SPOO000OOOKY READS - MEDDLING KIDS BOOK REVIEW

Meddling Kids is Scooby Doo for grownup horror fans. It delivers on all levels and is as dark and violent as you hope it would be.

Published in 2017, Meddling Kids was written by Edgar Cantero, and was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award.

“No book is dangerous in and of itself, you know. But historically, reading a book in the wrong way has lead to terrible consequences.”

When this group of adults were kids, they spent their summers in Blyton Hills, and started up The Blyton Summer Detective Club. Four kids, one dog, and a lot of crimes that they helped solve. Including foiling sheep smugglers and capturing fake ghosts. Think Scooby Doo meets The Hardy Boys. But their last summer there something went wrong. They were investigating the Sleepy Lake Monster in 1977, and caught the monster! But the monster was just some dude in a monster costume. But after that, the kids split apart and turned into very troubled adults.

Andy is a lesbian with anger issues, Kerri is a biologist who gave up and worked at a bar, Nate spends his time in insane asylums, and Peter…..well, he took his own life. It’s a dark way to start the book but instantly throws you into the story. How did these successful kids with these very bright futures, all fail so miserably at life?

“The radio played “Groove Is in the Heart,” which is a radio’s way of saying it couldn’t care less about the mood of a scene.”

Meddling Kids is absolutely horror – the monsters that show up are terrifying, and there’s a couple of chapters where the group along with their dog Ted, are stumbling through a dark mine. There’s dark magic, necromancy, monsters, and some really spooky environments. It’s also really funny! The banter between these friends is really great. But Tim is where the humor shines. Cantero has a knack of writing the funniest moments from the dog’s perspective. He also has this really unique talent of giving inanimate objects personalities that catch you completely off guard and have you giggling into the pages.

“Andy kicked her way in, moonlit and angerstruck, doors shattering the decoration behind as she shouted at the shocked furniture: “Blyton Summer Fucking Detective Club! Anybody home?” Kerri and Nate came to flank her right after, rifles aimed at the horrified haunted house. Tim scurried between them, promenaded across the hall, stopped by a decorative suit of armor, and peed on it.”

I instantly fell in love with all these characters and rooted for them from the start. I couldn’t figure out who the bad guy was so it was a nice surprise to me at the end. Of course, I should’ve figured it out since this is a Scooby Doo type situation.

I have been aggressively recommending Meddling Kids before I even read it, because I’ve always heard great things about it and have honestly been wanting to read it since day one. I’m so thrilled I got to enjoy it finally and I really want to get my own copy as I can see myself re-reading this one a lot!

Excellent horror novel with a great sense of humor. For fans of Joe Hill and Grady Hendrix.

In unrelated news; I got the chance to review Eight Legged Freaks on its anniversary for Nightmare on Film Street. I decided to write all about Sam Parker who is a total bad ass final girl that no one ever remembers. Feel free to check out my retrospective here.

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