Scooby Doo was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid. Maybe one of my favorite aspects of the show was that it always ended up that there was a perfectly normal explanation for the supernatural mysteries in the end. The villain would always be unmasked and revealed for what he or she was — not a vampire, zombie, ghost, or reanimated mummy, but just an ordinary person with nefarious intentions. I found it reassuring as a kid, somehow, to know that there were always reasonable explanations for the things that went bump in the night.
Enter Cry Little Sister by Brad Magnarella
I just finished reading XGeneration: Cry Little Sister (XGeneration Series)
It’s a perfect, stand-alone mystery novel for people who grew up in the ’80s and enjoy stories that remind them of 1980s cartoons, movies (the book’s title is a shout-out to Lost Boys), and, of course, the X-Men. (For my review of Brad’s XGeneration series, click here.) It feels almost exactly like an old Scooby Doo show, complete with supernatural red herrings, zany, misconceived theories, and a final show-down with the bad guys that yields some surprising information at the very end.
Sadly, no one says, “And I would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids,” at the end, BUT, it does provide some intriguing tie-ins and new information about the main XGeneration storyline.
It’s Not Quite Perfect
Don’t get me wrong, I loved Cry Little Sister. I thought it was great. I would recommend it to anyone who likes Brad Magnarella’s other books. Nevertheless, I didn’t like it quite as much as I like the other XGeneration stories. I can’t say exactly why… Maybe it’s because I’m not a huge mystery fan, and this book definitely reads like a mystery. But there were also some other, little things I noticed about the book — picky, snobby writer things — that interrupted the rhythm of my reading. So I’m not going to give it a full five stars. Four and a half, though. Maybe four-point-seven. 😉
Good job, Brad, and keep them coming!