Hysteria Review

Title: Hysteria

Author: Megan Miranda

Release Date: 14^th February 2013

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s Books

YOU WANTED HIM.

YOU NEEDED HIM.

YOU KILLED HIM.

LIFE CAN CHANGE IN AN INSTANT.

FEAR CAN TAKE YOU TO THE VERY EDGE.

Mallory’s old life is dead. Her boyfriend is gone; his blood washed from the kitchen tiles. Still it stains her mind. She can’t ever go back.

Monroe Prep School is her new start. But everyone thinks they know what happened that night. They think they know her. They don’t.

SECRETS ARE DEADLY.

SECRETS ARE THE ONLY REAL CURRENCY.

Mallory killed Brian. But things didn’t end there. Not only is Mallory tormented by Brian’s mother but she can’t get Brian to leave her alone either. Mallory’s parents are unsupportive when it comes to dealing with Brian’s death and how it has affected her mentally. They think that sending her off to Monroe Prep School will change things but Mallory finds that she can’t escape her demons. If anything, they have followed her there and are nearer than ever to dragging her down. Will she ever be free of the ghosts of the past?

Hysteria had a very ‘Point horror-esque’ feel to it. Mallory is haunted by the boy she killed who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend. She is tormented by Brian’s family and the girls at school; even those who pretend to be her friends have ulterior motives.

The setting of the boarding school creates the perfect atmosphere for the eerie content of the novel. The descriptions of the bedrooms, corridors and woods that surround the school all captured my imagination and created a dense space that the characters filled (the descriptions of Mallory’s kitchen also creates an intense sense of space). However, I felt that when Mallory leaves the school and stays with her mother in a hotel, this sense of claustrophobia was lost and took away from the haunting sense of the book.

Mallory’s characterisation was convincing, the first person narrative means that her fear is passed onto the reader directly. The flashbacks are really interesting and as each one occurs, the events of Brian’s death are untangled for the reader and reveal more about Mallory’s character and the truth about what happened, although we later find out that even Mallory’s account can’t be entirely trusted.

I did enjoy this book but felt a little like the ending was rushed. The entire book builds fear and terror throughout but then everything comes to a head and is resolved within the last few pages and as I mentioned previously, when Mallory leaves the school, the tension in the book almost disappears. I felt like the ending deserved more time than this as what happens was actually quite interesting!  

3.5/5 Overall the book is worth a read for some atmospheric moments but the ending might disappoint those who like a proper resolution.