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The lost causes of Bleak Creek : a novel  Cover Image E-book E-book

The lost causes of Bleak Creek : a novel

McLaughlin, Rhett (author.). Neal, Link, (author.). Rubin, Lance, 1981- (author.).

Summary: "It's 1992 in Bleak Creek, North Carolina, a sleepy little place with all the trappings of an ordinary Southern town: two Baptist churches, friendly smiles coupled with silent judgments, and an unquenchable appetite for pork products. Beneath the town's cheerful faade, however, Bleak Creek teens live in constant fear of being sent to The Whitewood School, a local reformatory with a record of putting unruly teens back on the straight and narrow--a record so impeccable that almost everyone is willing to ignore the mysterious deaths that have occurred there over the past decade. At first, high school freshmen Rex McClendon and Leif Nelson believe what they've been told: that the students' strange demises were all just tragic accidents, the unfortunate consequence of succumbing to vices like Dungeons & Dragons and Nirvana. But when the shoot for their low-budget horror masterpiece, PolterDog, goes horribly awry--and their best friend, Alicia Boykins, is sent to Whitewood as punishment--Rex and Leif are forced to piece together the unsettling truth of the school and its mysterious founder, Wayne Whitewood. What the boys find--with recent NYU film school student Janine Blitstein and her cousin Donna (a former Whitewood student with secrets of her own) at their side--will leave them battling an evil beyond their wildest teenage imaginations, one that will shake Bleak Creek to its core"--

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781984822154
  • ISBN: 1984822152
  • ISBN: 9781984822130
  • ISBN: 1984822136
  • ISBN: 9781984822147
  • ISBN: 1984822144
  • Physical Description: remote
    1 online resource (272 pages)
  • Edition: First edition.
  • Publisher: New York : Crown, 2019.

Content descriptions

Source of Description Note:
Print version record.
Subject: Reformatories -- Fiction
Low budget films -- Fiction
Small cities -- Fiction
High school students -- Fiction
North Carolina -- History -- 20th century -- Fiction
FICTION / Humorous
FICTION / Science Fiction / Adventure
North Carolina
Genre: Black humor.
Fiction.
Historical fiction.
History.
Humorous fiction.
Novels.
Humorous fiction.
Black humor.
Historical fiction.
Novels.
Humorous fiction.
Electronic books.
Electronic books.

  • Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 October #1
    McLaughlin and Neal, comedy duo and hosts of the popular YouTube channel Good Mythical Morning, try their hand at traditional fiction in this campy, coming-of-age horror tale. Rex, Leif, and Alicia are rebellious teens enjoying the summer before their freshmen year in the small North Carolina town of Bleak Creek, when an unfortunate accident at a town barbecue results in Alicia being sent to the Whitewood Reformatory School. The school, lauded by the folks of Bleak Creek for putting unruly children on the straight and narrow, also has a dark history of accidental student deaths. Eager to free their friend from her imprisonment, Rex and Leif, with the help of an NYU film grad visiting her grandmother, begin to unravel the mysteries of the cult-like school. Brimming with 1990s cultural references ranging from New Kids on the Block to Hypercolor t-shirts, the story is funny, spooky, and at times terrifying. Offer to readers who enjoy horror with twists and terror, but lacking blood and gore, or fans of shows like Stranger Things. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.
  • Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2019 September #1
    Comedy duo and YouTube superstars McLaughlin and Neal (Rhett & Link's Book of Mythicality, 2017) craft a novel about things that go bump in the night. Stranger Things carries a lot of cultural weight by itself these days—the legacy of Steven Spielberg, Stephen King, and the many weird movies and books that don't get the credit they deserve—but these comedy writers have hit that vein hard with this VHS-era kicker that references the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie Kickboxer on the very first page. This is Bleak Creek, North Carolina, circa the early 1990s. We have three buddies, natch: Rex McClendon, whose dad owns a funeral home; his bestie, Lief Nelson; and their mutual crush, Alicia Boykins. They're making PolterDog, an indie movie, because why not? Anyone who grew up in this era will be delighted by all the pop-culture references, from Goodfellas to Smokey and the Bandit. Of course, we need some reasonable adults around to help, too, so we get Janine Blitstein, a filmmaker just graduated from NYU film school, and her cousin Donna Lowe. Things get creepy in a hurry when Alicia is banished because of "bad behavior" to a local private school called Whitewood, founded in 1979. The big bad here is Wayne Whitewood, head of the school where every student is robbed of an identity and known only as "Candidatus"—Whitewood is the so-named "Keeper," assisted by the Nurse Ratched-esque "Helper." All the students are threatened at every turn by torture, most commonly "The Roll," in which they're confined in a carpet for days on end. Of course, there's a rescue mission, but because we're in that Stephen King territory, there are also a bunch of supernatural threats, including a cursed spring and something known only as "The One Below." Sure, it's kind of a rip-off, but it's scary, it's fun, and it's one hell of a carnival ride. Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
  • Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2019 May

    In 1992 Bleak Creek, NC, teenagers live in fear of being sent to the Whitewood School, a local reformatory noted for its mysterious deaths. Then a foul-up that occurs when high school freshmen Rex McClendon and Leif Nelson are shooting their low-budget horror film PolterDog gets best friend Alicia sent to Whitehood. Spiky humor indeed. From the comedy duo responsible for the most-watched daily talk show on the Internet, Good Mythical Morning.

    Copyright 2019 Library Journal.
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