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The Joy of Spooking #1
The Joy of Spooking: Fiendish Deeds
Do you dare set foot in Spooking?
It's the terrible town on the hideous hill -- and Joy Wells is a proud resident. A fan of classic horror stories, Joy is convinced that famous author E. A. Peugeot based his spine-tingling tales on Spooking. Take the eerie similarities between the nearby swamp and the setting of his masterpiece, "The Bawl of the Bog Fiend." Could the story be true? Could the bog fiend be on the loose?
Things become truly horrifying when Joy learns that Darlington, the despicable suburban city where she is forced to go to school, is planning to build a water park over her beloved bog. It is up to her to safeguard the endangered area and its secrets. Little does she know that there is someone determined to destroy not only the bog but the town of Spooking itself -- and anyone who dares stand in his way.
P. J. Bracegirdle spins a yarn of delicious devilry and macabre mayhem in the very first book of The Joy of Spooking trilogy.
192 pages, Paperback
First published August 5, 2008
5 people are currently reading
1440 people want to read
About the author
P.J. Bracegirdle
5 books27 followersBorn in Montreal, P. J. Bracegirdle has done everything from keeping the stage door of a haunted old Scottish theater to pushing laundry carts along dark tunnels under an insane asylum. His last job involved pretending to write thick manuals nobody really read for products few people ever used.
"Becoming an author was my life's work," says PJB, "if, that is, a life's work can consist of staring off into space instead of attending to whatever menial task is expected of you.",
PJB now writes books for children, which is much more fun than writing for adults, he says. "Adults have an amazing capacity to suck the joy out of such noble pursuits as Reading and Writing until they resemble their favorite pastimes: Working and Suffering."
Not surprisingly, PJB recommends long spells of staring into space to others wishing to follow in his footsteps. "If you wait long enough and stare with sufficient blankness, things come into sharp focus that are completely invisible to others. Some are beautiful and moving, others are frightening and terrible. Happily, these are the very same things you need to write down as an author. Which is very convenient, I might add."
"Becoming an author was my life's work," says PJB, "if, that is, a life's work can consist of staring off into space instead of attending to whatever menial task is expected of you.",
PJB now writes books for children, which is much more fun than writing for adults, he says. "Adults have an amazing capacity to suck the joy out of such noble pursuits as Reading and Writing until they resemble their favorite pastimes: Working and Suffering."
Not surprisingly, PJB recommends long spells of staring into space to others wishing to follow in his footsteps. "If you wait long enough and stare with sufficient blankness, things come into sharp focus that are completely invisible to others. Some are beautiful and moving, others are frightening and terrible. Happily, these are the very same things you need to write down as an author. Which is very convenient, I might add."
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October 9, 2020
The history of juvenile literature is replete with books about kids standing up to city hall or corporate overlords, but P.J. Bracegirdle adds a spooky twist in his 2008 debut, Fiendish Deeds. Two towns could hardly be more different than Darlington, a modern suburb with a booming population, and Spooking, a dark, sinister town contained within Darlington. Eleven-year-old Joy Wells likes the atmosphere of Spooking; few families ever move there, preferring Darlington's social climate, but Joy's mother couldn't pass up the great price she received on the mansion they now live in. Spooking is becoming a ghost town, and the kids at Winsome Elementary regard Joy and her eight-year-old brother Byron as oddballs for living there. The boys call her a "Spooky" and play mean jokes, but Joy takes solace in the writings of long-dead horror author Ethan Alvin Peugeot. She's convinced he lived in and wrote about Spooking, including the bog he claimed a monster inhabited. Joy's parents and schoolteacher don't take her theory seriously, but what if the "Bog Fiend" truly lurks in Spooking?
E.A. Peugeot and the Bog Fiend are mere curiosities for Joy until Darlington's Mayor MacBrayne visits Winsome Elementary for an assembly. Accompanied by his assistant, the furtive Mr. Phipps, Mayor MacBrayne announces a major public works project: the new Misty Mermaid Water Park. To be built where the bog currently sits, the park will jumpstart the local economy. Most of the kids approve, especially eight-year-old genius Morris M. Mealey, but Joy is horrified. Destroy the bog? What about Madame Portia, the old widow who lives there? What about the Bog Fiend? Against her parents' wishes, Joy walks down to the bog to warn Madame Portia, but the widow isn't concerned. She's refused to sell her house in the past, and is confident she can stymie Darlington's attempts at eminent domain once more. Too bad someone out there has a personal interest in defeating Madame Portia, by any means necessary. This enemy will use deceit and even violence to evict her, but Joy may be able to stop him. Prior to his untimely death, Madame Portia's husband, Ludwig Zweig, was on the cusp of discovering a rare species in the bog, which would place the area under the authority of the Federal Imperiled Species Protection Agency. If Joy proves the species exists, Mayor MacBrayne won't be allowed to bulldoze the bog. But will she be in time to save Madame Portia from her hidden foe?
"No one ever stays the same their whole life. No one stays innocent forever."
—Octavio Phipps, Fiendish Deeds, P. 214
Fiendish Deeds had potential, but fulfills little of it. The narrative is unexciting, cliché, and convoluted: whose idea was the water park, Morris's or the mayor's? Why is so much attention paid to Mr. Phipps's backstory? Explanations may come in books two and three, but Fiendish Deeds doesn't whet the reader's appetite for more. Joy is a peculiar girl, though, one that other offbeat kids might gravitate toward. "(A)s Joy grew older, she often found that what seemed 'reasonable' to everyone else seemed completely insane to her." This is the rallying cry of nonconformists, those of us who observe the world through our own lens. Nicoletta Ceccoli's cover art is probably the book's best feature; its noirish look adds some class, perhaps more than the story merits. Fiendish Deeds could be a lot better—I'd rate it one and a half stars—and I have hopes the next book, Unearthly Asylum, will be more cohesive and compelling.
E.A. Peugeot and the Bog Fiend are mere curiosities for Joy until Darlington's Mayor MacBrayne visits Winsome Elementary for an assembly. Accompanied by his assistant, the furtive Mr. Phipps, Mayor MacBrayne announces a major public works project: the new Misty Mermaid Water Park. To be built where the bog currently sits, the park will jumpstart the local economy. Most of the kids approve, especially eight-year-old genius Morris M. Mealey, but Joy is horrified. Destroy the bog? What about Madame Portia, the old widow who lives there? What about the Bog Fiend? Against her parents' wishes, Joy walks down to the bog to warn Madame Portia, but the widow isn't concerned. She's refused to sell her house in the past, and is confident she can stymie Darlington's attempts at eminent domain once more. Too bad someone out there has a personal interest in defeating Madame Portia, by any means necessary. This enemy will use deceit and even violence to evict her, but Joy may be able to stop him. Prior to his untimely death, Madame Portia's husband, Ludwig Zweig, was on the cusp of discovering a rare species in the bog, which would place the area under the authority of the Federal Imperiled Species Protection Agency. If Joy proves the species exists, Mayor MacBrayne won't be allowed to bulldoze the bog. But will she be in time to save Madame Portia from her hidden foe?
