Book Review: Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

Blog posts have been a bit few and far between recently, as I’ve been working from home , but I thought I’d change that with a book review! Exciting, huh?

I read a lot of books, that’s for sure, but – up until this month – I’d never read a book as part of a book club. That changed when I joined the Books with Brooke Book Club, which has been great so far! Not only have I added to my (very long!) TBR pile, I’ve also come into contact with loads of lovely (and equally book-obsessed) people and – I’m sure – this book club will make sure I read even more interesting, diverse and exciting books.

The first book – the book for this month – was Edgar Cantero’s Meddling Kids. Whilst I’m a lover of comedy and horror films, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a genre of fiction I would choose. Saying that, I’m always after the opportunity to read as many weird and wonderful books as possible!

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. 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…

My thoughts

This book was a bit hit and miss for me, I’ll be honest! From the Books with Brooke group chat conversations, I can tell I’m not the only one that wasn’t wowed by this book.

I’ll give Cantero credit, though, for writing a book with so many twists and turns. At first, I thought I had everything figured out and then – just as I was about to close the case – a new and exciting revelation appeared!

Plus, he takes the characters we know and love from Scooby Doo (the nerdy one, the cute one, the confident one, the awkward one and the dog – of course) and transports them to the modern world – a world full of monsters of many kinds.

If I could’ve had a whole book from the perspective of Tim, the lovable Weimaraner, I would’ve been the happiest reader alive. I’m definitely a dog person – sometimes I wish the world was full of them instead of people (bit extreme, I know!) – and Tim didn’t disappoint. He was dopey, fun but also pretty smart – which I think was definitely needed to cut through the serious (and sometimes downright odd) parts of the book.

I also liked the fact that this book wasn’t as childish as I expected. The title and the cartoonish design of the cover had me thinking I was in for some sort of silly Scooby Doo fan fiction but it wasn’t. The characters were grown up – though they collided with their childhood – and they dealt with grief, growing up and getting answers.

The one thing I wasn’t crazy about was the writing style. Cantero definitely knows how to write an interesting and suspenseful narrative but there were points in the plot that just didn’t make sense to me and – like a lot of the book club members – I really didn’t understand why the style changed from plot and dialogue to a script almost! It just really threw me off and tainted my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

Even so, I’m glad I gave this book a read. I definitely can’t wait to read more books as part of the book club, and I’m sure I’ll post my thoughts on them right here – as always!