NNtG: Shadow Zone: Guess Who's Dating a Werewolf?

It's time for another journey into the Shadow Zone, a place that we still don't really understand, but I guess at this rate "zone that makes scary stuff" is the best descriptor. And we have werewolves this time, and romance, and dating. Look, the last couple Shadow Zone books I've covered have been a bit shaky, but with a title like this, this one had better be a home run, dude. It's time to Guess Who's Dating a Werewolf?

This is the perfect kind of goofy 90s cover. Our protagonists with some shocked and concerned faces as they look at the werewolf on the hill, though they might be looking to the right past him because the perspective is as goofy as the cover. It almost gives off the feeling of our titular werewolf trying to get their attention with his goofy pose, but they're just more interested in whatever's not on the cover. Shadow Zone's covers continue to win for me, and this might be my favorite that I've gotten to talk about. 

Annie Dubinski has a problem. Namely her problem is her older sister Sara having a slumber party with her friends, which would be bad enough if Annie didn't have to go to school the next day. Annoyed by the yammering, and their mother half-assedly telling Sara to keep it down, Annie sneaks out and spies on Sara and her friends Tiffani Beaumont and Heather Greenberg talking about the new boy that Sara met. His name is Jake Woolverton, and his family just moved to Calvertsville. He's also the cool boy who likes to take a walk on the wild side. Way better than Sara's old boyfriend Mitch. Annie then scares the girls by smacking a rake at Sara's window. After being able to avoid being caught, Annie meets with her best friend Lily Chin and tries to get her to go to Graystone Point's quarry and the rope swing that Annie loves, but Lily refuses because her family's super strict and, you know, wandering the woods in the middle of the night might not be the smartest thing ever. So far Lily wins points for most rational character in the book.

But Annie heads to the swing instead. Only when she gets there, she sees a teenage boy there instead. A teen boy who is big, muscular, and hairy. Very hairy. Oh, and the pointy ears and drooling fangs doesn't help matters either. Annie sees this as prime time to make a break for it, but not before seeing the wolf man scratching his body and howling at the moon. She then thinks that it couldn't possibly have been a real wolfman, it must been Rusty McDowell and his group of toughs the Tar Street Boys. Which is either a tough group, or a very unique boy band name. The next day, Annie and Lily walk to school with Annie convinced that Rusty must have been wearing a wolfman costume to scare her for some specific reason. She's so focused that she almost gets run over by a motorcycle before Lily saves her. The teen boy apologizes and says he's new in town. Annie tries to get her bearings back while Lily is infatuated with this new, totally not a werewolf, boy.

Annie confronts the Tar Street boys, which consist of Rusty, his brother Brian, and their friends Malcolm Washington and Tony Rizzo. Very "assorted ethnicities of street street toughs" feeling here. Annie blames Rusty for what happened in the woods, but the crew are confused. That's when Lily mentions Annie's wolfman sighting which gives the boys a chance to mock Annie over it. So Lily may have earned points for rationality, but loses points for not shutting her gob when things look bad for her friend. After school, Annie and Lily head back to the quarry where they get stopped by the local sheriff, Sheriff Ward, who gives us some exposition to not go swimming in the water by the quarry, mainly because it's an arrestable offense. The girls run into Rusty and the Tar Street Boys again who mock them some more about the werewolf, before Brian slips off the rope swing and into the water. Reader beware, you're in for a trip to the laundromat.

As the two girls head back home, they see the teen boy from earlier in front of Annie's house. To which we learn that this is Jake Woolverton, Sara's boyfriend. He compliments Annie a bit, which now means that Annie, despite this book making it clear that she is as tomboy as it gets, is now crushing on this older teen boy who is totally not a werewolf. Later that night, Annie overhears Jake telling Sara about Graystone Point being a special place, so she drags Lily out to head to the quarry to spy on Jake and Sara. No sign of Sara, but Jake is there. Oh, and the moon's out. Oh, and he's turning into a werewolf. Okay, so he totally WAS a werewolf, who'dathunk? Jake tries to attack them, but the girls make a run for it, but get caught by their parents for sneaking out constantly in the middle of the night which, I mean, werewolf or no werewolf, they do have a reason to be pissed. 

While being chewed out by her mother, Annie chooses not to tell her about the werewolf, which means that this is a rare occasion I don't get to use "Because Goosebumps Parents". She does try to tell Sara, but Sara doesn't believe her because... well I mean she already believes Annie's acting weird about Jake anyway. So I guess I can at least use "Because Goosebumps Sibling?" Eh, doesn't work as well. As Annie tries to sleep, she hears howling outside, and realized she might be screwed. The next day as the girls head to school, they're stopped again by Jake. He admits that he's the werewolf, but even if they try all the supposed ways to kill a werewolf, it'll never work. He also mentions that they're in the Shadow Zone and anything can happen. They head home and learn that Sara is going to the movies with Jake, to a movie called Death Slime about a killer slime that melts and eats things, which, not gonna lie, sounds like a rad as hell film. So Annie and Lily sneak into the theater and spy on Sara and Jake, only for Jake to spot them and flash his fangs at them.

