Friday 1 February 2013

Book Review: Hysteria by Megan Miranda


 Mallory's life is falling apart.

Her boyfriend was stabbed. He bled to death in her kitchen. Mallory was the one who stabbed him. But she can't remember what happened that night. She only remembers the fear...

When Mallory's parents send her away to a boarding school, she thinks she can escape the gossip and the threats. But someone, or something, has followed her. There's the hand that touches her shoulder when she's drifting off to sleep. A voice whispering her name. And everyone knows what happened. So when a pupil is found dead, Mallory's name is on their lips.

Her past can be forgotten but it's never gone. Can Mallory live with that?


When I first started reading this book I was pretty sure I was going to be disappointed.  There appeared to be all the clichés I hate in YA literature.  The parents seemed neglectful, the best friend was promiscuous and it looked like there might be a love triangle.  

But it turns out I was wrong.  

As I carried on reading all of these issues, that I was sure were going to appear never came to pass and instead of rolling my eyes at the clichés I found myself utterly absorbed in this psychological thriller.  

Hysteria studies the after effects of trauma and questions if what you see and hear is real, or a product of a damaged mind.  Lately YA has produced a lot of these kinds of story, where
the main character losses their other half and was involved in their death.   This book is slightly different from the others; it has a more sinister edge and focuses less on the past as some of the others do.  I liked this, it set Hysteria apart slightly, made it different.

The characters were all pretty good.  Mallory was likeable and did the right thing most of the time.  She had moments where you want to slap her upside the head but she was mostly alright.  Her best friend, Colleen, was bubbly and vibrant.  I found their friendship to be the key relationship in this book.  The love interest, Reid, was sweet but didn’t have the strongest personality.  Jason was sinister and dangerous, a truly nasty guy.  I was so happy that Mallory noticed this straight away and kept her distance from him.   And then there were the group of vicious girls, each of them menacing but all of them very different.

Hysteria goes from horror, to Thriller, to a ‘who done it’ mystery then back again.  It was Mean Girls meets Psycho.  It was not perfect, there were a few bits that didn’t make sense but it was gripping and very entertaining.

4 stars


Published February 14th 2013 by Bloomsbury Children's in the UK & February 5th 2013 by Walker Childrens in the US.  A free copy was provided for review. Image courtesy of Goodreads

Review by Kate Phillips

5 comments:

  1. I've seen some mixed thoughts for this. I like that Hysteria has a more sinister edge to it and am definitely glad to hear you found it free from so many different cliches, instead becoming absorbed. Wonderful review, Kate, glad this turned out to be such a pleasant surprise! :)

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  2. I've seen some mixed thoughts for this. I like that Hysteria has a more sinister edge to it and am definitely glad to hear you found it free from so many different cliches, instead becoming absorbed. Wonderful review, Kate, glad this turned out to be such a pleasant surprise! :)

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  3. Hi there, awesome blog! I've just finished reading another book by this author called 'Fracture'. It was pretty good, so I think I'll check out this book as well~
    Thanks for the review!

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  4. I wasn't sure about this book after seeing some mixed/negative reviews but I really ended up liking Mallory and Colleen's friendship especially at the end. That was a great factor in the book to me.

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  5. Wow! I like the first book, but I like the second book's teaser best. I hope you're enjoying them.

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