The Madness Underneath

I got this book by Maureen Johnson for Christmas and I was pretty excited to read it, because I loved the prequel. It took me all of three days to read this one, and now I’m pissed because it ended on a cliffhanger and the next one isn’t out yet.

This book picks up right where the last book left off and it deals largely with the consequences of what happened in the first book. Rory is now some sort of human terminus, which means she eliminates ghosts on contact. She has absolutely no control over this power, and the first three times she does it, it’s by accident. With the previous three termini lying somewhere at the bottom of the Thames, this leaves Stephen, Callum, and Boo basically useless. They’re still chasing ghosts, but they can’t do much more than that.

Rory wants to join them, but Stephen doesn’t think she should make that decision right now. I can see where he’s concerned about her making a hasty decision, but I can also see why Rory is so eager to join. He reminds her that, if she does this, she will always have to lie to her friends and family, but doesn’t she already have to do that? No one can know she sees ghosts or they’ll lock her up in a padded room. Now that she sees them, she can’t go back to not seeing them, so she is stuck with this lie for the rest of her life whether she likes it or not. As long as that’s the case, she might as well be with people she doesn’t have to lie to and in a position where she can do something about her new abilities.

I think a pretty strong indicator that Rory belongs with them is the fact she spends time with them instead of doing school work. She’s way behind in her classes and exams are coming up. Everyone else is studying their brains out and all she can think about is ghosts. That’s totally understandable, but then she shouldn’t have been surprised when Claire suggested she leave the school. It was either that or fail all her classes, and as harsh as it sounds, what else did Rory really expect?

Then we meet Julia. Julia is pretty great, but I was afraid she was too good to be true. I was sad to find out I was right because Rory desperately needs someone like that in her life. Someone who understands what she’s going through and is willing to listen. Just without the crazy part.

I’m not sure how I feel about the ending. Johnson killed a main character, but with this being a ghost story and all, we probably haven’t seen the last of him, and I’m not sure how I feel about that either. I know Callum has had some bad experiences with ghosts (OK, that’s putting it mildly), but I had to side with him when it came to Rory’s idea to try to bring Stephen back. She’s seen what ghosts go through and it’s not pleasant. I wouldn’t want to stick around if I were given the option.