Welcome to Dead House
Page turning
Suspenseful
Timeless

Welcome to Dead House

R. L. Stine2003

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Reviews

Photo of Chulandon leanday Bradley
Chulandon leanday Bradley @chulandon
4 stars
Jul 23, 2024

I’m glad I read “Welcome to Dead House.” It was an intriguing story from start to finish. The beginning of the book was a bit slow and I almost put it down, but I’m glad I stuck with it. By the end, I was hooked and couldn’t wait to see how it ended. I also felt sad about the kid’s dog, Petey. I can’t imagine how I would feel if my dog died, and it was heartbreaking that no one understood what the dog was saying. I also wonder what happened to the family at the end. When the new family goes to move into the house, Amanda tells them that “she used to live in their house.” Does that mean the family died at the end of the book?

This review contains a spoiler
+5
Photo of Dimitris Papastergiou
Dimitris Papastergiou@s4murai
1 star
Jul 1, 2023

When I was a kid this was my shit. This was my jam. This whole series, I'd inhale that shit and love it. Also the tv show after awhile. It was great. Now, I decided to re-read the whole thing, but, after re-reading this one again, I decided to maybe not re-read everything, I will try a few more for sure but.. this was a huge disappointment, because it's written for kids of course, and I have to understand that and maybe rate the book based on that, but meh.. Decided not to do that and I'm gonna rate this as an interesting or not book the moment I read it, which is now, which is as an adult. And it's not interesting, it's boring. I guess I could say that I'd change my mind when/if I have kids and they read it, but no, they can make their own Goodreads account, I'll still believe that this was my shit and now it's just shit. #Sadness

Photo of C. J. Daley
C. J. Daley @cjdscurrentread
5 stars
May 13, 2023

The book that started it all! As I went with July to honor the original release date of this book, how else to start other than with the book itself? Read for my Goosebumps July!


This book surprised me a bit honestly. I had of course read it as a child, but to dive back in as an adult, there’s some really dark stuff in these books. I guess middle grade horror is still allowed to be ‘horror’. I know I’ve recently read some reviews calling it boring to reread as an adult, and of course they are meant for children, but for me they’re so quick that it doesn’t phase me. I’m also aligning myself with what they are accomplishing while reading, and I’m still finding them enjoyable.


Inherited houses from uncles you’ve never heard or are never a good idea.


Personally a 5/5*, the first in a long career.

+2
Photo of Celeste Richardson
Celeste Richardson@cecereadsandsings
3 stars
Oct 13, 2022

The book that started it all. I found it perfectly fine. It's amazing the improvement in writing I can see even between this and The Haunted Mask, number 11 in the Goosebumps series. The main characters were annoying, especially the little brother, and the parents seemed a bit dumb, to be perfectly honest. Also, I didn't expect there to be an animal death. I say this as someone who vividly remembers Old Yeller and Charlotte's Web and Where the Red Fern Grows from childhood. I just wasn't expecting it here for some reason. The story itself was suitably creepy; I just wish we had spent more time with the actual house. But overall, I'm glad to have read this one, so I could see the inception of such a culturally important series to so many kids.

Side note: I can't believe this book is 30 years old!

Photo of Maggie Gordon
Maggie Gordon@maggieg
3 stars
Aug 13, 2022

Rating: * * ½ Welcome to Dead House is where the Goosebumps phenomenon started, and it is a very standard example of what one will get with this series. The Benson family finds out that they have inherited a house from a forgotten relative, so they move to the small town of Dark Falls to start over. Amanda and Josh are our protagonists, two siblings who are 11 and 12 years old (the standard age for all Goosebumps protagonists). Right away they start making friends with some of the kids in their new town, but they soon find that things seem a bit off in Dark Falls. The kids discover that all their new friends have gravestones in the town cemetery, and Dark Falls is actually a city of ghosts that needs to sacrifice the entire Benson family in order to survive! This first book of the series is moderately suspenseful and creepy, but it’s also not all that memorable. There are a lot of spooky house scenes, but Welcome to Dead House is a fairly standard evil ghost story. It gives kids what they want – a few scares and frights, and that’s really all Goosebumps ever aims to do. It sets the tone of the series and the general parameters of how these stories work, and was a very safe opening to the series.

Photo of Randi shetter
Randi shetter@randishetter
1 star
Jul 17, 2022

Not my favorite out of the goosebump books.

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Anna Moore@annarae
3 stars
Jan 14, 2025
Photo of Toypipi
Toypipi@toypipi
4 stars
Aug 12, 2024
Photo of Essence
Essence@iridessence
3 stars
Jul 10, 2024
Photo of Seth
Seth@plantdaddy
3 stars
Jan 1, 2024
+1
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Kimberly Ayala @kimchii
4 stars
Apr 7, 2022
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em 🍂@em_in_a_new_realm
5 stars
Mar 23, 2022
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Pixie J Stoner@pixiejstoner
4 stars
Oct 20, 2021
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Christina Berry @catgirl_luna
3.5 stars
Aug 5, 2021
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Colton Ray@coltonmray
5 stars
Apr 16, 2024
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Kaylee Ray@epeolatri
3 stars
Apr 5, 2024
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Aayush@b3nz3n3
3 stars
Apr 3, 2024
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sash.@sashaolomon
5 stars
Mar 1, 2024
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thea@vvanillapopcorn
4 stars
Feb 25, 2024
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Jo A@thecupofjo
2 stars
Jan 1, 2024
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Miranda Padgett@rhondareads
5 stars
Oct 27, 2023
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Karen Scarlet @draculasdaughter88
3 stars
Sep 13, 2023
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Shakira@shakireads
4 stars
Aug 25, 2023
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Greg Copeland@gtco
3 stars
Jul 3, 2023

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