Written by Paul Cornell
Art by Rachael Smith
Published by Avery Hill Publishing
I have always liked Paul Cornell as a writer but haven’t read a lot of work from him in recent years.
I think the last thing that I remember him doing was a run on Wolverine maybe a few years back? He has always written pretty good work, though. When I saw his name on this book, I knew I had to give it a read. It sounded interesting right away. My first look at the artwork by Rachael Smith closed the deal.
The story followst the murder of the Loch Ness Monster and I just had to see where this might be going. I was pleasantly surprised throughout.
The creative team pulls us right into the story in the first few pages.
Lyndsay Grockle, our main character, is starting her very first day as manager of the Lakeview Hotel. Her boss just hands over the keys and then just takes off for vacation. Lyndsay has to learn things quickly while on the job, and it takes her a little time to adjust to it all. There is a big convention coming and this will be Lyndsay‘s first time as the person in charge. Can she survive this? The story becomes crazy and things escalate in a way that she never thought imaginable.
We get to learn a little bit about Lyndsay before the plot really takes off. The creative team give us some great character moments in the beginning that make us identify with her easily. One of the biggest traits for Lyndsay is that she is a confirmed skeptic.
That means she doesn’t believe in extraordinary things that may or may not exist in the world. She is very grounded and definitely believes in a black and white reality. It is a good thing that the creators realized that they needed a skeptic character to “stand in” for the audience as the book gets going. It makes the heightened and magical moments really pop out in a a way that they might not have otherwise.
Lyndsay Is asleep and she is woken up by her hotel guests from the convention. They bring with them some terrible news. The news is that the Loch Ness Monster is indeed dead. Furthermore, it seems that the Loch Ness Monster was also murdered on top of everything else. This sets the plot and the mystery of the book up, and then we are off to the races.
Who Killed the Loch Ness Monster and more importantly, why?
These are the questions that the book starts to ask. All of the hotel guests in for the convention are cryptids from all around the world. This makes all of them panic. Is one of them next? Can they be the killer’s next target? And then, of course comes the real big question: could it be possible one of them committed the murder at hand? A lot of deve8lopments happen after this and all of them are just fun.
Who is going to solve this crazy case?
Why, Lyndsay is going to, of course. A lot of the fun and joy of this book is watching Lyndsay piece together the clues and investigating the actual crime. She also gets to look at the various guests closely and not everyone is who they say they are. There are a lot of great character moments as we learn about the various hotel guests. There are some great little bits and some really strong emotional beats as well. It is all done with skill and it is all presented without a lick of cynicism. It is hard to find anything like that in the current market and I tip my hat to the pair of creators. They made something that is truly engaging for all.
The mystery of the book is eventually solved but in a unique and compelling way. The only thing that I wish this book had was maybe more pages to make the story breathe easier. But whatever, it is still an engaging read. The story is well written and the art is pitch perfect. All in all, I enjoyed this book very much and wouldn’t mind if there were more adventures in this world.
RATING: A-
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