Trick Or Trap

Goosebumps Most Wanted #Special Edition #3

by R.L. Stine

The infamous, Most Wanted Goosebumps characters are out on the loose and after you. Just in time for Halloween, a super special edition!
It's Halloween and that means time for trick-or-treating. And scary parties. But this year things are taking a turn for the terrifying. Scott and Amanda throw a bash at an old haunted house. There won't be any treats, only traps. Traps for a few bullies that are always bugging them at school. What could possibly go wrong? How about a haunted house with a mind of its own? A house that would rather play its own tricks and set its own traps...

Genres: Horror, Halloween, Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Fantasy, Childrens

192 pages, Library Binding

Published July 28, 2015

About the author

Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.

Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...

Reviews

[Cameron Chaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Sigh* Goosebumps just isn't what it used to be. Trick or Trap was better than some of the other new Goosebumps books I've read, as it did have a lot of the same beats I remember from classic Goosebumps. It just felt like Stine threw a bunch of his cliches into a blender, hit the 'on' button, and left it running. There's not much of a plot, it's just a series of twists that go nowhere. The original Goosebumps books had those twists, sure, but they also had more of a story and you didn't have to worry every twist being a joke played by an annoying little sister.

I still had fun with this book, I just wish it was as good as the cover and that it had a more consistent plot. It also needed that same Halloween/Autumn warmth as The Haunted Mask. Even if Stine isn't what he used to be though, I'll still read him.

2.5 stars

[Avani ✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this at all. I thought this series was supposed to be better due to its hype.

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I noticed right away that Trick or Trap, unlike every other book in the Goosebumps Most Wanted series except for The 12 Screams of Christmas, has no "Welcome...You are most wanted" segment at the beginning, where R.L. Stine directly addresses the reader with a handful of gruesome jokes before segueing into the story. Could that be because the villain is less readily identifiable in Trick or Trap, so it's harder to make a segment work in which R.L. Stine discusses the villain by name? I don't know, but the difference is worth noting.

Like many Goosebumps protagonists, twelve-year-olds Scott Harmon and his friend Amanda have a bully problem. Mean, physically hulking twins Mickey and Morty and their pal Kenji have mocked Scott and Amanda for years because of their timid nature. Scott is also teased mercilessly by his own nine-year-old sister Rita, who is rarely reprimanded by their parents. Tired of being the butt of every joke, Scott and Amanda sneak into a reputedly haunted old house to prove their bravery, but what they find there would terrify anyone.

Scott feels inexplicably compelled to take a small box from the haunted mansion, and he and Amanda examine it at his house. The box emits a noxious cloud of purple gas when opened, and inside the box is an unnaturally lifelike mask. It has a strange effect when Scott slips it on, drawing him toward an isolated world inside his own mind. Other than the mask, the haunted house wasn't as scary as they feared, so Scott and Amanda decide to use the place for a prank on Mickey, Morty, and Kenji. They invite the trio to the abandoned mansion for a Halloween party, then rig up a series of scares to get even with the bullies. But the house has a trick or two of its own, and Scott and Amanda may be in as much jeopardy as Mickey, Morty, and Kenji. Can Scott figure out the link between the mask and the mansion before they're all trapped inside permanently?

The best books of the Most Wanted series imply the presence of Goosebumps villains other than the story's chief antagonist. I won't say Trick or Trap is one of the best, but it does imply a connection with the haunted mask that Carly Beth Caldwell and others have battled. Also, I wonder if the haunted house in the story is the same one in Zombie Halloween. Both are next to a graveyard, and Brandon Dorman's cover art for both houses is similar. Is there an underlying connection? I give Trick or Trap one and a half stars, and the story's logic was almost solid enough for me to round up to two stars. Personally, this is one of my favorite Most Wanted books, and Scott Harmon is one of my favorite characters. Definitely worth a reread.

[Austin Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

A Goosebumps book in the formula of You Can't Scare Me or Are You Terrified Yet. Our protagonist is a wimpy little kid who wants to get revenge on the school bullies (and his sister), by scaring them for a change. For about 140 pages, we see Scott (main character) get freaked out over every little thing.
See Scott Scared.
Then, at the end, he lures his rivals into an abandoned house to try and turn the tables. What happens is they ALL get scared when the supernatural decides to make an appearance, creating all sorts of ideas at the very last minute of the book and then wrapping it up with no explanations and a cliche, cliffhanger type ending. Very typical of Stine.

