Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Thirteen years ago, the Blyton Summer Detective Club solved their last case in Blyton, and never returned again. Each was haunted by the unexplainable elements of it that their brains tried to put aside, until one day, Andy decides she is tired of living this way, and gets the old gang back together to finally put the case to rest. This is made more complicated by several factors. Kerri, relying a bit too much on drink, is resistant to returning to Blyton. Nate is in a mental institute, unable to leave until a doctor says he can. And Peter, their charismatic former leader? Yeah, he’s dead. At least the descendant of their canine member is ready to adventure. Once the gang is as gathered as they can be, they make their way to their childhood Summer refuge and discover the situation is worse than they could have imagined.
Ok, I know that intro/blurb was a little long, but it was all necessary information. Do you want to know what else is necessary? Telling you how excited I was to read this clearly Scooby Doo inspired story. Scooby Doo was a defining aspect of my childhood. I loved books, Goosebumps, Wolfenstein, and Scooby Doo. Its influence is still a part of who I am today. So buddy reading this with the Fanciful Sister was a really great experience.
The characters, except Andy, from my interpretation of it, are inspired by the Mystery Inc members. Peter, charismatic jock who enjoyed thinking up traps, is Fred. Nate, geeky and a little nervous, is Shaggy. Kerri, super smart with beautiful orange hair, seems to be an amalgamation of both Daphne and Velma. And Tim, descendant of OG member Sean, is Scooby. Andy seems to me to be a new character providing the group with a slightly edgy, more modern member.
Despite sharing characteristics with the Scooby gang members, they are still their own characters, with their own strengths, weaknesses, flaws, interests, and personalities. I was especially fond of Nate, who I was able to relate to the most strongly. He is an avid dark fantasy and horror reader, looking for the kernels of truth hidden in all fictional tales. If that doesn’t describe me, then I have really misunderstood myself all these years. His mental health issues, despite being different from my own, lend a certain relatability to him as well, though I don’t feel comfortable making judgements on the representation.
Blyton is a fun setting. A small lake town, once a popular tourist destination and tightknit community, now verging on a ghost town, which I suppose is fitting in a way. So, while we see how the characters grew up, and how they changed, we see the same of Blyton. It isn’t a graceful ager unfortunately, and it provides a kind of sad aspect to the story, one that maybe we can relate to in regards to places we used to love, that changed completely. The people you once knew there are dead, or moved away, businesses are closed, parks overgrown. So, while there is a sense of nostalgia as the characters remembered Blyton as they knew it, there is also a parallel between them and it, changing and aging.
The plot takes much inspiration from Scooby Doo, as I said previously, but it also has a very Lovecraftian vibe. I can’t say too much about what is actually happening without spoiling it, but there are elements of cosmic horror, which also works wonders at highlighting the troubles that the Summer Detective Club have endured over the years. I love cosmic horror as it shows us that our universe is just not what we thought it was, and we are in fact even smaller in it than we are in reality. I think that Meddling Kids does a fantastic job at demonstrating the consequences of learning this.
So, overall, I really enjoyed this book. If you like cosmic horror, mystery, and are open to an interpretation of Scooby Doo that is on the darker side, I would recommend this to you. Also, if you want some Sapphic representation, this book has some! Yay! I loved my time investigating with the Meddling Kids, and I am looking forward to checking out more of this author’s work in the future!
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Rebecka O'Malley 