Review - The Monsters In Your Neighborhood (Monstrosity #2) by Jesse Petersen

When I finished reading Club Monstrosity, I knew I would end up jumping right back into this series with The Monsters in Your Neighborhood to see what happens next. Petersen shifts the time line 6 months into the future where we find that Natalie Gray (Frankenstein's Creature) is now in charge of the Monstofelldosis Anonymous support group which includes Alec (Wolf Man), Kai (Egyptian Mummy), Rehu (Egyptian Mummy), Linda (Swamp Dweller), Drakula, and a new character named Pat, a Cthulhu, who is straight out of Lovecraft's novels and can only exist in the sewers of NYC. The one monster that is missing just happens to be Henry Hyde and he's back to his diabolical ways which hangs a black cloud over the lives of the group members.

If you've read Club Monstrosity, you would know that the monsters biggest threat comes from the Van Helsing family who has declared war on the monsters. In this case, the war is being played out on Twitter under the hash tags of #monstersinnewyork, #realmonstersnyc, and #Killthemonsters. The intent is to use various live social networks as the family tries to expose the monsters for who they really are, and bring an end to them once and for-all by letting the public do their dirty work for them.

I think the most interesting aspect of this story is the arrival of Igor, Frankenstein's immortal assistant who apparently has been living in Atlanta without letting Natalie know. Of course, Igor isn't the same person he was when Frankenstein was running around creating his Creatures. Nope. He's had plastic surgery on his hump, speaks with a Southern twang, and he's apparently an interior decorator.

Natalie is still the strongest character. She has to deal with many different issues which tug and pull at her from every angle. Her relationship with Alec is severely tested as well, but, thankfully there's not a lot of angst and whining that would ruin the experience of reading this book. Interestingly enough, Pat is also a very interesting character to read about and not only because he can't appear human like the rest of the group. He's definitely a character to watch out for. 

I think The Monsters in Your Neighborhood has more depth, humor, action, and suspense than Club Monstrosity did. The threats are more real, the villains can be anyone at anytime, and you really don't know who is going to end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. The ending to The Monsters in Your Neighborhood is a bit open-ended and I hope that means that there will be a third book in this series. Time and Ms Petersen can only tell us whether or not that actually happens. 

*Recvd via Edelweiss 04/09/2013* Expected publication: July 29th 2013 by Pocket Star

Author - Jesse Petersen

Title - The Monster in Your Neighborhood

Publisher - Pocket Star

Released July 29, 2013

Genre - Fantasy

Received via Edelweiss from Pocket Star