What do you think?
Rate this book
Gaslighted: Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy vs. Aloysius Pendergast
In this entry from the thrilling short story anthology FaceOff, bestselling authors Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child along with R.L. Stine team up for the first time ever, pitting FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast against the most unusual villain he’s ever faced—Stine’s classic Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy.First introduced in R.L. Stine’s 400 million-copy bestselling Goosebumps series, Slappy is a dummy carved from coffin wood who boasts enormous strength and a sarcastic, sadistic personality. In contrast, Agent Pendergast is an elegant, intelligent man who never lets himself be ruffled by the particulars of an investigation. Yet when these two meet for the first time—at Stony Mountain Sanatorium—Pendergast is quite clearly out of his element, and nothing is as it seems… For more exciting pairs, check out all eleven stories in FaceOff!
29 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 30, 2014
157 people are currently reading
502 people want to read
About the author
Douglas Preston
178 books13.4k followersDouglas Preston was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1956, and grew up in the deadly boring suburb of Wellesley. Following a distinguished career at a private nursery school--he was almost immediately expelled--he attended public schools and the Cambridge School of Weston. Notable events in his early life included the loss of a fingertip at the age of three to a bicycle; the loss of his two front teeth to his brother Richard's fist; and various broken bones, also incurred in dust-ups with Richard. (Richard went on to write The Hot Zone and The Cobra Event, which tells you all you need to know about what it was like to grow up with him as a brother.)
As they grew up, Doug, Richard, and their little brother David roamed the quiet suburbs of Wellesley, terrorizing the natives with home-made rockets and incendiary devices mail-ordered from the backs of comic books or concocted from chemistry sets. With a friend they once attempted to fly a rocket into Wellesley Square; the rocket malfunctioned and nearly killed a man mowing his lawn. They were local celebrities, often appearing in the "Police Notes" section of The Wellesley Townsman. It is a miracle they survived childhood intact.
After unaccountably being rejected by Stanford University (a pox on it), Preston attended Pomona College in Claremont, California, where he studied mathematics, biology, physics, anthropology, chemistry, geology, and astronomy before settling down to English literature. After graduating, Preston began his career at the American Museum of Natural History in New York as an editor, writer, and eventually manager of publications. (Preston also taught writing at Princeton University and was managing editor of Curator.) His eight-year stint at the Museum resulted in the non-fiction book, Dinosaurs in the Attic, edited by a rising young star at St. Martin's Press, a polymath by the name of Lincoln Child. During this period, Preston gave Child a midnight tour of the museum, and in the darkened Hall of Late Dinosaurs, under a looming T. Rex, Child turned to Preston and said: "This would make the perfect setting for a thriller!" That thriller would, of course, be Relic.
In 1986, Douglas Preston piled everything he owned into the back of a Subaru and moved from New York City to Santa Fe to write full time, following the advice of S. J. Perelman that "the dubious privilege of a freelance writer is he's given the freedom to starve anywhere." After the requisite period of penury, Preston achieved a small success with the publication of Cities of Gold, a non-fiction book about Coronado's search for the legendary Seven Cities of Cibola. To research the book, Preston and a friend retraced on horseback 1,000 miles of Coronado's route across Arizona and New Mexico, packing their supplies and sleeping under the stars--nearly killing themselves in the process. Since then he has published several more non-fiction books on the history of the American Southwest, Talking to the Ground and The Royal Road, as well as a novel entitled Jennie. In the early 1990s Preston and Child teamed up to write suspense novels; Relic was the first, followed by several others, including Riptide and Thunderhead. Relic was released as a motion picture by Paramount in 1997. Other films are under development at Hollywood studios. Preston and Child live 500 miles apart and write their books together via telephone, fax, and the Internet.
Preston and his brother Richard are currently producing a television miniseries for ABC and Mandalay Entertainment, to be aired in the spring of 2000, if all goes well, which in Hollywood is rarely the case.
Preston continues a magazine writing career by contributing regularly to The New Yorker magazine. He has also written for National Geographic, Natural History, Smithsonisan, Harper's,and Travel & Leisure,among others.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/dougla...
