Title: Meddling Kids
Publisher: Doubleday
Publish Date: July 11, 2017
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb:
1990. The teen detectives once known as the Blyton Summer Detective Club (of Blyton Hills, a small mining town in the Zoinx River Valley in Oregon) are all grown up and haven’t seen each other since their fateful, final case in 1977. Andy, the tomboy, is twenty-five and on the run, wanted in at least two states. Keri, one-time kid genius and budding biologist, is bartending in New York, working on a serious drinking problem. At least she’s got Sean, an excitable Weimeraner descended from the original canine member of the team. Nate, the horror nerd, has spent the last thirteen years in and out of mental health institutions, and currently resides in an asylum in Arhkam, Massachusetts. The only friend he still sees is Peter, the handsome jock turned movie star. The problem is, Peter’s been dead for years. The time has come to uncover the source of their nightmares and return to where it all began in 1977. This time, it better not be a man in a mask. The real monsters are waiting.
With raucous humor and brilliantly orchestrated mayhem, Edgar Cantero’s Meddling Kids taps into our shared nostalgia for the books and cartoons we grew up with, and delivers an exuberant, eclectic, and highly entertaining celebration of horror, life, friendship, and many-tentacled, interdimensional demon spawn.
Review: I saw this book and knew instantly that I had to read it. I grew up on Scooby Doo. So how could I not love it?
Well let me begin to tell you.
This book has a lot of pros and cons. Its a decent read, but not mind blowing. I did love that it paid homage to the cartoon I have always loved. There were many times in this crazy read that I kept saying, if you hurt "Tim" the Weimeraner I would have had to hunt the author down. (Seriously that's a no no for me. I hate when animals get killed in fiction) Also, I think Tim was my favorite character in the book.
So the Blyton Summer Detective Club are made up of one nerdy ex mental patient, one smart girl gone bad, one erm..not sure how to describe Andy, a ghost of a past member of the group that only Nate can see and the dog.
So aside from the number of team members and the dog, the only thing that will take you back to Scooby days was the guy who was originally arrested in 1977, who dressed up in a sea monsters clothes, and of course, a mask. After all, he would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those "meddling kids."
I'm not sure how this book got lumped into horror though. It is most definitely not that. Its not the stuff of nightmares. Maybe Scooby Doo meets Dirk Gently? Its more paranormal/sci fi, in my eyes.
Nate was really the human character that I liked. The escapee from the mental hospital, thanks to Keri and Andy. His break out scene was one of the highlights of the book for me, before they got back to the west coast.
What bugged me was the weird relationship between Andy and Keri (more so than Nate and Ghost Peter). So Andy likes girls particularly Keri and has since they were 12. Keri isn't sure if she can reciprocate Andy's affections, but there's all kinds of flirting going on. Plus the way Andy was written, I wasn't sure if she were transgender or a lesbian. This part of the story made me wonder what importance it had to the story, because it didn't move anything along. It also felt forced.
I loved when they found out who Dunia was. She was the ultimate baddy. It kinda reminded me of the big who is "Missy" in Doctor Who.
Overall, I'd say this would be a good read for someone that didn't have a connection with Scooby Doo. I was excepting something more and while it tried to deliver, it just didn't do it for me.
Rating: 3 flowers
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