After being caught, Annie and Lily now have to tag along with Jake and Sara as they head to Sparky's Pizza Parlor, which I'm certain is fine, but it's no Pete's Pizza. The girls finally get alone with Jake who says that he wasn't trying to kill them when he attacked them the last time, it was an after effect of the transformation. He can't control the urges when the werewolf form takes place, which is three nights during a full moon phase. Annie tells him to leave Sara alone, but he says he can't, and they can't really do anything about it, again because of the vagueness of the Shadow Zone stuff, which I guess in this case means that because they know he's a werewolf, they're stuff in the zone? Look, I like these books, but I'll admit the logic in them's for the birds. Jake says that he wasn't born a werewolf. When he was a kid, he went camping and was bitten by a wolf. Ever since then he's been a werewolf, and has traveled from town to town, which Annie assumes means that he's here to eat Sara. But Jake tries to plead his case before telling the girls to stay away from Graystone Point. We got about 36 pages left for that warning to not stick. 

After dinner, Jake takes the girls back home and rushes off on account of the inevitable moon. He kisses Sara, while turning wolf, and drives off. Of course she didn't see it because... I dunno, plot convenience? Annie and Lily do some research on werewolves. They don't want to kill Jake now, but want to cure him at least. But given they don't have any access to a known cure and, you know, the vagueness that is the Shadow Zone, they're up shit creek without a paddle. Suddenly, Rusty and the Tar Street Boys show up at their window, challenging them to go to Graystone Point. And despite the girls trying to warn them not to go, they aren't buying what the girls are selling. They head to the quarry and compete in a contest with the rope swing. But as Annie swings, Rusty hits her with a slingshot, sending her flying into the nearest tree. She tells the boys to get help, which they do, leaving Annie stuck in a tree, Lily on the ground, oh, and werewolf Jake there too. But they manage to get him to help Annie out of the tree, so that's a plus. Annie's a bit scratched from coming down the tree, but that's probably nothing...

The Tar Street Boys return with the sheriff, who scolds everyone for messing around with the quarry, and tell them that the rope swing will be coming down and the spot will be off limits. But Lily and Annie managed to hide Jake in time. The next day, it's Sara's birthday. Jake shows up and talks with the girls again, saying that he doesn't eat humans, but other animals and stuff. And while he'd love to be cured, he's kind of fine with being a werewolf. Sara's birthday party occurs and it goes off without a hitch.

Later, Jake apologizes for scratching Annie the previous night. Which at first seems like no big deal, until Annie notices her nails are sharper and she's getting really hungry.

This book was fine, but I have to say, it kind of felt like the most uneventful book I've read in quite some time. Like it's the most "play it safe" book there is. Which is a shame given it's a book about a werewolf. And given we've had some other Shadow Zone books with disturbing imagery, to have really nothing of the sort does kind of make this one feel like a let down. But I don't think it's a book that annoyed me like, say, One Slimy Summer. At least the characters here were all fine and did feel like they matter to the plot. It just feel like we get going, learn about Jake, get an info dump about him, and the book just ends. No big action moments, no real horror elements, no sense of danger aside from "Oh, he's a werewolf. He might do something." And we never really get much aside from the stuff at the quarry, which again feels like it comes and goes. 

And I'm guessing the author wants to play it safer and have the book be more of a supernatural comedy. And even that's kind of bland. One scene where he turns into a wolf and flashes his fangs. And he eats a lot of pizza in one scene. And that's it. It doesn't help that this book may be the worst use of the Shadow Zone concept yet. I was thinking maybe the zone came from the quarry, but Jake doesn't really make that clear, making Annie and Lily's awareness of Jake being a werewolf as being the Shadow Zone. I like this book series, but it is clear that the idea of the Shadow Zone being literal and not just the book title was extremely undercooked. Though for my negativity, I will say the book flowed well, and felt more cute and simple, which isn't always a bad thing. Though I'd assume if you're a kid who wanted to read a kids horror book, you're not exactly wanting something cute and simple. So it's perhaps the biggest conundrum book so far that I've read.

Annie is an okay protagonist. She's more dynamic in the start of the book than the end, what with her pranking Sara and being more adventurous to the quarry at night. I think she lacks the character arc that most of the Shadow Zone protagonists have. I guess it's supposed to be learning to trust Jake, but it's not as dynamic as attempts prior. Lily is also a decent secondary. She also feels like her character kind of mellows by the end. Starting so boisterous about werewolves and then kind of not being as boisterous by the end. I like Jake. The book does a good job in establishing that he's not a bad guy and that, while being a werewolf is a curse, he doesn't mind it so much, and at least seems to have his system of keeping it a secret, at least so long as no snooping eleven year olds spot him, I guess. Sara doesn't really get as much to the plot as I was expecting. Which I guess is intentional since the book has to have her be unaware of Jake being a werewolf and never knowing about it. Which I think is fine since we don't even know if the two will stay together since the book establishes that she's not one to settle. And the Tar Street Boys are semi-Superfluous Clay. Feeling here because we need bully characters, but really doing nothing major of note aside from having Annie end up in a tree. So they have A purpose, but not one of much value.

In the end, this is a decent book, just not one that I feel works as a horror story in a horror series. If all of Shadow Zone was something akin to say the Bailey School Kids, then sure, cute little story about a werewolf boy would be fine. But I've read several Shadow Zone books. I read Attack of the Mutant Bugs. I remember that barn scene. I know this series can be dark when it wants to. So this feels like a case of playing it way too safe with a concept that you could do so much more with. If there was more action and suspense, and a better purpose of the Shadow Zone concept, then this would be a better book. But, alas, it's one that simply cries wolf. Still worthy of a light recommendation. Guess Who's Dating a Werewolf? Gets a B-.