"No one ever stays the same their whole life. No one stays innocent forever."
—Octavio Phipps, Fiendish Deeds, P. 214
Fiendish Deeds had potential, but fulfills little of it. The narrative is unexciting, cliché, and convoluted: whose idea was the water park, Morris's or the mayor's? Why is so much attention paid to Mr. Phipps's backstory? Explanations may come in books two and three, but Fiendish Deeds doesn't whet the reader's appetite for more. Joy is a peculiar girl, though, one that other offbeat kids might gravitate toward. "(A)s Joy grew older, she often found that what seemed 'reasonable' to everyone else seemed completely insane to her." This is the rallying cry of nonconformists, those of us who observe the world through our own lens. Nicoletta Ceccoli's cover art is probably the book's best feature; its noirish look adds some class, perhaps more than the story merits. Fiendish Deeds could be a lot better—I'd rate it one and a half stars—and I have hopes the next book, Unearthly Asylum, will be more cohesive and compelling.
November 1, 2008
Joy Wells lives in the crumbling town of Spooking with her parents and her younger brother, Byron. Spooking lies high on a hill overlooking the city of Darlington. The town has seen better days, most of the homes are uninhabited or need major repair. The shops on Main Street are all closed. The few kids that live in Spooking are bussed down to Darlington to go to school.
Darlington, down the hill from Spooking, is a perfect and unimaginative place. The houses are all alike and the people are all strangely cheerful. At school, the kids from Spooking are picked on and called "Spookys". They, in turn, despise the stuck up Darlington kids and call them "Darlings".
Joy is a smart and imaginative young girl with a pet frog who thinks he's a dog (he barks!). She loves to read the spine-tingling tales of her favorite author, E.A. Peugeot. Peugeot mysteriously disappeared years ago and was never heard from again but there is speculation that his stories might leave clues to what happened to him. In Joy's favorite story, "The Bawl of the Bog Fiend," the hero of the story is attacked by the monster in a bog that sounds very like Spooking's own bog which lies at the bottom of the hill. Joy is convinced the author actually wrote the story about Spooking.
Unfortunately, Darlington has plans for that bog. The greedy Mayor MacBrayne and his right hand man, the evil Mr. Phipps, have decided that the bog is the perfect place to build a water park. Joy is determined to do whatever is necessary to stop the destruction of one of her favorite places. She and her brother have some hair-raising experiences in her quest and a big adventure on Halloween night.
P.J. Bracegirdle (his real name!) has written an imaginative and exciting tale and filled it with characters both endearing and dastardly. It is a perfect story for everyone from eight to eighty and beyond! I'm looking forward to the further adventures of Joy, Byron and the town of Spooking. Book Two will be published in the summer of 2009.
Darlington, down the hill from Spooking, is a perfect and unimaginative place. The houses are all alike and the people are all strangely cheerful. At school, the kids from Spooking are picked on and called "Spookys". They, in turn, despise the stuck up Darlington kids and call them "Darlings".
Joy is a smart and imaginative young girl with a pet frog who thinks he's a dog (he barks!). She loves to read the spine-tingling tales of her favorite author, E.A. Peugeot. Peugeot mysteriously disappeared years ago and was never heard from again but there is speculation that his stories might leave clues to what happened to him. In Joy's favorite story, "The Bawl of the Bog Fiend," the hero of the story is attacked by the monster in a bog that sounds very like Spooking's own bog which lies at the bottom of the hill. Joy is convinced the author actually wrote the story about Spooking.
Unfortunately, Darlington has plans for that bog. The greedy Mayor MacBrayne and his right hand man, the evil Mr. Phipps, have decided that the bog is the perfect place to build a water park. Joy is determined to do whatever is necessary to stop the destruction of one of her favorite places. She and her brother have some hair-raising experiences in her quest and a big adventure on Halloween night.
P.J. Bracegirdle (his real name!) has written an imaginative and exciting tale and filled it with characters both endearing and dastardly. It is a perfect story for everyone from eight to eighty and beyond! I'm looking forward to the further adventures of Joy, Byron and the town of Spooking. Book Two will be published in the summer of 2009.
November 17, 2015
I picked up this book used because the cover reminded me of another MG novel I enjoyed called Horns and Wrinkles. Turns out, it's the same cover artist :). Not that has anything to do with anything, but still...
The story. Joy is a girl living in a tiny town called Spooking. A nearly-forgotten town on the edge of the much larger town of Darlington. The Darlings tend to be unfriendly toward the residents of Spooking--Joy and her brother are called "Spookies" and are pretty much tormented by the Darlington children. And one day, it's announced at their school that the bog in Spooking is going to be mowed down so a water park can be built, which Joy knows will be the end of Spooking.
Joy loves her town. It's dark and brooding, just like her. Joy wishes she had her mother's raven-black hair. She hates all things pink and frilly, and her favorite author is Ethan Alvin Peugot, who Joy believes was a Spooky himself before his mysterious death.
Using one of Peugot's stories, Joy attempts to save Spooking's bog from destruction.
Simply put, I loved this book. I could totally connect with Joy. All the other characters were vivid and quirky as well. The writing completely captured me. I adore books like this. Dark and strange, with a kind of twisted humor. I am definitely getting the next book in the series!
(Oh, I mentioned the book Horns and Wrinkles because of the cover, but actually, if you like this book you'll likely enjoy that one, too, because it's got a similar feel.)
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My YA fantasy series:
book 1
book 2
The story. Joy is a girl living in a tiny town called Spooking. A nearly-forgotten town on the edge of the much larger town of Darlington. The Darlings tend to be unfriendly toward the residents of Spooking--Joy and her brother are called "Spookies" and are pretty much tormented by the Darlington children. And one day, it's announced at their school that the bog in Spooking is going to be mowed down so a water park can be built, which Joy knows will be the end of Spooking.
Joy loves her town. It's dark and brooding, just like her. Joy wishes she had her mother's raven-black hair. She hates all things pink and frilly, and her favorite author is Ethan Alvin Peugot, who Joy believes was a Spooky himself before his mysterious death.
Using one of Peugot's stories, Joy attempts to save Spooking's bog from destruction.
Simply put, I loved this book. I could totally connect with Joy. All the other characters were vivid and quirky as well. The writing completely captured me. I adore books like this. Dark and strange, with a kind of twisted humor. I am definitely getting the next book in the series!
(Oh, I mentioned the book Horns and Wrinkles because of the cover, but actually, if you like this book you'll likely enjoy that one, too, because it's got a similar feel.)
