Monsterland

Monsterland by Michael Phillip Cash   208 Pages

Monsterland has been billed as the scariest theme park ever. It houses the things that people fear most: vampires, werewolves, and zombies. Much like Disneyland, the park is divided into three areas: Vampire Village, Zombieville, and River Run.

The brainchild behind the park is Dr. Vincent Conrad, who has spent years gathering the near-extinct populations of vampires, werewolves, and zombies. In addition to actually seeing the creatures, one of the lures of the park is that visitors can interact with them. 

Conrad not only gathered enough specimens for a park in Cooper Valley, California, he gathered enough to open six parks around the world in China, Australia, Brazil, France, South Africa, and Egypt.

As the story opens, opening day is near, and excitement is building, especially for three nerdy high school friends, Howard, Melvin, and Wyatt. The guys are desperate to get their hands on the most-sought-after tickets in the world. A chance encounter in a local burger joint with Dr. Conrad, and the teenagers not only get tickets, Conrad gives them exclusive behind-the scenes tickets. The same types of tickets world leaders, like the President of the United States, have.

Of course, something goes horribly wrong, which makes the entire plot predictable. And of course, what happens in California is happening around the globe.

Just for the record, I don’t usually read books that contain vampires, werewolves, and zombies. I read this book because I have enjoyed other books by Michael Phillip Cash, and he sent me a copy. 

Another area I had trouble with was confusion between the characters whose names were similar. For example, I kept getting Wyatt’s stepfather, Carter, confused with Conrad. There were other instances, but I forget them now. One of the boys kinda disappeared after they entered the park, which I found odd.

I give Monsterland 3 out of 5 stars. The plot flowed, the story has good structure. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either.