Deepwater Creek by Michael Regina. Putnam, 2025. 9780593117378. 252pp.
The Enoch River is deep. After a hurricane, Wade, his younger brother Andrew, their dad, and a few friends head out for a day of fishing. There’s a nasty fog and a bunch of debris, but another fisherman tells them about a spot that’s a ways upriver from where they usually fish. So they’re near Deepwater Creek when the fog rolls in and things get spooky. After Andrew hooks into something gigantic, he ends up in the water. He freaks out. Their dad takes the boat home.
There, the kids find articles about what may have happened in Deepwater Creek, including rumors of why it was closed. Is there really a monster up there? Wade talks his friends into taking the boat without permission and going back.
What follows is, and I mean this in the best way, a tween Lovecraftian adventure featuring some absolutely weird moments. (I’d capitalize that “w” if the ghosts of English teachers past wouldn’t haunt me.) It’s dark, harrowing, and more entertaining than most horror graphic novels for young people. (It won’t be too much for most tweens or their parents; it’s not full of gore.)
