Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

When I saw this book was comped to Stranger Things, I knew I had to read it right away. It definitely lived up to the hype and I loved the unlikely friendship at the center of the story. As more and more kids got pulled into the strange dreams and they began to uncover why the librarians and other adults in their town were acting strange, I was right there for all the twists and turns. Such a fun, spooky story. Great for reading under the covers with a flashlight!

A fun, creepy, and heartfelt story about Bones--a Black boy, ace pitcher, and protective older brother with trauma in his past--moving to a new town. He becomes friends with a lively group, including Kyle, who is on the autistic spectrum and who struggles with issues of his own. When the adults in the town are slowly "zombified," Bones and his friends must band together to root out and fight the menace. With great Stranger Things vibes and a nuanced and emotional exploration of friendship and dark emotions, this is an excellent choice for all ages.

This one wasn't for me. I didn't DNF because I really like to try to read through the Mid-grades to give a good review on them.

This cast of characters is very diverse, multiple kids of different races, with multiple backgrounds, and varying personality ticks. I think most kids will be able to find themselves in one of the characters that are presented to them. I am not part of any of the groups represented in the characters so I cannot attest to whether the portrayals are accurate or not.

As for things that may make it difficult to connect or harder for a kid to understand is that our MC's play baseball and there's quite a lot of baseball talk. Personally, I loathe the sport but I get the terms and things but if we're talking a 10 year old who has never really had anything to do with the sport? I think they'd get very bored and/or confused fairly quickly. It could be a sticky spot for them.

There was a lot of brain science jargon that I was just like "Okay 12 y/o, when did you become an expert on thermonuclear astrophysics?" Which is not the correct branch of science for this book, but a great Agent Hill quote, so we're going with it. You're confused? So was I. Point being, it gets a bit weird in the science department and idk, I guess kids are smarter than me.

The plot was a bit meh for me. It was just too blatantly obvious about everything that was happening. Which like, cool, it's for kids, but I feel like on one hand this book was expecting kids to be super effing smart to understand what the characters were talking about, but we were being spoon fed the plot.

I didn't have fun. Spooky mid-grade for me are an escape. It's probably one of my highest read genres and this one just wasn't fun for me.

This is a good MG read that has some Stranger Things vibes and such. I liked this story, but it wasn't my norm and I wasn't the target audience so I think that's part of why I didn't get as much out of it. I think the target audience would enjoy, love, and get more out of it.
It deals with some good topics about autism, such as a child deciding to ask their parents about finding out about themselves and if they're autistic etc or not. Also, it talks about and deals with anger, bullying, and what it's like for children to find themselves, figure things out for themselves, find their groups, the people that will be their true friends, and the importance of family as well.
This is a story about a group of kids in a town where things start to go awry with the grown-ups. The adults start to behave very strangely and out of character so the group of friends go investigate to find what the reason behind their changed behavior is. They discover that a strange and mysterious corporation/business is behind why the grown-ups begin acting strangely and they all have to face their fears.
If you're looking for something that has a mystery/Stranger Things vibes, that's great for Middle-Grade readers and such then make sure to look at this one. Thanks to NetGalley and Abrams Kids/Amulet Books for letting me read and review this story. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC of this book!

Bones Malone has just moved to the small Canadian town of Langille and he already feels out of place. He barely has any friends and just wants to spend his time playing baseball. However, upon rescuing a drowning man, he gets a waterlogged journal that shows him something very wrong is going on behind the sleepy facade of this town.

Going into this book, I was definitely expecting a more standard horror story. Maybe it was based on the cover (that clown gave me Pennywise vibes). However, while there are creepy elements, it's actually more of a sci-fi, high-tech mystery. Either way, the cover is super cool!

I enjoyed this story a lot. While some of the baseball lingo was lost on me (even though I enjoy watching it!), I felt like we really got a feel for the cast in those scenes. I enjoyed all that went on, from trying to figure out the journal and other secrets to the human character interactions.

While I don't know the exact word count, this book felt pretty long and had a lot of characters. I did have to occasionally flip back to figure out who someone was. However, I still enjoyed at think a wide range of middle graders (and older) will find things to relate to in this story.

If you're looking for somewhere to get your Stranger Things fix, look no further than Lucas's latest middle grade novel, Let the Monster Out. It's set in a totally creepy small Canadian town where a mysterious big corporation pulls the strings behind the scenes and everyone's worst fears start coming alive. When the town's adults are reduced to little more than zombies, main character Bones Malone and his friends find they have to confront the things that terrify them most or risk losing everything they love. With alternating points of view, Lucas masterfully tells the story with writing that grabs you from the start and holds on through the very last page.

Chad Lucas writes middle grade characters so poignantly, perfectly capturing that age when a kid is on the cusp of young adulthood, at that precarious, lonely, and important place where your friends are becoming the most compelling force in your world, but you still really want your mom to be at your baseball game. Bones Malone and Kyle Specks are no exception. Both are lovingly drawn and heartfelt in their fears, their heartbreaks, and their aspirations. Lucas handles Bones’ traumatic history and Kyle’s growing concern that his ‘brain works differently’ with tenderness, and the fact that both boys come to face their fears through such supportive friendships is just beautiful. My thanks to Abrams Kids for the eARC.

Monsters come in all shapes and forms. Some are imagined, some otherwordly and terrifying, but then there are those that are real and come in the form of difficult truths we try to hide from ourselves, or giant corporations bent on controlling humanity. Chad Lucas tackles monsters of all kinds in LET THE MONSTER OUT with the same kind of sensitivity and emotional intelligence we saw in THANKS ALOT UNIVERSE.
Bones and Kyle's story tackles very real, and difficult issues around abuse, grief, racism, and neurodivergency with tenderness, honesty and great care for the reader. Combining elements of sci-fi, horror, and realistic contemporary fiction, the heart of this tale is the development of a warm and supportive friendship btw boys, exactly the kind of relating young readers need to see so much more of.
Thank you to Abrams Kids and the author for the opportunity to read the eARC.

Chad Lucas once again proves he is a master at writing real, flawed characters who are allowed to work through their emotions, something that young readers need to see on the page. Let the Monster Out is exciting and moving, with just the right amount of creepiness to please fans of spooky stories. Highly recommended.

This book was great! Excellent representation and I liked the main characters a lot.

Thank you to Netgalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!