NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“Freaky pleasure…it scratches a nostalgic itch for those who grew up on Saturday morning Scooby-Doo cartoons and sugar-bombed breakfast cereal”–USA Today“Deliriously wild, funny and imaginative. Cantero is an original voice.”–Charles Yu, author of How to Live in a Science Fictional UniverseWith raucous humor and brilliantly orchestrated mayhem, Meddling Kids subverts … Universe
With raucous humor and brilliantly orchestrated mayhem, Meddling Kids subverts teen detective archetypes like the Hardy Boys, the Famous Five, and Scooby-Doo, and delivers an exuberant and wickedly entertaining celebration of horror, love, friendship, and many-tentacled, interdimensional demon spawn.
SUMMER 1977. The Blyton Summer Detective Club (of Blyton Hills, a small mining town in Oregon’s Zoinx River Valley) solved their final mystery and unmasked the elusive Sleepy Lake monster—another low-life fortune hunter trying to get his dirty hands on the legendary riches hidden in Deboën Mansion. And he would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids.
1990. The former detectives have grown up and apart, each haunted by disturbing memories of their final night in the old haunted house. There are too many strange, half-remembered encounters and events that cannot be dismissed or explained away by a guy in a mask. And Andy, the once intrepid tomboy now wanted in two states, is tired of running from her demons. She needs answers. To find them she will need Kerri, the one-time kid genius and budding biologist, now drinking her ghosts away in New York with Tim, an excitable Weimaraner descended from the original canine member of the club. They will also have to get Nate, the horror nerd currently residing in an asylum in Arkham, Massachusetts. Luckily Nate has not lost contact with Peter, the handsome jock turned movie star who was once their team leader . . . which is remarkable, considering Peter has been dead for years.
The time has come to get the team back together, face their fears, and find out what actually happened all those years ago at Sleepy Lake. It’s their only chance to end the nightmares and, perhaps, save the world.
A nostalgic and subversive trip rife with sly nods to H. P. Lovecraft and pop culture, Edgar Cantero’s Meddling Kids is a strikingly original and dazzling reminder of the fun and adventure we can discover at the heart of our favorite stories, no matter how old we get.
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If you love Scooby Doo you’ll probably enjoy this book. Fun book.
What a crazy ride! Loved this story. Little bit reminiscent of Scooby Doo and the gang but way wilder, some parts too far out but still worth the trip. Couldn’t read it fast enough.
Fantastic Book! Tim and the penguin was the most fun part of the book. What more could you want, Mystery, Monsters, Supernatural. The banter between the main characters was amazing and fun. The description of Kerri’s hair in numerous situations was worth the read. I can’t say enough great things about this book. Just get it now and read it. You will be glad you did.
For Scooby Doo fans this is a good book to read
This story follows a group of adults who in their teens formed a detective club called Blyton Summer Detective Club, named after Blyton Hills. After solving a mystery in their teens they are left haunted by what happened and went their separate ways. With one member, Peter, dying young. Until Andrea aka Andy decides to get the remaining members back together and go back to Blyton Hills to solve the real mystery that continues to haunt them and the town. Together they face their fears and conquer them to finally solve the mystery. Full of creepy lake monsters, an immortal monster, and a double cross. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and wished that this was a series. I would love to revisit these characters.
I revised my review and added a star in retrospect. I bought based on title alone–Scooby Doo is my OG and the Supernatural Scooby crossover episode is pretty much my favorite thing ever. This wasn’t at all what I expected, so bonus points for keeping me on my toes – it’s inspired by The Mystery Inc. gang and their adventures, but riffs off them. This is its own thing. Originality and style points – and there are some clever one-liners casually tossed in. It’s a pop culture ghost story and even though it’s not quite the book I hoped it would be, it’s a pretty sweet ride in its own right.
The author has a wonderful tone and delightfully odd way of describing things and relating the characters in a realistic way in the face of unrealistic situations and creatures. It was hard to put down and continues to echo in the mind long after finishing the last page, just like a great book should.