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Twistaplot #2
O trem do terror
Sua viagem para a casa de um parente acaba se tornando bastante desgastante pela presença de espiões de nações conflitantes. Com 31 possíveis finais.
107 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 28, 2020
I've read Louise Munro Foley's contributions to the Choose Your Own Adventure series, but I wouldn't recognize The Train of Terror as her brainchild if her name weren't on the cover. It starts with you traveling to Twin Falls, Idaho to spend summer with your aunt Kate. A train ride of unspecified length lies ahead, but it's going to be anything but boring. Before boarding the train, you spot a beautiful blonde lady in a red dress, holding a pet carrier case. She's being monitored at a distance by a well-dressed bald man with an ugly scar across his face. Something is afoot, but you'd prefer not to get involved. Unfortunately, by the time you board the train, two of the only three available seats are next to "Beautiful Lady" or "Scarface". The third option is beside an elderly lady in a purple hat, but she looks ornery, and you don't want to mess with her. So, who will your seat mate be? Beautiful Lady or Scarface?
Whatever sequence of choices you follow, you're soon caught in a web of espionage between multiple criminals and government operatives. Beautiful Lady is not pleased if you sit with her, but she won't threaten your life unless she gets the impression you're a cohort of Scarface. What is she hiding in her pet carrier? It turns out to be any number of dangerous animals, mind control machines, or other outrageous contraband, depending what story path you take. She may be controlling Scarface with a device hidden inside the case, and she'll try to control you too unless you destroy the machine. Freed from Beautiful Lady's control, Scarface has the skills to apprehend her and shield you from reprisal, but don't be overconfident: Beautiful Lady can kill you in the blink of an eye. Help Scarface and his nearby associates arrest her, and you'll receive a government commendation for your bravery.
Character identities often change entirely from one narrative branch to the next; a villain in one storyline may be a government agent in another. You might meet a cowboy softly strumming his guitar and singing, but is "Cowboy" a disguised U.S. Marshal, or an accomplice to Beautiful Lady? He can be both, actually. Is the train conductor in on the illegal action, poised to assist Beautiful Lady if needed? Killer snakes, talking birds, and ventriloquist assassins may all be on the loose, so don't traipse around the train carelessly. "Elderly Lady" might be an undercover agent—and a man—or she might truly be an old woman. Either way, she plays a role in the spy drama if you get close enough to her. Rarely will any succession of choices result in your death, but you'll feel better about your part in the goings-on if the bad guys wind up behind bars because you acted intelligently. A counter-espionage career could be in your future.
The Train of Terror is one of the least effective gamebooks I've read. The spy action is wildly over the top, and internal consistency is virtually nonexistent. I'm at a loss to explain how the same author who wrote the dignified, eerie Ghost Train for the Choose Your Own Adventure series was responsible for this hodgepodge of clichés and gimmicky humor. Usually I derive some amusement from a gamebook even if it's subpar, but The Train of Terror is so lacking in structure that it becomes tedious, and I felt relief when I arrived at the last ending. The cover art is excellent, done by an all-time favorite of mine, Victor Stabin (cover artist for several Laurel-Leaf editions of Robert Cormier's masterful YA fiction), but that may be the lone bright spot of this book. I'm a fan of Louise Munro Foley, but I recommend sticking to her Choose Your Own Adventure titles.
Whatever sequence of choices you follow, you're soon caught in a web of espionage between multiple criminals and government operatives. Beautiful Lady is not pleased if you sit with her, but she won't threaten your life unless she gets the impression you're a cohort of Scarface. What is she hiding in her pet carrier? It turns out to be any number of dangerous animals, mind control machines, or other outrageous contraband, depending what story path you take. She may be controlling Scarface with a device hidden inside the case, and she'll try to control you too unless you destroy the machine. Freed from Beautiful Lady's control, Scarface has the skills to apprehend her and shield you from reprisal, but don't be overconfident: Beautiful Lady can kill you in the blink of an eye. Help Scarface and his nearby associates arrest her, and you'll receive a government commendation for your bravery.