Don't have much else to say about this one. I didn't hate it necessarily, but I'm still rating it 1 star as it completely lacked any sort of creativity and it was honestly quite boring at times. I do not recommend this Most Wanted entry.

[Jules Inman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fun time! It had the creep factor as well as some gross scenes which I loved! It has full on Halloween vibes with some paranormal stuff thrown in.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I remember reading Goosebumps books before bed, and I swear the earlier books were far scarier. The stories kept you on edge throughout the book and left you feeling unsettled at the end.

However, Trick or Trap just didn't have that same creepiness. In short, Scott and his best friend Amanda are tired of being teased for being easily frightened by some bullies at school. In order to turn the tables on the bullies, Scott and Amanda invite them to a haunted house party at the creepy old house in their neighbourhood for Halloween. They set up jump scares and other eerie tricks, but does the house hold more than just dust and cobwebs?

Overall, not all that scary.

[The Gooseblock Bruce · Rating 1 out of 5]

I dont wanna go in depth because i simply dont want to. Plus i have a most wanted video coming out on my channel soon which i probably wont even talk about this book much on there either.

This book is not only:

1. Boring at times
2. Has shit character writing
3. Makes little to no sense

But also has continued the trend of RL Stine hating the idea of revenge when it should be completely justified in a situation like this one in the story.

1.5/10

[Tarissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want a really good Halloween tale, look no further. This one will have you hooked in just a few pages!

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome plot twist at the end 👍👍

[Yaritza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow I am creeping out. I am an adult reading this book and I will surely have nightmares tonight. R.L. Stine really knows how to spook his readers. The ending was unexpected. Was glad that the bullies got the scare of there life. Makes me want to read more of the goosebumps series. Got to remember no creepy cemeteries or spooky houses.

[House of Goosebumps · Rating 3 out of 5]

6.75/10

This book was way better than I thought it would be. The overwhelming majority of reviews I’ve heard about this book have been negative, so going into this, I did not expect much. However I was pleasantly surprised. This is definitely one of the weaker Halloween books in Goosebumps, but still nonetheless not bad.

I liked the characters, atmosphere and plot, but the thing that drags it down a little is just the amount of filler in this book. It did not have to have an extra 40 pages. I think the book would have been much better as a 120 page regular most wanted book.

Overall I can’t say I recommend this book, but it’s not as bad as you think

[Gaby · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 🎃 rating
The scariest part of reading a modern Goosebumps book is seeing mentions of Instagram, iPads, and cellphones.

Pair reading Trick or Trap with a bowl of Halloween candy in your Hello Kitty boxers.

[Bashon Mann]

It was a great book. It was funny and scary at the same time. I think if you get the chance to read it you should take it.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book "Trick or trap" is a great book. I like it because you. can relate to the character by getting peered pressured into things. I also like it because the character is set out to seek revenge on others.

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 1 out of 5]

The biggest waste of time in all of Goosebumps. I’m gonna get my only positive out of the way now: the mask. It had a really cool and genuinely disturbing concept to it. I liked how it would present alternatives… to keep it vague, and it was surprisingly unique. Also, the first 50 pages are okay. Now for the never-ending shit piles in my negatives! Immediately, this book is an all-for-nothing, waste of time, bland ass story. It’s essentially You Can’t Scare Me bud and extra 60 pages long, and almost even more boring, which is another downside. How??? Stine, you are making a 166 page story, and you decide to go with THIS? NOTHING. FUCKING. HAPPENS. Even around page 150 (I’m not even fucking kidding), WE GO BACK TO SQUARE. FUCKING. ONE. COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME! And with the biggest issue done, here’s my other giant gripe: characters. The villain adds absolutely nothing with its whole mask concept and potentially a really bland climax (that also wastes your time by doing absolutely nothing but result in a rushed twist ending). The bullies are so hatable, and whilst that can work, it makes the story almost not fun—albeit already a slog—and also results in the least satisfying conclusion ever. Wow. And the main character? What the actual fuck. His writing is god awful, like I can’t even make this shit up. The amount of tonal shifts he has in the book, and random and stupid dialogue and monologues, and a really shitty execution of the “trap” in the book, all accumulate for the most contrasting and hard-to-read main character I have ever seen. He isn’t even a bad character, he’s just written horribly. It’s like one page he’s Todd Barstow, and the next, he’s god damn SKIPPER MATTHEWS! Stine, you cooked—literal shit, I mean. Never cook shit again bro. Now for an onslaught of negatives: bad twist ending, weird incorporation of Aunt Ida aka Human Plot Device, weak friend character, annoying sibling per usual, boring story, rushed climax, exceeding needed page count and 120 PAGES OF MOTHA FUCKIN FILLER. 1.5/10, one of the worst stories I have ever read.

