It's time to cover a book I was mixed with in the previous read. I dunno, maybe I just wasn't in the best frame of mind to give it a fairer shot. But what the howl, let's give it another go. It's time to catch the fever that is The Werewolf of Fever Swamp.
THE WEREWOLF OF FEVER SWAMP
COVER STORY
This is a gorgeous cover. One of the best in the series without question. After more minimalist works in the past few books, it's a breath of fresh air to see one with so much life in it. So many great touches. The wolf, the full moon, the fog, the trees, the eerie green glow of Fever Swamp. You'd probably gush at all this and somehow miss the clothes next to the wolf. It's one that didn't scare me as a kid, but always one I found compelling and beautiful. One of Tim's finest pieces.
WHAT BIG TEETH YOU HAVE!
There's something happening in Fever Swamp. Something really horrible.
It started with the strange howling at night. Then there was the rabbit, torn to shreds.
Everyone thinks Grady's new dog is responsible. After all, he looks just like a wolf. And he seems a little on the wild side.
But Grady knows his dog is just a regular old dog. And most dogs don't howl at the moon. Or disappear at midnight. Or change into terrifying creatures when the full is moon.
Or do they?
STORY
Grady Tucker, his older sister Emily and their scientist parents have moved to Fever Swamp in the middle of Florida. Grady's dad, Michael F. Tucker, is studying South American swamp deer to see if they can live in a Floridian habitat like Fever Swamp. Grady looks around before asking if he can take a walk in the woods by the swamp, with Emily forced into coming with him. She's another character described as looking birdlike, this time like a stork. Stine's getting very redundant with his character descriptions. The kids look around and gaze at the different ponds in the swamp before almost getting caught in the quicksand-like bog. After a while, they start to head home, but oh no! They're lost.
They continue to trudge forward, Grady having an incident where he trips over a tree root, but still wind up lost. After examining the giant mushrooms, they soon find an old shack. They head to the shack, hoping to find someone to aid them and sure enough, they get greeted by a scraggly man who proceeds to chase them. The kids manage to escape and make it back home where they tell their father about their fateful encounter. But dad just shrugs it off as the old harmless hermit of the swamp. People in town say that he's a scary, but otherwise non threatening squatter.
After dinner, Grady goes outside, only to be caught by someone else. A boy his age named Will Blake, who is described to be about Grady's height, but thicker like a football player. Wait, I'm sorry, this book is actually supposed to be called The Rob Gronkowski of Fever Swamp. He tells Grady that Fever Swamp gets its name from a legend of a swamp fever that the townsfolk would get afflicted with if they came close to the swamp. Some even dying from the symptoms. Sure enough, Grady begins to feel the fever for a while. He hears some scratching at the front door one night and goes to investigate, but finds nothing. Though he continues to hear howling noises outside.
Grady soon recovers from his fever and heads outside, only to be tackled by a large, wolf-like dog. Grady, being the really clever kid, calls him Wolf and wants to keep him, but his parents aren't too fond of the idea. But they relent , allowing Wolf to stay until Grady can find whoever owns him. Grady and Will head into the swamp to explore, to which Wolf soon follows. They soon see the swamp hermit again, but he runs off. They head home, but see a heron torn to bits. Will immediately blames the hermit in a not-so-convincing manner, especially with the dog pawprints around the heron corpse. That night, Grady tries to tell his parents, but they don't quite see an issue. More of an issue is Wolf slamming into the door wanting to get out. When he gets free, he runs off into the swamp.
Grady tries to sleep, but hears more howling noises, believing them to maybe be Wolf. When he goes out to investigate however, he finds a rabbit's corpse, torn apart like the heron. The next day, Wolf is back, but now Emily begins to blame Wolf for the rabbit murder, while Mr. Tucker is just glad that nothing could possibly ever happen to the swamp deer in their pen. That's totally not a setup for disaster later on. Will meets with Grady again and talks about one of the neighbors, a man named Mr. Warner, disappearing. Suddenly, a girl named Cassie O'Rourke shows up to give some exposition, this time about stories of a werewolf lurking in the swamp, killing others. The swamp hermit is seen again and Cassie accuses him of being the werewolf. And he... admits to being the werewolf. Well, that was a quick mystery solved. Oh wait, we're not done with this book. Grady ends up being cornered by the hermit, who says that he was just joking about being a werewolf, but that dog of Grady's is concerning.
As he tries to head home, Grady gets bitten by a snake. A bit of drama thinking he's poisoned, but it was just a green snake, so nothing to be worried about. He tells his parents about Cassie's werewolf stories, but being people of science his parents don't believe in such superstitions. That night however, things get worse as Grady discovers that the deer pen has been torn up and one of the deer has been mutilated. Grady's parents immediately blame Wolf for it and decide that the dog has to be taken away to the pound. The book doesn't outright say to be put down but it's been a while since Stine hurt a dog in these books. Grady manages to get Wolf to run for it, but Mr. Tucker says that the dog's just gonna come back and when he does, he's still going away.
The next night, Grady sees Wolf once again and follows him into the swamp. He gets met by Will who says that he totally heard the howls too and wanted to investigate. Nothing incriminating about that, no sir. Grady ends up lost from both Wolf and Will, but soon gets attacked by the werewolf. It doesn't take Grady too long to recognize the werewolf as Will, who bites Grady in the shoulder. Wolf soon arrives to save Grady, chasing off Will and, while not outright stated, seemingly killing Will. Grady's parents find him later, suffering from another fever. He tells his parents about Will, but when he tells them of his address, they just find an empty house.
TWIST ENDING
After all is said and done, and with Wolf's name being cleared, Grady is allowed to keep Wolf. A month later, Grady and Wolf are the new werewolves of Fever Swamp, constantly on the hunt.
CONCLUSION
This is definitely a case of second time around being more beneficial. I enjoyed the book more this time. I think I just rushed through it and didn't give it a fair chance. Granted, it's still not my favorite werewolf book of Stine's (that's far later on), but it does a good enough job here. The strength is the mystery with the howling sounds, the animal corpses, the ramping up of threats that Grady has to deal with. And while they make it a bit too obvious it isn't the hermit or Wolf, the book doesn't make it too obvious that it's Will either. Heck, it could have even been Cassie since she just comes in to blame others for being werewolves. I was lukewarm at first for how little actual werewolf action we get, only a scant four pages, but on second thought, I think it's more than enough and really the best way to finish this story.
Grady's an okay protagonist, but nothing about him really stands out that much. Definitely feeling more like the reader's avatar than a character. The scares are decent. A lot of misdirect scares which get annoying, but the detail of the animal corpses are rather grisly for Goosebumps, plus how things ramp up really work. I also like how Stine describes Fever Swamp, giving it a lot of life. It's a bit too much Stine playing "Mr. Educator", but it doesn't hurt the book itself. If I have any true gripes, I do wish the swamp fever mattered more. Grady just gets it for a couple chapters and that's it. Other than that, it's an okay book with an amazing cover. Not super incredible, but still sturdy enough to hold its own. It's a book that's a howl of a fun read.
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