NNtG: Graveyard School #07: Slime Lake

It's July, which means it's time once again for our annual (WOO!) Party Summer month. A month full of books set around the summertime. And to kick things off we're going deep into the ooey gooey underbelly of Graveyard School with a book that promises us slime. Well given the last time we did a summer book with Slime on the cover it wasn't actually that slimy, hopefully Graveyard School can deliver. Let's find out with a visit to Slime Lake.

This might legitimately be one of the best covers I've seen for this blog. Because it's genuinely disturbing in ways that a lot of these kids horror books aren't. This level of detail on the green slime and how it oozes over the kid, the freaked out reaction from the small bit of the kid you can see. Also this  freakish image juxtaposed with rather calm scenery adds to the creep factor. I've yet to see a Graveyard School cover I didn't like and this may be our top contender for best one out of the covers I've... well... covered.

Twins Marc and Terri Foster are spending their summer at Slime Lake with their great-uncle Nicholas. He's a very sullen looking man who lives in an old house with a large tower that only he can access. Terri is more outgoing and curious while Marc is mostly a mope. The pair get dropped off, find their rooms and take a boat to the lake where we see that Nicholas' house is secluded from the rest of the town on the other end of the lake, which includes a recreation area referred to as The Wreck, run by a man simply known as Pops. Marc jokingly throws Terri into the lake, but she suddenly gets sucked in. This causes Marc to panic as we're only 10 pages in and this kid may have attempted murder on his hands, but Terri pops back up and scares him, getting back at him. Reader beware, you're in for japes.

They continue rowing in the water only to notice that the water's very slimy and green. But before we question more about this slimy substance, a motorboat speeds by the kids, almost hitting their boat. They arrive at the Wreck and notice that it's not as old-timey as it used to be and the old concessions have been changed to stuff that looks more corporate. They meet with Jaws Bennett, because I guess we need to have at least one cameo from other books. They then run into the man who clipped them earlier, George Quayle which, that has to be a subtle reference to George Bush and Dan Quayle and if so, I applaud your use of names. He's purchased Slime Lake and has renamed it to Emerald Shores. Yep, it's one of these stories. He's a venture capitalist who intends to turn Slime lake into a condo resort and essentially get rid of anything environmental. Also Pops retired. That's right, retired. Don't read more into that. He also has a mascot ready for the park, Emmie the Emerald Shores Monster. Essentially just a crap version of the Loch Ness Monster. Terri is more intrigued by everything, while Marc can see through the BS of Mr. Quayle. 

That night, Marc hears strange noises outside and thinks it's Terri. He sees her on the dock, but when he tries to scare her, she's motionless, as if being hypnotized by something. The noise is right below them on the dock and before anything could attack, Marc drags Terri back to the house just as she snaps out of it. Marc now believes there's a monster in the lake, while Terri seems to be almost in trance a lot. The next day, they go swimming in the lake and are almost run over by Mr. Quayle's motorboat. He scolds them for swimming in the lake, despite that kind of being what it's for. Terri is more respectful while Marc still doesn't buy what Mr. Quayle is selling. They make it to the recreation center where A whole bunch of characters from previous books are at. Jaws, Stacey, Skate, Polly Hannah, Jordie, Vickie and Maria. They head to the lake for a swim, but when they emerge from the water, they're covered in a thick, smelly slime. Jaws tells them that ever since Mr. Quayle took over, the water in the lake has become more sticky and algae like. Stacey notes that it's probably due to the balance of the lake being shifted because of Mr. Quayle, but Polly would prefer they just drain the lake and get it over with, because Polly sucks. 

The kids then run into Tiffany Quayle, Mr. Quayle's niece, who tells them of a canoe race which is really just so that the kids will rent his canoes instead of using their own. Hell, he doesn't even know what the prize will be for winning said canoe race. Terri signs herself and Marc up, much to Marc's chagrin. As they head home, they notice that the slime burned a hole through Marc's shirt. This gives us a pretty good nightmare scene where Marc feels his body start to dissolve. His shoulder where the slime had touched him melting away, skin dripping off like rotten ice cream. Terri enters the room and her leg where she got touched by the slime is nothing but bone. Like holy crap that's actually a good nightmare scenario. Props to this book. Marc, Terri, Maria and Stacey play in the lake some more the next day when suddenly Maria gets pulled down into the water. The others save her, but she's pretty shaken up and confused. Uncle Nicholas shows up and is very concerned, but we're still about 35 pages away from him actually telling us what the hell's going on. He says it must have been undertow or something. Totally not a monster in the lake, what would give you that idea? But now both Marc and Terri are convinced that there's a monster in that lake.