As they grew up, Doug, Richard, and their little brother David roamed the quiet suburbs of Wellesley, terrorizing the natives with home-made rockets and incendiary devices mail-ordered from the backs of comic books or concocted from chemistry sets. With a friend they once attempted to fly a rocket into Wellesley Square; the rocket malfunctioned and nearly killed a man mowing his lawn. They were local celebrities, often appearing in the "Police Notes" section of The Wellesley Townsman. It is a miracle they survived childhood intact.
After unaccountably being rejected by Stanford University (a pox on it), Preston attended Pomona College in Claremont, California, where he studied mathematics, biology, physics, anthropology, chemistry, geology, and astronomy before settling down to English literature. After graduating, Preston began his career at the American Museum of Natural History in New York as an editor, writer, and eventually manager of publications. (Preston also taught writing at Princeton University and was managing editor of Curator.) His eight-year stint at the Museum resulted in the non-fiction book, Dinosaurs in the Attic, edited by a rising young star at St. Martin's Press, a polymath by the name of Lincoln Child. During this period, Preston gave Child a midnight tour of the museum, and in the darkened Hall of Late Dinosaurs, under a looming T. Rex, Child turned to Preston and said: "This would make the perfect setting for a thriller!" That thriller would, of course, be Relic.
In 1986, Douglas Preston piled everything he owned into the back of a Subaru and moved from New York City to Santa Fe to write full time, following the advice of S. J. Perelman that "the dubious privilege of a freelance writer is he's given the freedom to starve anywhere." After the requisite period of penury, Preston achieved a small success with the publication of Cities of Gold, a non-fiction book about Coronado's search for the legendary Seven Cities of Cibola. To research the book, Preston and a friend retraced on horseback 1,000 miles of Coronado's route across Arizona and New Mexico, packing their supplies and sleeping under the stars--nearly killing themselves in the process. Since then he has published several more non-fiction books on the history of the American Southwest, Talking to the Ground and The Royal Road, as well as a novel entitled Jennie. In the early 1990s Preston and Child teamed up to write suspense novels; Relic was the first, followed by several others, including Riptide and Thunderhead. Relic was released as a motion picture by Paramount in 1997. Other films are under development at Hollywood studios. Preston and Child live 500 miles apart and write their books together via telephone, fax, and the Internet.
Preston and his brother Richard are currently producing a television miniseries for ABC and Mandalay Entertainment, to be aired in the spring of 2000, if all goes well, which in Hollywood is rarely the case.
Preston continues a magazine writing career by contributing regularly to The New Yorker magazine. He has also written for National Geographic, Natural History, Smithsonisan, Harper's,and Travel & Leisure,among others.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/dougla...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
November 12, 2023
There isn’t much Slappy but enough to be creepy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 28, 2020
Cute Story!
I love Special Agent Pendergast! This short story was just beginning to get interesting, when it ended! I wish it had been longer.
I love Special Agent Pendergast! This short story was just beginning to get interesting, when it ended! I wish it had been longer.
September 22, 2020
3.5 Stars
rounded up to 4 Stars. Boy that Dummy is sure creepy! This was a great gaslight story but it was too short with too many strings of the plot left dangling to rate a solid 4 Star rating.
June 12, 2020
Was Stine even on the same planet? This was supposed to be a collaborated story, but I didn’t see it. I was curious how Slappy was going to appear in a story not meant for kids and was highly disappointed that the story had nothing that felt like Stine. It felt more like Stine’s name was added to it, but he had nothing to do with it. It follows a detective character from a series I wasn’t familiar with. Fine. And the character was an interesting one, and I bet the series he’s from is interesting. The story itself wasn’t too bad, but it also didn’t entirely make sense. Slappy’s appearance isn’t even really solid. He’s not named. He doesn’t do anything. He has only one small connection to the story at all, and it just seems weird to consider this one of Stine’s characters when, if he’s unnamed and inanimate, could have been any ventriloquist dummy and didn’t need Stine’s name. I just couldn’t see anything connecting the two authors to blend styles. Just felt like a solo piece.
If you like a little mystery, by all means, this might be a fun read for you. But, if you sought this out because you were expecting a good blend of Stine with another author, don’t bother. I don’t see or feel anything that came from Stine. Just go read “Superstitious.” That’s a much better Stine piece for adults.
