Night of the Living Dummy

Plot Summary: Kris and Lindy are unbearably competitive twins and unfortunately the brats who star in this book. Lindy finds a dummy (Slappy) in the dumpster which leads to Kris demanding her own dummy (Mr. Wood). They compete and weird things happen, causing Kris to believe Mr. Wood is alive. Turns out it was all a prank by Lindy only then Kris accidentally brings Mr. Wood to life for real. Fortunately, a steam roller solves all their problems...until Slappy comes to life also and surprises no one who has heard of the sequels!

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Okay, now this was interesting because of course, I was expecting the twist ending to be Slappy was behind things all along. But Slappy isn't even in this book, leading me to wonder why Mr. Wood isn't more famous nor why he isn't the dummy featured on the cover (you can tell from the clothes that it's Slappy). But anyway, I digress. This book isn't bad but it does require a lot of suspension of disbelief to really enjoy. There are so many scary things to do with a living dummy and none of them get done in this book. There's so much wasted potential which I guess is why the sequels exist. The main characters are also pretty appalling. Lindy literally drives her sister close to madness and doesn't show one ounce of regret when Kris is breaking down in front of her. Both the twins are awful to each other and I don't really get why I should be rooting for them in the end. All in all, a disappointing start for one of the most famous Goosebumps characters.

Terrible family alert: Lindy easily walks this one but a special mention to Mrs. Powell, who makes her daughters stay up until 3am to clean the kitchen and then goes to bed before them on another night without making any effort to convince them to actually sleep. The girls also dispose of Mr. Wood at 3:30 am near the end of the book and Mrs. Powell still doesn't care. Not to mention how 'encouraging' she is:

'"I guess you have some talent."
Lindy beamed. Mrs. Powell normally wasn't big on compliments.'

Mrs. Blase: Upon discovering that Mr. Wood is in fact alive, Lindy still takes everything remarkably well.

Serial killer in the making: Lindy again, mainly for the insanely cruel and convoluted trick she plays on her sister. Also she loves ventriloquist dummies.

Most inane conversation: Not a conversation but Kris' thoughts are repeated a lot. A lot. Like four times per page. A lot is what I'm saying.

BONUS weirdest running theme: I didn't mention it in my Let's Get Invisible review but Max reflects that people who have been married for ages look like brother and sister. This observation is also made by Kris in this book for some reason.

Rating:

.5