[Hollowspine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Haunted Mask was another Goosebumps book that I distinctly remember reading as a kid and this "Goosebumps Most Wanted" book, Trip or Trap brings the Mask back into the world with another creepy tale. This time it's about two friends who are tired of being scared and bullied. Scott and Amanda are both nervous kids, they don't like dark spaces, avoid taking the short cut to school through the cemetery and will scream at nearly anything. But, they're getting a little sick of being constant targets.

Since Halloween is approaching the bullies are up to even more pranks, making the kids walk through a graveyard, pretending to be ghosts and scaring them out of their pants. At first Scott and Amanda just want to prove that they're brave by taking pictures in the neighborhood haunted house, but when the pranks go too far, they decide to get their revenge instead.

They use the house to set up an elaborate Halloween party scare and invite all the bullies to come in the hopes of giving them the scare to end all scares. But, Scott has already released something else into the house, will the party scare the bullies, or will it mean the end for everybody?

It's very similar to the first Haunted Mask book in that it's about an underdog who decides enough is enough, but at nearly 200 pages, this one is a bit longer and truthfully for me lacked the usual character growth seen as part of the Goosebumps package. Still the book is pretty creepy and has a lot of little twists and turns to keep it interesting.

It's kind of funny to read a new Goosebump book where the characters talk about their iPads and things. I feel it's a little bit forced, Stine should just stick to what he does best, creepy stories, without feeling the need to modernize them with mentions of recent comic book characters and gadgets.

[Billie Pritchett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book Trick or Trap was kinda bad but maybe I'm giving it a higher score because I have an attachment to Goosebumps. Okay, so the protagonist wants to get back at some bullies but discovers what might be a real haunted house. That's about it. You could do without reading this.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't a bad book.But if your going to reccomend a goosebumps book that takes place durring Halloween .It will probably always be the haunted mask. That being said this book was okay, not the best and not the worst also this is hands down the best cover in the new era of goosebumps.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This kid is so wimpy that it's annoying.

[C.J. Daley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grabbed this one as my Most Wanted read for my Goosebumps July. Technically one of the special editions (a MW miniseries), but I’m counting it for both.

I have read that Stine usually comes up with the title or tagline first and then artwork gets commissioned, often even before the book’s written. Wow though, because this one is just so entirely unrelated to the content. I think I’d care less if I hadn’t also gotten burned by the cover of Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls too. I’m just looking for some zombies here. Still a great cover though.

The creepy old house in the neighborhood seems like the perfect spot to get back at the bullies. No one would expect the class scaredy cats to plot some scares of their own in there. Too bad there’s already a haunting going on…

This one also features a haunted mask that they find in a wooden box. It just kind of read like Stine smushing several of his other ideas into one and that’s the only reason why it’s a bit longer. Fun regardless though, personally a 3/5*.

[Sandra Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scaredy Scott, Scaredy Scott!

There just wasn’t anything Scott Harmon wasn’t scared of. Everyone tries to scare him, even his little sister for crying out loud. How to get braver by Halloween? Well, it involved a creepy graveyard and an abandoned house everyone said was haunted. If only those kids would stop playing scary tricks on him.

It was official: Scotty would need to get into that haunted house to prove to everyone that he was not Scaredy Scott. But what if the house really was haunted with all those creaks and groans inside? Then the wooden mask comes into his possession and causes big trouble for Scott. What hold did the mask have over him? And who was that creepy, old lady?

