The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

When madness stalks the streets of London, no one is safe…

There's a creepy new terror haunting modern-day London.
Fresh from defeating a Jack the Ripper killer, Rory must put her new-found hunting skills to the test before all hell breaks loose…

But enemies are not always who you expect them to be and crazy times call for crazy solutions.

The sequel to The Name of The Star continues on with Rory's life in the aftermath of the Ripper craze. She is being forced into therapy but unable to tell them anything without revealing herself as a crazy person.

I loved Rory's snark and even after the attack she kept that attitude. But of course she'd been through an ordeal and is hurt, both physically and mentally. She was bored out of her mind in Bristol and did want to be back at school but she had her reservations. Understandably, she was scared to go into the bathroom where she was attacked; she was also terrified of losing her fellow ghost hunters, the only ones who understood what had happened. 

The story itself was quite slow; I was over halfway through and I realised nothing had really happened! But then there was the whole 'friend turned out to be a nutjob' thing that ran throughout. That was a nice little twist. Anyway, there wasn't much of a bigger overarching plot, just lots of little ghost problems that added up to the dramatic ending. But I think it was important that Rory had her resting period, got accustomed to her new power and her place in London. 

Even though this read mostly like a filler novel, I still really liked hearing more from Rory and the gang, especially Callum and Boo who have amazing interactions. We also learned more about Stephen and something rather surprising happened before it all hit the fan - I admit I fangirled a little, then of course cried at the bad timing. All in all, this is Maureen Johnson as her hilarious and talented self, with witty characters, tough decisions and bad ghosts. I cannot wait for the next installment!

Published 26th February 2013 by HarperCollins.