Review: The Dead Boyfriend (Halloween Read-A-Thon #3)

Title: The Dead Boyfriend
Author: R.L. Stine
Publication Date: September 27, 2016
Genre: Young Adult Horror
Recommended If You Like: R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, zombies, revisiting your childhood

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

The Book:

Caitlin is a teenage girl who only has eyes for her new boyfriend. She thinks she is in love. Then she sees him with another girl, and lashes out in a seemingly-murderous rage. But when her dead boyfriend is suddenly there, staring at her, Caitlin doesn't know what to believe anymore.

What I Liked:

It was really fun revisiting R.L Stine's work. I loved his and Christopher Pike's books when I was growing up, and I couldn't resist the chance to check out a brand new R. L. Stine read.

There were some genuinely scary moments in this book, that had me officially creeped out. There were also some well-played twists scattered throughout.

Anything I Didn't Like?

Unfortunately, I feel like this book didn't have the charm for me Stine's books did when I was younger. I might have liked this book a lot more if I had read it back when I first discovered Stine and Pike.

The plot really didn't make much sense, even in the horror world Stine created. The characters read as pretty one-dimensional, and their motivations weren't that believable.

The twist at the end would have been very cool if it had been set up properly, but it came out of nowhere--and then the final twist on the last page didn't fit at all with what we had just been told. The ending felt rushed, as if Stine had a really cool idea right before the final draft was due, and just wanted to hurry up and get there.

So...?

I wanted to love this book so much. But, at least for me, it didn't live up to what I had hoped for.