Book Review: The Cryptid Catcher

The Cryptid Catcher

Lija Fisher

Square Fish, 2018, 326 pp. + bonus material

Bigfoot hunter and educator Lija Fisher has written a wonderful adventure for middle-graders, Indeed, older kids and adults with an interest in cryptozoology will snork it up too.  Clivo Wren is the orphaned son of a cryptid-catcher who roamed the world looking for a cryptid with immortality-granting blood, which makes sense in the context of Fisher’s unique take on cryptids in general. Thirteen-year-old Clivo has an inherited contract with a mysterious man named Douglas who is not so much a mentor as a goad.  (Imagine Obi-wan throwing Luke a lightsaber and saying, “Good luck storming the Death Star. And I mean by tomorrow!”) 

Clivo will feel familiar to fans of Jonny Quest (from the original and ONLY series) and has a bit of Harry Potter in him, too. He meets a supportive cryptozoology club through, of course, the International Cryptozoology Museum. Soon, he’s off to Loch Ness and then Alaska, getting around via an unlimited credit card provided by Douglas, the outdoor and self-defense skills taught him by his dad, and innate cleverness.  Clivo has other problems, though, mainly people who are wiling to shoot him to find the cryptid that can help them use immortality to (what else?) take over the world.

This book, the first in a duology, is a funny, well-paced, globe-trotting tale of teenage derring-do. It’s stuffed with cryptozoology references both common and obscure, has a great supporting cast, and brims with originality. On to the sequel!