Meddling Kids - Review

Author: Edgar Cantero

Genre: Horror

Format: Hardback

Pages: 322

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. Kerri, one-time kid genius and budding biologist, is bartending in New York, working on a serious drinking problem. At least she's got Tim, an excitable Weimaraner 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.

So this book was described as a Scooby-Doo meets Call of the Cthulhu. Both are things I love, and I'm really fond of Edgar Cantero's writing style. Add on the fact this book has a neon of cover that looks like something you'd seen on Nick at Night. I was pretty much sold. Which brings me to the real question, why did it take me so long to read this?

Because, my name is Kayla and I have a TBR problem. Which mostly the fact that it's a pile of books taller than me that I'll never finish and this lovely little gem, it got lost. Until the announcement of Edgar Cantero's new book. That however, is a story for another day. This is about all my thoughts and feelings about Meddling Kids. Of which I have a few.

So the book takes place years after the BSDC (Blyton Summer Detective Club) have solved their last case together. One which has sort of haunted them, in some cases literally, since they unmasked the bad guy. In fact it seems the bad guy didn't escape without a few scars of his own. Which we quickly find out in Cantero just tosses us into the story head first. Something I thoroughly enjoy. I like it when you just get dropped kicked into a story and have to scramble to play catch up as the story unfolds. I have a hard time sticking with the book when the first quarter is all back story.

I honestly though the pacing of the book was good. Normally I can easily be pulled away from book for this reason or that, but with Meddling Kids I found a reason to read it. The only reason it took me so long to finish is because it's one of those books where you don't want it end. So you read a couple pages and walk away, read a couple pages and the fall asleep. Or, maybe that's just a thing I do.

Anway! The story follows what's left of the BSDC: Andy, Kerri, and Nate. Sadly, we never really get to Peter, just the piece of him that haunts Nate. Which, those two are my favorite. The dialog between Peter and Nate is hilarious and they had some of my favorite scenes. Favorite! Though..I hated Kerri. I just did. I mean she looks like Daphne with the brains of Velma, but she seriously bothered me. I get it honey it's scary with the Weezers and falling in love with Andy, but for the love. Suck it up. Nate is terrified, but he's still managing to not sound like a complainer! I don't know. She really bothered me.

Nate was my boy though! He's sort of the "Shaggy" of the group. Always scared and hiding, but he has this vast knowledge of the weird and strange that comes in handy. Which means he's kind of spirit animal in a way.

I really enjoyed this book. I love the way that Edgar Cantero writes, he has his own sense of flare, and it's so weird and based around science. It has government cover-ups and stupid cartoon hi-jinks, mixed with dooms day badass moments. 

And the ending... Dude I should have known after Supernatural Enhancements. Because Weezers and unearthly gods weren't enough, that had to happen. Of course because it's Scooby-Doo. The book started with a kick to the face and ended with a laugh, and honestly I cannot wait to pass to this on to a friend of mine whose been excited to read it.

Buy, Borrow, or Skip: This is hard one because this book is so weird. Personally I love this kind of twisted Lovecraftian storytelling. I love monsters and bent science and things that make no sense. So if your a fan of B Horror movies and old school Sci-Fi movies I say pick it up! If you want read something that'll make you scratch your head...Pick it up!