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22nd out of 114 books
—
29 voters
Superstitious
by
R.L. Stine
Stine is the world's bestselling horror writer for children, but this is his first novel for adults. Liam is a bachelor professor of folklore and he's incurably superstitious. When people start getting murdered, it seems that Liam's demons are real.
Paperback, 400 pages
Published
October 1st 1996
by Grand Central Publishing
(first published September 14th 1995)
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SUPERSTITIOUS - NR
Stine, R.L.
When graduate student Sara Morgan meets Liam O'Connor, the dashing folklore professor, the attraction is mutual. Sara is far too much in love to let Liam's odd superstitions, or even the brutal murders in the town, get in the way. That is, until she learns the secret behind Liam's superstitions.
Definitely NOT for children. This was beyond gruesome and poorly written besides.
Stine, R.L.
When graduate student Sara Morgan meets Liam O'Connor, the dashing folklore professor, the attraction is mutual. Sara is far too much in love to let Liam's odd superstitions, or even the brutal murders in the town, get in the way. That is, until she learns the secret behind Liam's superstitions.
Definitely NOT for children. This was beyond gruesome and poorly written besides.
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This book is about a young women that works at a college and recently met a new professor named Liam. Her name is Sara by the way. They met in a restaurant when Liam threw salt over his shoulder because that is one of his supersticions and it ended up landing on her. She was not very happy when it landed on her and was not pleased with what Liam did and she stood up and confronted him. He said sorry and told her why he did it and she realized what he did and forgave him for his weird actions in...more
This review is spoiler-free.
Sara, returning to college, has a chance meeting with a rather famed professor when he accidentally throws salt over his shoulder and it lands in her hair. At first, she finds his many superstitions charming and innocent. She falls in love with the professor, Liam, and they are soon married. After moving in with Liam and his sister, who is nice but always lingering in the background, Sara starts to see just how obsessed Liam is with his superstitions. Meanwhile, peopl...more
Sara, returning to college, has a chance meeting with a rather famed professor when he accidentally throws salt over his shoulder and it lands in her hair. At first, she finds his many superstitions charming and innocent. She falls in love with the professor, Liam, and they are soon married. After moving in with Liam and his sister, who is nice but always lingering in the background, Sara starts to see just how obsessed Liam is with his superstitions. Meanwhile, peopl...more
I have to give credit where credit is due...R.L. Stine cultivated my love for horror at a very young age. I adored the Goosebumps books and I still pick one up every now and then to revel in my childhood. I expected this to be a seamless transition from a successful author of childrens books to adult horror fiction. I think I expected a little too much.
The main character, Sara, comes off as a weak, needy female. In an attempt to flee her previous dysfunctional relationship, she moves closer to h...more
The main character, Sara, comes off as a weak, needy female. In an attempt to flee her previous dysfunctional relationship, she moves closer to h...more
So, when I found this book, I had already read Red Rain. It was my understanding that that book was his first adult novel, but it turns out that this book is. It being his first, I liked it. It was pretictable, but not predictable. It was one of the two people I thought it would be but not the one I really thought. It also succeeded in giving me chills a few times.
Seeing as I read it after I read his wonderfully written Red Rain, it was lack luster a little bit. First off, there was a lot of ta...more
Seeing as I read it after I read his wonderfully written Red Rain, it was lack luster a little bit. First off, there was a lot of ta...more
Seldom do I say this, but I hated this book. I had a passing familiarity with the Goosebumps series, which I thought was great for kids, so I was willing to give Stine's adult novel a try.
If only I could get those hours back, and the money I spent.
Stine apparently thought you can "adultify" a novel by adding healthy doses of sex, gore, and expletives. Now, don't get me wrong--these things do have their place, and can elevate a story to dizzying heights when used skillfully, and sensibly. The re...more
If only I could get those hours back, and the money I spent.
Stine apparently thought you can "adultify" a novel by adding healthy doses of sex, gore, and expletives. Now, don't get me wrong--these things do have their place, and can elevate a story to dizzying heights when used skillfully, and sensibly. The re...more
I'll try to be as spoiler free as possible.
Like most people that read this, I was a big fan of Goosebumps going up in the 90s. When I was browsing at the library, I found this and was immediately interested.