My Website
Find me on Facebook
My YA fantasy series:
book 1
book 2
June 16, 2011
Just as I suspected it would, The Joy of Spooking: Fiendish Deeds has earned a place on my list of all time favorites. I love the concept, I love the characters and the storyline is engaging and relevant. But most of all I love P.J.’s writing – it’s my exact kind of slightly dark humor and is full of gems like Joy’s brother Byron’s thoughts when the two meet a filthy but surprisingly friendly old “witch” woman at the bog:
“Byron continued to stare at her suspiciously. He’d read the fairy tales, and such chumminess usually meant a kid-size oven was preheating somewhere nearby.”
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Joy, Byron and their parents live in Spooking – “the terrible town on the hideous hill.” They don’t exactly fit in with the cookie-cutter residents of Darlington, the sprawling neighbor city where they have to attend school. Joy’s hobby is researching the legend of the bog fiend and the horror writer E.A. Peugeot and she’d really rather have nothing to do with Darlington at all. She does venture there to accompany Byron to a couple of parties (the precocious 8 year old has a crush on a darling of Darlington), and she is forced to confront some of its citizens in her quest to prevent a water park from being built over her beloved bog.
This is a story about preserving diversity – both in nature and in society. But it is far from being preachy – it is fun and exciting with a liberal portion of spookiness. The villain, major assistant Mr. Phipps, is exactly the kind of well-rounded, conflicted fiendish deed doer that makes a juicy character – we get the sense that he was once quite like Joy before something went terribly wrong. I eagerly await the next two books in the planned trilogy to find out more about Mr. Phipps’ background and follow Joy and Byron’s further adventures. Highly recommended to all readers 8 and up.
“Byron continued to stare at her suspiciously. He’d read the fairy tales, and such chumminess usually meant a kid-size oven was preheating somewhere nearby.”
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Joy, Byron and their parents live in Spooking – “the terrible town on the hideous hill.” They don’t exactly fit in with the cookie-cutter residents of Darlington, the sprawling neighbor city where they have to attend school. Joy’s hobby is researching the legend of the bog fiend and the horror writer E.A. Peugeot and she’d really rather have nothing to do with Darlington at all. She does venture there to accompany Byron to a couple of parties (the precocious 8 year old has a crush on a darling of Darlington), and she is forced to confront some of its citizens in her quest to prevent a water park from being built over her beloved bog.
This is a story about preserving diversity – both in nature and in society. But it is far from being preachy – it is fun and exciting with a liberal portion of spookiness. The villain, major assistant Mr. Phipps, is exactly the kind of well-rounded, conflicted fiendish deed doer that makes a juicy character – we get the sense that he was once quite like Joy before something went terribly wrong. I eagerly await the next two books in the planned trilogy to find out more about Mr. Phipps’ background and follow Joy and Byron’s further adventures. Highly recommended to all readers 8 and up.
November 2, 2009
I labeled this book as fantasy, but I think it's a very mysterious fantasy. I expected it to be sort of like Lemony Snicket books - a witty, black humor kind of thing. It is like that, but it's also much more unusual than I expected. The author doesn't get all cutesy or spare any gory details - there are some very nearly adult themes in the book. The plot is clearly setting up for a series, so there are some elements that seem vague and confusing for now, but all in all I was very interested by this unusual story, and I will definitely read the sequel.
September 23, 2020
This book seems to have been written for middle school kids. That is probably why it seemed to have lagged for me, other than the other issue for me.
I will say that one of the issues I have is an eight year old having a crush on a girl. I don't know, that just seems weird too me. Maybe you can have a crush on someone at eight years old.
The other issue is Morris, he just needs to be thrown into time-out for being a brat. He just needs to get spanked. I don't care if he's a 'genius' but he sure did piss me off.
The other issue I have is Phipps. He just needs to get a life, stop tormenting kids and little old ladies. He also decided to torment Madame Portia and accidentally rendered her homeless while he was it. He also allowed a guy to be killed by leeches, too. I guess that's what makes a great antagonist.
The mystery, paranormal, and the thought of what's going to happen next, kept me reading.
There wasn't any romance, although there was something there, like Bryon's crush on Lucy, and Joy having feelings for Louden (due to the fluttering in her stomach). I'm sure Louden has a crush on Joy too.
I'm not entirely sure, but wouldn't doctors get a little suspicious when a kid shows up with a broken bone and not explain how they got it? Or if the parents can't explain how their kid got the broken bone? That just might be me.
Anyway, this book was interesting.
I will say that one of the issues I have is an eight year old having a crush on a girl. I don't know, that just seems weird too me. Maybe you can have a crush on someone at eight years old.
The other issue is Morris, he just needs to be thrown into time-out for being a brat. He just needs to get spanked. I don't care if he's a 'genius' but he sure did piss me off.
The other issue I have is Phipps. He just needs to get a life, stop tormenting kids and little old ladies. He also decided to torment Madame Portia and accidentally rendered her homeless while he was it. He also allowed a guy to be killed by leeches, too. I guess that's what makes a great antagonist.
The mystery, paranormal, and the thought of what's going to happen next, kept me reading.
There wasn't any romance, although there was something there, like Bryon's crush on Lucy, and Joy having feelings for Louden (due to the fluttering in her stomach). I'm sure Louden has a crush on Joy too.
I'm not entirely sure, but wouldn't doctors get a little suspicious when a kid shows up with a broken bone and not explain how they got it? Or if the parents can't explain how their kid got the broken bone? That just might be me.
Anyway, this book was interesting.
Read
September 3, 2011Cute, spooky middle grade mystery!
May 28, 2013
This book is adorable and perfect for the cute, unique kid who likes to beat to their own drum. Great imagination and definitely something I could to read if there were more stories from this one.
December 29, 2008
Children that grow up in relative comfort, love, and sanity get sick of that stuff pretty early in. This is no reflection on the people who have raised them or the world in which they inhabit. It's just that when you live in safety and security you may wish to shrug off the quiet world in which you live with and make a break for anything that offers you dank corners and mysterious underpinnings. The essential premise of P.J. Bracegirdle's Fiendish Deeds did not at first appeal to me. In spite of its alluring Nicoletta Ceccoli cover, the title and the glace I took at the book jacket did not initially cause my heart to beat any faster. It looked like Tim Burton lite, which I understand there is a market for but could it really be worth my time to read? It is in cases such as this that it really all comes down to the writer's pen. If it were not for the fact that Bracegirdle is a talented author with an original story cobbled together out of unoriginal parts, I might have despaired long before finishing the first chapter. However, if Fiendish Deeds offers the reader anything it would have to be a truly enjoyable leap into dark bogs, long lost mysteries, and cunning foes in wholly new ways and worlds. When I tell you that I could not stop reading, I mean it. This looks like the beginning of a beautiful series.
