Dylan Maples Adventure Monster In The Mountains [Mass Market Paperback]

Canadian biographer, playwright, journalist, screenwriter and novelist Shane Peacock admits to being intrigued by, among other things, Canadian history, extraordinary feats, eccentrics, circuses, high-wire walking and Suomo wrestling. So it’s not surprising that his three previous novels in the Dylan Maples adventures for tweenies and teenies, Bone Beds of the Badlands, The Mystery of Ireland’s Eye and The Secret of the Silver Mines exhibit various of these interests.
But in his latest Maples family adventure, Monster in the Mountains, Peacock has outdone himself with a glut of British Columbia historical tid-bits, extraordinary feats in the rainforests, an eccentric uncle, an ex-circus performer who wire-walks above the Fraser River Canyon, a couple of larger than life Suomo wrestlers imitating the even larger legendary Sasquatch-all with a supporting cast of barely disguised Lotus Land characters straight from the BC archives and the floor of the Legislature and all romping around the environs of Harrison Hot Springs and Sasquatch Provincial Park. It’s a rollicking ride from its beginning through to its surprising ending, and one that shouldn’t be missed.
A cool 13-year-old Dylan is exhausted and in need of some R & R after the tussle he and his three buds had with the Aberta Badlands 7-foot killer, fearsomely named “The Reptile”. His “parental units” as he affectionately calls his folks, have picked him up in Calgary and now he’s chillin’ in the back seat of their rented jeep. Tunes explode out of his CD player into his head and he drifts in and out of sleep as the family travels west to BC’s Rocky Mountains instead of east to Toronto and home. Even though Dylan can’t forget “The Reptile”, he’s soon aware he may have more frightening adventures ahead when he gets a fortune card from a slot machine, telling him, “Beware of the monsters in your mind. They are here in Wonderland.”
And BC’s monster, as he soon learns, is the Saliish Indians’ legendary hummungous half-man, half-beast, Sasquatch, covered in hair and smelling like rotten meat. Sure enough Dylan and the parental units are headed straight for Harrison Hot Springs and Sasquatch Provincial Park. As a surprise, his folks want to introduce him to the family eccentric, Uncle Walter Middy (shades of Hollywood past), a man with a closet full of dark secrets, as Dylan discovers in due time. Joining him in the discovering out is a young companion he meets by the name of Alice Emily Carr (shades of BC’s art world). Her mother is Carol Lewis (shades of Alice in Wonderland). Other shady characters abound as well: two Sasquatch hunters called Barrett and Vander Zalm, and four reporters dogging the Saquatch’s trail under the names of Ms. Kim and Ms. Campbell and Mr. David and Mr. Foster? There’s a raven too that answers to the name of Poe and a mountain man called Lion Adams and a white water rafter called Mack Cook. In the background there’s a soundtrack of the Jefferson Airplane’s song, “White Rabbit”, and another of John Lennon’s “Imagine” with reference to being a dreamer. And Uncle Walter has a secret tunnel in the rainforest that leads to a treehouse inside a giant BC fir. Bizarre, bizarre, bizarre-but great fun.
The bad guys are led by Lance Bennett, a resort developer and owner of the Tweedledum and Tweedledee corporation.With his gang of snipers he aims to shoot the Sasquatch and stuff him as a trophy. But not before they’ve hired the Suomo wrestlers to fake a Sasquatch appearance, aided and abetted by Barrett and Vander Zalm. Our heroes Dylan, Alice and Uncle Walter aren’t about to let the the beast get killed. And so they set off tracking the elusive Sasquatch through the rainforest and over the mountains, sighting him as he leaps into the mighty river that forced even Simon Fraser to portage. Uncle Walter comes to the beast’s rescue when he wire-walks the cable of the Fraser River Canyon’s famous tram car and startles Bennet’s crew into missing their shots targeting the monster swimming downstream. But did they miss him? And did he escape? Or was he ever in Lotus Land at all? Only Uncle Walter, Dylan and Alice know but you will too if you follow the advice of the King to the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland and “Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
M. Wayne Cunningham (Books in Canada)
-- Books in Canada --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

After Dylan Maple's terrifying adventure in the badlands of Alberta, his parents' planned holiday with him in British Colombia's Rocky Mountains seems like a dream. Swimming, hiking, and loafing around are welcome distractions from vivid memories of his narrow escape from "the Reptile," the frightening criminal who had pursued him. But Dylan soon discovers that he is heading into an area teeming with legends of real-life monsters, among them the sea serpent Ogopogo and the awesome sasquatch. In fact, more mysterious creatures are said to exist in B.C. than in any other place in the world!

Dylan tries not to take it all too seriously. But when he arrives in the resort town of Harrison Hot Springs and meets his eccentric uncle, Walter Middy, he is pulled right into the heart of the sasquatch mystery. Before you can say "I see a monster!", Dylan, Walter, and their new friend Alice are deep in the wilderness, on the trail of the deadly beast.