Toby Bemus gets dared to go down Chick Liver Hill on a sled. 50 years ago or so, a guy named Buddy died when his car crashed into the tree at the bottom of the hill. Once Toby heads down the hill, he meets Buddy’s ghost, and Buddy decides that Toby is going to help him figure out why his car stopped working right, causing him to crash.
The basic premise of this series is that there’s the “Shadow Zone.” It’s similar to the Twilight Zone, and once you are in it, weird things happen. In this book it was barely mentioned, only name dropped once or twice, which was a bit odd since it’s the namesake of the series.
Toby was a fine protagonist. He’s considered one of the nerds, so he’s a bit socially awkward. I felt really bad for him the whole book. His life didn’t seem to great to start, but once Buddy comes, things just go downhill (pardon the pun, I couldn’t help it). This is made worse by how much of what happens was unnecessary. Had Buddy explained things in full from the beginning, much of the book’s events wouldn’t have needed to happen.
That leads me to Buddy. He does a lot of things just for laughs, and I get that. In his situation, he might as well since there aren’t really any consequences, but most of what he does just causes problems for Toby that impede Buddy’s goals. Buddy does harm animals. One of them is righted enough by the end, but there is a fish that Buddy causes the death of. To make it worse, Toby is blamed for it. See what I mean? Buddy does things that just hurt his goals. Toby also doesn’t react at all to the fish dying, instead mentally picking on the girl who is upset about it.
Even so, I liked Buddy overall. I found his antics to be pretty funny when they weren’t harming animals, and he’s a pretty good guy when he’s not harming animals. The animal thing really gets to me. I was considering not spoiling that, but animal death is probably cause for some people to not read this book.
A few things I took note of. The class bully is said to think it’s cool to pretend to throw up on girls…???? I have never heard of anyone doing that.
The book really dates itself since it references Nintendo as Toby says he’s going to play the Nintendo, meaning the NES or SNES most likely.
Should you read it?:
I enjoyed it, and I am very sappy, so I cried a little at the end. I assume most people won’t cry though lol. It’s made me interested in the series for sure, and if I find any out, I’ll get them. If you can get past the animal harm, the book is pretty good.
Do Act Mysterious 