Night of the Living Dummy III by R. L. Stine is Goosebumps book 40 in the original series order. The Night of the Living Dummy series has been my favorite of the series so far. My big fear is wooden dummies, they freak me out. So this series has been generally scary for me until this book which had so much potential but was wasted with dumb pranks. The novel has two highlights a pretty good twist midway and a decent ending, but the story is filled with so much fluff. When the Living Dummy aspect of the story comes in the story is almost over. I’m always happy to see Slappy comeback, but if you have read the other two Night of the Living Dummy stories you know when the spell is read the dummy or dummies come to life. Why Stine hid it until the 75% mark, I do not know. This story had so much potential since there are 13 in total dummies and the story could have done so much more with them. The ending is the saving grace of the story and how well it serves the story. There were only two moments of real scares one was at the end and one was a dummy nightmare scene. Night of the Living Dummy 3 was adapted into a two part episode of the Goosebumps Tv show. Night of the Living Dummy 3 was published on February 1, 1996, by Scholastic.

Plot Summary: Trina and her little brother Dan Jr. live in a house full of dummies 13 to be exact. The latest one was found in the trash nearly torn in half, which their dad put back together. The dummy named Smiley has a suit and Trina pulls out a slip of paper with a set of Latin words on it, which she reads out loud. After a series of pranks where the kids act like the dummies are alive, their dad tells them that their uncle and cousin are coming to stay with them. Their dad warns the kids no funny business with the dummies who they tortured their cousin on his last visit. Right from the moment the cousin arrived pranks with the dummies started happening all directed at him. Dan Jr. and Trina blame the other one but is something more sinister happening? Who is pulling the dummies’ strings?

What I Liked: The dummy-filled nightmare was pretty great. Stine does not have the best track record with endings but I feel he nailed the ending here and made it pretty terrifying. I did like Cousin Zane the character and laughed at what he considers photographic art. I did like that the reader go a little rewarded with how the second Night of The Living Dummy ended is exactly how the dad finds this new dummy he restores. I liked seeing Slappy back and trying to make the humans his slave.

What I Disliked: Way too many pranks there are easily over ten in this small story and 2 of them are actually good. only 5 out of the 13 dummies get used I wanted to see more, even if they were just involved in the pranks. 75% was way too long to show what the reader wants to see, a Living Dummy.

Recommendations and Rating: Night of the Living Dummy III is a miss for me I will recommend the first 2 but this recycles too many of the ideas that have already been explored and misses every opportunity to add something new. I rated Night of The Living Dummy III 3 out of 5 stars. Here’s my full ranking of the 40 Goosebumps books that I have read in order to my favorite to least favorite: 1) A Night in Terror Tower, 2) Stay Out of the Basement, 3) The Headless Ghost, 4) Ghost Beach, 5) Piano Lessons Can Be Murder, 6) The Haunted Mask, 7) The Horror at Camp Jellyjam, 8) One Day At Horrorland, 9) Night of the Living Dummy, 10) Welcome to Camp Nightmare, 11) A Shocker on Shock Street, 12)The Phantom of the Auditorium, 13) It Came From Beneath the Sink, 14) The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, 15) Say Cheese and Die, 16) Let’s Get Invisible, 17) The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, 18) Welcome to Dead House, 19) Monster Blood II, 20) The Girl who Cried Monster, 21)Deep Trouble, 22) The Ghost Next Door, 23)Night of the Living Dummy 2, 24) My Hairiest Adventure, 25) Be Careful What You Wish For… , 26) Return of the Mummy, 27) Why I’m Afraid of Bees, 28)The Haunted Mask II, 29)How I Got My Shruken Head, 30) Attack of the Mutant, 31) Go Eat Worms!, 32) Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes, 33)The Werewolf of Fever Swamp, 34) Cuckoo Clock of Doom, 35) Monster Blood, 36)Night of the Living Dummy, 37) The Barking Ghost, 38) The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, 39) You Can’t Scare Me!, and 40) Monster Blood III.