This makes for a very haunting Halloween night. A good read!

[Youssef · Rating 5 out of 5]

(٤.٦١/٥)
[ظهر الكتاب]:
أحترس من الأشرار الذين تقابلهم
أحترس من الكتب التي تقرؤها!
سكوت هارمون هو أجبن صبي في مدرسته، هو وصديقته المقربة أماندا جولد.
وحياتهما صعبة بحق؛ فأخته الصغرى تخيفه طوال الوقت وتفعل كل ما بوسعها ليصرخ فزعًا ورعبًا.
وليس هذا فحسب، فبعض أطفال الحي يتلذذون بتعذيبهما وتخويفهما. ولكن هذا العام، في ليلة الهالوين، قرر سكوت وأماندا أن يتغلبا على مخاوفهما حتى وإن تطلب هذا قضاء بعض الوقت في منزل قديم مرعب يقول الجميع إنه مسكون بالأشباح، ولو نجح سكوت وأماندا في التخلص من الجبن والخوف اللذين يلازمناهما، فربما يستطيعان عندئذ أن ينتقما...
...
[رأيي في القصة]:
مواقف ليست لها دور في القصة .. زائد ثلاث شخصيات ليست لهم شخصية، سوى أنهم متنمرون فيهم تشابه في الشكل .. مما جعلني أقرأ حواراتهم دون الأنتباه للاسم، لأنه لن يفرق!
وشخصيات تُذكر، لن تعود سوى مرة واحدة، والبعض الأخر لن يعود.
أحداث وأحداث تحدث، وليست لها مردود في القصة .. القصة ضعيفة، والحبكة أضعف، ونكات ليست لها داعي!.
دعك من التقييم، فمعايير تقييمي والأرقام غير رأيي .. فعن القصة فهي تعتبر سيئة.
...
[رأيي في الترجمة]:
فيها القليل من الأخطاء النحوية، والقليل من الكلمات عامية، مثل:
أخوه = أخيه.
تصوصو = تزقزق.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was a kid I loved the Goosebumps series, so when I saw one of the newer books lying around at my nephew's house I couldn't resist reading it. Perhaps I'm jaded by my memories, but I was very disapointed. Pretty much the entire book revolved around two children being bullied. They tried to make it stop, but the bullies were always one step ahead.

The ghost story aspect of it was fun, and the ending was good, but really it was 100 pages of bullying and 50 pages of ghost story.

I expect kids will still enjoy it, and I did enjoy it enough to read the whole thing, but I would suggest a different book to my own son.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book isn't the worst book I've read as far as Fear Street or Goosebumps go, but it's definitely not the best either. Scott repeatedly reminds us that he and Amanda are "scaredy cats" throughout the book like we can forget that it's the whole premise. Another thing that bothered me about this book was that Rita and the bullies so easily got away with *everything* they did, it was disturbing. But the scares are solid as far as early-grade books go, I can see this book scaring me easily if I were still in 4th grade, and the plot twist was terrific. It's not like Stine has lost his touch by any means. This just wasn't my favorite by him.

[Affan Anwer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, The main reason I like R.L. Stine’s work, or more specifically Goosebumps, is due to the fact that the book never gives you a clear ending or a happy ending. It leaves you to think on your own as to what happened next and this book did not disappoint at all.
Takes you the first chapter to get involved, but as you progress, it really absorbs you into itself.
(The last line is not meant to scare you)

[laasya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uhhhh..... NO comments, just no comments...
I didn't like it at all, I got it from my school library becuz there was no another good book but now onwards I won't pick up any book and just issue that book from library, I will get to know more about the type of book it is....

No offense to the author R.L Stine, it is just that I don't like this genre or this type of book anymore... <33

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as some of the original series but I do admire how many stories Stine has rattling around up there. This one felt a little weak but I understand that authors can't always give every book 110% so I'll just say it was fun but I don't think I'll come back to this particular volume.

[Madison W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book was amazing. There is not much to say because a lot of my review would reveal spoilers. I love the end of this book and, it's a great book to read around halloween.

[SALAH · Rating 5 out of 5]

جميلة

[David Hoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oddly similar but with a different twist to the previous book in the series.