Horror Annotation

Meddling Kids

By Edgar Cantero

Synopsis:

Combining the overarching threat of a Lovecraftian ancient menace with a nostalgia-driven plot that borrows heavily from Stephen King’s It, Cantero asked two questions of himself while writing Meddling Kids. First, what would happen if the Scooby-Doo gang actually got involved with real evil when they were crime solving teenagers instead of just a man in a mask? Secondly, How would those characters cope? Edgar’s characters are twenty-something’s who cannot deal with the things they have seen in the past and in their present nightmares. One drinks too much, one is too aggressive, one was in a mental institution, and the fourth member committed suicide, but the mental patient frequently hallucinates his dead friend. The ‘meddling kids’ and their dog are not Scooby and gang, but their ‘Blyton Hills Summer Detective Club’ is a direct nod to the cartoons. This especially shows as the team remembers past cases with examples such as using elaborate traps to literally catch a criminal in a net or simply the often mentioned color of one of the female protagonist’s hair, orange (think Daphne).   The detective club realizes they need to reopen a past case from their youth to gain peace in their adult and respite from recurring nightmares. As the crew dives deeper into the mystery, they start to realize how great of a force they are up against. Fans of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show will enjoy the underlying romance subplot and humor as a group of broken friends try to save the world while it falls apart around them.    

Elements of Horror:

Mood

The eerie mood of the book blossoms like a crescendo; in the beginning pages the reader is uncertain of established mood, then the reader will feel haunted, and finally with full knowledge of the supernatural evil before the reader, terror. The book approaches horror in the style of creeping feelings of unease, there are not any passages intended as ‘jump-scares’, but the plot twists, turns, and grows out of its Scooby-Doo framework and becomes a love letter to H.P. Lovecraft’s work.   

Pacing

Holding true with many other books of the horror genre, Meddling Kids has chapters of page-turning adventure preceded and followed by moments of character reflection and plot development. This may feel jarring to readers who are not used to the horror genre, but the slower progression aids the establishment of the feeling of dread. Especially, once the reader knows the evil monster and its minions are now a threat that could attack from anywhere! In Meddling Kids the reader is rewarded for their patience with an action packed ending with hordes of ancient monsters flooding the town, their overload causing a (super) natural disaster, and a zombie!

Setting

Meddling Kids really offers a tour-de-force of classic horror tropes, but since so much of the novel is a nod to Scooby-Doo cartoons, the reader allows the tropes to fly by largely unquestioned. Cantero writes a haunted house on a small island where ritual magic is performed,  a cave filled with lava and ancient monsters, a mental institution, and a run-down middle-American town that holds the geography altogether. These settings benefit from a large amount of description aiding in directing the reader’s emotions of fear and unease with dusty rooms and thunderstorms (literally).

Graphic Violence and Sexuality

Meddling Kids shies away from the classic horror conventions of an excess of gore and sex. There are some scenes where a monster’s head explodes or an autopsy is preformed, but Cantero’s goal was not to gross the reader or fuel any bloodlust. Cantero treats sexuality in a similar manner, offering a love story and quick mentions of past sexual encounters, but the most sexually explicit scene in the book is between the two female protagonists (one who longs for the love of the other) holding each other while trying to calm down from a terror induced anxiety attack. While this book will not scratch the itch for a gory romp, the nostalgic cartoon inspired plot would have probably seemed forced and awkward with added levels of sex and blood.

Characterization

The characters of horror novels are often emotionally worn out and indulge in destructive practices to run from their demons. The ‘meddling kids’ very much fit into this trope, the challenge for the protagonists is to not only stop the world from ending by horrible monsters, but achieve a peace within themselves so they can live up to the task. The villains are also important in Meddling Kids, borrowing from the mystery genre (Scooby-Doo) the reader doesn’t really understand all the villains and their motivation until the final showdown, but their deeds are sinister and deceptive throughout the novel.    

Read-A-Likes:

John Connolly’s The Gates

Stephen King’s Joyland

Joe Lansdale’s Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers