The Merciless II: The Exorcism of Sofia Flores

Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Cover image and summary from Goodreads:

Danielle Vega—YA’s answer to Stephen King—once again brings major scares in the spine-tingling sequel to horror hit The Merciless, which MTV calls “Mean Girls meets The Exorcist.”

Sofia is still processing the horrific truth of what happened when she and three friends performed an exorcism that spiraled horribly out of control. Ever since that night, Sofia has been haunted by bloody and demonic visions. Her therapist says they’re all in her head, but to Sofia they feel chillingly real. She just wants to get out of town, start fresh someplace else . . . until her mother dies suddenly, and Sofia gets her wish.

Sofia is sent to St. Mary’s, a creepy Catholic boarding school in Mississippi. There, seemingly everyone is doing penance for something, most of all the mysterious Jude, for whom Sofia can’t help feeling an unshakeable attraction. But when Sofia and Jude confide in each other about their pasts, something flips in him. He becomes convinced that Sofia is possessed by the devil. . . . Is an exorcism the only way to save her eternal soul?

Readers won’t be able to look away from this terrifying read full of twists and turns that will leave them wondering, Is there evil in all of us?

I loved The Merciless when I read it a couple of years ago, so when I heard that there was going to be a sequel, I was overjoyed! This was definitely one of my most-anticipated reads of 2016!

As I expected, this book was dark, violent, and creepy. It also made use of one of my favourite settings: a boarding school! And Danielle Vega definitely knows how to ramp up the tension and suspense, making this a definite page-turner. I couldn’t put this book down!

I felt for Sofia, our returning protagonist from The Merciless. She really seemed to want to be a good person, but she was troubled by some of her thoughts and feelings. And as the story began to unfold, I had to wonder: was everything in her head, or were bad things really to happening to her and people around her because of something supernatural? Or was it all a series of unfortunate coincidences?

As I’ve come to expect from Danielle Vega’s books, there was a fabulous ending, and the last section of the story was so great and creepy and vivid that I could picture it, like watching a horror movie.

If you liked The Merciless, you’ve got to read this sequel!