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Young protagonist Sam thinks living in Sumas, Wash., is “…like growing up in a rural coma.” He and bad boy PJ (son of Sumas’s only cop) quickly learn how wrong he is when the boys accidentally run over an apelike creature sporting tusks, fur and a spiked club. They take it back to PJ’s father’s jailhouse, but are confronted by an albino man and a young woman who take charge of the creature. Following these strangers down a trap door in the forest, they discover a network of tunnels and caves filled with man-eating grass, giant insects and hungry goblins. These human guardians have held the goblins in check, but the boys’ intrusion disturbs the balance. Sam and PJ must use their wits to outsmart the sometimes amusingly stupid but also incredibly adaptable goblins. The final pages detail a massive battle where blood and goo are spilled, alliances change and heroes are made. Mild rough language makes an occasional appearance throughout this sometimes violent and often slimy tale, which races along and makes for a riotously good adventure. (Fiction. 9-13)
