Hysteria, by Megan Miranda

Boy, is this book a psychological thriller and then some. It really has something for everyone: complicated characters, creepy scenes, literary symbolism, and a plot that'll leave you wondering what the actual heck is going on.

Short and sweet synopsis:
Mallory killed her boyfriend (though it was in self defense) and gets shipped off to prep school where everyone seems to know her story. After that traumatic experience, it's no wonder she can't sleep, and you expect her to have terrifying nightmares. But you don't expect her to have these nightmares when she's not sleeping and then when she does wake up, she has the physical scars from last night's dream. Also, she has a really hard time fitting in at school, especially considering how snobby and mysterious her class mates are. Basically, the school operates under the idea that secrets are currency, and those with the best secrets to share are the most popular.

So, this story is crazy and scary and confusing, but really wonderful at the same time. Am I making any sense? No? That's okay, neither does the plot line sometimes. But really, you spend most of the novel trying to figure out what's wrong with Mallory. You get clues in the form of flashbacks to the night that Mallory killed Brian, along with other flashbacks that kind of clue you in to their relationship. But I like the fact that you're kept guessing until the end, that's what good books do after all.

So here are the things I really liked. I love Mallory and how resourceful she is. Like if she doesn't want to be somewhere, she will literally do everything in her power to not.be.there. She also doesn't really care that none of the girls at school like her, she's too busy concentrating on her own problems and that's totally okay. Another thing I liked was the role that Lord of the Flies played into this book. There's a really cool discussion on it in one of the classroom scenes and you can see how much that theme stays throughout the book and influences it. Yay for classic literature shout outs!

Here are the things that I would have liked to see different, and I phrase it that way because they didn't make the book a disappointment, I was just expecting it to go in a different direction. I wish that the secondary characters would have played a bigger role. And when I say secondary characters, I really mean Chloe and the other nice people at Monroe. They existed, and I wish there was some kind of friendship developed between Mallory and Chloe at least. Though I understand that it wouldn't have exactly forwarded the plot, I just like nice people. I also kind of expected the ending to be a bit more dramatic considering how the climax panned out, but I did like the way it was all tied up and I think it's a satisfying ending for readers.

Basically, if you like psychological thrillers, this is the book for you. There were definitely times where I was reading at night and might have heard noises that weren't really there because I got that into the story. Don't read this in the dark (if you get scared like I do), and you'll be all good!

-Annie