MARY: The Summoning (Bloody Mary #1)by Hillary MonahanThere is a right way and a wrong way to summon her.
Jess had done the research. Success requires precision: a dark room, a mirror, a candle, salt, and four teenage girls. Each of them--Jess, Shauna, Kitty, and Anna--must link hands, follow the rules . . . and never let go.
A thrilling fear spins around the room the first time Jess calls her name: "Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. BLOODY MARY." A ripple of terror follows when a shadowy silhouette emerges through the fog, a specter trapped behind the mirror.
Once is not enough, though--at least not for Jess. Mary is called again. And again. But when their summoning circle is broken, Bloody Mary slips through the glass with a taste for revenge on her lips. As the girls struggle to escape Mary's wrath, loyalties are questioned, friendships are torn apart, and lives are forever altered.
A haunting trail of clues leads Shauna on a desperate search to uncover the legacy of Mary Worth. What she finds will change everything, but will it be enough to stop Mary--and Jess--before it's too late?
For some weird reason, I was drawn to the horror genre these days. Why do I like to scare the living daylight out of myself? What’s wrong with me? Anyway, I found Mary: The Summoning adequately frightening, but not brilliant enough. 4 girls. Seance. Restless ghost. Blood. Salt. Pretty much all the clichéd elements of a great horror. It definitely had some potential to be even better, but for the fainthearted (hint: me) it’s enough. Ha.
Shauna, Kitty, Anna, and Jess are BFFs since childhood, and when Jess suggests hosting a seance to summon Bloody Mary, everyone hesitantly says yes, because that’s what friends do, right? (not in a million years. Ghosts? No way!) Jess is convinced Mary Worth is Bloody Mary, and she even has a letter to prove. The seance begins with the girls holding hands in front of a mirror and chanting whatever abracadabra that can summon ghosts. Boom, Mary appears inside the mirror. The ignorant teenagers are shaken, but excited. Let’s do it again! Except this time, Mary’s here to stay! You don’t simply summon a ghost and expect her to cater to your wishes, ignorant teenagers. For some reason, Mary latches on to Shauna because she’s the protagonist and appears from every single shiny surfaces: mirrors, glass doors, windows, plates, even TVs. Worse, she can control all things metal. You happy now, ignorant teenagers?
The character development in this book is minimal at best. The four girls are more like cardboard cutouts instead of fleshed-out characters. Shauna is the nervous victim; Kitty the fat, nervous girl; Anna the nerdy, nervous whiner; Jess the strangely un-nervous ringleader. Where’s the back-story or at least some evidence this BFF bond they have? Do they listen to Jess simply because she’s charismatic? I sincerely feel Mary is the most flesh-and-blood character in this whole book. Here are some reasons:
1. She’s vividly graphic. I love how the author describes Mary in all her rotting, disgusting glory. The slime, the putrid flesh, the tattered dress, the beetles crawling out of her palms (BEETLES OUT OF HER PALMS). My imagination is both very happy and very angry at the author for painting such a memorable picture in my head.
2. The backstory. Mary Worth is the only person who has a backstory, it seems to me. Through her two letters to her sister, we can see first a healthy, sassy girl complaining to her sister about the creepy new pastor, the mean girl, and her admirer’s onion breath, and later a grieving, abused girl who’s about to die tragically. The transition in between is a little bit lacking (but I’m hoping the author will fill us in later in the next book), but the character is so lifelike and poignant. I’m impressed by how Monahan can portray such an expressive character through two letters, and I can’t wait to see her explain how and why Mary Worth died and became the vicious ghost Bloody Mary.
The atmosphere is spooky, gloomy, and awesome. I love how the author uses shiny objects as the vehicle for her ghost. Look around. They’re basically everywhere. You probably have a mirror in your room right now. Just the comprehensiveness of such a setting is enough to make me avoid mirrors for several days.
