Meddling Kids: A Novel

by Edgar Cantero

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A mad scientist's concoction of teen detectives, H. P. Lovecraft, and a love of Americana, this is a story filled with rich horror, thrilling twists, outright hilarity, and surprising poignancy.

"While this is obviously an ode to Scooby Doo... fans will love the idea of a group of mystery hunters coming back together after leaving the business.” —Bustle

“Filled with high jinks both terrorizing and hilarious.” —USA Today

In 1977, four teenagers and a dog—Andy (the tomboy), Nate (the nerd), Kerri (the bookworm), Peter (the jock), and Tim (the Weimaraner)—solved the mystery of Sleepy Lake. The trail of an amphibian monster terrorizing the quiet town of Blyton Hills leads the gang to spend a night in Deboën Mansion and apprehend a familiar culprit: a bitter old man in a mask. 

Now, in 1990, the twenty-something former teen detectives are lost souls. Plagued by night terrors and Peter's tragic death, the three survivors have been running from their demons. When the man they apprehended all those years ago makes parole, Andy tracks him down to confirm what she’s always known—they got the wrong guy. Now she'll need to get the gang back together and return to Blyton Hills to find out what really happened in 1977, and this time, she's sure they're not looking for another man in a mask.

• ISBN10: 1101974443
• ISBN13: 9781101974445
• Publish Date: 29 May 2018 (first published 11 July 2017)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Vintage Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781101974445

Reviews

[nora]

- 1 star for the first half because it was kind of a bore, ngl
+ 4 stars for characters that grew on me anyway
+ 5 stars for the fantastically fun BLAST that was the second half, i loved it

Mathematically that rounds out to a nice 4.5

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I am so disappointed in this book.

There was never a moment where someone told me it was going to be a masterpiece. In fact, all the reviews I’ve seen for Meddling Kids are three-stars. There’s a general “it’s fine, I guess, but not… good?” vibe to the reviews that I told myself I would keep in mind as I read.

And, yes, I did keep it in mind. But I was also still excited to read this book, despite myself, and now I’m just disappointed.

Meddling Kids has such a fun idea. It’s essentially the Scooby Doo gang all grown up. In some ways, Meddling Kids feels like it wanted to be a love story to teen detective genre with all the proper nods to Scooby and the Gang. I love movies that do this, creating a fun story with nods to enduring pop culture icons. If you’ve ever seen the old Scooby Doo, there are a lot of problematic moments, but the idea of a group of kids and their dog unmasking corrupt business owners, rich guys, and politicians is enduring and fun. I haven’t seen a book for teens or adults try to embrace this quirky tale and I was just delighted when he book was announced. How much fun will this be, am I right?

I was wrong.

Okay.

Issues with Meddling Kids.

First of all, I was done with this book at 38%. They got to the island, they unmasked the monster, and it felt like a full story. Even a mostly satisfying story. Then I checked my audiobook and saw it was 38% and I just couldn’t imagine how there was another 62% of story to go. So it dragged, and had weird pacing spikes, and from that moment forward felt a bit like the book that wouldn’t end. The overall story was fine. The twists were not that exciting or surprising, and really, I wasn’t satisfied at the end. I was far more satisfied with the containment of the story as a whole back at 38%. There are moments that should have been exciting but instead were filled with arguing and awkward interactions. I listened to the end, waiting for something more… but it didn’t come. They explored a mansion and a mine shaft and dissected a supernatural creature and somehow… none of that was as exciting as it should have been.