The canoe race goes on and everything seems to go well until suddenly Stacey's oar is bitten in half and the other canoes are being rocked and attacked by something under the water with Terri seemingly the only one who may have seen something with a big head and dark seal-like eyes. The kids make it back to shore with an angry Mr. Quayle saying that they were trying to make him look bad and that there is no monster. It's their uncle trying to screw up his plans for what is now going to be a country club. They inquire Uncle Nicholas about it, but he's still not saying anything even with 22 pages left in this story. Marc and Terri continue to question what's up with the monster. It could have eaten the kids in the water but chose to eat the oar instead, so maybe it's not evil, but Marc isn't entirely sure about that. They return to the water where first Terri gets pulled down, then Marc. He awakens inside one of the underground caves in the lake, covered in slime. He searches around and eventually finds Terri and Uncle Nicholas, and a giant Loch Ness monster, our monster of the lake.

Uncle Nicholas explains what's going on. He's the keeper of the lake, a job that's been passed down from generation to generation. The lake is sort of a hub-lake, connecting to other nearby lakes via the caves. Emmie, our monster, is sort of the lake spirit, one of many that protect the lakes. Things were going fine and the twins were chosen to be the next lake keepers, but things went awry when Quayle showed up, got rid of Pops, and started screwing up the natural order. As the trio continue in the caves, they can hear the voice of Mr. Quayle, who had Pops tied up underground and has been trying to get him to sign over the land, but Pops refuses to.

So, since kidnapping won't get the job done, he throws Pops into a boat and plans to drown him, have it look like an accident, then slide in and forge a will that hands over land rights. Dude should have thought of that in the first place, but we wouldn't have much of a book, I guess. The trio try to stop him but Quayle begins to row in the lake. Then the boat explodes with Emmie ramming into it. She saves the two of them, with Quayle unconscious. Some time passes. Quayle gives the land back to Pops and disappears. Everything is back to normal, even the now less slimy lake. Terri and Marc now know more about how Emmie was testing the two of them to see if they're worthy of the role of lake keepers, but both seem ready to do so. The kids all go back into the lake with Marc and Terri in a canoe again. Marc thinks to himself that he loves this lake, with the voice of Emmie replying "me too" in his head.

So cool cover, just okay book overall. That seems to be what we're dealing with here. I think because I've read so many of these types of stories with the similar plot of "save the forest/camp site/lake" it never really got me all that jazzed throughout. That being said, what it does, it does quite well. Just enough build with the mystery and the reveal and final act are decent, albeit rushed. The pacing is a big slog-like to lead us to said very rushed ending. Which, now that I think about it, were also the issues I had the last time I covered a Graveyard School book for the blog. It doesn't have much for a mystery, everything feels pretty obvious. From Uncle Nicholas' role, to the monster in the lake, to the reason everything happening being because of capitalism. If it's your first time with this type of story, it would probably work well, if it's your twentieth, it sort of falls into the ether. Granted, the nightmare section was really good and one of the better horror scenarios I've seen in Graveyard School so far. 

Marc and Terri are fine protagonists. Marc being our main focus as he's the pessimist who needs to learn about everything and change his point of view. While still being someone who cares about the lake from the get go, never once buying what George Quayle is selling. Terri seems to be more optimistic, and the one who believes in monsters more so than Marc. She's a bit too nice to Mr. Quayle, which is confusing, given nothing about her character would feel like it would even want to be polite to someone who almost killed them with his motorboat and is trying to kill the lake and everything it stood for. Speaking of which, George Quayle is a decent villain. Always feeling full of shit, always acting like your standard phony-smiling, environment hating, capitalist vulture. He seems more forceful, being willing to commit murder to get what he wants, so he feels more of a threat than most with this gimmick. Uncle Nicholas is fine, though mostly in the background until the reveal of Emmie, who is a cool monster for the story. The other kids feel like a case of book bloat. I get it, every book tries to slightly connect itself with characters from past books, but this was a case of too many. Jaws was here for mild exposition, Polly here for the mean girl role, and Stacey and Maria were here to be part of the horror. Skate, Vickie, Jordie and any others I've missed were perhaps the best case of Superfluous Clay I've covered in the blog for some time now.

So yeah, this book was fine. Does a very by-the-numbers plot as well as you could ask for. I do like some elements and it does a good job in feeling like a summertime story, and it does contain a really good nightmare. It just ultimately feels like a book I've read too many times for this blog. In comparison to a slightly similar book, Shadow Zone's One Slimy Summer, it does a better job in having the protagonists actually matter a little more to the plot than that book did, so it's a definite plus. I can give it a recommend. It's not exactly a top tier book, but it's still an easy read. Alas, my hunt for the Graveyard School book I really like continues I guess. Ah well. Slime Lake gets a B-.