Joy and Byron Wells are Spooking residents and quite proud of the fact, thank you very much. Though the town is old and decomposing slowly, Joy would much rather spend her days exploring its crooks and crannies rather than have to attend school in Darlington, the shiny city down the hill. Of course Joy's real fun comes when she gets to read and reread chapters from her favorite book, The Compleat and Collected Words of E.A. Peugeot, an Edgar Allen Poe type of collection. Joy is convinced that Peaugeot spent time in Spooking, recording the deeds of a monster in the nearby bog but to her horror that very same bog is due for destruction thanks to the mayor of Darlington and his right-hand man Octavio Phipps. Now Joy and Byron must do what they can to save the bog and its denizens, even though they are only two people and there are dangers out there the like of which they've never known.
It is a reluctant fantasy, as if the book is straining against its otherworldly chains in an attempt to be relevant and realistic. Instances that seem to be fantastical turn out to have practical real world causes. In a way, we are sucked into Joy's need for the spooky and unexplained, but aside from some pretty hungry leeches (which conjure up memories of Lemony Snicket, to say the least) and hints of "disappearing" that never come to fruition, this is a pretty realistic little book. Funny that Bracegirdle that give all the indications of a magical story, but when push comes to shove it's the writing that provides the intimations of magic. Not the plot.
I was rather fond of the writing anyway. I must have been to continue reading it at all, really. You know that you are in good hands when in the first chapter a little old lady writes in her will, "The rest of it, including this house and all my worldly possessions therein, please flatten with one of those giant balls on a chain." Who doesn't love a good ball on a chain anyway? And Bracegirdle appears to be a fan of contrasts, pairing the cute and cuddly alongside the fanged and rabid with relative ease. Spooking, we are told from the start, is an old village full of, "Drafty old mansions, standing impossibly against the onslaught of time - each sinister and terrible, they flash with menace whenever a storm rolls in." The nearby town of Darlington, on the other hand, is hideous in its own suburban fervor. The height of its ridiculousness comes when Joy and Byron attend a birthday party in a faux pink castle. About the time you come to the "girls, wearing shiny smocks and pointed princess hats [who] bickered viciously over turns on a mechanical unicorn," you too would be ready to pack it all in for Spooking, never to return.
The book also happens to contain a villain of whom I have grown inordinately fond. I am not always a fan of the villains found in children's books. Too often they're just two-dimensional set pieces meant to stand in for "Evil" in some manner. I think a good villain is one that lets you into their head a little. And a really successful one can make you sympathize with them on some level. Think of Claude Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, as one example. In this particular case our villain is Octavio Phipps, a man attempting to avoid his own fate by any means necessary. He's a former punk rocker (not your usual spooky occupation for a bad guy) with a penchant for an elegant phrase. He is not a good man, but he does make some awkward stabs at civility that are always interesting to watch. One gets the feeling that though he manages to kill two people in the course of this story, he probably can tell himself that they were both accidents and believe it.
The general rule when it comes to villains is that if there is a mayor in a children's book, they are a bad mayor. This is always true unless A) The mayor is the hero's dad or B) The mayor is the hero. The same rule often applies to principals of schools. And the usual crime committed by mayors? City development, of course. You probably saw it in Hoot where it threatened endangered owls and in Highway Cats where it threatened felines. In this case the redevelopment would threaten only the residents of a bog, but it's still seen as a pretty underhanded act. Sex scandals and graft are difficult to impossible to work into children's middle grade novels, so good old nepotism and illegal development often have to do the job instead.
Consider this a kind of Edward Scissorhands for the new millennium. It's a book for those kids that love Emily the Strange, The Addams Family, the Pure Dead Wicked books, and anything else with a bit of spook and scare to it. This may be the rare book that satisfies both the kids who long for fun realistic fiction and those who like their fantasy novels dark. A crowd pleaser and a darn good bit of fiction in its own right. Fine writing.
Ages 9-12.
Joy and Byron Wells are Spooking residents and quite proud of the fact, thank you very much. Though the town is old and decomposing slowly, Joy would much rather spend her days exploring its crooks and crannies rather than have to attend school in Darlington, the shiny city down the hill. Of course Joy's real fun comes when she gets to read and reread chapters from her favorite book, The Compleat and Collected Words of E.A. Peugeot, an Edgar Allen Poe type of collection. Joy is convinced that Peaugeot spent time in Spooking, recording the deeds of a monster in the nearby bog but to her horror that very same bog is due for destruction thanks to the mayor of Darlington and his right-hand man Octavio Phipps. Now Joy and Byron must do what they can to save the bog and its denizens, even though they are only two people and there are dangers out there the like of which they've never known.
It is a reluctant fantasy, as if the book is straining against its otherworldly chains in an attempt to be relevant and realistic. Instances that seem to be fantastical turn out to have practical real world causes. In a way, we are sucked into Joy's need for the spooky and unexplained, but aside from some pretty hungry leeches (which conjure up memories of Lemony Snicket, to say the least) and hints of "disappearing" that never come to fruition, this is a pretty realistic little book. Funny that Bracegirdle that give all the indications of a magical story, but when push comes to shove it's the writing that provides the intimations of magic. Not the plot.
I was rather fond of the writing anyway. I must have been to continue reading it at all, really. You know that you are in good hands when in the first chapter a little old lady writes in her will, "The rest of it, including this house and all my worldly possessions therein, please flatten with one of those giant balls on a chain." Who doesn't love a good ball on a chain anyway? And Bracegirdle appears to be a fan of contrasts, pairing the cute and cuddly alongside the fanged and rabid with relative ease. Spooking, we are told from the start, is an old village full of, "Drafty old mansions, standing impossibly against the onslaught of time - each sinister and terrible, they flash with menace whenever a storm rolls in." The nearby town of Darlington, on the other hand, is hideous in its own suburban fervor. The height of its ridiculousness comes when Joy and Byron attend a birthday party in a faux pink castle. About the time you come to the "girls, wearing shiny smocks and pointed princess hats [who] bickered viciously over turns on a mechanical unicorn," you too would be ready to pack it all in for Spooking, never to return.
The book also happens to contain a villain of whom I have grown inordinately fond. I am not always a fan of the villains found in children's books. Too often they're just two-dimensional set pieces meant to stand in for "Evil" in some manner. I think a good villain is one that lets you into their head a little. And a really successful one can make you sympathize with them on some level. Think of Claude Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, as one example. In this particular case our villain is Octavio Phipps, a man attempting to avoid his own fate by any means necessary. He's a former punk rocker (not your usual spooky occupation for a bad guy) with a penchant for an elegant phrase. He is not a good man, but he does make some awkward stabs at civility that are always interesting to watch. One gets the feeling that though he manages to kill two people in the course of this story, he probably can tell himself that they were both accidents and believe it.
