Premise
When the Benson family decides to move into a town named Dark Falls, everything seems going in the right direction… until the nightmares start. With an eerie silence surrounding the whole neighborhood, and the people behaving strange in more ways than one, siblings Amanda and Josh are certain there’s something going on behind the scenes. And the house they just moved into holds a very dangerous secret…
Overview
Name – Welcome to Dead House [#1 of the original ‘Goosebumps’ series]
Author – R.L. Stine
Genre – Children/Horror/Mystery
First Published – July, 1992
Cover Rating (featured image) – 9/10 (love it!) [Paperback]
This Edition Published – 1 September, 2003 by Scholastic
Chapters – 18
Pages – 123
Review
NO Spoilers
Goosebumps. One of the most popular horror/mystery series written for children. Some might argue that it’s the best one in the category. Hard to disagree really. The author, R.L. Stine, has done an amazing job of penning down quick, easy to read, and mystery/thrill filled stories that are sure to give you the creeps as well.
With multiple books across multiple sub-series adoring the homes and libraries across the globe, it’s certainly a favorite among the masses. And what better way than to start where it all began, eh? This is the very first published book in the very first/original Goosebumps series, and it certainly lives up to its name for sure!
Also check out – Cry of the Cat, #1 of the ‘Series 2000’ Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine.
I personally am a BIG fan of the whole series. And although it’s written for a younger audience, grown-ups can enjoy a quick read nonetheless! (who knows, you might feel the creeps yourselves… like me!).
Ready to get goosebumps yet? Here’s what it’s about –
The plot follows the Benson family, consisting of Amanda (12), Josh (11), the parents, and Petey the dog (white, curly-haired terrier; cute as a button; usually well-behaved) arriving in the town of Dark Falls (that itself is a red flag, no?). Apparently, dad’s great-uncle had left a big, old house in his will for the family. The name of the house? Dead House (that’s a major second red flag right there!). Well, you just can’t say no to a free house as big as a mansion, can you?
To complete the handover, a Mr. Compton Dawes (friendly young man from the local real estate house) is on the scene. He’s as eager and excited to see the family move-in as are the parents. But Amanda and Josh do not like it one bit at all. Here’s a brief excerpt from the book which summarizes the siblings’ thoughts – [written in First Person perspective with respect to Amanda]
“Josh and I hated our new house.
Sure, it was big. It looked like a mansion compared to our old house. It was a tall redbrick house with a sloping black roof and rows of windows framed by black shutters.
It’s so dark, I thought, studying it from the street. The whole house was covered in darkness, as if it were hiding in the shadows of the gnarled, old trees that bent over it.
It was the middle of July, but dead brown leaves blanketed the front yard. Our sneakers crunched over them as we trudged up the gravel driveway.
Tall weeds poked up everywhere through the dead leaves. Thick clumps of weeds had completely overgrown an old flower bed beside the front porch.
This house is creepy, I thought unhappily.
Josh must have been thinking the same thing. Looking up at the old house, we both groaned loudly.”
Yikes! Sounds creepy enough? If not, here’s yet another excerpt from the book if you want to know a little more about the town itself –
“We headed down the block in silence, all four of us staring out the car windows. The houses we passed all seemed old. Most of them were even bigger than our house. All of them seemed to be in better condition, nicely painted with neat, well-trimmed lawns.
I didn’t see any people in the houses or yards, and there was no one on the street.
It certainly is a quiet neighborhood, I thought. And shady. The houses all seemed to be surrounded by tall, leafy trees. The front yards we drove slowly past all seemed to be bathed in shade. The street was the only sunny place, a narrow gold ribbon that ran through the shadows on both sides.
Maybe that’s why it’s called Dark Falls, I thought.”
I’m sure that’s not exactly what one would refer to while saying “Home Sweet Home”, eh?
Anyways, as the story progresses, the siblings encounter several strange and bizarre goings-on throughout the town. To add to the mystery, their own house is nothing short of a living nightmare! Is it haunted? Why are there sudden creeks and thuds in the middle of the night? Are they seeing things? The whole affair is baffling to the siblings. As they try and convince their parents about the same, the latter are in complete denial, forcing the siblings to take the matter into their own hands.
As the family tries to settle in their new home, we are introduced to a couple more characters along the way, including Ray Thurston, a boy similar age to that of Amanda, but acting very strange and mysterious (no doubt Petey the dog doesn’t like him!).
But things take a massive turn when Petey himself disappears, and the parents are nowhere to be seen either! With a ghost-town ahead of them, and no person whom they can call for help, can Amanda and Josh get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the town, and their own new house itself, before time runs out?
What was really good?
- A quick and easy read.
- The plot was very good.
- The writing was very good too, capturing the atmosphere very vividly (as can be seen from the excerpts above).
- The ending was good and satisfactory.
What was bad?
- Nothing that comes to mind really! A pretty perfect horror book for children.
Final thoughts
Overall, a brilliant first entry in a series loved universally across the globe. The story was pretty good, with some good writing to match it. As a grown-up, it’s not “that” scary. But for a younger audience, it will certainly do a job of keeping them awake at night! Oh, and not to forget they’ll be getting goosebumps alright!
Rating: – 8/10 (Pretty good!)
