Scared Stiff

by Jahnna N. Malcolm

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out.

Kelly and Chace's parents don't have normal jobs like other kids' parents. The Andersons are morticians. They work on dead people.

Kelly thinks that this is totally gross. But to Chace, it's a kick. He likes taking kids on tours to see the "stiffs."

That is, until one night a body comes alive. And he's out for revenge, big time.

It's the night of the living dead. Kelly, Chace, and their friend Matt only have two choices: stop the stiff. . .or become one.

Genres: Horror, Middle Grade, Zombies, Young Adult, Childrens, Paranormal, Thriller

118 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Jahnna N. Malcolm is the pen name for husband-and-wife team Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner. Together they've written four musicals, two movies, three CD-ROM games, and nearly one hundred books, including the popular series The Jewel Kingdom. They met in the theater and were married on the stage using Marlowe's famous love letter from "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" as their wedding vows.

Reviews

[CJ | A Well-Read Tart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book in, oh, 7th grade? As a Christmas present. And, it was far and away the best gift I received that year, haha. I looooooooooooved this book, re-read it multiple times even through high school. I've read tons and tons of scary stories, and this book has always stayed with me. Some parts of it still scare the heck outta me, and I remember them vividly. Based on some other reviews I saw, it looks like it had the same effect on others when they were kids! Definitely only give this to more mature kids who can handle death and dying...and the scary idea of something not staying dead that should be!

[Mandilynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

As much as I loved scary books growing up, I don’t remember this one. I found it at a thrift store and snatched it right up because it looked and sounded interesting. I was not disappointed. This book successfully creeped me out as an adult reading it for the first time, so I can imagine had I read it as a child when it came out, I would have had nightmares for weeks (and it would have been totally worth it). Bravo! I legitimately don’t think I’ve read a (children’s) book that made me shudder like that since Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

[Jennifer Rayment · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast paced and good for the intended audience. As an adult reader, not so much. But I give props for it being an edge of your seat story with a twist ending that will keep the middle grader entertained.

[Mr. Tyler Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this Goosebumps-esque book several times when I was a kid and loved it. After finding in hiding in a box in the garage a few days ago I had to read it again. Although its clearly a book for preteens and quite dated, it's still an enjoyable quick read. I wish someone would make this obscure creepy kids book into a movie.
Also I love the fact that this book was written by a husband and wife, Malcom and Jahnna - Jahnna N. Malcom.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my faves when I was in middle school. I even took my copy on a family vacation to Europe and read it over and over on long train rides in the Hungarian countryside.

Is it the best book ever written, absolutely not. Is it a little cringe reading it again as a 30 year old, yes. But it’s a fast paced, exciting and spooky read and I remember it fondly.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even with me doing blog review work, I was able to get a random read in. I had no idea what to read for today if I was gonna read anything. But after some quick poking around, I read something I've had thought of for a while. So I'm trying stuff from Ghosts of Fear Street authors to compare their work.

Here we have Jahna N. Malcolm, who is actually a husband and wife duo of Jahna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner who are sometimes under one name and sometimes they both get credit. I covered Camp Fear Ghouls from them ages ago and they got at least one other I'll do. They did ghostwriting for Babysitter's Club, because of course. Guess I'll read one of theirs someday.

Before all that, they had some kids horror books for Scholastic, republished for Apple Chillers, which I assume got them the ghosts job. This is Scared Stiff. Retro reviewed it and it sounded the most interesting so here it is and it's pretty good.

Kelly and Chace have parents who are mortician's running a funeral place. They live in it so they are too familiar with dead bodies. This gotten them some mockery in school. Kelly doens't like it but Chace is more cool with it.

One night while the parents are away, Chace and his friend Matt are hanging around and check in on a new body they got. It's the body of JL Torbett, a prisoner tried for murder. But he's not quite dead yet as this corpse comes to life and they all just have to deal with it.

This is mostly just fun. It gets started quickly and is action focused. I thought there may be more mystery or ambiguity but nah, we get the zombie rather quickly. Before that, there's some dialouge which is kinda corny but sort of charming. There are little things someone could be annoyed by but I had fun with the back and forth the characters had.

Kelly is whiny at first but I understood her when we got into things like her ex-friend Gretchen dumping her. That element does lead to a nice moment later when they patch things up. There's a sobering moment later as well with Matt. It's a bit rushed and we don't get a big cap on the Gretchen stuff per say but it works well enough.

I also liked seeing the siblings eventually get along and the trio becomes a well oiled machine. It's not deep development but it's at least more than I expected. Matt I thought would be pointless bur he becomes this badass to the point of getting OP at certain points. He also sets Home Alone traps because 1991.