The general rule when it comes to villains is that if there is a mayor in a children's book, they are a bad mayor. This is always true unless A) The mayor is the hero's dad or B) The mayor is the hero. The same rule often applies to principals of schools. And the usual crime committed by mayors? City development, of course. You probably saw it in Hoot where it threatened endangered owls and in Highway Cats where it threatened felines. In this case the redevelopment would threaten only the residents of a bog, but it's still seen as a pretty underhanded act. Sex scandals and graft are difficult to impossible to work into children's middle grade novels, so good old nepotism and illegal development often have to do the job instead.
Consider this a kind of Edward Scissorhands for the new millennium. It's a book for those kids that love Emily the Strange, The Addams Family, the Pure Dead Wicked books, and anything else with a bit of spook and scare to it. This may be the rare book that satisfies both the kids who long for fun realistic fiction and those who like their fantasy novels dark. A crowd pleaser and a darn good bit of fiction in its own right. Fine writing.
Ages 9-12.
January 27, 2018
Bracegirdle, P.J. Fiendish Deeds (The Joy of Spooking #1), 224 p. McElderry (Simon), 2008.
Joy loves her rambling old house at the top of Spooking Hill where she lives with her younger brother Bryan and her parents. However, she doesn't love the trip to school each day into the town Darlington - a town of strip malls and cookie cutter homes which surround her beloved hill. When Joy catches the word about a planned water park to be built in place of the Spooking bog, she does what she can to thwart the plans, including befriending the scary old lady who makes the swamp her home.
Joy of Spooking feel like a more developed and less psychopathic version of Edgar and Ellen (by Charles Ogden). Kids who want something a little creepy without moving over to full fledged vampire books will enjoy this series.
EL - ADVISABLE; MS - OPTIONAL. Cindy, Library-Teacher.
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2008...
Joy loves her rambling old house at the top of Spooking Hill where she lives with her younger brother Bryan and her parents. However, she doesn't love the trip to school each day into the town Darlington - a town of strip malls and cookie cutter homes which surround her beloved hill. When Joy catches the word about a planned water park to be built in place of the Spooking bog, she does what she can to thwart the plans, including befriending the scary old lady who makes the swamp her home.
Joy of Spooking feel like a more developed and less psychopathic version of Edgar and Ellen (by Charles Ogden). Kids who want something a little creepy without moving over to full fledged vampire books will enjoy this series.
EL - ADVISABLE; MS - OPTIONAL. Cindy, Library-Teacher.
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2008...
April 30, 2021
I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't. It seemed like the author was trying too hard to be cute and weird, and it made the main character seem that way too. As a definite weird kid myself, I wanted to like Joy, but she just didn't care about anything but being weird (even at the expense of friends and family). The plot was ludicrous and problematic, and they didn't really wrap things up (saving it for a sequel, no doubt). I just found it very hard to wade through and could only bring myself to finish it because it was only 200 pages long.
October 12, 2017
what the heck was with the ending??!!
February 8, 2020
What a delightful little book. I would have absolutely adored it, had I read it at Joy's age.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
October 11, 2020
Let’s see what happens in the next book...
July 27, 2021
Joy is a young girl who is bussed to a different town (Darling) and loves the strange and weird. Unfortunately this book was predictable all the way through.
August 31, 2020
They say not to judge a book by its cover but I had a hard time getting into this book because I hated the cover so much. It took about a third of the way in until I actually liked it for its content. Ended up enjoying the book and would read more in the series.
November 29, 2013
This is a book for adults trapped in a children’s novel. That’s not to say the book as written is not suitable for the 18-and-under set (it is, other than a throwaway aside about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny – seriously, no one in the editing process thought it might be a good idea to take that one out?). Rather, Fiendish Deeds reminded me more of the intended-for-adults Flavia de Luce series, which also features a precocious tween girl solving crimes, instead of comparable children's novels. Similar to Flavia, there's nothing here that's objectionable for children to read, just that I'm not sure younger readers would fully appreciate some of the story's subtle nuances.
Joy lives in Spooking, the creepy, dilapidated old town next to Darlington, the ultimate in gentrified suburbs. She’s convinced a famous author (a fictional version of Edgar Allan Poe) lived in Spooking and set his stories there, and she’s determined to prove it. Oh, and there’s a washed-up punk rock musician sneaking around, who is more familiar with Spooking than Joy realizes.
There’s fun to be found in Fiendish Deeds. Mr. Bracegirdle has a wonderfully dry wit, and he’s adept at sketching memorable characters in a few words. But the plot feels like it was dumbed down to be a children’s book, and children’s books are more than dumbed-down version of adult novels. Too often, just as events get interesting, scenes end. When readers were next dropped into the story, everything is solved. Even taking into account the young age of the target audience, Mr. Bracegirdle doesn't take full advantage of the creepiness and tension within the story, leaving Fiendish Deeds the literary equivalent of a half-deflated basketball: sure, it still provides some entertainment, but it’s not nearly as much fun.
I want to read the no-holds-barred, adult version of this novel: not I want a novel full of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll (I don’t, because that would diminish the story’s charm), but because I want to read the version where Mr. Bracegirdle doesn’t hold back in delving into this fun, interesting world he’s created. As is, not recommended.
Joy lives in Spooking, the creepy, dilapidated old town next to Darlington, the ultimate in gentrified suburbs. She’s convinced a famous author (a fictional version of Edgar Allan Poe) lived in Spooking and set his stories there, and she’s determined to prove it. Oh, and there’s a washed-up punk rock musician sneaking around, who is more familiar with Spooking than Joy realizes.
There’s fun to be found in Fiendish Deeds. Mr. Bracegirdle has a wonderfully dry wit, and he’s adept at sketching memorable characters in a few words. But the plot feels like it was dumbed down to be a children’s book, and children’s books are more than dumbed-down version of adult novels. Too often, just as events get interesting, scenes end. When readers were next dropped into the story, everything is solved. Even taking into account the young age of the target audience, Mr. Bracegirdle doesn't take full advantage of the creepiness and tension within the story, leaving Fiendish Deeds the literary equivalent of a half-deflated basketball: sure, it still provides some entertainment, but it’s not nearly as much fun.
I want to read the no-holds-barred, adult version of this novel: not I want a novel full of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll (I don’t, because that would diminish the story’s charm), but because I want to read the version where Mr. Bracegirdle doesn’t hold back in delving into this fun, interesting world he’s created. As is, not recommended.
November 6, 2012
Reviewed by Rebecca Wells for TeensReadToo.com
Joy Wells, connoisseur of classic horror stories, the famous author E. A. Peugeot, and the swamp in her hometown of Spooking, has a problem. In fact, she has several.
First, she is forced to abandon her creaky old town of Spooking to descend to the suburban city of Darlington to attend school. Second, no one else seems to appreciate how amazing the spooky Spooking swamp is. And third, she has discovered that someone in Darlington has a plan to build a water park over her beloved swamp!
