The Madness Underneath: Book 2 (The Shades of London)

First of all, this is the middle book in a trilogy. The author does enough to let the reader know what happens in the first book. Rory is in Bristol with her parents and healing from a knife wound given her by the new Ripper. She is seeing a therapist but having some trouble because she can't tell her the real story of what happened in London. Besides signing the Official Secrets Acts, she has real reason to fear that telling her story will cause her to be committed to a psychiatric facility. After all, being attacked by a ghost is not something that is easily believable.Rory misses her friends at Wexford and especially misses Stephen, Callum and Boo who worked with her as a member of the Shade Squad whose job was to eliminate troublesome ghosts. Since moving to Bristol, she has lost all contact with them. She has also developed a startling new power. She is a living terminus; touching a ghost causes them to disappear.Meanwhile, things aren't going well for the tean in London. As a result of their encounter with the Ripper, all three of the terminus that allowed them to remove evil ghosts have been lost or broken. The team is in danger of being disbanded leaving all three of them jobless.Things are manipulated to get Rory back to London and Wexford and potentially save the team. Returning to London and school has problems for Rory. She is so far behind in her schoolwork and exams are so close that she doesn't have a hope of catching up and passing her exams. And she is more interested in a new mystery in which a nearby pub owner was supposedly bludgeoned to death by one of his employees. Some research tells her that the school and the are were built over a former facility where those with mental illnesses were warehoused. She fears that the battle with the Ripper has opened up a crack that is freeing some of those patients now as ghosts.Rory is also still having issues regarding the battle too. When the head girl Charlotte raves over the therapist she is seeing, Rory decides to see her too. Jane Quaint is a mysterious character who does seem to have helped Charlotte and who helps Rory too after their first session. But Jane has a hidden agenda that runs counter to the work of the team. Jane wants to isolate Rory from her friends and family in order to fulfill Jane's agenda.Rescue by the team leads to heartbreaking consequences and also leads to a cliffhanger ending.

I really liked the first book, The Name of the Star. It was a creepy ghost story and I actually liked all of the characters. I didn't even mind the cliffhanger ending b/c, in a good way, it just made we want to read the next book. So I was constantly checking amazon for news of this sequel and now I am severely disappointed after just finishing it. **Warning there will be spoilersThe Good(ish):*some character development, oh yeah!: After what Rory went through, it was nice to see her struggle a bit, cuz that would be normal right? And after all of that, of course she was going to have to come to grips with that no, her life would never be the same and so where should she go from here. So that was nice. I also loved that Stephen was fleshed out a bit more. He's my favorite character so that was definitely a plus. Johnson definitely knows how to make her characters likeable and I'd be lying if I said I didn't form some emotional attachments to them and that's only reason why I'm giving this book 3 stars. Unfortunately, a lot of the other characters that were in the first book seemed to just fade into the background. It was weird that even though Rory has returned to Wexford and London, characters such as Jazza, Jerome, Callum, and Boo just don't really seem to be there. There wasn't even a little hint that maybe Boo and Callum might hit it off. They all almost seemed like strangers to me as I read the book.*No love triangle!: I'll say it again, NO LOVE TRIANGLE!!! I don't even think I can remember the last time I read a young adult series and there was no love triangle. SO refreshing!!! Rory realizes that there's a difference between liking the kind of attention a person can give you, and actually liking that person. Plus she was actually thinking about her own circumstances and feelings and realized that a relationship with Jerome, a person she has to constantly lie to and can't be truly open with, is not good for her or for the situation she is dealing with at the time, such as dealing with her abilities and failing school. It was kinda awesome to finally read a book from a female point of view and not have everything be about hormones and bad boy choices.I mean I know that teens are supposed to be hormone infused beings, but that doesn't mean that can't be rational either, right?The Bad:*weird, jumbled, disjointed plot: After reading the first few chapters, I thought this was going to be similar to the first book; homicidal ghost mystery. Especially after all that plot building with the crack and the Bedlam Asylum and ya know, of course the murder the book flipping opens up with. But then NOPE! Johnson abandons that and takes on this odd, misplaced trip about a cult? Something that I saw happening very early on, when Rory first visits Jane, but I thought, "Oh, I guess this is going to tie into the crack in the ground right?" Nope. Instead we get a bunch of creepy cult people, and that stuff doesn't really even start to get exciting until the last few chapters. Which was another annoying part about the plot, it was flipping slow. I didn't even realize how slow until things started picking up with the cult kidnapping Rory, and then I saw that I was at 90-something percent on my kindle.*the ending: Why, just why? Stephen was my favorite character since book one, and then Johnson just kinda destroys him. And not in some awesome character/plot developing way. I mean I definitely applaud her for being able to make me have an emotional attachment to these characters to the point where this ending just burns me up inside, but I just kinda felt like this ending was unneeded. Probably because I have no real idea of where this story is going to go from here since this whole book was a jumbled mess. I get how life isn't easy and that everything shouldn't end in a nice, care-free package, but how is Stephen dying and potentially coming back as a ghost going to tie into this cult thing the author has going? Don't really know and not sure I care cuz she just killed off my favorite character. Hoo-rah...So, after that disappointing read, not sure if I'll stick with this series. I imagine that this cult thing will develop into something and I bet Stephen will come back, but I really don't wanna potentially spend the whole 3rd book dealing with how Rory is going to have to deal with this new found attraction to Stephen, but can't do anything about it cuz she makes ghosts go boom. I guess as long as Johnson is able to create a good balance between the feelings and the action it'll work, but if it's just going to be more about a mopey, angsty teen than about some real plot development, then I'll just put this in the pile of failed series.

