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Haunted #3
Haunted: Night Of The Living Dolls
Haunted: Night Of The Living Dolls
152 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2019
5 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Joel A. Sutherland
43 books135 followersJoel A. Sutherland is the Silver Birch and Hackmatack Award-winning author of Be a Writing Superstar, numerous books in the Haunted Canada series, and Summer's End. His new series, Haunted, including The House Next Door, Kill Screen, Night of the Living Dolls and Field of Screams, has been praised by Goosebumps author R.L. Stine. Joel's short fiction has appeared in many anthologies and magazines, including Blood Lite II & III (Pocket Books) and Cemetery Dance Magazine, alongside the likes of Stephen King and Neil Gaiman.
He is a two-time juror for the Bram Stoker Award, the John Spray Mystery Award, and the Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction & Fantasy. He is also the founder of the DarkLit Fest, a literary event that has welcomed Guests of Honour Kelley Armstrong and Joy Fielding.
Joel appeared as "The Barbarian Librarian" on the Canadian edition of the hit television show Wipeout, making it all the way to the third round and proving that librarians can be just as tough and crazy as anyone else. He has a Masters of Information and Library Studies from Aberystwyth University in Wales and lives in southeastern Ontario with his family, where he is always on the lookout for ghosts.
He is a two-time juror for the Bram Stoker Award, the John Spray Mystery Award, and the Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction & Fantasy. He is also the founder of the DarkLit Fest, a literary event that has welcomed Guests of Honour Kelley Armstrong and Joy Fielding.
Joel appeared as "The Barbarian Librarian" on the Canadian edition of the hit television show Wipeout, making it all the way to the third round and proving that librarians can be just as tough and crazy as anyone else. He has a Masters of Information and Library Studies from Aberystwyth University in Wales and lives in southeastern Ontario with his family, where he is always on the lookout for ghosts.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 8, 2022
I had a fun time with this spooky little tale.
In this novel we center on a young girl Zelda and her sister Lucy. Their grandma just died, and they quickly set off to their grandma's house with their parents to sort out the sad ordeal and prepare for the funeral. But when Zelda and her sister go snooping around, they discover a dark secret that unearths an even darker threat. Can they make it out alive?
This book had me just based on the cover. Dolls are seriously creepy, and having read and seen the adaptation of R.L. Stine's Slappy books, I was ready for some light chills and thrills. I wasn't disappointed.
Zelda is a good MC. She's your typical preteen and is growing apart from her long time bestie Camryn. I liked that touch since puberty really is when you start to discover who your true friends are. I would've liked a little bit more depth or personality to her, but what I got was enough on a MG level.
The plot was fun, spooky, and supernatural. The writing was super easy to read and blaze through, and there was a good amount of build up before the supernatural element comes into place. I was really happy with how this story ended up. I got some light scares from the creepy dolls, and the backstory was really nice and thought out.
I can definitely see this scaring younger kids without terrifying them, so if you want a spooky read for your youngster or a light read for yourself, definitely check this one out!
In this novel we center on a young girl Zelda and her sister Lucy. Their grandma just died, and they quickly set off to their grandma's house with their parents to sort out the sad ordeal and prepare for the funeral. But when Zelda and her sister go snooping around, they discover a dark secret that unearths an even darker threat. Can they make it out alive?
This book had me just based on the cover. Dolls are seriously creepy, and having read and seen the adaptation of R.L. Stine's Slappy books, I was ready for some light chills and thrills. I wasn't disappointed.
Zelda is a good MC. She's your typical preteen and is growing apart from her long time bestie Camryn. I liked that touch since puberty really is when you start to discover who your true friends are. I would've liked a little bit more depth or personality to her, but what I got was enough on a MG level.
The plot was fun, spooky, and supernatural. The writing was super easy to read and blaze through, and there was a good amount of build up before the supernatural element comes into place. I was really happy with how this story ended up. I got some light scares from the creepy dolls, and the backstory was really nice and thought out.
I can definitely see this scaring younger kids without terrifying them, so if you want a spooky read for your youngster or a light read for yourself, definitely check this one out!
June 26, 2022
Alright, I haven't seen able to do many misc reads this month outside of the camp stuff, as I was working on the Fear Street Cheerleaders reviews as well as my July blog projects coming up. I wanted to try to get something done before the month ends so I went with. We are still not done with modern GB-style book series as there is this. The series title is generic as hell, but like Monsterstreet, Stine himself has a quote on these so I had to read one. There are only 4 as of now, last was in like 2019 i think. I had access to most and I went with this as it was shorter, 137 pages vs 154. Yeah, maybe I'll do the others someday but I wanted something shorter for now.
This is by Scholastic Canada, and the author has done a fair amount of stuff, notably the Haunted Canada series. There was nothing Canadian in this book sadly. Anyway, it's about a girl named Zelda, whose grandma has died. They go up to her house for the funeral, where they discover some dolls she had hidden in a trunk. Zelda has gotten one from grandma a bit ago and now it's something to remember her by. But she and her sister Lucy discover something odd about these dolls, and uncover some mysterious family history.
So this was pretty good. Off the bat it had that tragedy I like. The death is actually discovered during the story, early on. So we get to their reactions to this. There's a sadness hangs over some of this, and it is effective. We only hear a bit about grandma before she dies but after that we do hear enough.
