NNtG: Bone Chillers #16: The Queen of the Gargoyles

It's time for another trip back into Bone Chillers. This one is set in the summer, so it technically counts in being a (Woo!) Party Summer blog. And after our last trip gave us what might be one of my favorite books ever, this one has a lot to live up to. But it does have gargoyles. Gargoyles are cool. Let's find out what's up with The Queen of the Gargoyles.

This isn't my favorite of the Bone Chillers covers. I think it's just missing something to really make it pop and feel memorable. But it's still a Tim Jacobus work so I still like it. The gargoyles are cool designs. Freaky, but not the scariest designs ever. I don't recall seeing this cover as a kid, but I doubt they'd have scared me. I love the large moonlight and the red sunset sweeping over New York. We don't get a lot of Jacobus doing citywide shots like this, mostly more stuff in rural areas or forests, or suburbia. So when you get something more unique from Tim, it's always appreciated. Again, not my favorite cover, but I still like it a lot. I hope that doesn't fully jinx this one.

Isabella Richmond is having a bad time. Her summer plans to go to California with her friend Janey Miller and go horseback riding have been canceled as her parents are instead bringing her to New York to spend the summer with her Great Aunt Beatrice, or Aunt Bea for short. If there are Andy Griffith references in this book, then Gene Hult understood the assignment. Her parents are off to Europe and despite her pleas to be where the horses are, she's horse shit out of luck. She complains the whole way up the elevator towards Aunt Bea's apartment, complaining that she hates Broadway shows and museums and riding city horses in Central Park. Good lord, Evan Ross wasn't even this whiny. The family get off on the wrong floor before heading back in the elevator to floor 25. To which a man in the elevator seems really concerned that Isabella is staying in this building. Isabella notices a picture of a horse on the wall of the 25th floor, though its eyes are blank voids. They arrive at Bea's apartment only to be greeted by a monster named Jonesy, who is Bea's butler for forty years. And the parents are just okay with this. They left their kid to die and then start a new life in Europe didn't they?

Isabella meets Aunt Bea who is described as rather short with white hair in a bun. Also, while I don't think it's brought up, in my head she has a very over the top New York accent. She seems to have some sway in New York and even says that Isabella can go to the Central Park stables to ride horses. So I guess that shuts up the horse whining. She heads to bed later on, after seeing the greenhouse atop the roof of Aunt Bea's apartment. It's lined with gargoyles, which Bea says makes them like her protectors and servants. As Isabella tries to sleep, she looks outside her window and thinks she sees one of the gargoyles standing up, but chalks it up to just being super tired, you know, from all the whining. She dreams of people fighting dragons, but the people, like the horse painting, have blank white eyes. The next morning, Isabella wakes up to Aunt Bea making a big breakfast before she has to leave for unspecified reasons given, you know, still super early in the book. Isabella also notices Jonesy again and how gray-skinned, frog-like and almost non-human he is, but again, chalk that too to being super early in this book to maybe clue in about the gargoyle stuff. Before she leaves, Bea says that Isabella has lay of the land in the apartment, but don't go into the room next to her bedroom for, yet again, unspecified reasons given, you know, still super early in the book. I mean she says valuables, which could mean gargoyle queen stuff or cocaine stash. One or the other.

Of course, with a forbidden room of mystery, it doesn't take too long until Aunt Bea leaves for Isabella to try to open the door, only to be stopped by Jonesy who gives her the spare apartment key. She goes looking around the apartment building and runs into a doorman named Lawrence, who seems concerned that Isabella is staying on the 38th floor for, say it with me now, unspecified reasons given, you know, still super early in the book. She looks around the building, finding the ballroom, which leads to another door filled with locked rooms. As she wanders, Isabella hears footsteps approaching her, so she runs, eventually finding herself in the laundry room where she hears more noises. Those coming from a boy her age named Jay Farley. See, he needed some time alone to cry because his younger sister Stephanie has been missing for days, ever since she went to the roof of the building. And despite wanting to help, the cops told him to not get involved, hence why he's having a breakdown in a laundry room. Isabella offers to take him up to Aunt Bea's penthouse and the roof above to search. But as they leave, she again feels like they're being watched.

