R. L. Stine

In the aftermath of a hurricane from which she barely escapes while on a small island off the coast of South Carolina, travel writer Lea Sutter impulsively adopts a pair of orphaned twin boys against the wishes of her family before encountering the twins' sinister natures.

A Novel

Red Rain

Melissa Palmer

Book #76 Read in 2012
Red Rain by R.L. Stine

Known for his years of writing YA horror, R.L. Stine decides to scare adults--and he does it with this novel. Lea is a travel blog writer and is on an island when a hurricane hits. Devastation ensues. She returns home to her husband and two children with a little more than she left with--she is accompanied by 12 year old blonde twin boys, Daniel and Samuel. Though her husband Marc is reluctant to have the boys in their family, Lea ignores him and thrusts the boys wholeheartedly into their home and life. Little does she know that she just unleashed two monsters into her hometown.

This book was one that I could not put down. It was violent, graphic and disturbing, yet I had to know how it was going to end. This felt like a YA book to me with the writing style, but since I enjoy reading YA this worked for me. It was a good horror read.

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Annalee Harris

This book would have easily been a DNF except for the fact I'm falling behind on my reading and I'm desperate. Full of clichés, boring characters, predictable plot twists, and bland writing, having to physically read Red Rain was more frightening than anything that was in this book. I was only able to get through the last half by only reading one line of every other paragraph, and it was still painful.

Lexie

Tanya Sutton

Growing up, I read R.L. Stine's Fear Street series, and Stine's writing made me into the horror junkie I am today. That being said, his foray into adult horror was, in my opinion, less than successful.

The story (without giving too much away) revolves around an adventure-travel blogger, Lea, who travels to an island off the cost of South Carolina, which is almost immediately hit by a hurricane. In the storm's aftermath, she comes across 12-year-old twins, Samuel and David and decides to adopt them (read: kidnap?) and return home to her writer husband, Mark, and two children. Horror ensues (kind of).

My biggest issue with this book was the AMOUNT of disbelief I had to suspend. The story never really felt believable, even in the everyday moments, and the character's voices never felt authentic. Another problem was the lack-luster writing - the scary parts didn't feel particularly scary, the emotional parts never felt particularly gut-wrenching, and the dialogue felt redundant. The mood of the story, something I've always enjoyed about Stine's writing, just wasn't there. Too much of the action took place in the bright of day, and it failed to elicit the skin-crawling fear I expect from adult-oriented horror.

That being said, the book wasn't so bad that I failed to finish it, even after I decided that no one had bothered to do a continuity check before it went to print (who knows if Lea was gone for a day or a week - the characters certainly didn't), but it did contain enough twists that I honestly didn't see the end coming. Though when it did, my reaction was more "huh?" than "wow." I'd give Stine's next novel (if there is one) a read, but this book earned three stars from me based more on nostalgia than quality.

Red Rain A Novel

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