Twins confront terrors in the woods surrounding their uncle's house in horror master Stine's latest series starter. Twelve-year-old Betty and Billy Arnold will be staying with Uncle Wendell while their parents take a business trip to London. Running late, Mom and Dad drop the kids and their dog, Bellamy, off without staying to introduce them to Uncle Wendell, whom they haven't seen since they were babies. The house seems empty--and spooky--and when the twins finally find their uncle, they're immediately swept up into his frantic search for a thief who's made off with an extremely valuable and dangerous book known only as the "scariest book ever." But is Uncle Wendell telling them the whole story? In their quest to prevent the horrors within the book from being unleashed, they face a plethora of horrifying creatures and life-threatening situations in the isolated and eerie Wayward Forest. With more twists and turns than a roller coaster, Stine's latest features the thrills and chills readers have come to expect from his Goosebumps books, as well as plenty of humor, too. There's not much in the way of character development, but the perils Billy and Betty encounter are spooky enough to freak out even seasoned young horror readers. Physical descriptions of the characters are minimal. Creepy scenarios and a serious shortage of trustworthy adults make for an enjoyably frightening tale. (Horror. 8-12)
COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (Online Review)