Character identities often change entirely from one narrative branch to the next; a villain in one storyline may be a government agent in another. You might meet a cowboy softly strumming his guitar and singing, but is "Cowboy" a disguised U.S. Marshal, or an accomplice to Beautiful Lady? He can be both, actually. Is the train conductor in on the illegal action, poised to assist Beautiful Lady if needed? Killer snakes, talking birds, and ventriloquist assassins may all be on the loose, so don't traipse around the train carelessly. "Elderly Lady" might be an undercover agent—and a man—or she might truly be an old woman. Either way, she plays a role in the spy drama if you get close enough to her. Rarely will any succession of choices result in your death, but you'll feel better about your part in the goings-on if the bad guys wind up behind bars because you acted intelligently. A counter-espionage career could be in your future.
The Train of Terror is one of the least effective gamebooks I've read. The spy action is wildly over the top, and internal consistency is virtually nonexistent. I'm at a loss to explain how the same author who wrote the dignified, eerie Ghost Train for the Choose Your Own Adventure series was responsible for this hodgepodge of clichés and gimmicky humor. Usually I derive some amusement from a gamebook even if it's subpar, but The Train of Terror is so lacking in structure that it becomes tedious, and I felt relief when I arrived at the last ending. The cover art is excellent, done by an all-time favorite of mine, Victor Stabin (cover artist for several Laurel-Leaf editions of Robert Cormier's masterful YA fiction), but that may be the lone bright spot of this book. I'm a fan of Louise Munro Foley, but I recommend sticking to her Choose Your Own Adventure titles.
December 8, 2020
The Train of Terror by Louise Munro Foley is an early 'Twist-a-Plot' gamebook released by Scholastic back in 1982. This is an interactive book where you take the part of the main character and choose which path you wish to take is set on a train as you are heading to Twin Falls, Idaho to visit with your Aunt Kate. Naturally, being an adventure story, things quickly become mysterious aboard the train and from there several stories may develop depending on who you decide to trust among the passengers.
There are a few specific people in the train car you end up boarding who play starring roles in the story. A pretty lady with a pet carrier box, an old woman, a surly bald man with a scar across his face and the conductor. Along with them there is a cowboy in the next car who might also take part in the story if things take a turn in that direction. The entire book takes place in two train cars (and possibly a short visit to the baggage car), so you won't be doing much exploring. The thing about the characters, and what made these books somewhat fun back in the day, is depending on your early decisions any one of them might become the villain while others reveal themselves as heroes, or possibly it might be the other way around; you never actually know which characters will be playing what role and for what motivation (whether it be theft, espionage, smuggling or scientific experimentation). At times its a bit like watching an anthology TV series where the characters constantly change, but the actors don't.
As a result, you will never know exactly what will happen when you make decisions aboard this train. Unlike other books in the interactive genre which just have one plot and mostly single motivations which remain the same with each playthrough, this one will constantly keep you guessing. It's clearly written with children in mind, but can still be a fun and quick read for anybody.
Some of the choices the book offers to you can be a little bit silly, such as asking whether you ate lunch today, which breaks the fourth wall instead of focusing on plot specific questions, but this seems to be a common trait with Twist-a-Plots. There are still some worthwhile humourous moments to be had here, and you can tell the author had fun writing the various stories.
A pretty decent Twist-a-Plot book (there are better ones) that gave me a nice spike of nostalgia upon reading it again (I used to have this book when I was a kid) as well as a few good laughs.
There are a few specific people in the train car you end up boarding who play starring roles in the story. A pretty lady with a pet carrier box, an old woman, a surly bald man with a scar across his face and the conductor. Along with them there is a cowboy in the next car who might also take part in the story if things take a turn in that direction. The entire book takes place in two train cars (and possibly a short visit to the baggage car), so you won't be doing much exploring. The thing about the characters, and what made these books somewhat fun back in the day, is depending on your early decisions any one of them might become the villain while others reveal themselves as heroes, or possibly it might be the other way around; you never actually know which characters will be playing what role and for what motivation (whether it be theft, espionage, smuggling or scientific experimentation). At times its a bit like watching an anthology TV series where the characters constantly change, but the actors don't.
As a result, you will never know exactly what will happen when you make decisions aboard this train. Unlike other books in the interactive genre which just have one plot and mostly single motivations which remain the same with each playthrough, this one will constantly keep you guessing. It's clearly written with children in mind, but can still be a fun and quick read for anybody.
