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Meddling Kids
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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 bartendi
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Brian Baskin
It stars a dog, a ghost, multiple people struggling with severe mental illness, and a host of various creatures.
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30
Start your review of Meddling Kids
oooh, goodreads choice awards semifinalist for best horror! what will happen?
”It was a guy in a costume, Nate. Same as always.”
but what if, one time, it wasn’t?
this book is a pure romp, but in order to enjoy it, you need to be willing to get on board with cantero’s style and authorial choices, which can be jarring if you try to fight ‘em. it starts out in second-person before switching to the third-person POVs of a number of characters, and there are many instances of the author breaking the fou ...more
”It was a guy in a costume, Nate. Same as always.”
but what if, one time, it wasn’t?
this book is a pure romp, but in order to enjoy it, you need to be willing to get on board with cantero’s style and authorial choices, which can be jarring if you try to fight ‘em. it starts out in second-person before switching to the third-person POVs of a number of characters, and there are many instances of the author breaking the fou ...more
Aug 01, 2017
Chelsea Humphrey
marked it as dnf-lost-interest
I've decided to put this one down for now; not giving it any stars and I'm not trying to persuade anyone not to read it. I simply think it's not for me and I'm struggling with a few of the characters. Time to move on to the next!
...more
Scooby-Doo meets the Cthulhu Mythos!
TRACKING THE TEEN DETECTIVES GENRE
The teen detectives’ genre has been quite popular, and we can remember pioneers, in the 1930s, in the field like The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, and the genre exploded at the 1970s with the masses when Hanna-Barbera introduced Scooby-Doo franchise resulted so successful that it’s still active, featuring products in almost imaginable format: traditional animation, live-action, muppets-like, LEGO CGI-animation; on TV seri ...more
TRACKING THE TEEN DETECTIVES GENRE
The teen detectives’ genre has been quite popular, and we can remember pioneers, in the 1930s, in the field like The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, and the genre exploded at the 1970s with the masses when Hanna-Barbera introduced Scooby-Doo franchise resulted so successful that it’s still active, featuring products in almost imaginable format: traditional animation, live-action, muppets-like, LEGO CGI-animation; on TV seri ...more
Oh....this book. It took me a while to formulate what I really wanted to say about this book while also trying to maintain a constructive attitude about it. It's not my job as a reader to totally dismantle another person's hard work, so I won't let this digress.
The premise (and the cover) and the way it was presented to me are the reasons I accepted this ARC (Thank you Doubleday for this ARC for an honest review)
Scooby Doo meets Lovecraft.
An interesting pairing. Like chewing Bubblegum and drinki ...more
The premise (and the cover) and the way it was presented to me are the reasons I accepted this ARC (Thank you Doubleday for this ARC for an honest review)
Scooby Doo meets Lovecraft.
An interesting pairing. Like chewing Bubblegum and drinki ...more
2.5/5
Very rarely do I rate books I don't finish, but in this case, having read 61%, I feel as if I've read enough to merit an opinion. My opinion is this book isn't for me.
I absolutely loved the premise-sort of a Scooby Doo/Cthulhu mash up-I mean, what could be more perfect for me? However, what I found to be funny and entertaining at first, soon turned into ennui. I found myself making excuses or reading short stories to avoid going back to this book.
I see a lot of reviews mentioning the autho ...more
Very rarely do I rate books I don't finish, but in this case, having read 61%, I feel as if I've read enough to merit an opinion. My opinion is this book isn't for me.
I absolutely loved the premise-sort of a Scooby Doo/Cthulhu mash up-I mean, what could be more perfect for me? However, what I found to be funny and entertaining at first, soon turned into ennui. I found myself making excuses or reading short stories to avoid going back to this book.
I see a lot of reviews mentioning the autho ...more
Sep 05, 2018
carol.
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
fans of Daryl Gregory, A. Lee Martinez
Recommended to carol. by:
Tim
Put on your pajamas, grab a bowl of Apple Jacks (my mom wouldn't let me have Lucky Charms, my first choice in ridiculous sugars disguised as breakfast cereals, With 8 Added Vitamins and Minerals!), and settle in for a delightful romp through The Case of The Really Deep Lake.