The Spooking swamp is the source of endless entertainment and speculation for Joy, especially because it may have eerie connections to E. A. Peugeot's haunting masterpiece, "The Bawl of the Bog Fiend." Joy loves the swamp, but it appears that no one else does, and without opposition, it is clear that the Spooking swamp will soon be extinct.
What can Joy do but oppose this horrendous plan, taking a stand against those determined to annihilate the swamp - and the town of Spooking - forever?
FIENDISH DEEDS lays the groundwork for what promises to be a unique and compelling trilogy. The premise of this young adult book is interesting and, though the conflict acquires a certain level of melodrama through Joy's point of view, it still manages to nudge the reader towards speculations about the meaning of progress and the value of history. Joy is a fearless and quirky protagonist who unhesitatingly draws the reader into her own interests and cares, including the ever present E. A. Peugeot, a clever doppelganger of Edgar Allen Poe.
FIENDISH DEEDS hits the ground running with a feisty protagonist, unlikely allies, and a sinister adversary as it introduces a grand adventure touched with mystery, action, horror, and the barest hint of romance. I was utterly disappointed to reach the end of the book only to find that FIENDISH DEEDS raises innumerable questions that it then refuses to answer. My only consolation is that there is a second (and third) book to come.
Joy Wells, connoisseur of classic horror stories, the famous author E. A. Peugeot, and the swamp in her hometown of Spooking, has a problem. In fact, she has several.
First, she is forced to abandon her creaky old town of Spooking to descend to the suburban city of Darlington to attend school. Second, no one else seems to appreciate how amazing the spooky Spooking swamp is. And third, she has discovered that someone in Darlington has a plan to build a water park over her beloved swamp!
The Spooking swamp is the source of endless entertainment and speculation for Joy, especially because it may have eerie connections to E. A. Peugeot's haunting masterpiece, "The Bawl of the Bog Fiend." Joy loves the swamp, but it appears that no one else does, and without opposition, it is clear that the Spooking swamp will soon be extinct.
What can Joy do but oppose this horrendous plan, taking a stand against those determined to annihilate the swamp - and the town of Spooking - forever?
FIENDISH DEEDS lays the groundwork for what promises to be a unique and compelling trilogy. The premise of this young adult book is interesting and, though the conflict acquires a certain level of melodrama through Joy's point of view, it still manages to nudge the reader towards speculations about the meaning of progress and the value of history. Joy is a fearless and quirky protagonist who unhesitatingly draws the reader into her own interests and cares, including the ever present E. A. Peugeot, a clever doppelganger of Edgar Allen Poe.
FIENDISH DEEDS hits the ground running with a feisty protagonist, unlikely allies, and a sinister adversary as it introduces a grand adventure touched with mystery, action, horror, and the barest hint of romance. I was utterly disappointed to reach the end of the book only to find that FIENDISH DEEDS raises innumerable questions that it then refuses to answer. My only consolation is that there is a second (and third) book to come.
December 5, 2013
Unlike any other children books that i read. It took me a while to finish this . I guess it tells you how much i wasn't really enjoying the book.
It tells the story of Joy Wells in her beloved rundown town Spooking.
Eleven-year-old Joy Wells is a literary horror fan and proud resident of Spooking, the run-down, eerie town at the top of the hill. At the bottom of the hill is Darlington, a plastic suburban 'paradise' where Joy and her brother go to school. When the mayor of Darlington announces that a water park is soon to be constructed over the Spooking Bog, Joy knows she must act quickly if she's going to save her ancient, beloved town from becoming just as cute and icky as Darlington. But the Spooking Bog holds many mysteries...Could the legend of the Bog Fiend be true? Who is the bizarre woman that lives there in the house on stilts? And what will become of it all when the bulldozers come rolling up the hill from Darlington? Joy is on a mission to find out, but someone wants to stop her, and they'll do whatever it takes.
I sometimes felt that Joy sounds like an adult and not 11 years old. It sounds like the author was borrowing this character to get his point across. And it got a bit distracting when you read the book. That's why i couldn't really warm-up to Joy because to me she is not an eleven year old girl. She is some two dimensional character that the author draw.
The second thing, was the villain. You have plenty in this book. There's thug/murderer Mr.Phipps, the obnoxious mayor and the irritating classmate with three M as his name.
Mr.Phipps is the most villainous. This mean he actually do the dirty deeds. While others only snickers from the sideline.
I don't know whether i'm going to read the rest of the trilogy. Maybe i will if there's no other books around.
Last note, there are several cover version for this book. And the UK version is what i think is best.
It tells the story of Joy Wells in her beloved rundown town Spooking.
Eleven-year-old Joy Wells is a literary horror fan and proud resident of Spooking, the run-down, eerie town at the top of the hill. At the bottom of the hill is Darlington, a plastic suburban 'paradise' where Joy and her brother go to school. When the mayor of Darlington announces that a water park is soon to be constructed over the Spooking Bog, Joy knows she must act quickly if she's going to save her ancient, beloved town from becoming just as cute and icky as Darlington. But the Spooking Bog holds many mysteries...Could the legend of the Bog Fiend be true? Who is the bizarre woman that lives there in the house on stilts? And what will become of it all when the bulldozers come rolling up the hill from Darlington? Joy is on a mission to find out, but someone wants to stop her, and they'll do whatever it takes.
I sometimes felt that Joy sounds like an adult and not 11 years old. It sounds like the author was borrowing this character to get his point across. And it got a bit distracting when you read the book. That's why i couldn't really warm-up to Joy because to me she is not an eleven year old girl. She is some two dimensional character that the author draw.
The second thing, was the villain. You have plenty in this book. There's thug/murderer Mr.Phipps, the obnoxious mayor and the irritating classmate with three M as his name.
Mr.Phipps is the most villainous. This mean he actually do the dirty deeds. While others only snickers from the sideline.
I don't know whether i'm going to read the rest of the trilogy. Maybe i will if there's no other books around.
Last note, there are several cover version for this book. And the UK version is what i think is best.
March 23, 2011
Fendish Deeds, the first book in the Joy Of Spooking series, centers around a hill called Spooking which sits outside the much more sunny and normal town of Darlington. Following one of the hill's inhabitants, Joy Wells, she sets out to save her town from destruction when plans for a new waterpark threatens the spooky site.
Although the book gives off the right vibe in the beginning, I felt like Bracegirdle didn't take things far enough. From the impression I got from the cover and first few pages is this place called Spooking is a Tim Burtonesque site where the weird and odd are normal. Joy's pet is a frog that things its a dog, theres fog and a cemetary, a house that's a submarine, etc. But this oddness is not reflected in the characters. For the most part, Joy and her family seem very normal and they just didn't fit well in their surroundings. It hurt the book that protagonists didn;t live up to the interest their home created.
Also, the plot felt very mundane. The tale of rich businessman trying to destroy the quirky home/hangout of the protagonist has been done time and time again and nothing in this story really does anything to change the formula. Another big miss.
