Book Review: The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky

 

Title: The Mary Shelley Club

Author: Goldy Moldavsky

Genre: Horror/Thriller

About the Book: New girl Rachel Chavez is eager to make a fresh start at Manchester Prep. But as one of the few scholarship kids, Rachel struggles to fit in, and when she gets caught up in a prank gone awry, she ends up with more enemies than friends.

To her surprise, however, the prank attracts the attention of the Mary Shelley Club, a secret club of students with one objective: come up with the scariest prank to orchestrate real fear. But as the pranks escalate, the competition turns cutthroat and takes on a life of its own.

When the tables are turned and someone targets the club itself, Rachel must track down the real-life monster in their midst . . . even if it means finally confronting the dark secrets from her past. (From Goodreads)

My Thoughts: I devoured this book.  It started in Rachel's past and the prologue leaves you hanging until almost the very end of the book. She has suffered a trauma and to deal with it has decided to watch horror movies.  She confronts fear by watching the movies and it allows her to not feel so afraid in real life.  

Starting a new school is tough for anyone, and since Rachel is only attending Manchester Prep since her mother is a teacher there, she really feels she doesn't belong.  Fortunately, resident gossip Saundra takes her under her wing and gets her up to speed on all the kids and happenings at the school.  It is because of Saundra though that lands her at a party where a prank has gone bad and brought attention to Rachel.  This turns out to be both good and bad.  Good - because she learns about The Mary Shelley Club and is invited to become a probationary member.  Bad - because she has become the object of mean girl Lux's attention.

This book makes you wonder, along with Rachel, if you really know everything that is going on.  The suspense builds and while I can't say that I knew exactly how it was going to end - you get a gradual idea of what is going on - you kind of learn as Rachel does.  I thought it was a very good book and would highly recommend it.  Especially if you are a fan of horror movies as there are a lot of shout outs to them in the book. 

Check out the book on Goodreads. 

You can follow the author on Instagram @goldywrites.