Name: The Merciless
ISBN: 9781595147226

Danielle Vega

In an effort to make friends at her new school, Sofia gets involved with a group of popular girls who dislike Brooklyn, a loner who they believe to be evil.

The Merciless

tori 👻

Loved the aesthetic of the book , the whole thing entirely. I ate this up now I need to go get the rest 

Maria Morales 

"Page-to-page Stephen King-style terror..."--Booklist "The Merciless is chilling...think 'Mean Girls' meets 'The Exorcist.'"--MTV.com "Pretty Little Liars fans, get a sneak peek at your new favorite book The Merciless...a nail biting thriller."--Seventeen Magazine 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?

Julian

Mean Girls turns homicidal. The gorgeous cover and synopsis grabbed me but actually reading it? I was disappointed. Subpar writing and flat characters. Give it a shot and tell me if I should try again

"Page-to-page Stephen King-style terror..."--Booklist "The Merciless is chilling...think 'Mean Girls' meets 'The Exorcist.'"--MTV.com "Pretty Little Liars fans, get a sneak peek at your new favorite book The Merciless ...a nail biting thriller."-- Seventeen Magazine Danielle Vega delivers blood-curdling suspense and terror on every page with The Merciless, a thrilling debut novel perfect for fans of Robin Wasserman's The Waking Dark and Neil Gaiman's Trigger Warning. 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?

Lacy W

Oh my Lord. This book was absolutely nuts! Nuts, I tell you! It starts out nicely enough. Sophia is new to school. Her mom's job requires her to move every 6 months or so. Sophia meets Riley, Grace and Alexis. They are Christians who basically rule the school. They worship the Lord and basically live their life for him. 

Sophia also meets Brooklyn, who is considered weird by everybody. Including Riley, Grace and Alexis. Rumors swirl about her that is into the freaky stuff. Riley and her gang decide that they are going to try and save Brooklyn...by giving her an exorcism. 

I know what you are thinking. High school girls attempting to give an exorcism? It sounds like Riley doesn't like Brooklyn and just wants to torture her. But it quickly becomes more than that. Riley is basically crazy. Grace is unsure of what is going on. Alexis lives to be just like Riley. Sophie has to make a choice. Save Brooklyn or be just like Riley. 

MTV says that this book is Mean Girls meets The Exorcist. I feel like that is a little off. Riley and her crew are not mean in that sense. Riley wants to save Brooklyn. She wants to save her soul. Now, I'm not excusing what Riley has done because it's completely unacceptable. But is it really so wrong to try and save a former friend?

This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I had no idea what was going to happen next. The ending completely threw me and I'm so glad that there is a second book. Because I have to know what is going to happen to Sophia next. 

Let me also throw in there that I love the cover. How many books do you see with covers like that? Also if you look closely at Danielle Vega's name, the i is an upside down cross. This cover alone sold me on this book. 

 This book is not for the faint of heart. Or people who do not like exorcisms or scary things like that.  I, on the other hand, live for this kind of stuff!

aisha

That was one of the most intense, gory and insane books I've ever read. The ending was unpredictable and now, I'm left rather terrified.

Cloey Yerger

i was never huge on thriller or horror books but this series is absolutely amazing! the author did such a great job, really kept me on the edge of my seat.

篠田美月

Okay actually it’s more like 1,5 stars but I bumped it just because I was giving a chapter-by-chapter rants to my bf about it and the entertainment of torturing him was worth half a star.

Also if you think it’s well written I’m worried for you. Sorry.

Cassandra Martin

This book had more brutal descriptions and violence than I thought it would and I was pleasantly surprised actually. The book is very fast paced and makes you want to keep reading it to see what’s going to happen. The characters weren’t exactly amazing, but not horrible. I can see why this book wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I really enjoyed it. I loved that there was almost a fake ending, but you knew there had to be more to it by how many pagers were left - just unsure what was coming. The book left me wanting more from it as well.

Kaitlyn Waggoner

I agree with the reviews saying it's just Mean Girls with an occult twist. 
It was extremely hard to keep my interest in the book, and I nearly DNF'd it. The graphic depictions of torture seemed out of place and it just was not what I was expecting, and not in a good way. It was a quick read and had a small twist at the end, and that was its saving grace.

Kathryn 

*3.25*

WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST READ. This book is scary, demented, gross and completely enthralling. This is one of the first horror books I've read and I'm definitely interested in reading more from this genre. My main problem in this book was the ending. It felt a little rushed to me and I have SO MANY QUESTIONS but I guess that's where the second book comes in? Anyways if you like scary stuff or are just looking for a good creepy read for October I would recommend this one!

