Review: The Mary Shelley Club

Title: The Mary Shelley Club

Author: Goldy Moldavsky

Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group

Publication date: April 13, 2021

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Summary

After being attacked in her home, Rachel and her mom move into the city. Rachel’s hoping to escape her past and turns to horror movies as a comfort. A distraction for the nightmares that sometimes plague her mind. However, she doesn’t really get along with the students at her new school, Manchester Prep. Especially when she’s accused of a prank she didn’t do.

The prank leads Rachel to the Mary Shelley Club, who pull pranks on the student body. Pranks called Fear Tests that are inspired by their favorite horror movie tropes. But when the pranks start to get more and more dangerous, Rachel realizes that losing the game could mean losing her life.

Review: The Mary Shelley Club

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan for sending me an early copy of this to review! I’m always a fan of twisty YA thrillers, and this book definitely fit the bill. A lot of horror movie tropes come into play, making you second guess what’s coming around the corner.

Even though I kind of predicted the way the plot was going, I will admit there were some red herrings along the way. I enjoyed the journey Moldavsky brought us on, weaving in details that all come together in the very end. The characters were also very fleshed out, easily pulling us into the book and adding to the fast pacing of the overall story.

However, all the characters are definitely not likeable, especially in the little club that Rachel joins. Even if they’re a bit off-putting, they do make the story interesting and engaging. Whenever the club was pulling a prank, we got to see it from the target’s point of view, which I think helping in obscuring what was really going on. All the elements of the story worked well together to create a mystery that keeps you second guessing the entire way through.

All in all, if you like books like One of Us Is Lying, this is definitely the book for you. And with that ending, we can secretly hope that maybe a second book will come, someday!

4/5 stars