Gooseblog: Goosebumps #19: Deep Trouble

It's time to get wet and wild. We finish off the tens of Goosebumps with book number nineteen. And after the mess that was Monster Blood II I could use a refreshing swim in anything else. It's Deep Trouble AKA It Turns Out It's Man!

COVER STORY

This cover is really great. We're back to top form Jacobus work with this amazing underwater shot. The bright blue water with the sun streaming from above, the colorful coral on the bottom, the ominous hammerhead shark getting ready to eat the unsuspecting kid. It helps build your imagination and adds a lot of ominous thoughts about how you're about to read Stine's take on Jaws. So maybe that's why people get pissed about the bait and switch that we'll get into soon.

STORY

Today's protagonist is Billy Deep. He and his sister Sheena are visiting their uncle, marine biologist George Deep (or Dr. D because it's quicker to write) for the summer, aboard his ship The Cassandra. He's middle aged, isn't married, has no kids, and just really loves fish. I'm getting some Troy McClure vibes already, people. Billy and Sheena go for a swim only for Billy to get the sensation that he's being attacked underwater. However, it may have just been either seaweed or Billy's overly active imagination. Either way, nobody believes he was in any actual peril. Billy then immediately gets himself in trouble again, this time walking on fire coral. This gives Stine the time to play Mr. Educator again, telling us about how fire coral is extremely poisonous and can kill you if it gets in the bloodstream. And who said these books weren't educational?

They return to the boat and are greeted by Alexander, Dr. D's assistant. A big muscular man who does a lot of work on the boat, including cooking (poorly by the look of it). We get a dinner scene followed by the kids looking around Dr. D's office, checking out all the fish, once again allowing Stine to teach the audience about marine life. The kids argue a lot, with Billy calling Sheena "She-Ra" a lot. Stine does know that was cancelled in 1986, right? Not even most kids reading would remember that reference. We learn from Dr. D that he's running out of money as the university is no longer funding his experiments, which bums the kids out since this may mean no more summers exploring on The Cassandra.

Billy later overhears zoo owners named Mr. Showalter and Ms. Whitman talking to Dr. D and Alexander about trying to find some sort of mermaid. A young childlike mermaid at that. Showalter wants it for his zoo and is willing to pay the two of them in the millions. Despite reservations in capturing the mermaid to leave her stuck in a zoo for the rest of her life, Dr. D ultimately agrees to search for her. Billy is all in as well, ready to hunt a mermaid for millions. We get our dream sequence for the book as Billy goes off on a boat only to be attacked by an octopus. At least that feels more scary than anything else in this book so far, so I'll give it credit. Billy does go out to search for the mermaid, and we actually do get the hammerhead shark attack from the beginning of the book. And I'll grant Jovial Bob something, it is actually an exciting scene.

Billy is about to be shark food, but the mermaid shows up, scaring the shark off. Billy and the mermaid hit it off well to begin with. Before Billy can even realize what's happening however, he and the mermaid end up caught in The Cassandra's fishing net. Dr. D and Alexander decide to stick her in a giant fish tank, while Billy is already having a change of heart about the mermaid, now preferring they allow her back into the ocean. But Alexander tells him that doing so would cost Dr. D his job. Despite that snag, Billy still gets along with the mermaid, feeding her and managing to communicate with her better. This book is turning into Free Willy, but with a fish girl.

A few nights later, Billy and Sheena see some masked figures show up and knock out Dr. D. They go for the mermaid, It turns out that Alexander pulled a masterful heel turn, taking the mermaid from Dr. D so he can take all the money. So, it turns out that in a book about mermaids, the real monster is mankind. The masked men knock Billy into the giant tank, then throw Sheena and Dr. D inside as well. They then push the tank overboard, leaving the three to almost die in a watery grave But more mermaids arrive, helping to save our three heroes. Dr. D apologizes, saying that he never should have let money cloud his judgment. The Deeps find the kidnappers and try to get the mermaid back, but only for one of the kidnappers to burn the dinghy they were riding on. It's curtains for them, until the rest of the mermaids attack the kidnappers, freeing the young one. The Deeps escape, seeing that the kidnappers aren't going to be lasting much longer.

TWIST ENDING

Dr. D meets with the zoo people again and tears their check for a million dollars, telling them that mermaids simply don't exist. So we get Dr. D sticking to his morals and he and the kids live happily ever after. At least until Billy goes swimming again and runs into a giant sea monster, pondering on if the family will believe him about this one.

CONCLUSION

I can see why people generally dislike Deep Trouble. It's not exactly a super scary book. And while its cover is technically true as there is a hammerhead shark attack in the story, the book is still about a mermaid. That's the height of supernatural for this book as the rest is grounded with some realism involving betrayal and espionage and kidnapping on the high seas. The real horror of this book is the horrors of avarice and the greed of man. Then again, I probably put more thought into its themes than Stine ever did. Ultimately it makes this book feel more like Free Willy than a Goosebumps book. My opinion, it's just okay at best. Far better than our last book, but nothing that I'd say leaves any lasting impression on you. Billy's an okay enough protagonist. Far more rational than most Goosebumps kids. Also, the big heel turn for Alexander does work since this book needs some sort of villain, and again with the theme of greed being the key factor driving the plot, his betrayal makes a lot of sense. I just wish we got to see more comeuppance for him. In the end, while not a bad book, this seafaring tale feels more like just a boat circling around in a shallow pond. Deep Trouble gets a C-.