is not for the faint at heart. I do not know how this is young adult as it deals with a teen being tortured. It was much more graphic than I was expecting. I kept reading as I wanted to see what happened. This is not something I would normally read at all and definitely took me out of my

comfort zone.

I am not sure if I will continue with the series or not at this point. I am interested to see what happens next though.

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LibraryThing member ejlesny

I think this book is very well written and was very well thought out. Vegas definitely made blood and gore into a beautiful masterpiece.

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