Monster Club #1: Hunters for Hire by Gavin Brown

My name is Spike, and my friends and I want to become monster hunters. Tommy always wants to use his muscles, Karim can get his hands on magical weapons, and we've just captured a basilisk in our school. We've decided to sign-up with AppVenture, so we can get paid while catching monsters. We'll stick with level one and twos, maybe a level three if it comes to that, so we can learn and get better before tackling the more dangerous monsters. Things have been going pretty well with our team, but we just saw something disturbing on Mad MacKenzie's podcast. She caught a gremlin with the indentation of a ring on its head... an imprint of my ring! How did a gremlin we captured manage to get captured again by Mad MacKenzie? Something fishy is going on at AppVenture!

This book will probably appeal to upper elementary students. Monster hunting is common in the plot, and Karim's crippled dad has retired from the business. Spike and her friends are ordinary kids, but there's nothing extraordinary about them. They behave the way you'd expect amateurs to behave, including making amateur mistakes. Karim's terrified to let his dad know what he's doing, and Tommy looks forward to any chance to show off his muscles. The second half of the book is much better than the first, as the author develops larger conflicts. Obviously, the kids are destined to face more deadly monsters to put themselves in perilous situations. AppVenture has a secret conspiracy going on, and the kids are determined to stop it. A David and Goliath scenario is created. Spike's parents are divorced, so this adds an important twist to the plot. She's very angry with her father and then finds out he's working for AppVenture. Luis wants to get back in Spike's life, but she's not having any of it. This bitterness is a common emotion in cases of divorce. I was ready to dismiss this book as a cute story for young readers, but it slowly grew on me. Overall, I liked the plot and am curious about the sequel. Give it a shot if you enjoy monster hunting.