I really enjoyed the first entry in this series but, unfortunately, this book disappointed me. In terms of structure, I think it suffered a lot from middle novel syndrome. While The Name of the Star was also slow burning, this book was mostly filler. A lot of the early chapters were designed to bring the reader up to speed with the events of the previous book, and the true plot didn't really kick in this time until three quarters of the way through.The tone of the novel is also entirely different this time around. The Name of the Star was rather creepy throughout, following the murder spree of a Jack the Ripper copycat. This novel is entirely different. While a couple of ghosts do appear, it's not really a horror story and there is no mystery. When the novel does start to draw together, the implications are intriguing but nothing is resolved in this book. The story ends on an abrupt cliffhanger, leaving The Madness Underneath feeling more like an extended preview of what we can expect in The Shadow Cabinet.As the ghosts have taken the back seat this time around, the story is more of a character study of Rory. A lot of time is spent following her around, seeing how she copes (or doesn't) with coming to terms with her near-death at the hands of the Ripper and following her daily life as she struggles with school work, goes to therapy and attempts to start a relationship with Jerome. To be fair, these aspects aren't handled too badly. While I was disappointed by the lack of ghosts, I still do love Rory as a protagonist and grew very attached to her through her first-person narrative.Unfortunately, this came at the expense of all other characters. Rory really is the only true focus of this story. Stephen's band of ghost hunters don't appear very often and the major other characters from last time - Jazza, Jerome, Alistair - all bow out of the plot once their purpose is fulfilled. For me, this was the most unsatisfying thing. All of the supporting cast felt so shallow that I found myself caring less and less about them as the story progressed. By the time the story threw out its final tragic twist, I found it didn't have the emotional impact that it should have done because I was fairly apathetic to every character except Rory.Anyhow, I will probably read the third novel at some point to see if things improve but I was disappointed by this entry. It's very different to The Name of the Star, losing its creepy atmosphere and flair for the dramatic. If you're looking for another ghost story, I think you'll be disappointed.

See my review of this book, and many more, at TalesfromtheGreatEastRoad.wordpress.com(Spoilers for book one.)Surviving a murder attempt is never easy, but for Rory Deveaux it's even harder. Her therapist keeps wanting her to talk about what happened, but how can she? How can you tell anyone that you were attacked by a ghost? Not to mention that she can now, somehow, destroy ghosts just by touching them. Stuck in Bristol with her parents, away from the few other people who truly know what happened, she feels trapped and isolated.Rory senses freedom when, suddenly, her therapist convinces her parents to send her back to London to resume her studies at Wexford. Reunited with the Shades, a group of secret ghost hunting policemen, Rory is determined to explore the limits of her new abilities, and find some way to deal with everything.The Madness Underneath is a much more serious book than The Name of the Star. It's main focus is on Rory's recovery - a topic that is portrayed in a painfully realistic manner. I love that Rory has to deal with her issues, that she isn't somehow magically cured overnight. Surviving a murder attempt isn't something that can just be shrugged off in a few weeks, and even when she changes her outlook (that she is a surviver, not a victim) Rory is still struggling to cope. Her school work is falling far behind, she can't talk properly to her friends, and she struggles to make a relationship work. This was easily my favourite thing about this book.On the other hand, The Madness Underneath had several problems. For one, the pacing was terribly uneven. A plot line about ghosts being unleashed and becoming violent was introduced and developed, but then suddenly dropped without warning, then another about Rory's new therapist became the focus. This plot felt a little tacked on and ruined the flow of the book, and worst of all, wasn't even resolved. Also, it's not explained why or how Rory can destroy ghosts. It suffers from "middle book syndrome" - the book falls flat because the story lines need to be setup but they are left hanging, waiting for the last book to complete everything.I was also very, very surprised at the fate of one of the main secondary characters. It was sudden and unexpected, and I can honestly say I have no idea where Maureen Johnson will go with it. Though I haven't quite decided how I feel about this, because of this turn, and the brilliant way in which Rory's recovery was handled, I will be reading the third book when it's released. I am interested in seeing where it goes next.3.5 stars

I was so looking forward to reading this book as I absolutely loved the first however I was a little disappointed. I don't think it's as gripping as the first book and I was so devastated and annoyed at the ending. It was so infuriating! I was so angry after finishing it.The story focuses on Rory and how she tries to come to terms with what has happened to her. The character interaction is not as good in this book and some of my favourite characters were hardly in it or only appeared near the end of the book. It was also a little slow and everything seemed to happen suddenly in the last quarter of the book. It is a filler kind of a book and maybe suffers a little because of this.This isn't to say I didn't enjoy the book, apart from the ending I did. It definitely is not as good as the first book but it was good to see Rory have to deal with what had happen and not just be perfectly okay with everything. I like Maureen Johnson's writing style and the humorous moments in the book.I guess I am looking forward to reading the next book but that may just be in hope that the cliffhanger of this book will be resolved in a way that won't make me want to rip my hair out. Definitely not as good as the first and could be better but I did still enjoy (most) of it.

Following on from Book 1 we find ourselves encapsulated in the lives of Rory and her friends as she tries to rebuild her life after the Ripper attack. A Brilliant sequel with a shocking end. Don't hesitate a moment longer, get on and read it...

after reading the first book in this series in huge chunks I was excited to see what the next book had in store. unfortunately I was disappointed, there appears to be no plot apart from setting the story up for the third book nor is there much character development.the story seems disjointed and just left me feeling frustrated.all in all a waste of money and time!