Don't Scream!

Twelve-year-old Jack Harmon is next in line to speak to the Story-Keeper at Horrorland theme park's Hall of Horrors, where kids who survive terrifying experiences instinctively go to confide their stories in someone who understands. When Jack picked up the cell phone sitting next to him on the bus seat after a routine afternoon of bullying by Darryl and Mick, he envied whatever kid owned such an expensive, modern phone. Jack had pleaded with his parents for months to purchase him a phone, to no avail. But when he discovers the nasty secret hidden inside this particular phone, Jack wants to get it as far away from him as possible. He won't mind if he never gets his own mobile device.<br /><br /> The girl's voice addressing Jack through the phone is amiable enough at first, if oddly persistent in declaring him her new best friend. He doesn't know who he's talking to, but he's alarmed to find that she stays connected on the other end of the line even after he powers the phone off. How is that possible? Soon the voice emanating out of the sleek, sophisticated smartphone progresses from annoying possessiveness of Jack to levying threats against him if he doesn't do as she demands, and demonstrates frightening ability to deliver on those threats. Moderate electrical current shoots from the evil phone and zaps Jack whenever he steps out of line, and his friends aren't safe from being shocked, either. The mysterious voice on the other end of the line still refuses to identify herself, going silent when Jack tells her to talk to his parents or anyone other than his techie friend Eli. No matter what desperate measures Jack takes to be rid of his cyberstalker, she's always a step ahead, finding a way back to him even after he smashes the phone with a sledgehammer. It looks like Jack's technological parasite is his for keeps, but the cellular bullying moves him to an unsustainable level of risk when the girl in the phone starts forcing Jack to partake in increasingly illegal activities. Will he ever revoke the curse of the maniac on the other end of the phone line, or is he doomed to remain its cyber-slave for life? <br /><br /> R.L. Stine has a talent for creating likable protagonists, and Jack is a good one, an undersized kid who suffers ridiculous degrees of bullying from Darryl and Mick but doesn't let it sink in too deeply and embitter him. Kids should have fun reading his story and identifying with him as a regular kid caught in a nightmare scenario. <i>Don't Scream!</i> isn't R.L. Stine's best Hall of Horrors book—most of the whys and hows of the plot go unexplained, and not everything makes perfect sense—but it's a fun junior novel for readers tech-savvy or otherwise, and I'd give it one and a half stars. Goosebumps is a unique pleasure that never seems to lose its charm.

I read all 25 Goosebumps HorrorLand and Hall of Horrors books in one movie-length vlog on YouTube, check it out: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://youtu.be/DsKCfCAAt7g">https://youtu.be/DsKCfCAAt7g</a>

Goosebumps books that have underlying themes and messages to them are far and few in between. But when they pop up, it always makes me appreciate the book a little more. And while I didn't love this book, it stands out the most in the Hall of Horrors series as being the most unique entry of the series.<br /><br />This one is about our MC Jack, who discovers a smartphone on his school bus during his ride home. He checks it out and starts hearing a girl's voice coming through the phone, talking to him directly. It's got to be some kind of prank, right? When Jack gets off the bus, leaving the phone behind, a classmate kindly requests (screams) at the bus-driver to stop because Jack forgot *his* phone; where she then tosses the phone out of the window at Jack.<br />Jack looks at the phone some more and discovers pictures of himself and his family on it. The mysterious voice that comes through the phone even when it's shut off continues to torment Jack. Jack spends the rest of the book under the grip of the mysterious entity (named "Emmy") living in his electronic devices. Who is she? what does she want?<br />Unfortunately, not all of our questions get answered... but first, I'll talk about what I liked with this book.<br /><br />This book presents a pretty different and interesting idea that covers more serious topics in today's society regarding phone usage and social media addiction. Stine takes a rather simple premise and manages to do pretty good with it, even after all these years of rewriting the same books over and over. One of the things I liked about this idea, is how grounded in reality it is. Considering how crazy technology is in today's age, the events of this book don't seem entirely far-fetched. And to me, the more grounded the horror is, the more effective it is - and I felt that, at times, with this book. It certainly has its moments of suspense.<br />I also enjoyed the character dynamics in this book. Even though our protagonist Jack is as one-dimensional as ever (like most GB characters) I really like how the parents played a role in the story. They felt a bit more believable as parents and their reactions to certain situations felt more natural than what I've come to expect from most GB books. I also enjoyed the bullies' roles in the story and how Jack is kind of going up against them almost as much as he is Emmy. It makes you feel a little bit for Jack, even if he isn't the most developed of characters.<br />Lastly, I loved the psychological bits near the end that further capitalize on the underlying themes of the book and also add to the emotion of the story itself, even though it never really changes direction all that much. It is (just a bit) thought-provoking and does create that possibility of leaving certain aspects of the book open for interpretation, even though it's pretty linear for the most part.<br /><br />What I didn't like about this book:<br />I didn't care for the setup. How Jack acquires the phone, how his classmate throws the phone at him through the school bus window, and I was also very annoyed by some of Jack's decisions later on - all of these things were done very obviously to drive the plot forward. It always annoys me when it's done in a way that makes it clear what the book is doing. I think it could have been written a little more organically... but Stine decided to have some ridiculous decisions that would be made by (very) few people in real life, if by anyone, just to carry on the story.<br />This one is a nitpick, but I also didn't like how some of the chapters ended. There were quite a few: "I had a very bad feeling about this..." and "And this is when the nightmare started..." - y'know... the cheap kind of chapter endings the Chiller books are known for, not Goosebumps. While they didn't ruin the book here or anything, they were slightly distracting and felt out of place. I was surprised to see them as Stine doesn't usually resort to that sort of thing.<br />I also didn't care for the ending. The final twist of the book left a lot of things unexplained. There were already some unanswered questions by the ending, and that final twist just raised more of them that can't really be answered. Overall, there is just not enough explanation for me. I wasn't buying the motives of the villain, Emmy, or what little motive she had, anyway. These gaps in the story left me feeling like this book could have been a lot better than it was.<br /><br />In summary:<br />I enjoyed this one. It's different, has moments of suspense, is a bit more serious / much darker than the last book, Why I Quit Zombie School, and it also has some underlying themes to it which you don't see too often in Goosebumps. This is a book you could analyze and dissect the deeper meaning behind it - if you wanted to - or you could simply enjoy the story as is. However, I feel like this book, similarly to The Five Masks of Dr. Screem, just wasn't the most well-executed. It felt like it was missing something for me. I think I appreciate this book more than I actually enjoyed it, overall. The flaws with the logic and the plot kind of bring it down for me a little bit, and the ending is pretty weak. Still, I think this is a good book, even with its flaws - much better than some of the other, newer GB books.<br /><br />I give this one a 3.5 / 5 stars.

