The Haunted Mask - Review

Author: R.L Stine

Genre:  Middle Grade / Horror

Format: Paperback

Pages: 144

This was our Goosebumps Book Club pick for last month. While I know I've seen the episode from the 90's TV show. I realized quickly that I hadn't read this one. This is odd because I think the younger me would have been all about this.

Adult me is the same. I love the idea of this story. I even love the twist of what the mask actually was. The whole concept is set up to be very spooky.

However, this one was just kind of meh for me. I definitely think there was some great little jump scares throughout the story, and the pacing moves quickly. Which makes this a quick read. 

I did it in the afternoon after work. However, I did put it down a handful of times and pick up my phone for a bit before picking it back up. I only picked it back up because I did want to know where the masks came from, and how the shop owner came to have them. Also because it was a book club book I wanted to at least finish it.

My issue with this one wasn't that it was cheesy, or predictable in its setup. I knew what I was getting into considering the age group these books are geared toward. What I didn't like was any single character in this book. All of them annoyed me. Honestly, Carley Beth could have never gotten that mask off, and I wouldn't have cared. 

She has bad friends, she needs a spine, and she sadly has a very 90s fiction mom. The one who never knows what her kids are getting up to. Which is fine, it's just part of 90's Young Adult and Middle-Grade books and TV. But, all four of the characters in this are terrible, and all should have been shoved in masks.

I said what I said.

The brother in this gets a pass because he's in like two scenes, and little brothers are sometimes the worst. 

Yeah, so not my favorite of the original series. I do get why this got a second book in this series because the masks are cool.

HAPPY READING!!