This is the second novel in the beloved Goosebumps series. I have to say that, though I enjoyed this one, I felt it was a bit weaker than the first one (Welcome to Dead House). I obviously don’t expect children’s horror novels to have super deep literary or gothic storylines, but where the first one kept me guessing and had some pretty shocking twists and developments, this one had a much more basic plot and wasn’t as creepy as the first.
The storyline features two kids, a brother and a sister, who are concerned about their father growing increasingly distant and spending more and more time working on an experiment in the basement of their home. Things grow worse when their mother has to go away for a while, leaving them alone with their aloof father. Naturally, they end up going into the cellar to see what he’s up to… despite him expressly forbidding them to go in there.
I won’t spoil what’s actually going on down there, but it wasn’t really something that pushed my spooky buttons. I wasn’t bored at any point, and the novel is far too short to overstay its welcome, but it felt like more of a mild sci-fi thriller than anything truly disturbing – which is a shame because I felt Welcome to Dead House really was kind of unsettling.
I think for me, the stakes felt lower because the children were within their own home the whole time, and they were mostly investigating something their own father was doing. Perhaps that would make it more unsettling for some people, but I felt that that made everything feel a lot safer than in the first book, which had the whole family moved into a new and unknown environment.
Still, it was enjoyable enough while it lasted and there were a few scenes that were kind of unnerving in a gross-out kind of way. I highly doubt anyone would regret reading it, and it’s a good light read for anyone after a pallet cleanser after something heavier.
Rating: 7/10