The thing with the zombie is interesting. We wants revenge on those who put him in jail and things with that are a bit more complicated. He isn't totally innocent but there is some stuff to it. It's not all neatly wrapped up but I like some of the ambiguity about the fate of certain people.

This does get dark, mostly with the descriptions of our zombie which get very gross which I love. It's mostly horror action which leads to some intense moments that felt cinematic. There's a few legit creepy moments too. Oh and a gun is fired at the zombie at one point, damn.

It almost has two climaxes but the 2nd one is better I guess. The ending feels a bit tacked on, has a kinda Stine-y twist that felt a bit forced. We got enough of an ending but a more concrete wrap up may have worked better.

It has some kinks but it's mostly good, being just fun. Even the little things that aren't great can still be enjoyable. Writing is decent too with some vocab words. Been a while, eh? Having read their Ghosts book, I think they mostly got this kid horror thing down. This had some fun stuff and mostly mixed it well with the intense action.

It's not perfect but they got the tone down. Stories aren't always the tightest but this one has a refreshing simplicity to it. It's just a zombie coming after them and it works. It's not perfectly tight and I can see some more annoyed but certain bits but for me it's mostly fun.

I'll see how their others compare but for now, this worked as a quick read to do. There's not much else to say, really. Series 2000 review coming tomorrow while I don't know what I'm reading next. We'll see.

...So see ya I guess.

[Nader Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all i'd like to give (matt) credits as u can all see he did everything i really liked his character and of course the other main character, The atmosphere of the story is really dark and terrifying, and the events are also fast. As for the plot of the story, I think it is somewhat average due to the lack of explanation of some of the events, which I considered important, and also the ending, which reminds me of the Halloween movie series.
(Verdict: 7.2/10)

[Mary Mittmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I read this as an adult after getting the book from my in-laws and I thought it was pretty good! I think that it would be a great book to read for my son when he gets older. The book gave me some chills, more towards the middle of the book, but it had my attention from the start.

[Heather Banghart · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorites as a child. I had to own and read as an adult.

[amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scary ending tho

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a random flashback to being terrified by this book as a child lol

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun middle grade spooky read!

[Carlos Ceballos Méndez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Such a silly story. It's about a man who was suposed ro be dead but wakes up and is then murdered by these kids.. A romantic view of a slaughter.

[Kenzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re read this book over and over again throughout middle school. Sparked my love for the thriller genre! :)

[Madame Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Apple paperbacks because they always offered up books with ridiculous plots, that prove to be entertaining and fun. This one was like a PG rated Adventures in Babysitting.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed this for being an apple paperback (like many i read when younger), but the plot definitely left something to be desired.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a cute, goosebump-like story. I wish I knew about this series when I was younger! I enjoyed the little tide bits about the funeral trade and the zombie action!

[Devri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three kids battle an evil rotting corpse? Right up my alley.

[Desert Rose Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know a book is good, when it sticks with you long after you read it. This is a book I read in Middle School, and have read many times ever since. For a suspense/thriller, it certainly does it's job. Just thinking about it now, a decade after the last time I read it, I still get chills and butterflies.

While I don't remember it well enough to comment on how it was written, or whether it flowed and all that, I can say it is a book I enjoyed when I read it. The characters pulled me in, and the suspense gave me nightmares!

If you (or your kids) enjoy thriller suspense stories, this is definitely one to pick up and read. It's quick, and will make you pull out your night light before you fall asleep.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book actually gave me nightmares. I'm a person who doesn't scare easily, and this book made me afraid of zombies. My teacher gave it to me as a Christmas present, knowing I liked horror books. In retrospect, it's a bit much for a ten year old. Nearly twenty years later, I remember the book perfectly.

Don't know if I'd ever read it again, but I would probably buy it for someone. The descriptions of what happens biologically are pretty accurate and it's clear that they did their research on this one.

[Cara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good little book, and I think kids would really enjoy it, although it may be a bit scary for some. I just wish that there had been an explanation as to how the body came to life, and I really didn't like the twist at the end. Otherwise, I liked it.

[Rosie Zayne]

Check out my review here!

[lily · Rating 2 out of 5]

so-so. very simple.

[Layne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book for kids, I read it around 3rd grade and my son loves it as well.

[☽ taleswithtea ☾]

I read this when I was a lot younger. I remember I really enjoyed reading it because it was so creepy!

[Braxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book. Right from the beginning I was sucked in and ended up reading it in under two hours.

[Araceli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I still have this book in a box somewhere. But I remember I did a book report on it in middle school. So if you (or your kids) like Goosebumps I recommend this book.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up for my ten year old son. It is definitely meant for the preteen age group, but the mortuary setting is fairly realistic and scary. Enough creepy details are given that it gives you a bit of a chill. Unrealistic ending, but I appreciate that the monster was real. I think fans of Goosebumps would eat this up.

[Kahani]

its a nice book