The Children on the Hill - Jennifer McMahon - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Jennifer McMahon

GENRE: Psychological Horror-Thriller.

PUBLICATION DATE: April 26, 2022

RATING: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: A psychological horror-thriller loosely inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Slowburn and intense. Good atmospheric writing, complex characters, intriguing plot with some good twists. Leaves many things unsaid. Took me some time to get into it, but it delivered well enough on dark entertainment. Recommended. Go in blind. To be read without overthinking.

Plot Preview:

This story is way too complicated for a short preview. Just know that it comes over two timelines in multiple first-person and third-person perspectives. You may read the Goodreads blurb for more clarity, but it's too detailed. (For once, I can't even blame the blurb writers.)

Of all the RFReadsTogether Challenge prompts (the annual reading challenge I run in my Facebook group 'Readers Forever'), the retelling prompt is always one I am most careful about. While making the prompt, I make sure there are enough reading choices available. That’s the reason I put together two classic horror novels in a single prompt: both ‘Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde’ and ‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’ feature monsters who aren’t monsters. It took me the longest time to decide what book to read for this prompt. I am more fond of Frankenstein’s story, but all the appealing retellings were of Jekyll & Hyde. It was a stroke of luck that brought this book to my notice. It isn't even listed on most sites as a Frankenstein retelling. The book blurb is the only place this is hinted at. Lucky for me!

I'll keep my review as vague as possible to avoid any potential spoilers. This story is best experienced without knowing anything about the plot.

That said, we know that this is loosely inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. So if you've read the OG sci-fi horror classic, you know what it contains. Several similar elements are contained in this novel as well, which, while having a foundation in Frankenstein, has a novelty of its own. No part of the plot has anything in common with Frankenstein, and yet you'll see glimpses of Frankenstein multiple times in this book. So contradictory, right? I better jump to my main review before I blurt out spoilers inadvertently.

Bookish Yays:

👹 The prologue in first person. – creepy!

👹 The leads in each timeline. Varied in age, but equally interesting. (I do think they weren’t always portrayed as per age, but there are extenuating circumstances, so… )

👹 The secondary characters in both timelines. Even those in tiny roles create an impact.

👹 The layered nature of the characters, most of whom are tough to gauge initially.

👹 "The Inn" and everything that happened there - the perfect setting for such a story.

👹 The structured approach to the storytelling, with each chapter from both timelines coming with a clear dd/mm/yy reference.

👹 The interlude chapters from an old journal and a book excerpt. A great way of adding info on events beyond the characters' awareness.

👹 The link between the timelines - very clever.

👹 The parallels with and deviations from Frankenstein.

👹 The twists and turns. I guessed a part of the main twist but not the whole thing.

👹 Many thought-provoking quotes, especially connected to monsters. Sample this: “But you must ask yourself: Who is the real monster? The creature being made, or the one creating it?”

Bookish Nays:

🔪 The ending, that leaves many things unclarified. I usually complain about infodumps, but I wouldn't have minded one this time. The more I thought about the book after the climax, the more questions I had.

🔪 One scene where two characters end up kissing passionately. Utterly unnecessary and even contradicts certain pre-declared statements.

Overall, though I am still bursting with questions, I was gripped enough by the novel while it lasted. The plot and the characters worked well in sync to offer a mostly engrossing read.

This isn't my first Frankenstein retelling. ‘Unnatural Creatures’ by Kris Waldherr tells the original classic story but from the point of view of the three main women characters. It was also a good book with only minor flaws. Quite funny how I enjoyed both these retellings even more than the Mary Shelley classic. 🤭

You don't need to have read the original because this book works excellently as a standalone. But to understand how it functions as a retelling, some familiarity with the original would help.

You don't need to have read the original because this book works excellently as a standalone. But to understand how it functions as a retelling, some familiarity with the original would help.

Recommended to those looking for an atmospheric but slowburn retelling of the horror classic and who don't mind unclarified details. The story gets quite dark, so please check online for content warnings if you need to.