Book 35: A Shocker on Shock Street
I recall hearing this book mentioned on quite a few “best of” lists for Goosebumps. It’s pretty good (hell after Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes it’s fucking great) but it’s a rough one to get through for sure.
The book follows two forgettable characters (who I never could quite figure out if they were best friends or brother & sister... not that it matters in the end). As per usual our main characters are a boy and a girl (of similar or same age) that are always fighting over who is braver. They LOVE the Shocker on Shock Street film franchise and are intensely excited that their father has created a ride/tour of the set. They will be the first people to try it out.
Mid-way through the tour things start to go wrong. It seems that the monsters on the ride aren’t robots but instead genuine creatures. They get off the tramcar and run to find safety. They finally find their father and decide that he’s a robot.
Then it’s revealed that he’s not a robot, they are the robots. He built them to test the ride. What?
THE BAD: The ending of this book is such a bat-shit crazy twist layered on top of another twist. It doesn’t particularly make a hell of a lot of sense and I guess that bothers me (Although maybe I just have super high standards for Stine). Seriously though, why did the robots get to see the premiere of a movie?
THE GOOD: Unlike some of the Goosebumps books there is no pacing issues to be found. It moves at a solid pace and honestly sometimes that’s all you can really ask for. Also the Shocker on Shock Street movies sound so ridiculous that I kinda wish they existed.
THE TV SHOW EPISODE: Pretty decent adaptation with some fun creature effects but continues after the books ending for no real reason.
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