Homages can wildly miss the mark, turning into tiresome parody after a few minutes (reference: most Saturday Night Life skits), but Cantero has done something marvelous, re-imagining the Scooby-Doo gang* as real, somewhat com ...more
Homages can wildly miss the mark, turning into tiresome parody after a few minutes (reference: most Saturday Night Life skits), but Cantero has done something marvelous, re-imagining the Scooby-Doo gang* as real, somewhat com ...more
Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero is a 2017 Doubleday Books publication.
The title of this book caught my eye a while back and I knew I’d have to investigate and see for myself how this book paralleled with the Scooby Doo cartoons. Since I’m a huge fan of the classic Scooby Doo show I was confident I’d find this satirical twist on the ‘meddling kids’ right up my alley.
The book took off on solid footing, but the further along I got, the more convoluted the story became. The humor was originally biti ...more
The title of this book caught my eye a while back and I knew I’d have to investigate and see for myself how this book paralleled with the Scooby Doo cartoons. Since I’m a huge fan of the classic Scooby Doo show I was confident I’d find this satirical twist on the ‘meddling kids’ right up my alley.
The book took off on solid footing, but the further along I got, the more convoluted the story became. The humor was originally biti ...more
Thank goodness for audiobooks! If I didn't listen to them I wouldn't have finished any books lately as I barely have any time to read. Meddling Kids got me through my commute, some chores around the house, and kept my need to read fed.
3.5 stars
Meddling Kids is a fun and nostalgic mystery romp a la Scooby Doo. Much of the humor is tongue in cheek and will remind you of all the things you used to love about the cartoon. At the same time, the story is more grown up and darker - not something I woul ...more
3.5 stars
Meddling Kids is a fun and nostalgic mystery romp a la Scooby Doo. Much of the humor is tongue in cheek and will remind you of all the things you used to love about the cartoon. At the same time, the story is more grown up and darker - not something I woul ...more
4.5ish stars.
I love this book. It's smart, exciting, silly, nostalgic, but mostly IT IS REALLY FUNNY. Cantero obviously knows how to tickle my funny bone, because I was laughing continuously throughout. It's a sort-of-parody of Scooby Doo and other teen detective agencies, and I was nervous that it was going to be adult Scooby Doo fanfic, but it's more than a parody, it's a great book in its own right. (Are we even sure the original Scooby Doo crew were teenagers!? The voice actors of the origi ...more
I love this book. It's smart, exciting, silly, nostalgic, but mostly IT IS REALLY FUNNY. Cantero obviously knows how to tickle my funny bone, because I was laughing continuously throughout. It's a sort-of-parody of Scooby Doo and other teen detective agencies, and I was nervous that it was going to be adult Scooby Doo fanfic, but it's more than a parody, it's a great book in its own right. (Are we even sure the original Scooby Doo crew were teenagers!? The voice actors of the origi ...more
**3.5-stars rounded up**
Scooby-Doo fans rejoice!
Meddling Kids reads like a love letter to that classic Hanna-Barbera animated series.
This was such a fun, little horror comedy; perfect for Autumnal reading.
Full review to come...stay tuned!!!
Update: I lied because I never reviewed this and now I don't remember enough about it to do so.
Looks like I will have to read it again!
...more
Scooby-Doo fans rejoice!
Meddling Kids reads like a love letter to that classic Hanna-Barbera animated series.
This was such a fun, little horror comedy; perfect for Autumnal reading.
Full review to come...stay tuned!!!
Update: I lied because I never reviewed this and now I don't remember enough about it to do so.
Looks like I will have to read it again!
...more
Had high hopes.
"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 descen ...more
"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 descen ...more
Book Blog | Bookstagram
Opening Jinky-Twist: Even the unmasked bad guys get parole, too.
Main Meddling Characters: We couldn’t have come up with anyone less annoying?
