The Children on the Hill

Two alternating story lines set more than 40 years apart smoothly intersect, doling out clues about fragile childhood memories, in this stellar take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from bestseller McMahon (The Drowning Kind). In 1978, Violet “Vi” Hildreth and her brother, Eric, live with their Gran, acclaimed psychiatrist Helen Hildreth, in the shadow of Vermont’s Hillside Inn, which at the time “was widely considered one of the best private psychiatric institutions in New England.” The creep factor ramps up as rumors of violent patients and experiments at the Hillside Inn fuel Vi and Eric’s fascination with monsters. The pair are soon hunting for werewolves, vampires, and shape-shifters. They’re thrilled when Gran brings home a new playmate, the silent, fearful Iris, who joins them in their efforts to fight monsters. Then their lives take a tragic turn. In 2019, Vi, now known as Lizzy Shelley, travels the country as the host of mega-popular podcast Monsters Among Us. The suspense builds when she returns to Vermont to investigate a possible link between a missing girl and a monster sighting. McMahon keeps the reader wondering how much is real and how much is imagined. This is a must for psychological thriller fans. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writers House. (Apr.)