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rkking 's review for:
Piano Lessons Can Be Murder
by R.L. Stine
I recently got a bit of the nostalgia bug when thinking back to the Goosebumps books I read as a kid. Goosebumps, and by extension the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark series, definitely introduced me to the genre of horror. After Goosebumps I moved onto classics like Dracula and Jekyll/Hyde, then on to the gown up stuff throughout my life and to this day. Well, this nostalgia bug got me wanting to re-collect the original 62 run of Goosebumps books, and in their first run printings because of the amazing covers. Perhaps the best part of the series was the covers. Next up;
#13, Piano Lessons Can Be Murder
I'm starting to see a pattern in some of these books.
A lot of the time, the protagonist is considered a bit of a prankster, pulling jokes on family or friends often enough to get the reputation of not being taken seriously. This has happened more than once, and this book is no different. It's the boy-who-cried-wolf complex, so when spooky stuff starts happening, people don't believe him. It's a fine enough trope, but to find it happening so often in these books is starting to open my eyes to Mr Stine perhaps taking a shortcut here or there....?
As for this particular book, it's another iconic cover IMO, but the story itself doesn't really amount to much. There is a bit of a twist, revealing the villain to not quite be who who think it is, but again it doesn't tread water very well.
The most interesting aspect of this book is near the end when a room full of victims is revealed. Although the situation itself is tame enough, when you really think about it the implications are actually pretty dark. Without outright stating as much, this book is basically dealing with a serial killer! Pretty dark stuff for a kids' book ha!
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#13, Piano Lessons Can Be Murder
I'm starting to see a pattern in some of these books.
A lot of the time, the protagonist is considered a bit of a prankster, pulling jokes on family or friends often enough to get the reputation of not being taken seriously. This has happened more than once, and this book is no different. It's the boy-who-cried-wolf complex, so when spooky stuff starts happening, people don't believe him. It's a fine enough trope, but to find it happening so often in these books is starting to open my eyes to Mr Stine perhaps taking a shortcut here or there....?
As for this particular book, it's another iconic cover IMO, but the story itself doesn't really amount to much. There is a bit of a twist, revealing the villain to not quite be who who think it is, but again it doesn't tread water very well.
The most interesting aspect of this book is near the end when a room full of victims is revealed. Although the situation itself is tame enough, when you really think about it the implications are actually pretty dark. Without outright stating as much, this book is basically dealing with a serial killer! Pretty dark stuff for a kids' book ha!
Join the RK King readers' list for an exclusive FREE short story, plus inside info, musings, promos and more: RK King Writes