I had such high hopes for this sequel after having so much fun reading the first book in the Shades of London series, but I can’t pretend this was anything other than a massive disappointment. Everything I loved about the first book (the coherent plot, fun cast of characters, Rory’s personality, great setting) was absent from The Madness Underneath. I wish I had stopped reading after the first book.
In The Madness Underneath, Rory is recovering from the events of the first book under her parents’ and therapist’s supervision. She is clearly dealing with anxiety, depression, and possibly PTSD, but instead of using her emotions as fuel for the plot, Johnson makes her moping and isolation the bulk of the plot. In a different kind of book that would be okay, but who wants to read a book about moping as a follow-up to a great YA thriller? Not me. And none of the Rory’s trauma actually gets dealt with. The adults in her life are completely oblivious and irresponsible.
It kills me that this could have been such a great book. Johnson spent time setting up what could have been a spooky, fascinating mystery only to solve it neatly and unceremoniously two-thirds of the way through the book. Rory could have grown as a character who experienced something awful and then evolved because of it, but instead she just treads water the entire book.
It seems clear that much of this book is just a bridge to the third book (which I will not be reading). Because so much of this novel was lead-up to the next sequel, I really felt like I wasted my time.