Plot Zoinx-y-ness: A dogshit-sized amount of non-stop action
Here’s a fun fact about me: one of my go-to stress relieving past times is getting high as a motherfucking kite and watching Scooby Doo.
I have always had an affinity for mystery-solving kids because I myself wanted to be a mystery-solving kid. But it turns out that I had real ...more
Opening Jinky-Twist: Even the unmasked bad guys get parole, too.
Main Meddling Characters: We couldn’t have come up with anyone less annoying?
Plot Zoinx-y-ness: A dogshit-sized amount of non-stop action
Here’s a fun fact about me: one of my go-to stress relieving past times is getting high as a motherfucking kite and watching Scooby Doo.
I have always had an affinity for mystery-solving kids because I myself wanted to be a mystery-solving kid. But it turns out that I had real ...more
It's all been done before.
Eh. I wish I could give this book more than 3 stars.
Truth is, there isn't one big thing that I disliked about this book that lowered my rating. It's more like there was lots of little things that kept piling up.
The references, for one. "Zoinx River" is the one that put the final nail in the "Enough with the references!!!" coffin. I had this problem with The Fireman too. References and tributes in a book can make it more interesting and clever, depending on how the tribu ...more
Eh. I wish I could give this book more than 3 stars.
Truth is, there isn't one big thing that I disliked about this book that lowered my rating. It's more like there was lots of little things that kept piling up.
The references, for one. "Zoinx River" is the one that put the final nail in the "Enough with the references!!!" coffin. I had this problem with The Fireman too. References and tributes in a book can make it more interesting and clever, depending on how the tribu ...more
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
“For fans of John Dies at the End and Welcome to Night Vale”
I’ve never experienced Welcome to Night Vale (its fanbase has been pretty hardcore when it comes to deterring readers who aren’t podcast listeners), but when it comes to John Dies at the End?????
Seriously folks, this is the one time where there was a 100% spot-on comparison and it’s pretty much the only reason Meddling Kids even pinged my radar.
Thirteen years ago, Pet ...more
“For fans of John Dies at the End and Welcome to Night Vale”
I’ve never experienced Welcome to Night Vale (its fanbase has been pretty hardcore when it comes to deterring readers who aren’t podcast listeners), but when it comes to John Dies at the End?????
Seriously folks, this is the one time where there was a 100% spot-on comparison and it’s pretty much the only reason Meddling Kids even pinged my radar.
Thirteen years ago, Pet ...more
Mini review:
Trigger warning: Death. That's all that I can remember. If any more please mention in the comments.
I heard about this book through booktube. I was so excited to read this! I am a huge Scooby-Doo fan. And it sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately I didn't like it.
Right off the bat the writing style was bad. I skimmed it to figure out the general mystery. And it didn't get any better. Andy was such an annoying character. I feel that she was the wrong person to follow throughout the b ...more
Trigger warning: Death. That's all that I can remember. If any more please mention in the comments.
I heard about this book through booktube. I was so excited to read this! I am a huge Scooby-Doo fan. And it sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately I didn't like it.
Right off the bat the writing style was bad. I skimmed it to figure out the general mystery. And it didn't get any better. Andy was such an annoying character. I feel that she was the wrong person to follow throughout the b ...more
This was so bad - TW for transphobia, plus really uncomfortable representation of a lesbian character. The writing was all over the place too.
as i crossed the 65% threshold or so i tried to read this with a critical eye. i tried to come up with some justification to rate it closer to 4 stars than 5. i couldnt. i loved this title so much, it was such an easy and fun read. which isnt to say it was fluff, because it wasnt. me. canterro wrote with a brilliance and several nods to pop culture and 21st century society. i finally and reluctantly decided to subtract part of a star because some of the plot twists were a little telegraphed but
...more
*4.5 stars! What a romp! Think a grown-up Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys adventure that has channeled some of Lovecraft's Cthulhu monster madness and added a dash of witchcraft, humor and romance. Sounds crazy? It is! Crazy fun!
In 1977, in the small mining town of Blyton Hills, Oregon, four kids form The Blyton Summer Detective Club and become famous for unmasking the Sleepy Lake monster who has been terrorizing the area--one Thomas X. Wickley, a would-be thief in costume.
