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A review by trevert
The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Link Neal, Rhett McLaughlin
3.0
I don't know who these writers are - apparently they are some sort of YouTube or social media sensation - but they did an enjoyable job with their first book here, even though parts of it definitely scream both, "FIRST book!" and, "We needed a real editor!" Still, it was about a couple of horror-loving, mystery-solving boys in a small town in NC, so it got +2 stars from me right off the bat.
When lifelong friends are making their homemade horror film, they screw up badly and one is sent off to the local hardline-discipline school, renowned for turning problem kids into mindless obedient drones, just the sort of place that any NC Baptist church would wholeheartedly support. The attitude is shared by their town, who are all behind this "Pound some obedience into those kids!" attitude, so the boys must investigate alone until they're joined by a nosy reporter right out of Jack McGee school.
It's a fun read. It stays lighthearted throughout and has a few genuine "YES!" moments, though it's also wildly uneven in pacing and at one point it seems to realize it hasn't explained enough so you get an entire chapter of background exposition from out of nowhere. Still, it was good reading and made a nice example of the Scooby genre.
When lifelong friends are making their homemade horror film, they screw up badly and one is sent off to the local hardline-discipline school, renowned for turning problem kids into mindless obedient drones, just the sort of place that any NC Baptist church would wholeheartedly support. The attitude is shared by their town, who are all behind this "Pound some obedience into those kids!" attitude, so the boys must investigate alone until they're joined by a nosy reporter right out of Jack McGee school.
It's a fun read. It stays lighthearted throughout and has a few genuine "YES!" moments, though it's also wildly uneven in pacing and at one point it seems to realize it hasn't explained enough so you get an entire chapter of background exposition from out of nowhere. Still, it was good reading and made a nice example of the Scooby genre.