The YA-ness of this book also was a bit off. Joy was a decent character but the perspective changes to an adult throughout the story and the humor, in general, felt more aimed towards adults than teens and kids. For example, there is one seen where the Mayor takes his pants off in a meeting. This immediately struck me as something an adult who has been in meetings would find funnier than a kid. There are several other points like this and I just felt like the tone, overall, had a bit of an identity crisis. It was an adult humor wrapped in YA clothes.
Overall, I really wasn't impressed with this book and I find it surprising that enough people enjoyed this book enough to make it into a series. I just didn't like it.
Although the book gives off the right vibe in the beginning, I felt like Bracegirdle didn't take things far enough. From the impression I got from the cover and first few pages is this place called Spooking is a Tim Burtonesque site where the weird and odd are normal. Joy's pet is a frog that things its a dog, theres fog and a cemetary, a house that's a submarine, etc. But this oddness is not reflected in the characters. For the most part, Joy and her family seem very normal and they just didn't fit well in their surroundings. It hurt the book that protagonists didn;t live up to the interest their home created.
Also, the plot felt very mundane. The tale of rich businessman trying to destroy the quirky home/hangout of the protagonist has been done time and time again and nothing in this story really does anything to change the formula. Another big miss.
The YA-ness of this book also was a bit off. Joy was a decent character but the perspective changes to an adult throughout the story and the humor, in general, felt more aimed towards adults than teens and kids. For example, there is one seen where the Mayor takes his pants off in a meeting. This immediately struck me as something an adult who has been in meetings would find funnier than a kid. There are several other points like this and I just felt like the tone, overall, had a bit of an identity crisis. It was an adult humor wrapped in YA clothes.
Overall, I really wasn't impressed with this book and I find it surprising that enough people enjoyed this book enough to make it into a series. I just didn't like it.
October 5, 2015
I really like these books. I read the second book first, which is a bit of a shame, and now I feel like reading it again.
This author has an interesting style wherein the viewpoint changes between the protagonist – a young girl (how old is Joy? I'm not sure); occasionally her 7 or 8 year old brother; and often the villain – a twenty-something year old male. It's not unusual to read a book where the viewpoint changes frequently. What is less common is to read a book where one of the viewpoints is a sympathetic account of the villain's motives.
It's really most intriguing, and very effectively accomplished. It blurs the reader's perception of this character so much that we are quite taken aback when he does something shocking, because we are frequently approaching the viewpoint that he is an unfortunate and not-so-awful character. (*Parents note: although there is no graphic description of actual violence, the implied violence is on one occasion quite horrible, and furthermore there is a scene of intimidation of a child that almost equals it in repulsiveness.) These incidents make it all the stranger that the reader is at all ambivalent about the villain. But nevertheless, the author is I think counting on this being the case, as is so effectively demonstrated by the very last paragraph in the book.
Although there's less to be said about her, the main character is an engaging one, and also her little brother. Having read the second book too, I can say that it doesn't disappoint.
As to estimating the reading age for this book, it's rather tricky due to the mature viewpoint of the villain. On the one hand we are mostly seeing through the eyes of primary school aged children, but on the other, we are sometimes quite deeply engaged with an immoral and damaged adult. There are no sex themes, bad language or other superficially offensive moments, but there is the mind of a killer... hmmm.
This author has an interesting style wherein the viewpoint changes between the protagonist – a young girl (how old is Joy? I'm not sure); occasionally her 7 or 8 year old brother; and often the villain – a twenty-something year old male. It's not unusual to read a book where the viewpoint changes frequently. What is less common is to read a book where one of the viewpoints is a sympathetic account of the villain's motives.
It's really most intriguing, and very effectively accomplished. It blurs the reader's perception of this character so much that we are quite taken aback when he does something shocking, because we are frequently approaching the viewpoint that he is an unfortunate and not-so-awful character. (*Parents note: although there is no graphic description of actual violence, the implied violence is on one occasion quite horrible, and furthermore there is a scene of intimidation of a child that almost equals it in repulsiveness.) These incidents make it all the stranger that the reader is at all ambivalent about the villain. But nevertheless, the author is I think counting on this being the case, as is so effectively demonstrated by the very last paragraph in the book.
Although there's less to be said about her, the main character is an engaging one, and also her little brother. Having read the second book too, I can say that it doesn't disappoint.
As to estimating the reading age for this book, it's rather tricky due to the mature viewpoint of the villain. On the one hand we are mostly seeing through the eyes of primary school aged children, but on the other, we are sometimes quite deeply engaged with an immoral and damaged adult. There are no sex themes, bad language or other superficially offensive moments, but there is the mind of a killer... hmmm.
July 5, 2012
A book for the older kids in the family. A twisted 11 year old (not unlike my eldest daughter) seeks proof of a monster lurking in her town's bog. Spooking, an older core of a tacky bedroom community, is a decaying, mouldering town with a sinister and morbid past. The surrounding city of Darlington with "plastic" cookie cutter houses and factories built up around Spooking over the years,seek to destroy the old nearly abandoned town up on the hill. This is the first of three volumes about the "Joy of Spooking" written by P.J. Bracegirdle (his real name). The curious fantasies of morbid, blond gothic, Joy Wells, are driven by an inherited, ancient volume of horror tales written by the mysterious A.E. Peugeot who mysteriously disappeared a century ago. Joy believes he was in Spooking and all the horrors he described in his volume are based on realities he investigated in the town on the hill. But she is unable to convince her parents and others of the local problems or her theories. However, the actual facts and current happenings as she seeks proof of the old tales are arguably worst than she imagines.
This book is well written with a vocabulary sufficient to challenge teenage readers. There are enough frights and surprises in every chapter to excite the imagination and speculation of any reader and keep them coming back to see what happens. A great bedtime reader which leaves adults and teens alike wanting to keep going deep into the night. This volume resolves only the most critical issues of Joy's and her brother, Byron's concerns while letting the reader glimpse that there are deeper and darker issues facing the town and the Well's family.
We immediately bought the remaining two novels to continue the story of Joy Wells and the town of Spooking to see what ultimately happens.
This book is well written with a vocabulary sufficient to challenge teenage readers. There are enough frights and surprises in every chapter to excite the imagination and speculation of any reader and keep them coming back to see what happens. A great bedtime reader which leaves adults and teens alike wanting to keep going deep into the night. This volume resolves only the most critical issues of Joy's and her brother, Byron's concerns while letting the reader glimpse that there are deeper and darker issues facing the town and the Well's family.
We immediately bought the remaining two novels to continue the story of Joy Wells and the town of Spooking to see what ultimately happens.