But before the pair can go up to search, when they arrive at Aunt Bea's apartment, they find her there. She's aware of Jay's missing sister, and tells the pair to take their minds off of this totally not kidnapping that she may be involved in, HINT HINT LOCKED ROOM, by going riding in central park. But they choose to check the roof regardless. The two look around as Isabella gazes at all the tall buildings like the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building. as she peers over the roof, she begins to lose balance and fall, only to be saved in time. But not by Jay, who is all the way on the other side of the roof. Jay notices one of the gargoyles is positioned differently than the others, with its head looking up. He thinks it looks familiar, but we're still not even halfway done, so, yup, unspecified reasons given, you know, still super early in the book. They make their leave to the stable, but not before Isabella notices Aunt Bea staring at Jay with a rather crazed look on her face. Still a chance that locked room is her coke stash, all I'm sayin'. 

The kids go riding in Central Park with Isabella riding a horse named Old Rob and Jay on one called Sister Eileen. Isabella notes their beautiful eyes, which will no doubt be important later. She rides over to Aunt Bea who jumps up and stares at the Old Rob, sending the horse running into the woods and Isabella into a branch, but Jay saves her in time. The near-death experience is enough horse riding for one day. They return to Aunt Bea's, where again Isabella notices that Bea is staring at Jay in a very creepy manner, so now Isabella is starting to think something must be up with her great aunt. She has a pizza party for the kids the next night and begins to ask Jay questions pertaining to his bedroom and more importantly which direction his bedroom faces. Isabella tries to get Jay to return to the roof, but Bea says it's far too late to be doing anything like that, and maybe Jay should go home and go to bed in the room that's facing a specific direction for no concerning reasons whatsoever. 

That night, Isabella awakens to strange noises outside, even for New York. Also some gargoyles are missing. She heads out to the hall to look around and finds that the secret room is open. It's like a large hangar or sorts inside, with a large glass wall. Also inside is Jay, tied up in a chair. Aunt Bea is dancing around him chanting stuff while wearing a silvery gown and a pointy hat. Jonesy shows up, or more accurately flies in as do other strange creatures. So, if you guessed Jonesy's a gargoyle, then you won't be too shocked I guess. Isabella gets caught as Bea continues the spell which eventually turns Jay into a gargoyle. So, I'm not 100% wrong on the "Parents left her for dead and went to Europe" theory. Isabella faints, but when she's awakened she's surrounded by the gargoyles. Each of them a former person who lived in the building, including Jay who is already losing his memories of being human. William, one of the gargoyles and the man who tried to warn Isabella early in the book, says that the gargoyles love her, but also love Beatrice. That they have always lived in the building. Isabella also discovers that one of the gargoyles is Stephanie, Jay's sister. The siblings reunite, but William tells them it's best to forget humanity. Best get used to the Gargoyle life instead.

As Isabella tries to escape, she's caught by Aunt Bea, who has a whistle that controls the gargoyles. Bea says that it's really not that bad being a gargoyle, sure you were kidnapped against your will, but you don't get sick or all that hungry. There is, of course, a way to reverse the spell, but she's not that stupid as to tell her. Isabella makes a run for it with the other gargoyles chasing her. She manages to avoid Jonesy, sending him slamming head-first into the kitchen stove. And then manages to do a couch spring jump over the other gargoyles in the living room. But all that exciting action is cut short when she's caught again by Jonesy and thrown into her bedroom with Bea saying that she's next in line. Which I can smell the swerve already with that quote, so we could be looking at an interesting ending here. Let's see if Hult sticks that landing. 