However, the plot keeps letting me down. Here is how it goes: Mary emerges. Girls scream and throw salt at her. Mary retreats. Repeat. Sure, there are some revelations (no spoilers here) thrown in with the salt, but the plot flops around with only the sheer malicious tenacity of Mary keeping it all together. After the initial scare passes away, I begin to realize how little really happened in the entire book. Mary climbing out of every shiny surface begins to sound...well...annoying. You see this spoon here? I’m gonna come out and claw your eyes out. You see this window? How about I drag you through the glass and shatter your bones? Very kick-ass, but very petty. I hope the author will offer some explanation as to why Mary is in the mirror anyway and why she haunts people. Definitely something to do with the creepy pastor, nay?
So, Basically
Shauna, Kitty, Anna, and Jess are BFFs since childhood, and when Jess suggests hosting a seance to summon Bloody Mary, everyone hesitantly says yes, because that’s what friends do, right? (not in a million years. Ghosts? No way!) Jess is convinced Mary Worth is Bloody Mary, and she even has a letter to prove. The seance begins with the girls holding hands in front of a mirror and chanting whatever abracadabra that can summon ghosts. Boom, Mary appears inside the mirror. The ignorant teenagers are shaken, but excited. Let’s do it again! Except this time, Mary’s here to stay! You don’t simply summon a ghost and expect her to cater to your wishes, ignorant teenagers. For some reason, Mary latches on to Shauna because she’s the protagonist and appears from every single shiny surfaces: mirrors, glass doors, windows, plates, even TVs. Worse, she can control all things metal. You happy now, ignorant teenagers?
Character Development?
The character development in this book is minimal at best. The four girls are more like cardboard cutouts instead of fleshed-out characters. Shauna is the nervous victim; Kitty the fat, nervous girl; Anna the nerdy, nervous whiner; Jess the strangely un-nervous ringleader. Where’s the back-story or at least some evidence this BFF bond they have? Do they listen to Jess simply because she’s charismatic? I sincerely feel Mary is the most flesh-and-blood character in this whole book. Here are some reasons:
1. She’s vividly graphic. I love how the author describes Mary in all her rotting, disgusting glory. The slime, the putrid flesh, the tattered dress, the beetles crawling out of her palms (BEETLES OUT OF HER PALMS). My imagination is both very happy and very angry at the author for painting such a memorable picture in my head.
*slow clap*
2. The backstory. Mary Worth is the only person who has a backstory, it seems to me. Through her two letters to her sister, we can see first a healthy, sassy girl complaining to her sister about the creepy new pastor, the mean girl, and her admirer’s onion breath, and later a grieving, abused girl who’s about to die tragically. The transition in between is a little bit lacking (but I’m hoping the author will fill us in later in the next book), but the character is so lifelike and poignant. I’m impressed by how Monahan can portray such an expressive character through two letters, and I can’t wait to see her explain how and why Mary Worth died and became the vicious ghost Bloody Mary.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere is spooky, gloomy, and awesome. I love how the author uses shiny objects as the vehicle for her ghost. Look around. They’re basically everywhere. You probably have a mirror in your room right now. Just the comprehensiveness of such a setting is enough to make me avoid mirrors for several days.
One Small Disappointment
However, the plot keeps letting me down. Here is how it goes: Mary emerges. Girls scream and throw salt at her. Mary retreats. Repeat. Sure, there are some revelations (no spoilers here) thrown in with the salt, but the plot flops around with only the sheer malicious tenacity of Mary keeping it all together. After the initial scare passes away, I begin to realize how little really happened in the entire book. Mary climbing out of every shiny surface begins to sound...well...annoying. You see this spoon here? I’m gonna come out and claw your eyes out. You see this window? How about I drag you through the glass and shatter your bones? Very kick-ass, but very petty. I hope the author will offer some explanation as to why Mary is in the mirror anyway and why she haunts people. Definitely something to do with the creepy pastor, nay?
