#cryptozoolologist

It Came From Beneath the Sink has a great title, a solid concept, and a unique monster. Unfortunately, it never managed to raise the stakes high enough for any of that to really matter. The characters are fine, the plot is technically fine, and it doesn’t rely on faulty villain logic to explain itself. Kudos to Stine for another great dog name; the cocker spaniel named Killer was a great touch. The book’s biggest crime is that it was boring. Stine had the opportunity here to get real weird and he didn’t take it. The Grool was gross and creepy, but it could have been way more powerful and menacing. I honestly think this concept had the potential to reach One Day at Horrorland orWelcome to Camp Nightmare levels of weird and fun, but it just kinda got stuck in the first act. It needed to do more than bring bad luck, or the bad luck needed to be way worse than it was. It Came From Beneath the Sink had all of the elements needed to make a greatGoosebumps book, but it ultimately fell short.

Score: 3

For my full snark-filled recap with spoilers, gifs, and memes to illustrate my very important points, check it out on my website blog Fits of Nostalgia!

Four encounters with very strangely-rendered “flying cryptids”. From top to bottom, they are:
- Antonio Grimaldo’s pterosaur-like “Big Bird” from 1970s Texas.
- A “Birdwoman” seen by three horny US marines, sick on heroin during the Vietnam War.
- The “Tombstone Epitaph Flying Crocodile”, resembling a huge crocodilian with an extremely elongated tail and an immense pair of wings, shot by two ranchers in 1890.
- The “Copiapo Giant Bird” from 1868, painted spectacularly as a semi-metallic insect-bird.

Source:Creatures From Elsewhere by Orbis Publishing. (1984)

www.cmkosemen.com

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