From Goodreads: With their father en route to Africa for Doctors Without Borders, city-kids Nicholas and younger twin sisters Haley and Hetty are off to spend the summer with their Great-Uncle Nick at his house on Forsaken Lake. Despite some initial doubts, Nicholas is right at home in the country: he learns to sail, learns about his father as a boy, and makes fast friends with a local-girl, the tomboy Charlie.

The summer takes a turn toward the mysterious, though, when Nicholas discovers an old movie that his father made as a boy: it tells the story of the local legend, The Seaweed Strangler, but was never finished. Before long Nicholas wants answers both about the legend, and about the movie. Together, he and Charlie work to uncover the truth and discover some long-buried family secrets along the way.

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This is a great MG novel that I highly recommend to parents and teachers alike.  Filled with adventure, mystery, and intrigue, Beil takes his young readers on a ride that they won’t soon forget. 

Originally, I thought that this novel was going to be a type of horror/suspense novel, with a seaweed monster and the like, but it actually turned out to be more focused on family values and coming of age, which I enjoyed.  While I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more dealing with a real live seaweed monster, I liked the digging the kids do to uncover the truth about their dad and why he never visits Forsaken Lake anymore. 

Overall, this is a very well written story with some great morals that I think are great for the MG and younger YA readers. I personally tend to like books for a little bit older crowd, but still think this is a great read! Three stars.

Random House Children’s Books has been extremely gracious in allowing me to read a copy of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release today.