By now most of you know I am a major R.L. Stein fan. I love his style. He has done so much for boy readers and continues to do so. Here is something new for the author. He has turned his villains on their heads as it were. Have a look at what he has written.
Red Rain may have some tropes in common with R.L. Stine's best-selling series of scary books for children, but the audience here is clearly readers who enjoy the likes of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Villainous lawn gnomes and ventriloquist dummies are replaced by real people who cause real pain.
The horror is grisly. Stine likes food metaphors to convey the gore: Windpipes ripped out of throats like "some kind of long pasta noodle." A young woman holding her intestines as "a gusher of pink and yellow sausage" oozes through her fingers.
It's not really spoiling any suspense to say Stine has flipped his "Goosebumps" formula and made the kids the villains instead of the good guys.
When twin 12-year-old boys Samuel and Daniel are adopted by a travel writer after a deadly hurricane off the South Carolina coast, there are ominous signs that all is not well with the "bruvvers." Readers understand something's amiss immediately, even if it takes the book's characters awhile.
It's a page turner until the end, with short chapters that help increase the pace. Stine enjoys himself writing not for kids but about them.
For parents, there's plenty here to keep you up at night. Stine deftly makes one of his characters a child psychologist whose questions mirror our own: How much freedom of choice should kids have? When do they deserve to be treated like adults? And if you suspect they're up to no good with their friends, how quickly should you step in?
Quicker than they do in this wicked little book, that's for sure.
ROB MERRILL Associated Press
Red Rain may have some tropes in common with R.L. Stine's best-selling series of scary books for children, but the audience here is clearly readers who enjoy the likes of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Villainous lawn gnomes and ventriloquist dummies are replaced by real people who cause real pain.The horror is grisly. Stine likes food metaphors to convey the gore: Windpipes ripped out of throats like "some kind of long pasta noodle." A young woman holding her intestines as "a gusher of pink and yellow sausage" oozes through her fingers.
It's not really spoiling any suspense to say Stine has flipped his "Goosebumps" formula and made the kids the villains instead of the good guys.
When twin 12-year-old boys Samuel and Daniel are adopted by a travel writer after a deadly hurricane off the South Carolina coast, there are ominous signs that all is not well with the "bruvvers." Readers understand something's amiss immediately, even if it takes the book's characters awhile.
For parents, there's plenty here to keep you up at night. Stine deftly makes one of his characters a child psychologist whose questions mirror our own: How much freedom of choice should kids have? When do they deserve to be treated like adults? And if you suspect they're up to no good with their friends, how quickly should you step in?
Quicker than they do in this wicked little book, that's for sure.
ROB MERRILL Associated Press
This is good to know. My son (age 9) has just started reading Goosebumps and I let him because the villains have always been weird or funny, nothing that would scare him. I'll be careful now that I know not all R.L. Stine books are "safe."
ReplyDeleteI agree that it bears watching, although the first ones are such fun, particularly for boys your son's age.
DeleteMany thanks for your comments!
Wow, Nancy , this turn of events sounds chilling. Great review!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan. It certainly is a departure for Stein. It'll be interesting to see what happens in the longrun.
DeleteThanks!
Nancy I have to admit I do not like books that are this graphic. Certainly not for mid grade kids or even young teens.But then I am not a fan of Chainsaw Massacres, Living Dead, or Vampires that are ghastly and bloody. They are all yours, mate. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteMy "Thelma Hill" is scary, but in a more psychological and every day way.
Books for Kids - Manuscript Critiques
http://www.margotfinke.com
I know, Margot. I do feel the same way and don't like brutal or terrible scary anything. I loved that he got a whole generation of boys to read, but...
DeleteHi Nancy, Very glad you put this info. out because Goosebumps fans need to know this is graphic and scary. Parents who suspect bad behavior/misadventures from their kids need to jump in quickly with both feet and eyes open. This book reminded me of the chilling 1976 movie "The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea." I would have liked a warning before I saw that one.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can't decide if this one's tongue in cheek, but somehow I don't think so. Remains to be seen what happens here...
DeleteThanks!