Review: The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon

Author: Jennifer McMahon
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Publication Date: April 2022

1978: at her renowned treatment center in picturesque Vermont, the brilliant psychiatrist, Dr. Helen Hildreth, is acclaimed for her compassionate work with the mentally ill. But when she's home with her cherished grandchildren, Vi and Eric, she’s just Gran—teaching them how to take care of their pets, preparing them home-cooked meals, providing them with care and attention and love.

Then one day Gran brings home a child to stay with the family. Iris—silent, hollow-eyed, skittish, and feral—does not behave like a normal girl.

Still, Violet is thrilled to have a new playmate. She and Eric invite Iris to join their Monster Club, where they catalogue all kinds of monsters and dream up ways to defeat them. Before long, Iris begins to come out of her shell. She and Vi and Eric do everything together: ride their bicycles, go to the drive-in, meet at their clubhouse in secret to hunt monsters. Because, as Vi explains, monsters are everywhere.

2019: Lizzy Shelley, the host of the popular podcast Monsters Among Us, is traveling to Vermont, where a young girl has been abducted, and a monster sighting has the town in an uproar. She’s determined to hunt it down, because Lizzy knows better than anyone that monsters are real—and one of them is her very own sister.

The Children of the Hill is a thriller full of twists and turns.  IT's an interesting twist on the Frankenstein story.  It follows two timelines: Lizzy's present day perspective as she hunts down monsters and Vi's perspective in the 70s and the summer her grandmother brought home Iris. I really liked this one!

This is kind of a hard book to review without giving anything away.  I found both timelines compelling and was sucked in from the beginning.  The fun was trying to figure out how the two timelines fit with each  other.  This author has a great way of telling a story by doling out clues and information just at the right time.  This  definitely kept me guessing.  I called none of the twists. I enjoyed the news articles and the excerpts from the monster hunting book that the kids wrote in the 70s.This is probably the best thriller that I have read so far this year.  I highly recommend picking it up!