January 10, 2012
This first book in The Joy of Spooking series introduces the very original and very strange character of Joy Wells. Wise beyond her twelve years, Joy enjoys dressing in the vintage clothes of dead people, sneaking into graveyards and other haunted places in the middle of the night, and reading scary stories, especially those written by the mysteriously vanished author E.A. Peugeot. Joy lives in a dying town called Spooking, but since there is no school she and her brother are forced to go to school in the neighboring city of Darlington, where they are taunted daily and called “Spookies.” Joy is angered when she learns that Darlington plans to build a water park over a bog in Spooking. She became interested in the bog after reading one of E.A. Peugeot’s stories, “The Bawl of the Bog Fiend.” She wonders, was Peugeot onto something? Is there really a bog fiend, and did it have something to do with Peugeot’s disappearance?[return][return]I like the character of Joy – she’s funny, smart, and doesn’t care what people think of her. The writing style is humorous in a dry-wit kind of way, and the villain of the story is realistically creepy. However, I don’t know how it will do as a series. I enjoyed reading it, but the ending didn’t leave me dying to know what happens next. If you’re in the mood for an environmental mystery with quirky characters, then check out this book.
December 6, 2011
I liked this book about the Spookies and the Darlings. I enjoyed the contrast of the creepy, rundown town on the hill and the very clean, orderly suburb below. I wish we would have gotten more time in Spooking because I think that is probably the most interesting character in this series. I wanted to know more about its other citizens (what few there were) and what they did with their lives. As for the characters we do learn about I liked Joy and Byron. I thought they were fascinating and different and well-written. I thought the story was good if not earth shattering. I was that thrilled with the changes in narrators because I thought it took me out of the story at times and took away from the age-level of the tale at others. There were a lot of hanging plot threads, which I am sure was on purpose since this is meant to be a series and you don't want to tie everything up in your first book. We really don't know what is motivating Phipps or what happened to Peugeot. But overall this was a fun book with an interesting plot and I think the rest of the series could be a good read.
November 11, 2012
Joy Wells is a loner, primarily because she lives in Spooking, a rather depressing suburb to Darlington, and because she
is
more than a bit strange for an elementary school child. She and her brother are outcasts at the school they attend in Darlington because they are "spookies," unloved, ignored, and/or attacked by the "darlies." Joy dresses in vintage clothing she finds in the cellar and spends her time reading the horror stories of E. A. Peugeot (love the Edgar Alan Poe similarity) and trying to prove that the author may have lived in Spooking. Her investigation leads her to a sinister plot to steal the land of an elderly resident to build a water park.
I truly liked this book, but I was a bit upset that the ending left so much undone, pending the rest of the series. The other issue: the book is very dark and gory for a book for children 8-12. Yes, I have readers that are looking for that exact quality, but do I really want to hand an 8-, 9-, or 10-year old this book?
I truly liked this book, but I was a bit upset that the ending left so much undone, pending the rest of the series. The other issue: the book is very dark and gory for a book for children 8-12. Yes, I have readers that are looking for that exact quality, but do I really want to hand an 8-, 9-, or 10-year old this book?
August 23, 2008
I was drawn to this book for the cover, which I found just marvelous, but the story itself was a bit lacking. With less than twenty pages left in the entire book, I felt like I was still waiting for the plot to develop. Additionally, there were several bothersome hanging plot threads that began development with a roar, and then roared off into the distance, apparently out of sight.
And one well-written sequence featured the seeming death of an interesting character, and the character later reappears with barely a "oh, you thought I was dead?" to the lead characters, and I found that to be sloppy and dismissive.
But...there WAS a lot of good establishment here, and in future volumes (I'm just assuming there will be some) it could flesh out into a very nice work overall, as long as Bracegirdle, the author, first trusts his instincts for the macabre, and secondly he remembers to expand on what is already in place.
And one well-written sequence featured the seeming death of an interesting character, and the character later reappears with barely a "oh, you thought I was dead?" to the lead characters, and I found that to be sloppy and dismissive.
But...there WAS a lot of good establishment here, and in future volumes (I'm just assuming there will be some) it could flesh out into a very nice work overall, as long as Bracegirdle, the author, first trusts his instincts for the macabre, and secondly he remembers to expand on what is already in place.
May 4, 2015
Joy and her brother Byron are Spookies, meaning they live in the creepy town of Spooking rather than the shiny new town of Darlington. Joy is fine with this because she is all about anything different or odd. When Joy discovers that the folks in Darlington intend to build a water park and destroy her beloved bog (home of the Bog Fiend) she is determined to stop the plan at any cost. But there are people just as determined to see the bog destoyed and Joy may have just bitten off more than she can chew.
I enjoyed this book in the end. I have to say that although the writing is very good, it took me a bit to warm up to it. But now I can't wait to see what happens. I really like the quirky characters and the villian is truely evil. I think older kids and tweens will enjoy this book and I think it could appeal to boys and girls.
I enjoyed this book in the end. I have to say that although the writing is very good, it took me a bit to warm up to it. But now I can't wait to see what happens. I really like the quirky characters and the villian is truely evil. I think older kids and tweens will enjoy this book and I think it could appeal to boys and girls.
July 26, 2008
Fiendish Deeds is an awesomely spooky gothic themed book. I really like the gothic theme of it, it is sort of like Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events but it has a different feel to it. Which makes it all the more spellbinding. Joy Wells is also a wonderfully created character, very believable. As I read the book, I wanted to step right into it and help Joy save the bog. And her brother, Byron, is just as wonderfull.
The plot was great. I was always wondering what was going to happen next and right when I wasn't expecting it BAM there was a surprising twist that caught me toataly off guard.
I recommend this book to any one around the ages from 8-16. Some adults might like it too, if you think it mght be good then odds are you will.
The plot was great. I was always wondering what was going to happen next and right when I wasn't expecting it BAM there was a surprising twist that caught me toataly off guard.
I recommend this book to any one around the ages from 8-16. Some adults might like it too, if you think it mght be good then odds are you will.
September 17, 2010
Eerily atmospheric and delightlfully spooky - but, because there are no outright monsters (other than the human kind) yet, it won't give younger kids nightmares.
Though cursed with long blonde hair (rather than the raven tresses she was clearly meant to have), Joy doesn't fit in with the other kids from the suburb of Darlington (the "darlings"). A horror-obsessed young resident of the town of Spooking, Joy becomes convinced that her favorite author E.A. Peugeot is actually from Spooking - and that the bog monster from his stories may actually be real.
A fun read even for adults like me, who spent their childhoods wanting to be the witch rather than the princess.
Though cursed with long blonde hair (rather than the raven tresses she was clearly meant to have), Joy doesn't fit in with the other kids from the suburb of Darlington (the "darlings"). A horror-obsessed young resident of the town of Spooking, Joy becomes convinced that her favorite author E.A. Peugeot is actually from Spooking - and that the bog monster from his stories may actually be real.
A fun read even for adults like me, who spent their childhoods wanting to be the witch rather than the princess.
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