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Book Reviewed by:
Jordan Lynch
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From award-winning author Mindy McGinnis comes a mesmerizing YA psychological mystery following a teen girl who is grappling with the death of her brother as she starts a new job in the caverns of Ohio—only to become the number one suspect in her coworker's murder. Perfect for fans of Courtney Summers and Kathleen Glasgow.
Neely's monsters don't always follow her rules, so when the little girl under her bed, the man in her closet, and the disembodied voice that shadows her every move become louder, she knows she's in trouble. With a history of mental illness in her family and the suicide of her older brother heavy on her mind, Neely takes a job as a tour guide in the one place her monsters can't follow—the caverns. There ... she meets Mila. Mila is everything Neely isn't—beautiful, strong, and confident. As the two become closer, Neely's innocent crush grows into something more. When a midnight staff party exposes Neely to drugs, she follows Mila's lead ... only to have her hallucinations escalate.
When Mila is found brutally murdered in the caverns, Neely has to admit that her memories of that night are vague at best. With her monsters now out in the open and her grip on reality slipping, Neely must figure out who killed Mila ... and face the possibility that it might have been her.
ONE
From the beginning, I have made rules for my monsters.
That they are not real is the first rule, and the one that we all tacitly agree is only occasionally true. I informed them they were not real as a young child, but they became louder; more frantic, fingernails within my brain scratching for purchase, desiring acknowledgment, gray matter shredding as I ignored the plaintive voice that came from under my bed, asking for water. And so the rule was amended—my monsters are real, but only when I cannot ignore them any longer, when the desire for contact has superseded my need to remain sane.
In this way, I have negotiated with them. Also, it would be helpful to have more friends. Or at least one.
"Neely? We're going."
This voice is real. This voice is Grandma. This voice also refuses to be ignored and is gratingly nonspecific. Grandma will not say the destination or the function—namely, to put flowers on the grave of my mother and brother for Memorial Day.
"Are you leaving?" ...
As the story races toward its climax, Neely becomes increasingly unstable, struggling with the literal voices in her head as she tries to separate hallucination from truth. A series of flashbacks and short, heartbreaking chapters escalate the suspense until the truth is revealed in a dark twist that readers won't see coming. Under This Red Rock shines a light on the challenges of mental illness through a brutal murder mystery whose conclusion will shock even the most hardened mystery fans...continued
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(Reviewed by Jordan Lynch).
Francesca Zappia, award-winning author of Eliza and Her Monsters
In perfect form, McGinnis drags you to the depths of a dark mind and doesn't let you go. M-E Girard, award-winning author of Girl Mans Up
McGinnis invites you to venture beyond the ordinary, and step into the world of the misunderstood. I devoured this book.Neely, the main character in Mindy McGinnis's Under This Red Rock, experiences auditory hallucinations (AHs). Since an early age, Neely has heard people clapping for her, children laughing and playing, and the voice of a young girl asking for water. She's developed techniques for managing her symptoms, but she still suffers emotionally and socially because of these voices, and she's afraid of getting help after seeing her father's hallucinations worsen with treatment. Many people today suffer from either temporary or long-term AHs, and pharmaceutical and psychological treatments have been developed to help manage or eliminate these aberrant sounds.
The National Institutes of Health defines AHs as "the sensory perceptions of hearing ...
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