Things I liked:
+Chapters are short.
+There are kills in this, and the kills are very graphic. Stine did a good job loading the kills with a bunch of detail.
Things I didn't like:
-The supernatural kind of comes out of nowhere. About 2/3's of the book has a murder mystery feel. That was what I wa...more
Like most people that read this, I was a big fan of Goosebumps going up in the 90s. When I was browsing at the library, I found this and was immediately interested.
Things I liked:
+Chapters are short.
+There are kills in this, and the kills are very graphic. Stine did a good job loading the kills with a bunch of detail.
Things I didn't like:
-The supernatural kind of comes out of nowhere. About 2/3's of the book has a murder mystery feel. That was what I wa...more
This book reminded me of why I stopped reading Fear Street novels. R L Stine isn't a bad writer, don't get me wrong, but he doesn't write horror. He writes gore. I read horror novels because I want to be scared, shocked, psychologically twisted. Like Lovecraft, Poe, Bram Stoker, and the rest of the greats, I want to finish a book with chills from the profound meaning; the horror that means more than just slashing. I don't read them because I want to be disgusted with overly bloody imagery. I wou...more
When I found out that R.L. Stine had written a book for adults, I was excited. I had read a lot of the Goosebumps and Fear Street books and I had high expectations going into this one. Despite some decent parts, there was never really anything remotely scary about this story. The only thing that has stuck with me very strongly is the chancellor character who is obsessed with the young ladies at his college and shares the circumstances of instances where he pleasured himself. The greatest thing a...more
I haven't read a R.L. Stine book since high school. I saw this at a garage sale and picked it up. This is R.L. Stine's first adult fiction book. It was good but I don't think it's his best work.
I like how he was very descriptive in his death scenes. Very gruesome. But I felt it was lacking. The book was a little slow. I wanted more to happen. And then, it ended. Just as it was getting good; it ended. How disappointing.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed Superstitious very much. It's a good, easy read....more
I like how he was very descriptive in his death scenes. Very gruesome. But I felt it was lacking. The book was a little slow. I wanted more to happen. And then, it ended. Just as it was getting good; it ended. How disappointing.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed Superstitious very much. It's a good, easy read....more
I read this during my college years. I found it quite funny.
May 28, 2008
Eric
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
no one I like
Shelves:
fiction,
books-i-gave-away
This book is billed as Stine's first adult horror novel. It is not very good.
The premise sounds promising. A local small-town college is shocked and terrorized at a series of gruesome murders on campus. In the meantime, a new professor has wowed students and impressed his colleagues by teaching classes on mythology, folklore, and superstition. Not surprisingly, the professor, Liam O'Connor from Ireland, is superstitious himself.
Graduate student Sara Morgan returns to her alma mater from New York...more
The premise sounds promising. A local small-town college is shocked and terrorized at a series of gruesome murders on campus. In the meantime, a new professor has wowed students and impressed his colleagues by teaching classes on mythology, folklore, and superstition. Not surprisingly, the professor, Liam O'Connor from Ireland, is superstitious himself.
Graduate student Sara Morgan returns to her alma mater from New York...more
Okay so I waited soooo long for the truth to unfold. I should've known better than to expect that the murderer was just psychotic, because this is an R.L Stine book. I have read only some of the Goosebumps series, but that some is enough to help me conclude that even though the story seems promising, an R.L Stine book will always end up in a monster-in-the-closet kind of denouement.
(view spoiler)...more
(view spoiler)...more
Since I spent so much time reading Goosebumps books when I was younger I was curious to read an adult book by R.L. Stine. The book was really predictable, from the truth about Liam's sister to who was going to die next, etc. etc.... But I did enjoy the fast pace of the book and the way it switched narratives, especially in the beginning. I don't know that I'd recommend this book to anyone else, but it was fun to read R.L. Stine again, since I feel so familiar with his writing style.
I admit, I use to love Goosebumps and Stine's tween Fear Street series so naturally I was curious when he wrote an adult novel. Like his other series, this is written in much the same manner only with more adult themes throughout. Likewise, it is fast paced with a mystery that you can sink your teeth into. The characters are intruiging and while it's pretty predictable it is highly entertaining.