Some of the choices the book offers to you can be a little bit silly, such as asking whether you ate lunch today, which breaks the fourth wall instead of focusing on plot specific questions, but this seems to be a common trait with Twist-a-Plots. There are still some worthwhile humourous moments to be had here, and you can tell the author had fun writing the various stories.
A pretty decent Twist-a-Plot book (there are better ones) that gave me a nice spike of nostalgia upon reading it again (I used to have this book when I was a kid) as well as a few good laughs.
April 2, 2009
TwistAPlot, an early 1980s knock-off of the ubiquitous Choose Your Own Adventure series for children, featured a number of scenarios in which "you" played a major role in unravelling some manner of underhanded deception, or in surviving an archaic land, or perhaps even living with a sudden physical anomality such as becoming invisible.
The second in the series, The Train of Terror, is a maudlin escapade which unfolds aboard a train destined to Twin Falls, Idaho, from an unnamed locality referred to as "your hometown" (which patently excludes "your hometown" from being Twin Falls, Idaho, the seventh largest city in the state which would have held a population of just over 26, 000 people at the time of the book's initial release).
The tale itself presents no real intellectual challenge for the mature reader - due to the miniscule size of the tome itself, bearing numerous pages of so-called "alternate paths" and accompanying illustrations, each individual "path" leads into a story of only a handful of pages. Very little room for in-depth plot or vivid character development.
Instead, the social relevence of The Train of Terror comes from each individual reader of the book - why does one choose the options one does? Given the limited selection of "this or that" choices which, in turn, direct the reader to its own inividual arc of simplistic fiction, there is a basic thought process inolved over choosing one seemingly innocuous option over another. Left or right? Here or there? Yes or no? There are no correct answers... and yet one choice may lead to an ostensible "happy ending," whereas the alternative leads to the main character's (i.e. your) fictional demise.
In short, The Train of Terror presents itself as a potential medium for in-depth self-study. To more fully understand this concept, allow me to guide the way through one possible storyline (as initially chosen by me, as reader):
Upon entrance of the train to Twin Falls, Idaho (which, interestingly enough, would have had an immoderately high crime rate for a municipality of its humble size, a standing of approximately twice that of the national level per capita), I am presented with the option of sitting alongside a "beautiful woman" with a pet carrier (which I decide must be carrying a dog, statistically speaking), or next to a disfigured yet silent gentleman (herein labelled "Scarface" by the author). I opt for the gentleman, as I had no interest in being seated next to a live animal for what could potentially be a long trip. Also, the sexual tension and discomfort would be at a minimum if not seated near the apparently "beautiful woman." In other words, I opted to sit next to Scarface because of some deep-seated hangup associated with the opposite sex along with fear of the unknown "animal" in the carrier.
Scarface, grunting as if mute, attempts to sieze my pencil from my hand while I decipher a cryptogram. A choice is now rendered: Do I allow the man to take my pencil, or not? Due to the fact that I am uncertain as to the man's intentions, or his psychological profile, I make the decision to become passive and allow him this small liberty. That is to say, becoming fearsome of unnecessary confrontation, I acquiesce to the strange man.
The gentleman painstakingly scrawls the message: DANGER IN BOX GO BAGGAGE CAR RUN. My options, as presented, are to take the written advice as offered and make haste to said location, or to "decide that he's kidding." Once again, taking the path of least resistance, I decide upon the former choice.
Within the baggage car, I discover another pet carrier, identical to that which was in the possession of the "beautiful woman." According to the book's text, I am greatly incensed by this apparent cruelty to the caged beast (the nature of which is not revealed by this point), and I am given the opportunity to "release the animal" by turning to PAGE 49, or to "decide it's none of your business" by reading PAGE 50. By now, a sense of false bravado has crept into my reader's heart, and I take the plunge into PAGE 49 - the first real move of selfless bravery shown by me since having picked up the book.
Unfortunately, the "beautiful woman" had followed me from my seat into the baggage car. She is expressing her anger toward my hubristic man-handling of her secondary pet carrier, and demands that I not touch her belongings. And once again, the storyline forks: Do I, or do I not, decide upon releasing the animal? Having had my earlier surge of pluck and mettle quashed by subsequent events, I opt to eave the carrier alone, sequestered amongst the other baggage within the car.
