Book Review: The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo

Book: The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo by Drew Weing

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Description:

Charles just moved to Echo City, and some of his new neighbors give him the creeps. They sneak into his room, steal his toys, and occasionally, they try to eat him.

The place is teeming with monsters!

Lucky for Charles, Echo City has Margo Maloo, monster mediator. No matter who’s causing trouble, Margo knows exactly what to do―the neighborhood kids say monsters are afraid of her. It's a good thing, because Echo City's trolls, ogres, and ghosts all have one thing in common: they don't like Charles very much.




Rating: 5 stars

Review:

You guys probably think I've lost my critical edge with giving out so many 5 stars but no, not even. It's just that I keep finding these amazing books. The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo is a book I took a chance on. I had no idea it would be such a fun read.

There are three chapters (or interconnecting stories) in this book:


Chapter 1: City of Monsters

This begins with Charles and his parents moving into their new apartment in an old, rundown and slightly creepy building in Echo City. The reason his family moved was due to his father working to help renovate the old building. The moving process was going fine but Charles was surprised by his already closed closet door suddenly closing. He went over and checked it out but there was no one or nothing there that could have caused it to happen. But the real surprise happened at night when he was frightened by a large hairy monster with big sharp teeth and glowing yellow eyes. Of course his father didn't believe him but it's a good thing fellow kid and neighbor Kevin did. Kevin knows there is something a bit strange happening in the building and gives Charles a business card of Margo Maloo, she's someone who can help him.

Margo is an interesting kid, I wouldn't consider her a monster hunter she's more like a supernatural problem solver. When she showed up, she immediately got down to business trying to sort out the monster problem making it easy for Charles and the monster who is a Troll named Marcus to come to a solution.

I like Charles, he's a bit of an old soul who is a journalist in the making. He even has his own blog writing about the hardships and oppressions of being a kid. Yeah, got a love this kid but being a writer, Charles wanted to tell Margo's story but she prefers to remain a secret helping kids deal with their monster problems.

Chapter 2: Ghost in the Post

The second story finds Charles still trying to come to terms with the fact that there are monsters in the world and of meeting the mysterious Margo. But due to his promise he can't post anything on his blog about it. Wanting more information, he decided to investigate both the monsters and Margo. He really wanted to know more about her. While out investigating he was surprised by Margo who told him about another case she was on and invited Charles to join her. This case had her helping a teenager who had been captured by a ghost named Jerome in the closed down Echo Post newspaper building. Trying to save the teen they inadvertently got themselves caught.

Charles is adorably ridiculous, he believes for some reason even with his lack of both knowledge and skills pertaining to monsters that he can somehow save kids from them. Which is why Margo brought him along with her on this case to prove that he truly doesn't know the first thing about monsters. However, he was rather helpful when they wound up being trapped.

Chapter 3: The Ogre's Baby

In this last story, Charles was trying to help Kevin break a world record. That's the thing about Kevin, in each of these stories he is trying his hardest to prove that he is really good at something. Anyway, as Charles was helping Kevin, he was abducted by Ogres. They believed that Charles had stolen an Ogre's baby. Thankfully, Margo had shown up at the right moment (well, that's thanks to Kevin calling her) to not only take the case but also so Charles wouldn't lose any of his limbs.

This mystery took Margo and Charles around the city and even to places Charles would have never imagined visiting such as a secret monster grocery store. But the duo must hurry to find the missing baby before the deadline set by the Ogres is up.

This is indeed a new favorite because of the sheer brilliance of creating these well-written interesting supernatural mysteries and for these wonderful characters: Margo, Charles, Kevin and Charles' parents. I like that the monsters were shown having very distinct personalities and that the stories are the perfect blend of drama and humor. I love the illustrations, the colors and shading work to enhance the story. I love when I find these unexpected little gems, this was a good read.