About the closest Stine has come to social commentary in <i>Goosebumps</i>, but its unconventionality muffles the obvious -- plain-spoken as the satire is, a Stine story is the last place the reader expects to find it, and so goes it unnoticed for longer than respectable.<br /><br />Once it hits, though, how nice it is for a <i>Goosebumps</i> book to have a second layer! The "ghost in the machines" who bombards our protagonist with attention from every electronic device is the monsterification of the internet's ubiquity, and the horrific inability of the modern person to escape its web. Jack tries to free himself from Emmy's call, but always lies another digital device to entrap him. He takes his quest to its logical extremity and smashes every piece of electronics he owns, yet the nightmare never ends as long as one other person exists to be harassed: hate the internet's influence to your heart's content, you cannot remove yourself from it but by removing yourself from society.<br /><br />Granted, the analogy isn't exact; Emmy coerces, the net inveigles; and somehow an artificial intelligence can thrive inside an alarm clock -- go figure!<br /><br />"Black Mirror" theorizing aside, this really is a fun tale, resembling some hybrid of the movie "Her," a demon possession story, and a Slappy book. More than a couple of these latest <i>Goosebumps</i> stories boast surprising creativity, when one considers the ages of both the series and Stine. That he can still entertain me, when I've read tens if not hundreds of his works, is testament to the man's skill, and perhaps the durable flexibility of his formulae.<br /><br />A few curiosities: <br /><br />Is the name "Emmy" an oblique reference to the TV show nominations?<br /><br />Stine's many, many references to "game-player" made me chuckle. He's tried his best to keep abreast of the ever-changing kids' tech milieu, but dear god man, check an internet forum. "Game-player" is something from the nightmare Berenstain universe -- it may look right to a couple people but it's never existed. It's always been "game console," "handheld," or "Game Boy" (as a generic). None of this "game-player" voodoo.<br /><br />The ending was pure-form <i>Goosebumps</i>, with a bully receiving due deserts and <i>still</i> finding a way to harass the protagonist, this time worse than before!<br /><br />And finally, "Don't Scream!" may win the dismerit for dullest Stine title ever. He says he conceives the title first and the story flows from it, but I think any of his books could've been inspired by something as vague as "Don't Scream!" "Egg Monsters from Mars" it is not.

This unexpectedly creeped me out! R.L. Stine definitely embraced my deep fear that AI will soon start threatening and controlling us. <br />Based on this book, it seems like this Goosebumps spin-off is pretty good. I will pick up some of the others if I can find them at the library.

This book is a great book for kids that want to read something scary that is still age appropriate. It is very exciting and can be intense and makes want to read more. Most definitely a 5 star book.

My son loved all the cliffhangers and was just bowled over with the ending.

This was a pretty good read, but it's not one of my favourite Goosebumps books; interesting concept, but the actual story could do with some improvements, in my opinion.

This book was not my favorite. It wasn’t as interesting as most goosebumps books and I was confused sometimes.

actual rating: 2.5<br /><br />I've only read a few of the original Goosebumps books but I thought I would give one of the newer ones a try since I needed a book published in this year for a challenge. Not super impressed with this and I'm not sure if it's because the quality has degraded over time or that I don't generally enjoy like 'haunted technology' stories or because I had to read this one while I listened to the other ones. It was okay but definitely not something that stood out to me or that I will probably remember in the future. I did round up because 1. it's a kids book and I'm sure a kid would enjoy it more and 2. <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="86eb1796-a4d9-4312-a18f-b078a83e82c9" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="86eb1796-a4d9-4312-a18f-b078a83e82c9">I've always gotta give props when he kills a kid. I know that sounds messed up but I really appreciate it because most authors are too afraid to do that and I think it probably ups the scare factor for the kids reading it as well.</label>