The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd | Book Review

(Great cover, but I'm not sure I "get it" in relation to the story.  After a couple weeks living in the jungle, especially after all the running around she does in the jungle, I'd think Juliet would be looking a little worse for wear.  The dress definitely wouldn't still be white.  But what do I know...)

Such a great book!  I would describe this as Stephen King for teens.  It was so well written, had a gripping plot that WILL. NOT. LET. YOU. GO., and was spine-tinglingly chilling thrilling.  I do not possess the wordsmithery to adequately describe it.

The Madman's Daughter is a re-telling of The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells.  In Megan Shepherd's version, the tale is told from the point of view of Dr. Moreau's teenage daughter, who is traveling to the island to reconcile with her father.  See, a few years before, Juliet's father had disappeared and was assumed dead.  She and her mother fell a long way down the social ladder; her mother ends up dying and Juliet ends up a maid at the medical college where her father was once lauded a genius.  When she discovers that her father is, in fact, alive and well on an island she goes to see him and escape her hardships in London.  However, when she arrives on the island she soon finds that nothing is at it seems....

This book has everything you'd never expect to find smooshed together in one book: a madman, very questionable/objectionable medical experiments, a daring escape from a very isolated island, half-human/half-beast creatures forming a church, and a romantic triangle.  Yup.  ALL of that.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wanted a "clean" thriller.  Yeah, I know that sounds a bit oxymoronic.  It's a YA book without cussing or tender lovin' but with lots of scary keep-you-up-at-nightness.  Absolutely delightful.  I can't wait for the next book from Ms. Shepherd.