Does anyone remember a 200-year-old, human-eating, well-dwelling monster in “Hamlet”? Didn’t think so — but the mother-daughter team writing under pseudonym A.J. Whitten sees one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies in a whole new light, not to mention era.

In “The Well,” Cooper Warner, a supposedly average high school freshman, is being hunted down by his own mom so that she may feed him to the creature living at the bottom of his stepdad’s well. Along the way, his friend, his girlfriend, his dog and even a sibling he never knew he had become the beast’s next victims, though somehow, his humor never falls into its clutches.

As you might expect, it’s up to the unwilling protagonist to save the day, but even if it takes him over 300 pages to do it, no one can argue that for a teenager (or anyone, for that matter), he deals with the chaos of impossibility pretty competently.

Readers be warned: Eye-rolling will ensue at the explosion of 21st-century references, mirthfully original metaphors, and (sigh) clichés, though at least Cooper recognizes most of the clichés as they pass by, which somewhat un-clichés the clichés … if that makes sense.

You would never guess that the inspiration for this creepy yet hilarious novel came from the plot of “Hamlet,” if not for the summary on the back cover and the continuous mention of the play throughout the book, but this variation only makes for a more exciting and surprising read.