Nuclear Jellyfish of New Jersey

American Chillers #22

by Johnathan Rand

Shayleen Mills had one harrowing encounter in Tennessee. It seems as if trouble is following her as jellyfish... nuclear jellyfish at that... terrorize her family. How will she combat these gelantinous giants?

Genres: Childrens

208 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2007

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 · Rating 1 out of 5]

We pick up Shayleen Mills's story some time after her adventure in the previous book, Terrifying Toys of Tennessee. She and her family have since moved to Medford, New Jersey; it isn't clear if she's still ten years old at the time Nuclear Jellyfish of New Jersey takes place, but she's on summer break from school when her parents suggest a mini vacation to the Atlantic shore at the resort town of Wildwood, New Jersey. It has an amusement park, a boardwalk, and a gorgeous beach where Shayleen, her two-year-old brother Lee, and their parents can spend all the time they want over the next four days.

Wildwood is everything Shayleen hoped for, and she meets a boy her age there named Tony. He and his younger sister Isobel not only live in Wildwood right next to all these tourist attractions, but their father owns the amusement park, and Tony offers Shayleen free admission. They have fun exploring the park and the area by the ocean, but Tony warns Shayleen to be careful where she steps: jellyfish occasionally wash up on shore, and their sting is dangerous. Sea animals don't figure to be a real problem until one night after dark when Shayleen, Tony, and Isobel spot a strange flying craft that discharges some kind of energy into the ocean. Shayleen doesn't believe in space aliens, but she saw something, and the following day at the water park, the weirdness intensifies. A jellyfish shows up in the wave pool...and begins to levitate. Soon hundreds of flying jellyfish are attacking customers, their tentacles glowing an unearthly array of colors. People evacuate the park in droves, but Shayleen, Tony, and Isobel get trapped inside with the jellyfish. Surviving will require courage and intelligence, but our young heroes have a long way to go to reach safety beyond the park walls. Will they be the first casualties of the supernatural sea creatures?

Nuclear Jellyfish of New Jersey does a few things well. It captures the ambience of New Jersey's boardwalk scene better than most American Chillers evoke the atmosphere of the state in which they are set. Some of the action sequences are more compelling than usual for the series, and the jellyfish pose a more clear and present threat than the "villain" in most of these books. But there are things Nuclear Jellyfish of New Jersey doesn't do well. The writing is clumsy, and the dialogue among the kids feels unnatural. We're never given a satisfying explanation for the origin of the deadly jellyfish, and that prevents the story from feeling complete. Still, I had some fun; the obligatory reference to another Chiller, this time Alien Androids Assault Arizona on page forty-three, is mildly amusing. On page fifty-nine, I appreciate the mention of a strolling juggler who entertains at the Boardwalk, but I doubt that Johnathan Rand knows much about juggling. The idea of a juggler with six clubs in motion while walking around on stilts is less than believable. I rate this book one and a half stars; Johnathan Rand is capable of more, but if you enjoy most American Chillers, you'll probably like this one.

[Sadiyah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all ur books

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE NUCLEAR JELLYFISH OF NEW JERSEY. WHAT A FUCKING TITLE. Great cover by the way :)

That out of the way, this is one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever read. Starting off with the positives, I liked the characters a great deal; they were good, simple beings of existence. The Nuclear Jellyfish are a crazy cool specimen might I say. All the little details added about how they work is really neat, and they’re a genuinely intense threat since they’re, well, fucking nuclear. The plot and story is solid, no issues there. The book has some clever elements and is rather e p i c at times. But… now for issues. The pacing past page 80 drags to fucksville, as in its slow as shit. That didn’t bother me but we didn’t need a 100 page long dungeon crawler at the amusement park, just saying. For some reason, the author forgot that the book was happening on a FUCKING BOARDWALK, where there’s a certain LACK OF GRASS and PLENTY OF SUSPENDED PLANKS that people walk on. Guess what? He writes about grass on the boardwalk. Dementia much? The writing is, though gets better as the book goes on, is just bad. I’m sorry Jonathan Rand but your writing skills aren’t the best in the first half imo. Also, the ending is a little too long. Weird issue but yeah. Plus there’s also a decent bit of repetitiveness going on with these non-stop epic battle sequences… so chill out. Overall, 8/10. It’s really freakin’ good but it’s flawed. Nothing’s perfect!!! (besides I Am Your Evil Twin!)

[Casarah Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a grown up, I still enjoy reading these books. It takes about an hour to get through, and is easy to read. This story is about a girl whose on vacation on the boardwalk of new jersey, she meets a couple if new friends. It is non stopped action as they are being attacked by neon light feeding over land flying, multicolor glowing jellyfish!

For me, these books are unique. Where else can you find such a strange variety of creatures. This story takes you into the imagination because almost no one ever has seen things like these. The world is filled with scary stuff, these books let you enjoy the ride without being traumatized for life. This one I imagine would have made for a cool old style video game, all in all, it was a very entertaining and well spent hour.

[Max Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had problems with shitting so my doctor told me I needed to eat more fiber. He then suggested that I eat a johnathan rand book because they are high in fiber.

I'm now shitting Chillers books non stop to get all that toxic waste out of my body. I'm pretty sure half of all Chillers sales were from me and my ass.

In my backyard is a huge pile of book shit. Thank you Rand, for writing such great shit.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because theres a lot of action and conflict and the jellyfish are scarry so thats my opinion on this book

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Makes me want to be at the beach - and to take a stroll on the boardwalk c:

[Keshav LovesBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOLY PEAK

[Jackson Adams]

Nuclear Jellyfish of New Jersey
By: Jonathan Rand
I really liked this book as well as all of Jonathan Rand’s American and Michigan chiller books. It always has a really great story line as well as plot and it's really entertaining to read. The main setting in this book is the water park and the beach, as well as the hotel but mostly the conflict started in the water park. The main characters were Shayleen Mills Tony and Tony’s sister Isabella. Now the conflict started as a harmless night on the beach until suddenly a ufo looking object came down from the sky and beamed a light into the water then flew away, when this happened everyone was in shock as it flew away. Then the next day there were nuclear jellyfish in Tony's dad’s waterpark and Shayleen Tony and his sister ended up getting stuck in the water park that wouldn't be that bad you would think but if they stung you, you would die. This book is them trying to get out safely necessarily .
I would recommend this book to anyone who needs a fun and entertaining book to read especially if you like Jonathan Rand's book or like being spooked in general!

[R.A. Danger · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing style seems a little low until chapter 6 were it picks up and doesn't feel like it needs a bit of a re-write.

Shayleen's family decide to take a short vacation to Wildwood. Everything was going well until she met a lovely shark. This lead to her meeting Tony first then Isobel. That night a colorful UFO came down and lit a white light beneath it over the ocean and made a humming noise. It won't be till the next day in the Water Park that things became deadly.

I tried telling them my plan but they were too busy trying to get out of the Water Park, they finally heard me. Lucky Tony, Shayleen, and one unnamed person manage to figure out how to defend themselves against the jellyfish.

A few things to clear up: The UFO didn't laid or lay anything, the jellyfish were colorful and weird, the jellyfish didn't take over the city only a water park, you would get a bit trap too if tentacles of doom were just outside the door.

[Andrew Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was definitely better than the last book I read. It would always leave Vivid cliffhangers. I was so happy to see the ending it was awesome like the rest of the book.

This book takes place in Medford, New Jersey. It was cool because a girls and her three friends saw a amazing UFO that laid wired jellyfish. This was interesting because these jellyfish took over the city. It was crazy they got trapped in the room and was stuck.

This book was filled with lots of scary jellyfish that looked like plastic bags. There was always jellyfish chasing after them trying to kill them. If it wasn't her baby brother. It would be the jellyfish terrifying people.I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good cliffhanging story. You would enjoy this book if you are into bloody scary trills.

[Demitrius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nuclear Jellyfish of New Jersey
By: Jonathan Rand

I liked this book because I just like American Chillers and also this one was kind of interesting that the monster is a jellyfish. The main characters were Shayleen, Tony, and Isobel. It took place in New Jersey at the beach where Shayleen and here parents went for vacation. There was also a water park and an amusement park. I would recommend this book to teens and kids because it is interesting when they pick such weird animals to be the monster.

[Dakota Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun quick easy read series that has you on the edge of your seat as you watch the impossible unfold. I can't choose a favorite book from this series but they all are really great. I still enjoy reading these at an older age but I think really anybody can enjoy this series because it offers much imagination and creativity to it

[Emily Xu]

I don't know how to use this

[Netta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool and adventurous. Very fast paced plot with good solid action.

[Kaylee Kramp]

it was scary and fun to read i love it because it will give you a horror of not fears but slimly gooey yucky sticky and jelly like because its jellyfish