Next, the characters. I stopped early on trying to go, “Oh, that’s Daphne! That’s Fred.” The only character I’ve got down is Carrie, who was Velma with Daphne’s looks. The characters are forgettable, and in writing them, Edgar Cantero seemed to want to throw in ALL THE REP, but he doesn’t do it particularly well? I don’t know. It came off as very abrasive to me and I was turned off by his choices. He’s got Carrie, who breaks down into anxious sobs every time something happens until she remembers she’s smart and can pick herself back up. Nate, who institutionalized himself, makes repeated references to being crazy and the looney bin, etc. and so forth, to the point where the damaging language feels like repeated attacks on those who genuinely suffer poor mental heath. OH! And they pull out a straitjacket to help him escape. I’ve detailed all this my review of Splintered, but I have serious issues with poor representation of mental heath institutions. This book takes place in the early 90s, and the rep here is inexcusable.

But it’s Andy who bothers me the most.

Multiple characters, including her best friend, suggest that Andy should go through gender reassignment surgery because she is tomboyish and always wants to do what the boys do. The first time it happened, I was shocked. Then it happened again. In what world is that sort of assumption and verbal suggestion okay?! Additionally, Andy is a self-proclaimed lesbian and throughout the book she’s referred to as butch and various other blind, harmful stereotypes. She was in the army. She picks fights. She escaped from prison. There are two moments of acknowledgement of Andy’s gender (her chosen gender, not the ones that others in the book think she should have, because WTF) – at one point we learn the placement of her breasts; at another point, her used tampon materializes. So most of our interactions with Andy are spent trying to convince her to become male, and the rest discusses her sexuality. I’m not in either of these demographics, but I was so disgusted by the treatment that I just… I would recommend skipping this book for this treatment alone.

I tried to contain all that rage in one paragraph. It really bothered me.

The writing itself is a little weird. There was a lot of dialogue, and the story seemed to switch between a novel format and a script format. Tim, the dog, is treated like a character and the narrator is in his head, and that was fine, but also? Carrie’s hair was anthropomorphized and it was weird. Repeatedly it is given a personality and emotions and it was… it was weird for me. The story itself didn’t feel creative or original. The atmosphere – which should be important in a supernatural horror – is given lesser precedence than banter and emotions. There are whole scenes and elements that could have been cut to tighten the story. Problematic elements could have easily been cut. The writing style was chaotic enough that even if I didn’t have other problems with the novel, I don’t think I’d pick up another of Cantero’s books.

All in all, I can’t in good conscience recommend this book. The concept of a detective club all grown up was interesting, but the execution was unrealistic, the story attached was unimpressive, and the characters were disappointing. I’d like to see someone else take the idea of the Scooby Gang and bring their silhouettes to life as a quirky one-off – Meddling Kids did not fulfill hopes and expectations... and it's also just... offensive, honestly.

[funbreaker4opal]

Random changes to script format, references that call way too much attention to themselves, wonderful bits of not getting transgenderism or lesbianism that I thankfully appear to have skipped make this book a big fat DNF.

[Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub]

This book is a witty kid mystery, all grown up, with a supernatural flare added. It moves at a fast pace, while throwing gasps and laughs aplenty at the reader.
Read my full review at wittyandsarcasticbookclub.blogspot.com

[Beth C.]

As someone who grew watching "...those meddling kids.", I was curious about this book. What *did* happen when The Gang grew up, and was it as rosy as we all assumed? That answer is a distinct and resounding NO. The jock committed suicide, the brainiac became a deadbeat, the dork lives in an asylum, and the popular girl is wanted in two states and is gay. Definitely not what anyone would necessarily have expected.

There are so many ways this book could have gone wrong, but Cantero did an excellent job taking the darker aspects and running with them. A lot of that has to do with the dialogue of the characters, including the ghost of the jock who is currently haunting the dork - hence his commitment. As for the dog, whose character could have just degenerated into ridiculousness, he turned out to be my favorite. He was definitely not an in your face kind of character, but he certainly was an important member of the group, and picturing his thought bubbles sometimes had me laughing out loud.

Overall, this was an excellent read. I'm hoping there are more adventures to come, but even if there are not - it's well worth the time. It's fun and absurd and it embraces both of those things while showing that even in the dark, there can be love, laughter, friendships...and monsters.