I found myself wanting more meaning to the madness. The horror felt repetitive and purposeless, random. The museum itself, while fascinating, felt a little flat and trope-ish to me. Truly, who would pick days of exams and long nights of studying over a one-day visit to a creepy museum? Yet it was set up as the hard sell, the trip no one would willingly take. You can’t convince me in any universe that high school seniors would not leap at the chance to trade final exams for a one-day field trip. For a couple of characters it’s laughably not. And in a few cases the big secret is actually a pretty big deal. We know it’ll be a game-changer, a real doozie, a huge reveal, but we just have to wait. And the story undoubtedly held my interest, both the external conflict and the internal issues of each character.Īs for what I loved less-that same internal conflict that held my interest was presented in the typical (and to me somewhat manipulative) way of character X mentions (via internal narration) that he/she has a secret-something they don’t want to remember or think about or tell the reader, right now at least-that we all know will be revealed eventually.

The characters were largely distinct from one another-I has very few moments where I forgot which point of view I was reading. I loved some things: descriptions were vivid and created a strong visual image without seeming clunky or going on and on. What I found in The Devils You Know by MC Atwood was rather odd-Scooby-Doo meets The Breakfast Club with a little funhouse thrown in for kicks. I don’t know that I’ve ever read YA horror before so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The devils you know mc atwood