And in this way do I arrive at an ending. The scarred man - he who had requested that I "GO BAGGAGE CAR RUN" - materialized from beyond the doorway, overpowered the "beautiful woman," explained the bizarre set of circumstances regarding the passanger coach into which I had originally traipsed, and informed me that I had aided in the prevention of our train being "hauled away by awaiting enemy locomotive and put on a ship for Outer Rroberia." And thus, the story ends with the moral: "Be kind to animals."
Of course, no such animal had ever appeared within this particular unveiling of happenings, so this moral-of-sorts serves as a trite veil to mask the soul-searching questions which precluded the ending. Upon further reflection, it seemed that my selection of moderate decisions - infused with the singular emboldened move - was rewarded by the emergence of a "happy ending." A confidence-bolstering, self-affirming activity wrapped up in the inoffensive guise of a light read.
...Or should it be so simple? This conclusion excludes, obviously, what may have happened should I have made a different choice (or choices) along the way. Could my surrogate self have survived so smugly if I had displayed fortitude earlier within the story? Or later? Or... not at all? Only a rereading of the text would grant this knowledge for certain.
And so, at a later point in time, The Train of Terror will be awaiting upon my bookshelf.
The second in the series, The Train of Terror, is a maudlin escapade which unfolds aboard a train destined to Twin Falls, Idaho, from an unnamed locality referred to as "your hometown" (which patently excludes "your hometown" from being Twin Falls, Idaho, the seventh largest city in the state which would have held a population of just over 26, 000 people at the time of the book's initial release).
The tale itself presents no real intellectual challenge for the mature reader - due to the miniscule size of the tome itself, bearing numerous pages of so-called "alternate paths" and accompanying illustrations, each individual "path" leads into a story of only a handful of pages. Very little room for in-depth plot or vivid character development.
Instead, the social relevence of The Train of Terror comes from each individual reader of the book - why does one choose the options one does? Given the limited selection of "this or that" choices which, in turn, direct the reader to its own inividual arc of simplistic fiction, there is a basic thought process inolved over choosing one seemingly innocuous option over another. Left or right? Here or there? Yes or no? There are no correct answers... and yet one choice may lead to an ostensible "happy ending," whereas the alternative leads to the main character's (i.e. your) fictional demise.
In short, The Train of Terror presents itself as a potential medium for in-depth self-study. To more fully understand this concept, allow me to guide the way through one possible storyline (as initially chosen by me, as reader):
Upon entrance of the train to Twin Falls, Idaho (which, interestingly enough, would have had an immoderately high crime rate for a municipality of its humble size, a standing of approximately twice that of the national level per capita), I am presented with the option of sitting alongside a "beautiful woman" with a pet carrier (which I decide must be carrying a dog, statistically speaking), or next to a disfigured yet silent gentleman (herein labelled "Scarface" by the author). I opt for the gentleman, as I had no interest in being seated next to a live animal for what could potentially be a long trip. Also, the sexual tension and discomfort would be at a minimum if not seated near the apparently "beautiful woman." In other words, I opted to sit next to Scarface because of some deep-seated hangup associated with the opposite sex along with fear of the unknown "animal" in the carrier.
Scarface, grunting as if mute, attempts to sieze my pencil from my hand while I decipher a cryptogram. A choice is now rendered: Do I allow the man to take my pencil, or not? Due to the fact that I am uncertain as to the man's intentions, or his psychological profile, I make the decision to become passive and allow him this small liberty. That is to say, becoming fearsome of unnecessary confrontation, I acquiesce to the strange man.
The gentleman painstakingly scrawls the message: DANGER IN BOX GO BAGGAGE CAR RUN. My options, as presented, are to take the written advice as offered and make haste to said location, or to "decide that he's kidding." Once again, taking the path of least resistance, I decide upon the former choice.
Within the baggage car, I discover another pet carrier, identical to that which was in the possession of the "beautiful woman." According to the book's text, I am greatly incensed by this apparent cruelty to the caged beast (the nature of which is not revealed by this point), and I am given the opportunity to "release the animal" by turning to PAGE 49, or to "decide it's none of your business" by reading PAGE 50. By now, a sense of false bravado has crept into my reader's heart, and I take the plunge into PAGE 49 - the first real move of selfless bravery shown by me since having picked up the book.