Isabella Brouwer

Wait -wait. What the hell did I just read? 
Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that in a bad way, the book was okay, but the whole thing together.. I don't know, it was.. Unexpected. 
I don't know what exactly it was that I expected from a book like this, but it definitely wasn't what The Merciless turned out to be. 
It was nice, but also really weird and twisted. And that ending! What the?

Carol Bailey

I really wanted to like this book and initially I was drawn into the plot and the general craziness of it. Unfortunately, I quickly lost interest for the same reasons I was initially drawn to it. I just couldn't stick with the pace and the craziness just wore on me.

Fiona Coffey

This book took me by surprise! It’s written really well, it’s definitely a HORROR novel. The “mean girls meets the exorcism” line felt a little misleading to me, I didn’t see many similarities to mean girls other than popular girls being mean. It’s super gorey, disturbing and disgusting, and if you are disturbed by exorcisms, demons, religious themes, and graphic descriptions of violence you will definitely not like this book. There were certain plot holes, and not really an obvious overarching message (aside from... “everyone has evil in them”) so if you’re looking for some deep hidden meaning about humanity or something, you might not like this. Despite all that, I couldn’t put it down, it was gross, pretty scary- not in a supernatural sense but in a “wow these people are f***ing terrifying” sense. I think maybe I like horror books more than I thought I did. 

Going to put off reading the second book for a little bit otherwise that’s all I’m going to do with my day. I’m wondering how it’s going to translate to a series, if it had been a stand alone book that would have made more sense to me.

Tiffany Robinson

This book made me feel like I was watching a horror movie and I loved every second of it. I did not want this book to end so I was kind of bummed when it ended. I don't want to wait to see what happens next!

Rochelle Ferguson

2.5 Stars.
I disliked this book! The beginning and middle were dull and slow-paced and I had to force myself to go on. The only reason I gave this book 2 stars is because the very ending was so good. I was so surprised by the twist and I wished the rest of the book held up against it. However, the twist was in the last '3' pages I think and it was not good enough to sustain the book.

Viry

"Brooklyn's right. Riley's not a professional—she's just a pissed-off teenage girl. Locking us in here was messed up, but this is just a hazing ritual, something to show Brooklyn who the alpha bitch is. I grab the jar of salt from the floor, thrusting it into Riley's hands. Most girls would just start a burn book."

This book was mean girls with a demonic twist. It was fun and quick to read although very gruesome with vivid scenes of nails being ripped off, hair being pulled out from scalp, etc. The quote above made me laugh because Danielle Vega directly referenced the movie Mean Girls in the story!

Josee Blanchard

This book is a really good read , you think its a cute book , but sure is not. 

I would recommend it to everyone !

Brianna Best

This book was absolutely terrifying and despite other reviews saying it was predictable, while I had inklings of what was going to happen at the end, the rest of the book distracted me from really thinking about them; when I got to the ending, and to the twist, and especially the scene at Riley's house, my heart was beating so fast. Also, there's going to be two more books, so the cliffhanger at the end and the loose ends will be tied up, which I can't wait for. (Even if it was a bit stomach churning.)

Jordan Robinson

This was... awesome. Its creepy, and gory and awesome. I wild first to admit its not character driven but more plot driven but I didn't mind so much. The story held up at every point and kept me on the edge of my seat. I'd recommend it for anyone who looks fucked up characters, gore and creepy stuff. 

2020 - Mean Girls meets the Excorist? 
Eh, it was okay. The ending was surprisingly good!

Alice

Sofia Pereira

This book... at first i didnt read the GoodReads blurb (the one i posted here) and i was expecting like a plot for a chic flick where new girl meets queen bee, they become besties,shit happens and queen bee becomes a good person... BOY WAS I WRONG! This book deals with some heavier themes than previous books i have reviewed, it has sex, drugs, booze, murder.. its just not a fun ride for themes. The book is great. It will suck you in from the first phrase to the very last one and it has everything you can actually want from an entertaining book! I really enjoyed Miss Vega's writting style, it fits the story super well.
The characters are loveable and relatable except for one character that confuses me a lot (SPOILER INCOMMING) that is Charlie... he appears, we love him and then he just poofs away (SPOILER OVER). 

I really really loved this book!

Dr. Bitchcraft

A quick and easy horror read. While it's not particularly introspective or meaningful, it's not really meant to be. It's a great book for what it's meant to do: be a fun, satisfying book you can sit down and read in one sitting.

"Brooklyn knows that there's no good without evil, no right without wrong. And when a helpless girl calls her teen helpline, whispering that someone is hurting her, Brooklyn knows that she needs to save her anonymous caller, even if it means something bad"--Page 2 of cover.

The Merciless

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