The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek

This book was fun; I read it over the course of a single day. The pace is fairly quick, keeps you thoroughly engaged, and the mystery is compelling enough to keep you on Rhett and Link (sorry, Rex and Leif)'s journey. That being said, the book feels like a rush job. The ways central mysteries are resolved are laughably rushed and lazy. For example, one huge mystery is solved by just having a character say that she read a bunch of paranormal books at the library and she happened to find a book that perfectly explains what they're dealing with. Arguably the biggest question in the book is answered by just writing a chapter set ten years in the past that explains everything directly to the reader, thereby removing any need to organically have a character uncover the information. It isn't exactly a well crafted horror story, but, it is fun and you can definitely get the feeling that Rhett and Link had a great time writing a tale of headstrong kids prevailing over stuffy authority.

Three friends Rex, Leif, and Alicia have spent their Summer filming PolterDog. They aspire to enter it into the Durham Film Festival and earn recognition for their masterpiece. But as they film one of their last scenes, a horrible accident leaves Wayne Whitewood badly burned. While the boys are grounded and their filmmaking rights are taken away, Alicia is sent to the Whitewood reform school. A school where no one is allowed entry except those who work at and attend it. And the children that leave it, are forever changed. Rex and Leif refuse to leave Alicia to be reformed and begin to hatch plans to break her out. They will soon find that the Whitewood school has a heinous past. The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek started strong. The three friends are introduced as hatching wild ideas and following along with their childhood dreams. Listening to Rex and Leif banter back and forth was comical and reminiscent of the 90s. Living in a small town that doesn’t have much to offer, the friends found plenty to keep themselves busy. Any action that was too risky in the eyes of the town was frowned on, and some religious overtones were overdramatized for comedy. But it began to fall apart when Janine was introduced. Her backstory was not necessary to the plot. It could have been summarized well enough to trigger her appearance in Bleak Creek. Her family dynamics did add to the humor and suspense of the Whitewood mystery. But at the same time, her original reasons for filming the town were not as humorous as I believe they were supposed to be. The theme of friendship and clever one-liners from Rex and Leif kept me engaged despite the plot feeling disjointed at times. It was almost as if different writing styles were competing against one another. I also contribute finishing the book to the audio narrator, Vikas Adam. He did a fantastic job with different voices and bringing the characters to life. If you’re into humor books, give this a try. And if you are a fan of Rhett and Link from YouTube, you can certainly see where some of the inspiration came from. But I think I will stick to watching their videos.

This is an amazing book! I was very impressed with how the story has so many different elements; murder, mystery and comedy all at the same time! It has a good pace throughout, and it always leaves you wanting to turn the page. Even if you don't know who Rhett and Link are, I still highly recommend this book. And to the authors; you did a fantastic job and I hope you'll consider writing another one!