Goosebumps: Welcome to Dead House by R. L. Stine

Other than having a few very vague (but fond) memories of the Goosebumps TV series, it was a franchise I’d never really gotten into that much. Recently, I finally decided to start reading the books, starting with the first in the sixty-two-book-long series. I really wasn’t sure what to expect, as I find that some books written for a younger audience don’t quite have any appeal to me as an adult – but this was not one of those books.

The story follows a pair of siblings named Josh and Amanda who move into a new house with their parents after their father inherits it unexpectedly. This new house is creepy and unsettling to them and before long they start seeing what seem to be ghosts. Nothing seems quite right about the whole thing, and they try to figure out what’s going on, while integrating with the local kids – but there’s something a bit off about them as well.

I won’t say any more, as it’s the kind of story where it’s fun to figure out what’s going on as you read through. What I will say though is that I really liked the type of horror that you get in this novel. Yes, on the one hand, other than a relatively unique twist, the story in general relies on a lot of horror tropes and clichés – but sometimes it’s nice to enjoy a familiar type of horror. I found it familiarly spooky in the same way that I get a good feeling from Halloween decorations. No, it wasn’t new, but I didn’t need it to be. It pressed a lot of the right buttons, and it did so very well.

Having said that, I wouldn’t want to imply that there’s no substance to this story. Though never too intense because of its young audience, some bits are genuinely pretty distressing or even disturbing. In many ways, I think that it’s target audience helps with the horror, because it can’t rely on extreme gore and violence to drive up the horror, as some other authors do, causing R. L. Stine to find more creative ways to give readers the spooks.

It’s a really short book, so not much of a time investment, but it speaks to its quality that it was able to leave such an impression in that time. If you’re a horror fan in particular, or just happen to like YA fiction, then I definitely recommend Welcome to Dead House.

Rating: 8.5/10

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