The Dancing Plague 2 (Book 6 of World’s Scariest Legends)
The Dancing Plague 2
By Jeremy Bates
The Sexton’s musings (spoilers are likely):
At risk of stating the obvious, this is the second book of “The Dancing Plague”. I highly suggest that you read the first book prior to reading this. Not sure why anyone wouldn’t but just in case you are thinking about doing so I don’t recommend it. This one is of course still very well written and anticipated as you want to find out about the werewolves and if indeed they are still the same pack.
I’d have to say that out of the three main characters Ben is still my favorite. He is a good guy with a good head. For everything that happened to him as a kid I’d say he’s coped pretty well. Albeit an on and off “functional” alcoholic but honestly I think that’s true for a lot of adults.
Sally starts out as a frustrating character in that she does not believe that the gypsies were werewolves. She did not keep her promise to remember from the first book. She let the adults in her life make her disbelieve what she saw with her own eyes and for me that is infuriating. Not only did she see it but she smelled them, saw a person transform into one of them, saw it attack someone. I’m sorry but I’m not going to let someone tell me it never happened. That I did not see what I saw. When the evidence is showing you the truth no matter how unbelievable then that must be the truth. Belief has NO place in reality. While ones belief may correspond with reality there are often major flaws in individual belief systems. She eventually comes around though. Thank goodness! I do have to say that she does exhibit some admirable bravery when push comes to shove.
Now let’s talk about Chuck aka Chunk aka Chunky. At first he starts out in this one as what seems to be a decent adult. Some of the traits of when he was a kid are still there such as his lechery but when he decides to unquestioningly travel to Arizona to help Sally and Ben I was getting ready to board the Chuck train…but then his true colors come out in the heat of things and it turns out he is still the selfish shit that he was when he was a kid. Honestly, what happens with him in the end is unconscionable. He’s one of those characters that you love to hate. Because while he is not the main aggressor I feel like he may be that actual bad guy in the end. What do you think?
There are some surprises that are revealed. Like a lot of what Ben remembered happening as a kid did not happen. Oh the werewolves definitely happened but their connection to the dancing plague turns out to be nonexistent. They had nothing to do with each other. I found this crazy! Like bat shit crazy. Mostly because it was actually a coincidence that they were in the same town that a dancing plague occurred. I really don’t want to buy that but as this is fiction and not my story it seems I have no choice. LOL!
Closing thoughts:
A very interesting ending. I do really like that Gaby was able to stay with Sally. I love that Ben and Sally got together finally. I mean it just had to happen. No debate here. The one thing that bothers me is Chunk. I just cannot find it in me to not think he’s turning everyone into werewolves with his “fountain of youth” product. I hope he knows what he is doing otherwise the next full moon is going to be very interesting.
