August 26, 2025 by Storytide
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Zel, Theo, and Lucien are members of the "Creepy Club" and are obsessed with haunted houses and ghosts, and often visit sites in their hometown of Leonardtown, Maryland to record what they find. The town has a very troubled history; it was the site of the Glo-Wyrm chemical factory, which exploded in 2016 in a spectacular way and killed over 3,000 people. The resultant pollution has taken even more lives and lead to an infestation of neon orange "glop". Zel lost her sister Tori in the explosion, and her mother is dealing with a serious illness because of the contamination. This leads her to look for ghosts, because if they exist, perhaps Tori is still around somewhere. When the club investigates the local Corpse House, they see an eerie ad adverting the Ghost Show. This is all very mysterious, and when the show finally arrives, under the aegis of Everet Nocturama Mance, the kids are interested in attending. It's a creepy collection of individuals, and the display includes their names, dates, and manner of death. Interesting, but the kids feel that it feels more like a fake haunted house than real ghosts. Mance admits as much, and shares some of his trade secrets, and also invites Zel to a special showing. He also offers a way to connect with Tori's ghost, but this doesn't go well. Tori manifests as a rather gross, fleshy ball oozing red slime who can only scream and groan. Zel really wants to help her sister, and the school custodian, Miss Janet, wants to help her father. Both are told that Mance can regenerate their family members by using them for parts; Miss Janet is okay with that, but Tori hesitates. She also untethers many of the ghosts, and rectifying this situation occupies the Creepy Club for quite a while. Will Zel and her friends be able to save Leonardstown from supernatural horror while Zel makes some peace with her sister's death?
Strengths: Ocker has a solid fan base in my library, with his The Black Slide and The Smashed Man of Dread End being constantly checked out. This had plenty of gross moments, with slime, glop, squelching, and even a giant skeleton that tries to crush people. Zel's obsession with ghosts is nicely explained, and the ensemble cast works well. The history of Leonardstown, and the description of its troubles historical sites, is one of the best parts of the book.
Weaknesses: Another reviewer on Goodreads, Fifi's Bookshelf, commented that this lacked "scares and urgency", which aptly explained how I was feeling about this one. Somehow, I never felt like the ghosts were that much of a danger. Part of this might have been that while the GloWyrm disaster was horrible, it was treated rather lightly for having killed so many people. It lacked the visceral horror of radioactive glop that can be found in Zindel's Rats.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Neilsen's Dr. Fell and the Playground of Doom or Davies's The International House of Dereliction and want a somewhat gross ghost story that isn't too scary.
No comments:
Post a Comment