Book cover of Meddling Kids

Book description

A nostalgic and subversive trip rife with sly nods to H. P. Lovecraft and pop culture, in the vein of It and Stranger Things.

An exuberant and wickedly entertaining celebration of horror, love, friendship, and many-tentacled, interdimensional demon spawn. SUMMER 1977. The Blyton Summer Detective Club (of Blyton Hills, a…

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Why read it?

3 authors picked Meddling Kids as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This was another quirky book I stumbled upon. I do want to stress it is firmly in the horror genre. Think Scooby Doo meet Cthulhu. The author pulls it off, as skeptical as I was being a childhood fan of the cartoon. The gang is older, with more personal issues stemming from the summer they solved crimes. When I hit the last page, I laughed with glee. 

Meddling Kids asks the question, “What would it be like if the Scooby gang retired because they were traumatized by a case where the monsters were real?” And the answer is a story about bravery, overcoming personal demons, and seeing through the rose colored glasses. It gets a little weird in places, but overall it’s a good and uplifting time.

From Elijah's list on heroes haunted by their adventures.

The premise of Meddling Kids feels like it was concocted especially for me and everyone else who grew up on 70s cartoons and old-fashioned horror; it’s an eldritch twist on Scooby-Doo, where the remaining members of the Blyton Summer Detective Club revisit the scene of their childhood case, realizing there was more to the mystery than originally met the eye. Edgar Cantero’s writing style is an absolute delight – it’s like nothing I’ve ever read before. His humor in each metaphor and personification of so many inanimate objects allow you to really feel every scene, not just witness it.…

From Kristen's list on when something queer’s afoot.

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