Took me a bit to get into the story, but rather enjoyed it once I did. It managed to catch me by surprise more than once. I could've done without knowing exactly what each character was wearing, though. Stine seems to think that most women wear leggings. Perhaps that was the thing at the time he wrote it? No matter. His great dialog more than makes up for that small annoyance.
I was a big fan of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series when I was a kid, so I was very excited to see he had written a book for adults as well. Unfortunately, he should have stuck to children's books. This one really plays off the same exact way, with the addition of some foul language and some sexual references. While the story itself is fairly interesting, it doesn't actually get scary and fast-paced until the last handful of chapters. The book isn't terrible, but it reads more like a teen scream t...more
I always enjoyed R. L. Stein as a kid with Goosebumps and Fear Street so I thought I would love his first adult book, but instead found it average. The book had me captivated with the killings going on and this charming Irish man and his love for superstitions but the end seemed to ruin it. It felt as though it was rushed and lacked creativity.
I have a very vivid memory of picking up this book from the bookshelf of the condo we were renting in Hawaii and having no idea what I was getting myself into. This scared the living crap out of me at that age. I never finished it for three years until I dared myself to go back into the library and check it out. Just as scary as I had remembered it, too.
I loved R.L. Stine when I was a kid. All the Goosebumps and Fear Street books were awesome so I was really looking forward to his first adult novel... until I started reading it. This book was so dry and uninteresting. I didn't care about any of his characters. I read it about halfway through and just couldn't force myself to continue to read the rest of it when I have so many other good books in my TBR mountain!
I was expecting too much. It was said to be his first adult novel but I felt like I was reading a badly written version of Fear Street - scattered thoughts, too much description of actions, and a lot of dialogue. And although the mystery intrigued me, the pacing was slow and not too much excitement was there to keep me going. But I read the ending and it was quite okay.
I remember reading this in high school and loving it since it was an R.L. Stine adult novel. Since R.L.Stine has been with me through my life (goosebump, Fear Streat)up into adulthood, and I can vividly remember the plot of a book I read about ten years ago I should add this to my books list. Female horror fans will enjoy this book.
I was a huge fan of Goosebumps when I was a kid so when I found this in a box in the basement I figured I'd give it a read. Turns out that I'm going to have to assume that either the Goosebumps series is a lot worse that I remember or R.L. Stine can't sustain a book past a hundred pages. I lost interest in the story at around fifty pages in and I never really found it again.
Wow, ok... ANOTHER new favorite author for me!! I picked up this old dusty book in my boxes of old books and am SO happy that I did! This book was graphic -- almost too graphic -- for me to continue right off the bat. I've never experienced that before. However, I couldn't put it down!! What great horror!!
I wanted to read this as a fun, no brainer break between my current books. I was excited to see that RL Stine had written an adult novel; I loved him as a kid :)
The book was only ok, but what can you really expect from a guy who writes teen books about things like werewolves at summer camp. :)
The book was only ok, but what can you really expect from a guy who writes teen books about things like werewolves at summer camp. :)
I used to love reading RL Stine and Christopher Walker series when I was young. When RL Stine introduced his first adult book I jumped at it even still in my teens! I loved this book and couldn't put it down. One of my first young adult/romance/horror books all enveloped into one!!!
*sigh* It's hard to rate one of my favorite author's books as two stars. Perhaps if I'd read this one before Red Rain, I might've been nostalgically persuaded to give a higher rating. Ultimately, Stine should stick with children's books. He's great with young readers. With older readers... I feel like he tries too hard.
It took putting the book down twice and 230 pages to get interesting. Slow plot development and the reader would not have been able to guess what was happening if not for the author flat out filling in the blanks. Quick ending.
Neat idea but could have been presented better.
Neat idea but could have been presented better.
I distinctly remember feeling as though I'd finally grown up (though I was only 12 or 13) when I read this; R.L. Stine's first adult fiction novel. I read & thoroughly enjoyed most, if not all his "Fear Street" books. I wasn't a big fan if the "Goosebumps" series though.
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| Thanks Mom | 5 | 11 | Jan 11, 2013 08:20pm |
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.
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