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Choose Your Own Adventure #140
Horror House
On a visit to the home of a cousin, the reader hears a rumor that the house is haunted and begins to investigate all of the strange happenings. Original.
115 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1993
About the author
Edward Packard
178 books131 followersEdward Packard attended and graduated from both Princeton University and Columbia Law School. He was one of the first authors to explore the idea of gamebooks, in which the reader is inserted as the main character and makes choices about the direction the story will go at designated places in the text.
The first such book that Edward Packard wrote in the Choose Your Own Adventure series was titled "Sugarcane Island", but it was not actually published as the first entry in the Choose Your Own Adventure Series. In 1979, the first book to be released in the series was "The Cave of Time", a fantasy time-travel story that remained in print for many years. Eventually, one hundred eighty-four Choose Your Own Adventure books would be published before production on new entries to the series ceased in 1998. Edward Packard was the author of many of these books, though a substantial number of other authors were included as well.
In 2005, Choose Your Own Adventure books once again began to be published, but none of Edward Packard's titles have yet been included among the newly-released books.
The first such book that Edward Packard wrote in the Choose Your Own Adventure series was titled "Sugarcane Island", but it was not actually published as the first entry in the Choose Your Own Adventure Series. In 1979, the first book to be released in the series was "The Cave of Time", a fantasy time-travel story that remained in print for many years. Eventually, one hundred eighty-four Choose Your Own Adventure books would be published before production on new entries to the series ceased in 1998. Edward Packard was the author of many of these books, though a substantial number of other authors were included as well.
In 2005, Choose Your Own Adventure books once again began to be published, but none of Edward Packard's titles have yet been included among the newly-released books.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 16, 2024
Reputedly haunted houses seem to go with Edward Packard like tortilla chips with salsa, but Horror House came along much closer to the end than the beginning of the original Choose Your Own Adventure project. Could Packard conjure a story as evocative as The Mystery of Chimney Rock? Normally you'd be happy after your aunt Lily moves to town with her kids, Martin and Melissa. Yet you're nervous; they are living in the old Peckham house, a Victorian mansion with a dark past. More than one tenant has violently died over the decades, and your cousins are already hearing and seeing things that indicate the place is haunted. Is a phantom stalking the house, or is a hoax at play?
You could talk with the neighbors for more information. Mrs. Dixon is adamant the place is cursed and your aunt should leave at once, but Mr. Prial thinks it likely that real estate developer Roger Algren wants to scare your aunt into selling so he can purchase the property. Neither neighbor has proof to back their suppositions. If you stay overnight at the house, you'll have opportunity to see any supernatural occurrence firsthand, but are you brave enough to sleep in the living room, where strange sights have been reported? Further spooky incidents will bring either a psychic medium or private investigator to examine the house, but are there answers to be found in either the strictly rationalist or spiritualist worldview?
The situation worsens when Gigi, yours cousins' dog, is clawed nearly to death by a mysterious entity in the night. Nerves badly strained, Aunt Lily declares the only option is to move out...but you have one last night to prove there's no ghost. The dark, eerie cellar seems a focal point of all the paranormal activity, but do you have the guts to spend the night there? You might spot a figure in the shadows, but catching the person won't be easy. The villain of Peckham house knows the cellar in and out, and you can easily lose track of the figure, and with it your shot at solving the mystery. Strike the right balance between courage and caution, and you'll reveal the truth behind the curse...and perhaps make it possible for Aunt Lily, Martin, and Melissa to stay here after all. You could transform the entire town's outlook by exorcising the ghost.
Horror House has a much more structured story than your typical Choose Your Own Adventure. Your choices influence the narrative, but it goes through clearly defined "acts" during its full arc. There's a certain degree of atmosphere in the telling, but this book suffers from lack of attention to detail in the core narrative. Internal consistency stays fairly strong, but implausibilities in the final explanation leave the story well short of what it could have accomplished. I rate Horror House one and a half stars, though it isn't unenjoyable; Ron Wing contributes excellent illustration work, in particular what he does with the numerous suspense scenes in the dark. This is no Mystery of Chimney Rock, but there's fun to be had.