It's no The Peephole but the emotions are solid here. On top of that, there's a solid mystery as we find out what is going on and what went down in the past. The backstory gets into some dark stuff without going overboard, and dark stuff is threatened in the present to up the stakes. As for the dolls, it's a more unique take on an evil doll story as ghost stuff is combined with it and it works.
It gets a bit overly complicated but otherwise I did like the deal with the villains and how they tie into the backstory of it all. There's some interesting stuff in there and while it's mild, class themes pop up at one point, that's cool.
Zelda has a nice thing with her sister, they get along and it's quite sweet, I liked that. Writing is fair, a few stilted moments but otherwise fine. There's a sense of dread that works and the pacing is generally decent. May take a bit to get going for some but that worked okay and there's a generally solid climax and wrap up.
As far as problems, besides the slightly over complicated stuff, there's a thing that with a friend that is setup like it could be important, but not really. It gets a wrapup at least but it wasn't that important.
But overall, it was solid. It some unique ideas, a decent mystery and a fair amount of emotion. It doesn't get to being super great but I'd call it quite good. I think this series has potential, as this alone got into some decent emotion which I like. I think it could be up there as far as these go, depending on the others fare.
As for this, a solid recommendation. ...Not a whole lot else to say. Well, there's this: One of the entries is Kill Screen, which has a game with that name...and one part of this mentions the friend playing that game. Haunted Literary Universe confirmed!
As for what is next, aside from the camp stuff, the next Slappyworld will likely be the next read when my library gets it, then July's Pike I assume. July will be more free so more will done there, maybe Stine stuff, maybe general summer stuff, not sure yet. See ya then.
This is by Scholastic Canada, and the author has done a fair amount of stuff, notably the Haunted Canada series. There was nothing Canadian in this book sadly. Anyway, it's about a girl named Zelda, whose grandma has died. They go up to her house for the funeral, where they discover some dolls she had hidden in a trunk. Zelda has gotten one from grandma a bit ago and now it's something to remember her by. But she and her sister Lucy discover something odd about these dolls, and uncover some mysterious family history.
So this was pretty good. Off the bat it had that tragedy I like. The death is actually discovered during the story, early on. So we get to their reactions to this. There's a sadness hangs over some of this, and it is effective. We only hear a bit about grandma before she dies but after that we do hear enough.
It's no The Peephole but the emotions are solid here. On top of that, there's a solid mystery as we find out what is going on and what went down in the past. The backstory gets into some dark stuff without going overboard, and dark stuff is threatened in the present to up the stakes. As for the dolls, it's a more unique take on an evil doll story as ghost stuff is combined with it and it works.
It gets a bit overly complicated but otherwise I did like the deal with the villains and how they tie into the backstory of it all. There's some interesting stuff in there and while it's mild, class themes pop up at one point, that's cool.
Zelda has a nice thing with her sister, they get along and it's quite sweet, I liked that. Writing is fair, a few stilted moments but otherwise fine. There's a sense of dread that works and the pacing is generally decent. May take a bit to get going for some but that worked okay and there's a generally solid climax and wrap up.
As far as problems, besides the slightly over complicated stuff, there's a thing that with a friend that is setup like it could be important, but not really. It gets a wrapup at least but it wasn't that important.
But overall, it was solid. It some unique ideas, a decent mystery and a fair amount of emotion. It doesn't get to being super great but I'd call it quite good. I think this series has potential, as this alone got into some decent emotion which I like. I think it could be up there as far as these go, depending on the others fare.
As for this, a solid recommendation. ...Not a whole lot else to say. Well, there's this: One of the entries is Kill Screen, which has a game with that name...and one part of this mentions the friend playing that game. Haunted Literary Universe confirmed!
As for what is next, aside from the camp stuff, the next Slappyworld will likely be the next read when my library gets it, then July's Pike I assume. July will be more free so more will done there, maybe Stine stuff, maybe general summer stuff, not sure yet. See ya then.
July 25, 2024
If I were a kid this book probably would’ve been terrified. Decided to read it in preparation for our ghost stories night at the library I work at to give me some inspiration for the ghost story I was going to tell. I think the book is great for kids who like spooky things, or scary stories and probably even teens would enjoy this as well. I know that while the story wasn’t as scary as I’d like mine usually I still had an enjoyable time reading it.
December 12, 2018
Keeping this series in mind for 9-12 yr olds who want scary stories (that are still age appropriate) with the added bonus of being Canadian. A quick face paced read for reluctant readers.
July 3, 2019
It is a quick, scary read. Fast paced, catchy, and horror good enough to thrill but not gross you out.
My daughter asked for it but chickened out and suggested I read it instead. I was wondering if I'd be spooked out too, but our leaves you easily, not something that disturbs too much. I like. Adults, go ahead. And your insistent 10- year old can join too.
My daughter asked for it but chickened out and suggested I read it instead. I was wondering if I'd be spooked out too, but our leaves you easily, not something that disturbs too much. I like. Adults, go ahead. And your insistent 10- year old can join too.
September 9, 2019
To much of a goosebumps wannabe for me. It failed to really chill me and the characters were a bit meh, if better than goosebumps. I was fairly intrigued by the story though, and it didn't have too many cliches. Overall a decent book from an author with potential, as long as he finds his identity.
November 8, 2024
First book I read
April 28, 2025
this is just so good read it
December 27, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️-this book was an ok middle grade horror book the setting was wrote well and it was a good Halloween read. 👻🎃
February 12, 2024
⭐⭐⭐.5
(3.5 stars)
(3.5 stars)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews