Wicked Velociraptors of West Virginia

American Chillers #23

by Johnathan Rand

Brandon accidentally breaks a window at the house of the local crazy scientist, Dr. Joseph Wentmeyer. To repay the doctor, Brandon and Kara agree to work off the cost by cleaning up his laboratory. When they find the doc's experimental time machine, they

Genres: Middle Grade

201 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Christopher Wright is the author of dozens of horror fiction books for children and young adults. He writes under the pseudonyms Johnathan Rand and Christopher Knight. Almost all of Wright's books (save American Chillers) take place in his home state of Michigan.

Reviews

[Josiah]

West Virginia, here we come. Young Brandon and his friend, Kara Haynes, didn't mean any harm when they went out by Brandon's house to practice softball. Kara is the best player on their team and Brandon could use a few pointers, but the plan goes wrong when he hits one of her pitches clear out of view...and smashes a neighbor's window. Not just any neighbor, but Dr. Joseph Wentmeyer, a notoriously sour man with "NO TRESPASSING!" signs all over his property. Brandon and Kara muster the courage to go see Dr. Wentmeyer and admit what they did. He appreciates their honesty but insists they pay for the window, an expense well beyond Brandon or Kara's budget. Dr. Wentmeyer suggests they compensate him by doing chores at his laboratory, where he works as an inventor. With no viable alternative, Brandon and Kara agree to the arrangement.

Washing windows and picking up sticks from the laboratory's yard sounds boring, but Brandon and Kara are drawn into an adventure when Dr. Wentmeyer invites them to preview his newest invention. Using molecular technology, he has discovered how to transport back through time in a state of invisibility, so the time traveler can observe any past event without being seen. Brandon and Kara volunteer to accompany him on a trip to 1863 to watch Abraham Lincoln give his Gettysburg Address, but an operational blunder sends them back to the Cretaceous period, where dinosaurs roam. The mistake also renders the time machine visible, and a pack of velociraptors takes notice. Brandon's black Labrador, named Midnight, wants to get out and fight the raptors, but Brandon, Kara, and Dr. Wentmeyer work together to get the time machine back home before someone gets hurt. But...what if the raptors somehow returned with them? The carnivorous dinosaurs must be apprehended and sent back to the Cretaceous period before they escape the lab, or West Virginia will have a nightmare to deal with. Can Brandon, Kara, Midnight, and Dr. Wentmeyer survive the battle of modern man versus prehistoric beast?

Some of this book's action scenes are good. The moments when Midnight defends Brandon and Kara as the raptors attack can be quite stirring; he's usually a mild-mannered dog, and has no hope of beating the raptors in a fight, but Midnight will die before letting them get at the kids. Wicked Velociraptors of West Virginia could have been a decent book, but the time-travel elements lack logical cohesion, and the pacing of certain scenes feels contrived. The characterizations are inconsistent (note Dr. Wentmeyer's personality reversal as time goes by), and the story has no real connection to its West Virginia setting. The usual "sly" reference to another Johnathan Rand book comes on page seventy-three; this time it's Dinosaurs Destroy Detroit from the Michigan Chillers series, a natural fit. I'd rate Wicked Velociraptors of West Virginia one and a half stars; if you want a light read and have low expectations, this book will suit you fine.

[Jacob]

I have read a horror series book by Johnathan Rand. This book is about how Brandon becomes one of the meanest guy on the street's friend. Dr. D(the mean guy) wanted to show Brandon his time machine. He took a test and said he took a picture of Neil Armstrong or someone like that 15 mintues ago. But for some reason they time machine malfunctions(they use that word a lot in the book) and brings them back to 83 million years ago. Brandon and Dr. D try to go back but they see themself right in front of a velociraptor looking hungry. They quikly teleport back but they have a problem. The velociraptor was brought back into the present! Brandon was shocked at the sight he saw, but Dr. D took action and raced to the dragon with a tennis racket. He held it as a sword and some gas came out, knocking out the dragon. He said it was a Brain confuser which the name explains what it does. BUt theywasted no time and put him to the time machine. But he started being causious in no time he was furious. Dr. D tried to spray the gas on him, but it wouldn't work. Dr. D ran into a corner, being trapped with no where to go. Brandon sprinted to the time machine mocking the velociraptor. The velociraptor ran toward the time machine toward Brandon. Brandon dodged the attack while the dinosaur slammed into the door. Brandon slammed the door making the machine go back 83 million years ago. Well they were glad to be back to the way it's suppose to be. Brandon told his parents what he did but they were like what? Well then a girl came on the field and Brandon talked to her. The girl's name was Hannah and she had a frightening story about ghosts. It scared the socks out of Brandon.

[Ryan Fitzpatrick]

This book is about how these people got into the past and saw some dinosaurs but on the way back to the present they pulled some of them with their travel back so they tried to get rid of them and they had a little problem on getting them back.

[Max Higgins]

I was at elementary school in the library after lunch reading American Chillers #22: Nuclear Jellyfish of New Jersey when all of a sudden I had to shit my ass.

So I ran to the bathroom and took a fat shit and a fresh new copy of American Chillers #23: Wicked Velociraptors of West Virginia came out. I took it back to the library and began reading it.

Pretty good book.

[John Caskey]

good book but i'm trying to focus on a different series

[Adam]

Wicked Velociraptors of West Virginia by Johnathan Rand is a great book. The setting, obviously, is West Virginia, but the town it takes place in is never specified. The characters are Kara, Brandon and his dog, Midnight, and Dr. Joseph Wentmeyer. The conflict is Kara and Brandon broke Dr. Wentmeyers window while practicing baseball. They then made a deal with Dr. Wentmeyer that they would mow the lawn of his laboratory in return for breaking the window. While tending to the grass, Kara and Brandon were introduced to Dr. Wentmeyer’s invention, a time machine. Originally planning on going to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, but something went wrong, sending them all the way to the Cretaceous period. When they went back to the present day, three velociraptors had hitched a ride and are now in the present with the other characters. It relates the the thrill of horror because in how the dinosaurs create a feel of suspense, because you know they could come out at any time. I would recommend it to fans of sci-fi books, dinosaurs books, and books that have suspense. In my opinion, I really enjoyed the book and I would recommend it to others.

[Zoey M]

This is a great book.
There are 2 kids that are playing baseball. They break a window in a proffesor's house. To pay for the damages they agree to come and clean his hedges and mow his lawn at his lab. Suddenly there is a big explosion and the proffesor come running out screaming "I did it I did it" The kids are not sure what he has done. They ask him what it is that he has down and he says that he has invented a time machine. The kids think that he is crazy so they ask if they can see the time machine. He says okay so they all go back to the lab where his time machine is. He takes them to the prehistoric age and they break down in that time. Once they fix the time machine they come back to our time. Only one problem, they brought back dinasaurs with them.
This book has suspense and action I recomend this book to anyone.

[Grade5 Five]

I like how the characters go back in time and see all the dinosaurs. I also like the author johnathan rand. I took a break from this book for a while but then I started reading it again and it ended up being really good.

[Dakota Stein]

Awesome and super good had a hard time putting it down

[Leonardo Baca]

In my opinion it's one of the best books in the series. I love time travel stories, and this book in particular delivered. Dinosaurs, time travel, adventure, it's everything a kid would want to read!

[Netta]

Cool and entertaining.