The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon: My Book Review

Oh. My. Goodness.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite as difficult to put down as The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon.

Seriously. I just wanted to keep reading!

This one really grabbed me. Between the mystery, the characters, the different timelines, and the constant feeling that something much bigger was happening, I couldn’t wait to find out how everything connected.

And even when I thought I’d figured out one of the biggest twists, the story still managed to surprise me.

If you love a mystery that keeps you guessing about what’s really happening, I highly recommend checking out The Children on the Hill on Amazon.

I Loved the Two Timelines

One of my favorite things about this book was how Jennifer McMahon moved between 1978 and 2019.

I love books that do this well, and this one absolutely did.

In the 1978 timeline, we’re following Vi, Eric, and Iris as they grow closer and begin uncovering the secrets surrounding their grandmother’s treatment center.

Meanwhile, in 2019, we’re following Lizzy as she investigates mysterious disappearances and possible monster sightings.

And all the while, we’re trying to figure out exactly what happened decades earlier.

I loved learning the backstory while watching Lizzy pursue the mystery in the present.

The events at the inn were especially intriguing because we know something terrible happened there, but we don’t immediately understand how everything fits together.

And whatever happened has clearly shaped Lizzy’s entire life.

She’s built a career around hunting monsters, and there’s a reason she’s so determined to find the one she’s searching for.

Every time the story shifted between the two timelines, I wanted to keep reading.

I needed answers!

The Extra Details Made the Mystery Even Better

Another thing I really enjoyed was the material interspersed throughout the book.

We get excerpts from the monster-hunting book the children created, along with writing from a student journalist investigating the story.

I loved those additions!

They weren’t just there to break up the chapters. They added so much to the mystery.

The children’s monster-hunting book was especially interesting because it gave us another way to understand how they viewed the world around them.

And the journalist’s writing helped fill in details about the past.

I loved getting these little pieces of information and trying to figure out how they connected to everything else.

It’s the kind of storytelling that makes me pay attention to every detail because I don’t want to miss something important.

The Mystery Was So Much Bigger Than I Expected

I went into The Children on the Hill expecting a creepy mystery involving missing girls, a monster hunter, and a disturbing family history.

And I got all of that.

But the story became so much more complicated than I expected.

What I especially loved was how the book kept challenging my assumptions.

Just when I thought I understood what was happening, another piece of the story would change how I looked at everything.

And the characters weren’t nearly as simple as they first appeared.

That was probably my favorite part.

The more I learned, the more I wanted to know.

I couldn’t put this book down because I genuinely needed to understand what happened to these children and how their past connected to the present.

Let’s Talk About Those Twists

SPOILER WARNING: The following sections contain major spoilers for The Children on the Hill. If you haven’t read the book, skip ahead to “My Final Thoughts” to avoid ruining the surprises!

I Figured Out Who Lizzy Was Pretty Early

I actually suspected almost immediately that Lizzy was Iris.

And I think Jennifer McMahon wanted readers to believe Lizzy was Vi.

It certainly would have made sense.

Vi was incredibly smart, determined, and obsessed with finding monsters. She was the driving force behind the children’s Monster Club.

So when we meet Lizzy in 2019, a famous monster hunter with her own podcast, the obvious assumption is that she’s Vi.

But something kept bothering me.

The author never actually told us Lizzy’s original name.

And while Lizzy talked about hunting her sister, she never identified that sister by name, either.

That made me suspicious.

I started thinking that Lizzy had to be Iris, which meant the monster she was hunting was Vi.

And I was right!

I’ll admit, though, that I was initially a little disappointed.

Because so much of the 1978 story was told from Vi’s perspective, I’d become attached to her.

I loved her intelligence, her curiosity, and her determination.

I wanted her to grow up to be the monster hunter.

But that disappointment didn’t last long.

Because the truth about Vi was so much more interesting than I expected.

Discovering That Vi Was a Monster

The way Vi discovered the truth about herself was absolutely brilliant.

I loved how the book slowly revealed the disturbing secrets surrounding her grandmother and the treatment center.

It changed everything we thought we knew about Vi’s childhood.

And it gave a completely different meaning to the children’s obsession with monsters.

What started as a childhood game suddenly became connected to something very real and very disturbing.

But even that wasn’t the biggest surprise.

Vi Wasn’t the Monster I Thought She Was

This was the part that really got me.

For so much of the book, we’re led to believe that Vi is responsible for abducting girls and that she’s become some kind of dangerous monster.

And technically, she is taking girls.

But the reason she’s doing it is nothing like what I expected.

Vi is finding girls who have been abused, neglected, or are struggling with drugs and alcohol.

And rather than simply hurting them, she’s trying to give them new lives.

She’s helping them disappear from the lives they’ve known and, in a sense, be reborn.

I thought that was such an incredible twist.

It completely changed the way I looked at her.

Now, that doesn’t mean Vi is innocent.

People have still ended up dead, including Lauren’s father, whose disappearance appears connected to the abuse allegations against him.

So Vi certainly isn’t perfect.

And there are some serious questions about the choices she’s making and whether she has the right to make them for anyone else.

But she’s also far from the monster we were led to believe she was.

And I loved that.

The story took someone I’d spent so much time worrying about and turned her into a far more complicated character.

It also made me think about what really makes someone a monster.

Is it what they are?

What they’ve done?

Or why they’ve done it?

And what about the people who look perfectly normal but do terrible things?

I loved that the book left me thinking about those questions.

My Final Thoughts on The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon

I absolutely loved this book!

I loved the two timelines, the mystery surrounding the treatment center and the inn, the excerpts from the children’s Monster Club book, and the way the story slowly revealed its secrets.

And I loved that even though I figured out Lizzy’s identity early, there were still so many surprises waiting for me.

The biggest twists weren’t simply about who someone was.

They were about understanding why the characters became who they were and what being a monster actually meant.

Jennifer McMahon did such a fantastic job weaving everything together.

This was one of those books where I kept telling myself I’d read just one more chapter.

And then another.

And another.

I just couldn’t stop!

If you enjoy creepy mysteries, complicated characters, dual timelines, and stories that keep you questioning everything you think you know, I highly recommend The Children on the Hill.

It’s easily one of the most unputdownable books I’ve read in a long time!

You can find The Children on the Hill on Amazon, or browse more of my Jennifer McMahon book reviews.