Isabella doesn't want to be next in line to be a gargoyle, so she exits the window and finds Jay, convincing him to help her escape. They get spotted by Aunt Bea who chases after them, which does give us a fun scene of them flying through Central Park and the Empire State Building. But they eventually get caught in a giant butterfly net that Bea had for I guess an occasion like this. They bring Isabella back to the hideout and tie her up. But instead of turning her into a gargoyle, Bea instead puts her hat on Isabella's head and, as you probably guessed from the "next in line" quote, dubs her the queen of the gargoyles. Yeah, this has been a thing in her family for generations, with the title being passed down. And Bea wants to go live in Miami with Jonesy so it's Isabella's turn to carry the crown. Oh and if Isabella refuses the position, the gargoyles all die, and there wouldn't be any evidence to pin on Bea. 

A week passes and surprisingly Isabella's parents arrive to bring her home. She tells them that she's not going home, and that Aunt Bea's long gone. Her parents are seemingly confused at this, but then Isabella blows the whistle and sends the gargoyles out to confront her parents. Okay this book was good but this twist kind of rules actually?

This is Gene Hult's only Bone Chillers book, as well as his only kids horror book at all as all I can get from him is a lot of books for younger readers, namely for Clifford around the time of the 2000s series. And I think he does a good job. Granted, it gives us perhaps one of the more reserved Bone Chillers books. Lacking the pure insanity of most of the other books in the series. It also kind of feels like something got lost in the shuffle to the story. The whole thing with the blank eyes, Aunt Bea scaring the horse, stuff like that. I think the initial plan was probably a happier ending with Aunt Bea being defeated and the horses having something to do with the cure for the gargoyle curse. But no, we go straight for a darker ending. One where the main character is sort of screwed but accepts her fate in the end. I guess since the gargoyles do love her, it means she'll be safe. Whether she decides to just be a gargoyle maker like Bea or not is up in the air, though that twist ending at least makes it look as if she'll make two more victims. 

Which makes me wonder if the parents knew anything about this. You'd think at least the mom would, given she's related to Bea and the history of the queendom, and them being acquainted with Jonesy would at least make it seem like they were aware of something given the book doesn't do THAT good a job in making Jonesy come off as a convincing looking human being. But no, they get caught off guard in the end. It's actually a pretty good subversion of what could have just been a twist derivative of The Girl Who Cried Monster where the family is in on the whole gargoyle stuff, but nope. It actually leaves the reader wondering what happens next. I mean, they could have just let her go to California with Janey, but noooo, THEY had to go to Europe and now BAM! She's cursed to care for gargoyles until she's as old as Beatrice. So you don't exactly feel too bad for the Richmond parents fate. 

I don't know how to fully feel about Isabella. She starts the book whiny and unlikeable, but then becomes more mellowed out and someone willing to do what she can to help others, namely Jay in finding his sister. But now that she's queen, does she change? Will she be less evil than Bea was or will she fall into that same pattern, turning would-be visitors of the building into gargoyles? It falls into the Ricky Beamer category of shades of gray better than Lucy Dark. Jay is here as the best friend role, searching for his sister only to be cursed like her by the story's end. Although now that he's in the "butler" role that Jonesy was, I guess ultimately he accepted his fate. Bea is interesting as a villain. Good at pretending to be nice, but ultimately is evil, turning her victims into gargoyles. And the queen job has clearly made her demented, and maybe romantically interested in Jonesy, who does work fine as the secondary villain to Bea. 

Ultimately, this is a good Bone Chillers book, but it feels like a bad case of rewriting was put upon it where certain elements get dropped entirely for a far different story and outcome in the end. I do think there was going to be a point to the blank eyes and the cure stuff, but Hult hit a wall and we pivoted to an ending where Isabella accepts her fate. That and it's far less wild compared to other Bone Chillers books. But the stuff that it does do, especially in the action and suspense department, it does quite well. So I'd still say it's worth a recommend. The Queen of the Gargoyles gets an Aunt B+.