Finished The Haunted Mask by R.L. Stine. I received this from the publisher at BEA. It’s part of his Goosebumps series.
This was the first Goosebumps novel I’ve read, but when I was younger, I LOVED his Fear Street series. I remember them being really creepy. This novel…well, not so much.
A long time ago, a man named William made the best Halloween masks in the world—beautiful, creative and very lifelike. His brother, Randolph, comes to visit and he’s made some masks, too…but his are terrifying. He forces one on William and the mask melds with his face. William manages to get it off, but his face comes off, too. He dies, but before he does, he hides the masks and vows that he will guard them from being found and used.
Flash forward to present day. Lu-Ann is super annoyed that she has to go to her friend Polly’s super lame Halloween party and her best friend Devin is annoyed that he has to spend the next week working on his dad’s pumpkin patch. Lu-Ann tries to think of a way to make Polly’s party super scary, but can’t think of anything. And the party is just as lame as she thought. She and a couple of friends sneak upstairs to the attic, where they find a trunk. And in the trunk? Scary masks. (Then they meet William.)
Meanwhile, back at the farm, Devin is starting to lose his mind. He thinks he sees the pumpkins and vines moving and then learns that the pumpkin patch is on top of a graveyard. Not surprisingly, his family doesn’t believe him. AT ALL.
This was a ridiculously fun book. It wasn’t scary at all (although I’m probably a good 22 years over the target audience) but it’s an incredibly fast read. It also made me very happy because again, I loved the Fear Street books. LOVED.
(In fact, I learned that some of them are available for the Kindle and I am not at all ashamed to admit that a couple of them have been bought, downloaded and are currently waiting to be read.)
So is this the best book you’ll read this year? No. But it’s an insanely fun ride.
These are ridiculously popular at the library. I used to love Fear Street also. I bet Goosebumps are pretty scary to the kids for whom they’re intended.