The Children on the Hill asks two big questions of it's reader. The first: are monsters born or are they made? The second: what makes a monster a monster? Is a monster a monster because of actions, appearance, behavior, or is it a monster based simply on other's perceptions. The Children on the Hill follows these questions from childhood to adulthood through the eyes of two girls.

The Children on the Hill has a twist that is so unexpected it will leave the reader reeling and rethinking everything they read throughout the book. Just when you feel like you know the answer to the two questions, the book will make you question yourself and your answers. They type of book that will make you want to read more from this author.

Very obviously inspired by Frankenstein, this is another Vermont-based creepy thriller/mystery Jennifer McMahon book (in a good way!). I liked the mystery aspect but the twist was a bit predictable. The 1978 storyline was much stronger, when it switched back to the modern storyline I think it lost some steam. Overall, this was an enjoyable read.

This book was HIGHLY reccomended to me by @chapters.and.charcuterie
and now I'm reccomending it too!

Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

The Children in the Hill, by Jennifer McMahon, is told in two time lines.

•The first, 1978: Violet and Eric live with their psychiatrist grandmother on the property in Vermont where she treat patients. Violet loves monsters so when Liv becomes a patient and opens up to Violet the three children set out to find out about Liv's past. They find more than they expected.

•The second, 2019: Lizzy Shelley, a monster hunter/podcaster/actress, is on the hunt for a monster that may have abducted a little girl. Shelley knows monsters are real so she tracks the monster sighting to discover what happened ti the child. In doing so she uncovers something shocking.

The Children on the Hill is creepy and captivating while keeping a youthful feel. McMahon creates a vivid settling with even more vivid characters. She hits on all cylinders: family, nature vs nurture, sibling relationships, psychology, paranormal, and reality/truth.

As I was reading I began thinking about how the story would play out. I did not see the ending coming at all and it was better than any of the ideas I came up with.

If you love thrillers this is a book you need to get your hands on sooner than later.


Thank you to @netgalley and for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

5 out of 5 stars

I have found that Jennifer McMahon doesn't disappoint me. She does a really good job of combining mysteries with a good amount of creepiness thrown in there for good measure.

I really loved all the twists and turns this ode to Frankenstein had. It is sure to keep you reading late into the night!

Not at all what I expected when I started reading this book. Wow! I really didn’t see any of this story coming. Not what I typically read, but it is one I will recommend for anyone who likes the unexpected.

Unfortunately I did not finish this one. I'm not sure what was missing or maybe it was just me and timing but I just could not get into it.

A horror/mystery novel inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, The Children on the Hill, proves woefully uninspired by the classic monster novel.

The premise sounds exhilarating and creepy. In 1978 a strange, orphaned child joins the Hildreth family, Dr. Helen Hildreth, who runs a psychiatric facility, and her grandchildren, Vic and Eric. They play at being monster hunters, a game that breaks the feral, skittish orphan Iris out of her shell. Simultaneously, it's 2019, and Lizzy Shelley is a famous podcaster who hunts monsters. This time, she's hunting for a missing girl, and a monster sighting has the town thinking the boogeyman has her.

The novel is a gentle unraveling of Lizzy Shelley/Vic Hildreth's haunted past. There is no mystery about who Lizzy is hunting down when she searches for the missing girl. The assailant is known to the reader within the first few chapters. More of the mystery lies in unwinding Lizzy's childhood. What happened that forced her and her brother to change their names?

Unfortunately, the book is unbalanced. Getting through the novel's first half is tedious because the more gripping storyline is the 1978 timeline. All you want to do is get back to reading that. However, that flips, and suddenly the present timeline is more intriguing. But at that point, it's been so hard engaging in the modern timeline that it's too little, too late.

The story is beefed up with pointless filler and a most bizarre turn of events where the two young girls, Vic and Iris, go from being sisterly to having romantic feelings for one another. The scene feels unnecessary and out of character. But even making it through to the end will leave the reader with little satisfaction with perhaps one of the fastest, most ludicrous endings to befall a mystery novel.

The Children on the Hill is tired and tedious, with little imagination or mystery captured within its pages.

I love the spookiness of Jennifer McMahon, and this eerie novel is a great addition to her oeuvre. The pacing is great, with slow-burn reveals and expert use of flipping between time periods. While the reveals won't be a huge surprise to anyone who is familiar with Frankenstein, it's a really fun read.

Wow! This mystery is heart stopping and breath taking. It will give you whiplash.
Many thanks to Gallery and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

When it comes to creating eerie small-town settings, Jennifer McMahon is to Vermont what Stephen King is to Maine. Her latest book parallels Mary Shelley’s famous novel and a good chunk of the story is told from Lizzy Frankenstein’s point of view in 2019. Lizzy hunts monsters and she’s so good at it her podcast and reality TV show have gained her a national following. The only trouble is the monster she’s hunting now may be her own long-lost “sister,” who Lizzy suspects is responsible for the disappearance of more than 10 girls.

The novel alternates with an earlier plotline set in 1978, so it has a definite Stranger Things vibe. While the twists aren’t as shocking as they are in some of McMahon’s other books, the sections that chronicle the lives of young Violet, Eric and the mysterious foundling Iris are disconcertingly creepy. All three children are under the care of Helen Hildreth, a psychiatrist who runs a clinic for the mentally ill. Dr. Hildreth is Vi’s and Eric’s grandmother, but who is Iris: victim or villain? Where did she come from? And what doesn’t their grandmother want them to find out about the girl?