The teens, Peter Manner, Kerri ...more
In 1977, in the small mining town of Blyton Hills, Oregon, four kids form The Blyton Summer Detective Club and become famous for unmasking the Sleepy Lake monster who has been terrorizing the area--one Thomas X. Wickley, a would-be thief in costume.
The teens, Peter Manner, Kerri ...more
Meddling Kids is about a teenage detective club reuniting as adults to go back and solve a mystery from their youth. In the prologue, one of the guys who was foiled by this teenage detective club (and their dog) is up for parole. The manner in which the parole board describes his apprehension involving "a high-speeding serving cart, two flights of stairs, and a fishing net" as well as his admission to staging a haunting in an old mansion and dressing up as a giant salamander was incredible. The
...more
Boy, did I really want to like this book. I really enjoyed The Supernatural Enhancements, and when I saw the awesome cover for this one I got super excited. Then I heard the premise! Scooby-Doo meets H.P. Lovecraft?! Uhm, yes, please! Sadly, the cover and the premise are the best parts of the book.
A number of my friends received ARCs of this before it was released, and the general consensus was pretty much the same. Great concept, not so great writing. I bought it anyway because I wanted to give ...more
A number of my friends received ARCs of this before it was released, and the general consensus was pretty much the same. Great concept, not so great writing. I bought it anyway because I wanted to give ...more
This review and others can be found on BW Book Reviews.
1/5 - DNF at 90%
So, I love Scooby Doo. When I was a kid, it was probably my favorite thing to watch. I loved the movies, the TV shows, and anything else I could get my sticky hands on. I mean, I still own and will never get rid of a Scooby Doo fact book that I would pull out and quiz people on. Obviously, I was a cool kid. Hell, I even made a YouTube channel just so I could follow a channel that only posted episodes of Scooby Doo. This was b ...more
1/5 - DNF at 90%
So, I love Scooby Doo. When I was a kid, it was probably my favorite thing to watch. I loved the movies, the TV shows, and anything else I could get my sticky hands on. I mean, I still own and will never get rid of a Scooby Doo fact book that I would pull out and quiz people on. Obviously, I was a cool kid. Hell, I even made a YouTube channel just so I could follow a channel that only posted episodes of Scooby Doo. This was b ...more
Whoa! This was intensely fun and entertaining! Probably the coolest book I've read this year. Fans of H.P.Lovecraft and Scooby Doo will devour this. Think Meddling Kids only much darker and more twisted, with a truly gripping, edge-of-your-seat storyline.
5 shining stars from me! ...more
5 shining stars from me! ...more
As a lifelong fan of Scooby Doo (who had VERY STRONG OPINIONS of such things as the creators changing the theme song when I was 4), I thought this sounded like a fun romp of a book. It might have been, but it contains some really troubling language that was both unnecessary and extrememly disappointing.
For example: Pretty early on, as we're getting introduced to all the main players in the story, we're taken to an asylum. The opening scene there is one of the main trouble spots. The author is se ...more
For example: Pretty early on, as we're getting introduced to all the main players in the story, we're taken to an asylum. The opening scene there is one of the main trouble spots. The author is se ...more
The voice of this book didn't quite jive with me, but I did enjoy the meta elements (referencing to Scooby Doo, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and so many more) and the overall direction of the story. I'd call this horror rather than mystery, so think more a grown up/cynical version of Scooby Doo on Zombie Island. Overall, perfectly OK but not my favorite & I did find the portrayal of queer elements to be unconvincing
...more
I need more i need a squeal please
ok i'm changing my rating because i just wantched a review of this on booktube and the person reviewing the book said that there was some transphobic jokes and some poor mental heath rep, native american used as a plot device and a inter sex slur which i didn't catch the first time i read it so now that i know this is about this book I'm changing this from a 4/5 stars to a 2/5 stars i am not ok with that so sad too i actually liked this book here's a link to a ...more
ok i'm changing my rating because i just wantched a review of this on booktube and the person reviewing the book said that there was some transphobic jokes and some poor mental heath rep, native american used as a plot device and a inter sex slur which i didn't catch the first time i read it so now that i know this is about this book I'm changing this from a 4/5 stars to a 2/5 stars i am not ok with that so sad too i actually liked this book here's a link to a ...more
I was so wanting to love this book but it just wasn’t for me. I do think a lot of people would love it. My full review will be up on my booktube channel at http://YouTube.com/Peterlikesbooks
...more
Scooby Doo meets Lovecraft, told in an semi-experimental style with a Shakespearean level word-coinage.