You could talk with the neighbors for more information. Mrs. Dixon is adamant the place is cursed and your aunt should leave at once, but Mr. Prial thinks it likely that real estate developer Roger Algren wants to scare your aunt into selling so he can purchase the property. Neither neighbor has proof to back their suppositions. If you stay overnight at the house, you'll have opportunity to see any supernatural occurrence firsthand, but are you brave enough to sleep in the living room, where strange sights have been reported? Further spooky incidents will bring either a psychic medium or private investigator to examine the house, but are there answers to be found in either the strictly rationalist or spiritualist worldview?
The situation worsens when Gigi, yours cousins' dog, is clawed nearly to death by a mysterious entity in the night. Nerves badly strained, Aunt Lily declares the only option is to move out...but you have one last night to prove there's no ghost. The dark, eerie cellar seems a focal point of all the paranormal activity, but do you have the guts to spend the night there? You might spot a figure in the shadows, but catching the person won't be easy. The villain of Peckham house knows the cellar in and out, and you can easily lose track of the figure, and with it your shot at solving the mystery. Strike the right balance between courage and caution, and you'll reveal the truth behind the curse...and perhaps make it possible for Aunt Lily, Martin, and Melissa to stay here after all. You could transform the entire town's outlook by exorcising the ghost.
Horror House has a much more structured story than your typical Choose Your Own Adventure. Your choices influence the narrative, but it goes through clearly defined "acts" during its full arc. There's a certain degree of atmosphere in the telling, but this book suffers from lack of attention to detail in the core narrative. Internal consistency stays fairly strong, but implausibilities in the final explanation leave the story well short of what it could have accomplished. I rate Horror House one and a half stars, though it isn't unenjoyable; Ron Wing contributes excellent illustration work, in particular what he does with the numerous suspense scenes in the dark. This is no Mystery of Chimney Rock, but there's fun to be had.
September 26, 2010
Having been penned by one of the innovative minds behind the creation of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" Series, Horror House is a comparative failure. It is, in fact, quite possible to read the book and go through several sequences, only to be ordered to turn to specific pages without the element of choice (aside, that is, from putting the book down entirely from boredom).
As a child who is investigating the "haunted" happenings at a relative's new home, the reader is involved (through a second-person narrator) in the discovery through a limited series of choices. The most common choice throughout the story relies on whether or not the surrogate shares information with other characters, or remains silent. This is, clearly, entirely blasé when put into perspective of the so-called "horror" element of the tale.
Twice, I had read through the book not only to fail to uncover the cause of such "haunted" happenings (the discovery of an eviscerated rabbit inside the house, for instance, or unexplained voices eminating from the basement), but was left feeling entirely unsatisfied by the limited opportunities in which to "interact" with the storyline. The reader must "Turn to Page [x]" a total of seven times prior to being offered any imput, and variant upon which choice is made at this juncture (Should you unlock the door, or go for help?), a reader can slog through as many textual pasages before encountering another bona fide narrative option -- still with no guarantee that the story will be resolved in a satisfactory manner. After my own two "lengthy" read-throughs, the story came to an eventual end with no explanation as to the causes behind the milksop "horror" experienced by the main character.
This is the nature of "Choose Your Own Adventure," this arbitrary ending. But it should not have to be such a disappointing element after such an investment of time on behalf of the reader.
As a child who is investigating the "haunted" happenings at a relative's new home, the reader is involved (through a second-person narrator) in the discovery through a limited series of choices. The most common choice throughout the story relies on whether or not the surrogate shares information with other characters, or remains silent. This is, clearly, entirely blasé when put into perspective of the so-called "horror" element of the tale.
Twice, I had read through the book not only to fail to uncover the cause of such "haunted" happenings (the discovery of an eviscerated rabbit inside the house, for instance, or unexplained voices eminating from the basement), but was left feeling entirely unsatisfied by the limited opportunities in which to "interact" with the storyline. The reader must "Turn to Page [x]" a total of seven times prior to being offered any imput, and variant upon which choice is made at this juncture (Should you unlock the door, or go for help?), a reader can slog through as many textual pasages before encountering another bona fide narrative option -- still with no guarantee that the story will be resolved in a satisfactory manner. After my own two "lengthy" read-throughs, the story came to an eventual end with no explanation as to the causes behind the milksop "horror" experienced by the main character.
This is the nature of "Choose Your Own Adventure," this arbitrary ending. But it should not have to be such a disappointing element after such an investment of time on behalf of the reader.
July 9, 2013
the adventures that I went through when I was bored I just read these books over and over again you would never get to the end of the story.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews