Hell Week (review)

Having survived prom despite a visit from some slathering hell-dogs and a demon or two invoked by her best friend (Prom Dates from Hell, BCCB 7/07), Maggie Quinn figures sorority rush will be a snap, but as anyone who has been through it knows, there’s nothing more demonic than a week of double-elimination theme parties. Maggie’s not taking it too seriously, though; instead, she’s trying to break into the campus journalism scene by writing a series of articles that expose the whole ordeal. Problem is, there’s nothing people don’t already know about the phoniness and stress of the process, and the only way to keep her pieces newsworthy is to actually go through with pledging. The sorority she chooses (and that chooses her) has a reputation for wild success of its alums and their boyfriends/husbands with a few strange casualties here and there; clearly something sinister and maybe supernatural is afoot, and in a situation where normal girls get away with nothing more than hangovers and insipid songs stuck in their heads, psychically sensitive Maggie finds herself, her best friend, Lisa, and her maybe-boyfriend Justin once again in mortal peril. As sequels go, this one feels appropriately more grownup than the first; Maggie is quieter and less quick with the wisecrack, and the unraveling of the mystery itself depends on subtle sleuthing rather than the horror elements of the earlier book, though there is plenty of horror in the climax. Demonic bargains aside, Clement-Moore gets the ethos of sorority rush and pledging exactly right; college-bound readers will know exactly what they’re in for, right down to the I-can’t-believe-I’m-doing-this-and-yet-it’s-kinda-fun cynicism many girls will share with Maggie as they consider the possibilities of going Greek.