Welcome to Dead House by R. L. Stine is the very first Goosebumps book. It’s a lot scarier and more graphic than I remember, but still appropriate for it’s younger audience. I used to read these books as kids and also read them to my younger sister for bed, now that my sister has two of my nephews and I got these books for them but thought it would be fun to reminisce and read/review it for my website. This novel did not disappoint and still puts me in the mind of my childhood self and what fears me.

The Plot: Amanda and Josh have just moved into a new house in the town of Dark Falls, as a great Uncle has bequeathed it upon his death (the dad can not remember uncle). Amanda and Josh get bad vibes from the place that seems always shaded in shadows. Petey their dog starts acting strange and hostilely bark at the realtor and every kid they meet. Amanda swears she sees kids in the house and whispering, but believes it’s her own imagination. She meets all the kids in the neighborhood and is treated like the outsider she is, the only thing that most kids say is, “I lived in your house once.”

What I Liked: This story is dark and has a pretty good little twist. The tone is set up from the beginning and it’s creepy and spooky. The descriptions are just enough to create a mind picture of your imagination. The gore was a little bit unexpected, two character’s eyes pop out of their head. I thought the dialogue worked really well, and it furthered the mystery. I loved the character of Ray, and the twist that character has.

What I Disliked: This novel is told in a first person view of Amanda and it could have easily have been written in third, we get no insight being in her head. Her character felt really vague on female characteristics, it felt very genderless, I guess it was to appeal to both guys and girls at that age.

Recommendations: I whole heartedly recommend this book and series, it’s horror lite and a good introduction in to real horror genre in the future. This novel is the kid friendly version of the Twilight Zone. I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars. I ended up seeing nine of these books super cheap and bought them for the nephews to read, will review them as I go.