Why You Should Read It: McMahon’s ability to entertain is indisputable but in this one she seems to push the narrative further. Yes, this is a horror story — in every sense of the word — but it has larger implications that mirror Frankenstein’s themes.

This is my third Jennifer McMahon book, but won’t be my last! I loved the premise of this novel and was sucked in by the plot chockful of mystery. As with the other McMahon novels I’ve read, The Children on the Hill is 1 part mystery, 1 part drama, and 1 part slow-burn thriller. It’s fun, exciting, and gives you just enough in each chapter to keep the pages turning. It’s full of twists and turns and I’m not ashamed to admit that most of them caught me off-guard.

If you’re looking for an entertaining, quick read that will keep you guessing, this is definitely one to pick up!

** spoiler alert ** ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.

Jennifer McMahon has a unique way of creating a slow-burning story that reads like a fast-paced thriller. The Children on the Hill is no exception.

In 1978, Violet and her brother Eric live with their grandmother (Gran) on the premises of a mental hospital where Gran is the resident psychiatrist. Like regular kids their age, they play games and go to movies. Unlike other kids, they spend a lot of time *researching* patients in the hospital by eavesdropping on Gran's private meetings. When Iris, a girl their age arrives, Gran asks them to treat her like a sister. Iris doesn't speak and has scars on her head and chest. Violet wants to know where Iris came from and why she's there so she enlists the help of her brother in her investigation.

Fast forward to present day, Lizzy, a podcaster on the show Monsters Among Us, is trying to locate the *monster* from her childhood. She believes this person is responsible for a series of missing teenagers.

Moving back and forth in the timeline, we eventually find out how Iris came to live at Hillside Inn. We also take a road trip with Lizzy as she uncovers the identity of the teen kidnapper, discovering why they were targets in the first place.

Recommended for those of you who like a creepy story that sticks with you for a while.

This book was hyped as being a horror novel supposed to be a modern day Frankenstein type story and it could not have been any further than that. The suspense was well written, however I could not care for the main characters. McMahon's writing style is a mild suspense type thriller. Would recommend for readers of those who are slowly getting into reading true horror.
3 books.

Children on The Hill captivated me from the very first chapter and held my attention until the very end. It always kept me guessing and quite honestly surprising me. I loved the twists and turns and I did not see them coming. The author does a nice job of telling the story by going back and forth between the past and the present.

Violet and Eric are brother and sister living in the house adjacent to a psychiatric sanatorium where their grandmother is the Medical Director. Violet and Eric love monsters! They have their own monster club, and have written their own monster book. It's just the 2 of them, until a new sister, Iris, comes to live with them and their grandmother. They have all kinds of adventures together until they discover a dark secret, hidden in the dark basement of the hospital. Some monsters are real and live among us.

Lizzy is a real life monster hunter. She even has her own TV show. But there is one monster that she has to find. One monster that she has been chasing her whole adult life.

If you love a fast paced mystery that will keep you frantically turning pages and guessing until the end, you will love Children On the Hill.

BOOK REVIEW: The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon
2022 Publication Date: April 26

⭐️⭐️⭐️️

T.I.M.E. Most Anticipated Books Of 2022

CONNECT WITH A BOOK | T.I.M.E. SIMPLE LIVING TIP
We've each got a butterfly hiding inside us...

T.I.M.E. BOOK REVIEW: Inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein... An eerie collage of a story that evokes the complexities of discovering the capacity to love and hate the same person. With a wonderful undercurrent of how the classic monster movies serve to both entertain and enlighten... ✨😎✨

Pages: 349
Genre: Thriller
Sub-Genre: Ghost Thriller
Time Period: 1978 - 2019
Location: Vermont

IF YOU LIKE THIS BOOK THEN TRY…
Book: The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon
Movie: Never Let Me Go

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All my book reviews can be seen at This Is My Everybody | Simple Living | Denise Wilbanks at thisismyeverybody.com/blog/what-book-should-i-read

♡ Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

This book was a fantastic dive into monstrosity. This page turner utilizes different timelines to set up an intriguing and exciting story into what constitutes a monster. The children were great povs and the monster club with odes to classic monsters were so fun. The twists were surprising, but well set up, with clues along the way. The podcast element brought classic monsters into a modern world. Overall, I adored this book. It has it all, creepy atmosphere, surprising twists, complex characters, and an exciting plot. 5/5 stars

The Children on the Hill is another fantastic mystery/thriller by Jennifer McMahon. The monsters both real and imagined made this story a must pick up for me. McMahon continues to prove she is a masterful storyteller.

What worked for this book was the skillfull way the story goes back and forth between now and then and how slowly the story unfolds with each twist carefully laid out. And when I say slowly, I don't mean it dragged out in any way but the tension and thrill of figuring out each puzzle piece made it impossible to put it down. McMahon skillfully connected all the dots until its dizzying climax.

With that said, I did find the "twist" at the very end a little bit of a let down after all the big reveals through out the book that had been so explosive.

McMahon continues to be a powerhouse author and one I will readily recommend to my patrons looking for an all consuming read.

A twisted, psychological, creepy Frankenstein new telling story that blew my mind. I absolutely loved it.

OK, I have been a McMahon fan for at least a decade at this point. I've read every book. Some more than once. For me, this was not the strongest. It was good, they're always good. I wish it was a little spookier. I love it when I'm nervous to turn off the light (a good example of this is The Invited - SO GOOD). It was still a good story, I think the multiple timelines worked really well. Bought for the library I work in, and on my "Kim recommends" shelf.

Great ghost paranormal time!!! I was hooked from page 1. JM always is an auto buy for me ! Atmospheric, entangling, poetic and dark, this book was amazing!!!!