Unfortunately, the "beautiful woman" had followed me from my seat into the baggage car. She is expressing her anger toward my hubristic man-handling of her secondary pet carrier, and demands that I not touch her belongings. And once again, the storyline forks: Do I, or do I not, decide upon releasing the animal? Having had my earlier surge of pluck and mettle quashed by subsequent events, I opt to eave the carrier alone, sequestered amongst the other baggage within the car.
And in this way do I arrive at an ending. The scarred man - he who had requested that I "GO BAGGAGE CAR RUN" - materialized from beyond the doorway, overpowered the "beautiful woman," explained the bizarre set of circumstances regarding the passanger coach into which I had originally traipsed, and informed me that I had aided in the prevention of our train being "hauled away by awaiting enemy locomotive and put on a ship for Outer Rroberia." And thus, the story ends with the moral: "Be kind to animals."
Of course, no such animal had ever appeared within this particular unveiling of happenings, so this moral-of-sorts serves as a trite veil to mask the soul-searching questions which precluded the ending. Upon further reflection, it seemed that my selection of moderate decisions - infused with the singular emboldened move - was rewarded by the emergence of a "happy ending." A confidence-bolstering, self-affirming activity wrapped up in the inoffensive guise of a light read.
...Or should it be so simple? This conclusion excludes, obviously, what may have happened should I have made a different choice (or choices) along the way. Could my surrogate self have survived so smugly if I had displayed fortitude earlier within the story? Or later? Or... not at all? Only a rereading of the text would grant this knowledge for certain.
And so, at a later point in time, The Train of Terror will be awaiting upon my bookshelf.
June 23, 2018
I bought this at a flea market, thinking of it as a silly pastime, but it was actually quite entertaining.
April 7, 2013
At a time when the original “Choose Your Own Adventure” series was starting to get a bit dull, the Twistaplot series came along and injected some new life into the genre. These were slightly goofier, more irreverent and well-attuned to the sensibilities of its target age-range. They were also short, and got into the action and choices right away. I recall that CYOA was beginning to opt for more back-story and longer exposition, and that’s part of why I (and other people my age) were finding them less interesting.
This book is basically an espionage-adventure story from a kid’s-eye-view. You play a child of indeterminate age and gender riding in a train to Twin Falls, Idaho (what if you lived in Twin Falls? I guess that didn’t come up much). The other people in the train are stereotypes who act suspiciously, and you eventually become involved in a plot that betrays some of them as good-guy agents, and others as the bad guys. Depending on which choices you make, the break will be different, but that makes it possible to play the book several times without knowing the ending. Is the Beautiful Lady on your side or is she a double agent? Is the Elderly Lady actually a man in drag? The answers to these questions vary with each adventure.
Today, this book is mostly amusing from a nostalgic point of view. I’m not as responsive to the whimsical humor as I once was (one example: the choices on page 76 read: “If you had pizza for breakfast, turn to page 102. If you didn’t have pizza for breakfast, turn to page 102. Turn to page 102!”). But, it’s a quick read and takes me back to being a kid.
This book is basically an espionage-adventure story from a kid’s-eye-view. You play a child of indeterminate age and gender riding in a train to Twin Falls, Idaho (what if you lived in Twin Falls? I guess that didn’t come up much). The other people in the train are stereotypes who act suspiciously, and you eventually become involved in a plot that betrays some of them as good-guy agents, and others as the bad guys. Depending on which choices you make, the break will be different, but that makes it possible to play the book several times without knowing the ending. Is the Beautiful Lady on your side or is she a double agent? Is the Elderly Lady actually a man in drag? The answers to these questions vary with each adventure.
Today, this book is mostly amusing from a nostalgic point of view. I’m not as responsive to the whimsical humor as I once was (one example: the choices on page 76 read: “If you had pizza for breakfast, turn to page 102. If you didn’t have pizza for breakfast, turn to page 102. Turn to page 102!”). But, it’s a quick read and takes me back to being a kid.
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