Mammoth: The book with the worse cliffhanger

Birds in cages always think others are caged

The Overview:

Mammoth by Brian McBride is commonly referred to as the Hardy Boys meet Indiana Jones. I like to call it the only book I’ve thrown across the room. 

Mammoth is a book that is hard to find these days. It has good moral main characters (for the most part), teenagers that act their age, complex family relationships, the struggle of abuse, and realistic ways of handling grief. All of this with underlying Christian messages. 

Mammoth is about a group of kids called Jailbirds, uncovering a prehistoric mystery that can unravel the foundation of the entire town of Mammoth. And there is a family that will do anything to stop them. I mean everything. 

The story starts with the threat of a storm as every good story does. Tommy and his jailbirds, Maya, Jude, and Mars, take refuge in Tommy’s lighthouse. During this storm, the teens will find something that will alter their lives. A clue left over from Tommy’s deceased father. Not only will this clue help the teens unravel years of town history, but it will also help them find Tommy’s father's killers. At the same time, these kids set a timer on their lives. Strange men start following and attacking them. And this is before including Reid’s group and their undying hatred towards the jailbirds.

Maya, Tommy, Jude, Lydia, and Mars each struggle with trying to stay out of a box. Whether it’s becoming the disgusting low-lifes or the high society princess. Tommy, Jude, and Mars strive to better themselves by actively staying away from drugs and alcohol that plague their part of town. They also hold each other accountable through the hard times, striving to fill a hole they lost. Maya actively opposes the world of the sparkling lights and high fashion by running around with the jailbirds. Lydia pulls away emotionally and philosophically. She tries to explain to the higher society who each person is.  Ried is doing his best to get in the box but ends up acting more like a Jailbird himself.  

Brian McBride did a great job of balancing six perspectives. Each transition gave us not only new information about the story and the individual characters, but a deeper sense of the little Washington town known as Mammoth. The fun part is, not all perspectives are in the hero’s point of view; there is one in the villain’s. This perspective gives an interesting insight into two characters, because it shows the two ways someone can react to the ‘same’ situation. The villain and one of the protagonists have a very toxic relationship with their dad, and they react in two different ways. I love when writers do this because it shows the readers the good and bad way of reacting to something and what a true good person does. 

All in all, a beautifully well-written story that shows you don’t need to go overboard on the bloody and gory details to make a great book. Which is a lot from me. 

My Thoughts:

So… I threw the book across the room. What does that mean, you might ask? It means I love the book so much that I hated the ending. Yes, warning: this ends in a terrible cliffhanger. And I mean terrible. It rivals the one from Mark of Athena, which I am still frustrated with. I can see the author cackling as he ended the Mammoth to move on to the next book. So, in other words. The entire series is now in my Amazon cart, and I’m waiting for my check to hit. 

This book was a wild rollercoaster of emotions. I wanted to smack a few characters. Well, specifically Lydia. She did some things that made me rageful. And then McBride turns around and makes me feel sympathy for them! Except Graham. That man just permanently infuriates me. There were a lot of shocked gasps and ‘nononononono’ from me. A few of my coworkers were very concerned. 

The mystery was well written. The clues were obvious to the readers, but as goes the rules, it took the teens forever to figure it out. There weren’t any weird lulls that made the mystery impossible to solve. It’s a little slow at first, then it picks up after the storm.

I personally loved it. I rave about it to my friend group. It’s been hard to keep my mouth shut for this blog. This is now a top recommendation book for me. 

The Graph:

Language: 10% - Lydia’s dumb doofus of a boyfriend, Graham, calls her some colorful words. It is only two out of the entire book. 

Explicit Material: 5% - Another dumb moment from Lydia’s dumb doofus of a boyfriend and actually her dumb brother. Reid in the beginning was an absolute dummy and was with a girl who was not described, but Reid was described without a shirt. Graham tries to force himself on Lydia. 0/10 for Graham. 

Violence/Blood and Gore: 35% - There is lots of shooting, a murder with blunt force, and an attempted murder with blunt force and with a gun. The Jailbirds and Reid’s group do get into so many fights. They do end up going somewhere with literal rumors of a crazy man. Let's just say this place lives up to its name.  On a more sober note: Reid and Jude are abused by their dads. Reid is not very much described, just hinted, while we do see two accounts of Jude getting beaten up by his dad. 

Drug/Alcohol use: 15% - Reid and friends drink and do drugs (not specified on drugs, just implied), Jude’s dad and Tommy’s mom are mention acoholics; only Jude’s dad is seen drinking. There is a teen party with the hint of alcohol. 

Non-problematic: 35%

Mammoth Graph

Name meanings:

Tommy- Aramaic: “Twin”

Jude- Hebrew: “praised or thankful” (Side note: Jude’s first name is Alexander, which is Greek for "defender of men" or "protector of men.")

Maya-  Sanskrit: "Illusion," "magic," or "dream"; Hebrew: "Water" or "from God"; Greek: "Mother" or "midwife." Māori: "Courage" or "bravery"

Mars- Latin: Strength and Bravery. (Side note: Mars’ full name is Marshall, which is Old French or Middle English for "caretaker of the horses," "farrier," or "horse servant".)

Lydia- Ancient Greek: "noble one," "beautiful one," or "woman from Lydia"

Reid- Scottish or Old English: "red" or "red-haired".

Links:

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Spoilers

Graham and Lydia- This is the only relationship in the book. And the dumbest one. First and foremost, Lydia and Graham have been dating for a long time and Lydia is not fully into it. Graham lost interest in God and that was a hard turn off for Lydia. Graham wanted to to take the next step without getting married and hates how Lydia won’t agree. He complains about it to Ried who then DOES NOTHING. Graham literally talked about getting Lydia drunk to ‘loosen’ her up. Reid did nothing. NOTHING. Then Graham tried to murder Tommy. AND LYDIA GAVE HIM A SECOND CHANCE. WHY? Then Graham tried to force himself on her in a ‘romantic’ setting. They finally broke up. 

But in all seriousness, this applies to both girls and boys. You do not need a big reason to leave a relationship. You can simply fall out of love; and that’s it. Lydia knew that they weren’t compatible in the beginning of the book. And they didn’t break up until about half way through. This is a 480 page book. If you don’t feel it just break up, it will save everyone. 

I CALLED IT- I CALLED THE VILLIAN! I knew what happened the moment this guy stepped on the page. And you can too if you read inbetween the lines. And it’s crazy seeing this guy in the different perspectives. It’s crazy. 

The cliffhanger- This made me throw the book. I literally ended the book and I threw it. Two of the Jailbirds are wanted, one guy is murdered and the cops think he just left, two Jailbirds are in the hospital and one of them is in the procedure room… Yeah… it was a rough one. 

Thank you so much! For reading my rantings and my random links. I loved Mammoth, this is my new favorite book. This book is a 5/5, hands down. This book addressed so many hard things in an easy and simple way that could make anyone feel seen. I highly recommend you have your teens read this or if you like mysteries and high stakes, this is the book for you. 

Keep turning pages. Bard out!