Mindy McGinnis looks at mental illness from the inside out, creating a character that allows you to see and hear her hallucinations.
Neely is plagued by monsters. Monsters that speak to here. Her family has a history of mental illness and her brother just committed suicide over his. She knows when she hears the voices growing louder that she doesn’t have as much control of her mind as she needs to. Trying to establish some normalcy and quiet her mind, she works as a tour guide in a local cave system. Not only are the caverns astonishing, but they block the voices from bothering them. Here she makes an actual friend, a college student named Mila. She is gorgeous and confident and full of life; a balance against Neeley’s own personality. Neely finds herself becoming more stable. But then Mila goes missing and Neeley can’t fight the voices anymore. Something lurks underground. Be it man, monster or delusions is unknown.
I always love McGinnis’ characters. They are complex looking into their moral grey areas. Even those that seem perfect on the outside always have something dark hiding inside. Neely’s complexity is multiplied by her mental health issues. She struggles to do right but ends up doing wrong. Characters like Mila have something dark lurking within them due to an event in the book though she will deny this. No one is ever what they seem. The book is scary and best when it looks at something people live with daily. I couldn’t imagine Neely’s life. The cave itself is a character in its own right. The deep darkness sizzles with fear and danger even though they give Neely relief. But wouldn’t darkness save Neely from her own darkness?
The ending crashes down on the reader too quickly. Tension is lost and readers don’t have time to process the answer to the mystery of Mila. There is an epilogue that gives you some idea of what happens after the climax, but I feel like I didn’t get enough resolution for Max who I had bonded with during the book.
McGinnis does include a Content Warning for suicide. Besides suicide, this book has drug and alcohol use, as well as mentions sexual deviancy and rape. Some animal deaths are alluded to.
This is a dark psychological thriller that twists and turns giving the reader an amazing thrill. The ending is not the best, but horror fans will enjoy Under This Read Rock
Publication Date: March 19
I received an ARC for review; all opinions are my own.
Stars in Her Eye 