Welcome to Dead House - Review

Author: R.L Stine

Genre: Horror / Middle Grade

Format: Paperback

Pages: 123

I thought for sure I'd read this one back in the day. However, I don't think that's the case because if I had I don't think I'd have forgotten this one. As the kick-off for the entire Goosebumps series maybe it was a go big or go home situation. Whatever the reason for it this so far is the creepiest of all the books I've re-read in the series. Even as an adult, I had a couple of no-thank moments, and this is one I definitely need to dig into and see if we got an old Goosebumps TV version of.

Welcome to Dead House follows a couple of classic tropes: mysterious dead family member giving away a creepy house to an unexpected family, not-so-haunted house, creepy small town, annoying little brother, and my favorite of all, the aloof 90s parents. I don't know what it was about parents back then, but they never listened, believed, or seemed to know where their children were. Thinking on it now, I'm not sure my parents knew where I was most of the time then either. 

In fact, this story reminded me a bit of the Watcher case that popped up around 2013. Eleven years after this book was published, they share a few similarities I couldn't help but notice. Especially when one of the kids calls himself the Watcher. I'm not drawing any red-string conclusions, just mentioning the similarities is all.

However, it does give the book an interesting plot. It's one of those stories you wouldn't hate if a backstory happened because I have questions about this yellow cloud. But I'm also curious about the end of the book. I liked that it wasn't as tied up as you think. There's that hint of, wait a minute, did they really make it out. What's going on here? I'm not hating on a solid happy ending, every once in a while it's nice to see everyone get what they deserve. Sometimes though it's nice to know it's still sideways and while the last a hundred pages was an adventure you weren't sure how to get off. It's not as done as you thought.

So for the first book in what is now an iconic series, I really liked it. This was a great way to wrap up my month of reading for November and reminded me why I fell in love with this series as a kid. I've already picked up my next pick for this month, something fitting for the winter months!

HAPPY READING!!