Seriously. An absolutely improbably number of nouns get verbified by this guy.
Bonus points for setting a Cthulhu mythos in Oregon, points subtracted for extreme creative liberties taken with Oregon geography in same.
Jugging from reviews, this is not everyone's picnic, but I thought it was a lot of fun.
Also, just to be clear, this is in no way a book for kids. ...more
Seriously. An absolutely improbably number of nouns get verbified by this guy.
Bonus points for setting a Cthulhu mythos in Oregon, points subtracted for extreme creative liberties taken with Oregon geography in same.
Jugging from reviews, this is not everyone's picnic, but I thought it was a lot of fun.
Also, just to be clear, this is in no way a book for kids. ...more
Scooby Doo meets H.P. Lovecraft? Who wouldn't want to dig in with a book being marketed this way? Certainly not me since that seemed quite the, um, interesting pairing.
Teen detectives (The Blyton Summer Detective Club) are well known for solving a particular case, and their last one at that, in Sleepy Lake. Somehow, something resonates horrifically with each of them - the invariadubitably (hey, if the author can make up words, so can I - it's fun to say - try it!) large pink elephant in the room ...more
Teen detectives (The Blyton Summer Detective Club) are well known for solving a particular case, and their last one at that, in Sleepy Lake. Somehow, something resonates horrifically with each of them - the invariadubitably (hey, if the author can make up words, so can I - it's fun to say - try it!) large pink elephant in the room ...more
Zoinks! This was not nearly as good as I hoped it would be.
The premise sounds fun: a thinly disguised parallel to the Scooby Doo gang solves their last mystery years ago and they’ve all grown up and gone different directions. But the mask that was removed was only part of the story and what’s left of the gang is drawn back into a real live Lovecraftian horror story.
Writer Edgar Cantero mixes in some revisionist details and has the surviving gang living through some tough times and that was remar ...more
The premise sounds fun: a thinly disguised parallel to the Scooby Doo gang solves their last mystery years ago and they’ve all grown up and gone different directions. But the mask that was removed was only part of the story and what’s left of the gang is drawn back into a real live Lovecraftian horror story.
Writer Edgar Cantero mixes in some revisionist details and has the surviving gang living through some tough times and that was remar ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creepy Book Club: Meddling Kids (August 2018 Pick) - Post Your Reviews Here! | 14 | 61 | Nov 05, 2019 07:05AM | |
| Goodreads Librari...: Paperback page number is off | 2 | 14 | Jul 04, 2019 04:21PM | |
| Play Book Tag: Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero 4 stars | 2 | 14 | May 09, 2019 10:41AM | |
| The Side Quest Bo...: June 2019 pick: Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero | 1 | 8 | May 07, 2019 07:43PM |
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Edgar is a writer and cartoonist from Barcelona. Once a promising author in the local scene with his awarded 2007 debut Dormir amb Winona Ryder, the highbrow Catalan literary tradition soon lost influence on him in favor of Hollywood blockbusters, videogames, and mass-market paperbacks. The punk dystopian thriller Vallvi (2011) was his last book in Catalan before switching to E ...more
Edgar is a writer and cartoonist from Barcelona. Once a promising author in the local scene with his awarded 2007 debut Dormir amb Winona Ryder, the highbrow Catalan literary tradition soon lost influence on him in favor of Hollywood blockbusters, videogames, and mass-market paperbacks. The punk dystopian thriller Vallvi (2011) was his last book in Catalan before switching to E ...more
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