THE MADNESS UNDERNEATH

British Cover

TITLE: THE MADNESS UNDERNEATH

AUTHOR: MAUREEN JOHNSON

Pages: 352

Date: 02/01/2013

Grade: 5

Details: no. 2 Shades of London

              Received from Harper Collins

              Through NetGalley

              Young Adult

Own/Kindle

Please note that this book won’t be published until February 26 in the USA and March 28, 2013 in England.

It has been three weeks since Aurora (Rory’s) almost fatal encounter with The Ripper Killer and she is in Bristol with her parents recuperating. Except that being away from London is not helping Rory at all. She can’t tell her parents, never mind the therapist she’s seeing, the truth about what happened to her. The only people who she can talk to are Stephen, Callum and Boo the other Shades who, like her, can see and communicate with Ghosts and they are still in the capital. Then the unexpected happens; Rory is given the opportunity to go back to school, back to London and it is an opportunity she grabs with both hands.

Back in London it becomes clear that Rory’s encounter with The Ripper Killer may have unleashed new horrors into the area surrounding her school. And Stephen appears very reluctant to allow her to get really involved with the work he and his two colleagues do. To top it all off Rory also finds that life at school is as hard as life with her parents; she can’t tell the truth there either. On the upside, Rory’s new power makes her feel more secure and she meets a new therapist. And talking to this woman does make Rory feel a lot better.

But danger lurks. There are two unexplained deaths to resolve. And danger does not always come from the place you’d expect.

American cover

This was a wonderful paranormal thriller. I mean the first book, TheName of the Star, was good but this one is better. Rory, the main character is still feisty and funny but now that she has big issues to deal with she is also a lot more interesting. Her sense of isolation and her despair at not being able to talk to anybody about her special abilities is completely believable and make her a more rounded character. She is a real teenager; not a kid anymore and able to think things through most of the time, but not quite patient enough to give things time to develop; she needs her solutions now! I also love Rory’s voice. While reading the book I felt as if she was speaking straight to me, I could hear her and the things she thought and said had me laughing out loud on several occasions.

The writing in this book is smooth and easy to read while the events in the story ensure that it is almost impossible to put the book aside, even for a short while. This story has the right balance of fun, action, tension and emotional issues. This is a well-plotted story with well-rounded characters, but boy what an ending. Where the first book can be read as a complete story in and off itself, there is no doubt that this book a part of a series. There are a host of unresolved issues when this book ends and I know that it is going to be a long and frustrating wait for the third book and the chance to find out what will happen next.