If you like a little mystery, by all means, this might be a fun read for you. But, if you sought this out because you were expecting a good blend of Stine with another author, don’t bother. I don’t see or feel anything that came from Stine. Just go read “Superstitious.” That’s a much better Stine piece for adults.
November 6, 2018
Very different. Entertaining read, but nothing like the Pendergast series, which I love!
February 19, 2019
FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast means Slappy the Ventriloquist. Slappy is a dummy carved from coffin wood who boasts enormous strength and a sarcastic, sadistic personality. Pendergast is an elegant, intelligent man who never lets himself be ruffled. The two meet at Stony Mountain Sanatorium. Nothing is as it seems.
Creepy stayed with me the entire story. I loved it. Pendergast is a character I plan on getting to know more. Same goes for Slappy. When I do, for the latter, I'll make sure all the lights are on.
Creepy stayed with me the entire story. I loved it. Pendergast is a character I plan on getting to know more. Same goes for Slappy. When I do, for the latter, I'll make sure all the lights are on.
November 15, 2014
The only reason I'm giving it 3 stars is because it was nice to have a bit of Pendergast as a hold-over, but the story itself was really lack luster. I was expecting so much more from this pairing of authors. Really is 2 stars for the story... being a huge Pendergast fan bumped it up by 1.
June 1, 2015
Odd little Pendergast short story, but not much Slappy at all. I wondered what they were going to go with that combo. Like another reviewer said, it's a nice holdover until the next installment in the series, a pleasant diversion.
August 29, 2019
did doug and linc gas bob?
April 6, 2020
A collaboration between RL Stine and the Preston/Child duo. It's fitting that this is in the Gaslighted collection because I feel like the title is definitely gaslighting any readers who are going into this story thinking that Slappy plays any sort of major role. For those who aren't Goosebumps fans, Slappy first appears in Night of the Living Dummy and has kind of become the breakout "star" from the Goosebumps series. It's been forever since I've read any Goosebumps books, but I do vaguely remember Slappy. Aside from Slappy the doll being in a few scenes in this story, he doesn't really play any role. The short story reads more like the end of the climax of a Pendergast novel but without the need to have the build up or real ending. Preston/Child do actually do a good job setting up the scene and tone of the book and legitimately gaslight Pendergast to a degree that may even convince a few readers. This would probably appeal more to Pendergast fans than to Slappy fans, which is a sentence I never thought I'd write.
There is a lot of Preston/Child in the book, probably because Pendergast is the one featured in the story. Maybe RL Stine gave some input and was a creative consultant, but I don't see much of his writing style or tendencies in the story aside from the existence of Slappy- having read too many Fear Street books, that's definitely a good thing.
I can't see anyone even being remotely interested in reading this unless they were a Pendergast completionist. And even as one, I can't figure out why I read it. It's not the worst thing to come from the series.
There is a lot of Preston/Child in the book, probably because Pendergast is the one featured in the story. Maybe RL Stine gave some input and was a creative consultant, but I don't see much of his writing style or tendencies in the story aside from the existence of Slappy- having read too many Fear Street books, that's definitely a good thing.
I can't see anyone even being remotely interested in reading this unless they were a Pendergast completionist. And even as one, I can't figure out why I read it. It's not the worst thing to come from the series.
June 27, 2025
3.5 stars
One of those mashups you never expect to happen and you’re not quite sure how it did and everything packed into around 20 pages or so. On one side, we have got Slappy, the creepy, wisecracking ventriloquist dummy from R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series. On the other, the cool, collected, aloof FBI agent Pendergast from Preston & Child’s thriller series. Somehow, they’re in the same story. And somehow, it kind of works.
The book leans into its bizarre premise with a good mix of camp and suspense. What's missing is that Slappy does not bring his chaotic, over-the-top energy into the mix, staying mostly docile and as a brooding presence, a waste of the character while Pendergast stays as stoic and sharp as ever. There are definitely fun moments, especially if you’re a fan of either character.
That said, the tone is all over the place at times—part horror, part crime thriller, part satire but mostly brooding, morose fun. The plot can get messy, and not everything lands. Still, it’s weirdly enjoyable in its own way. If you're up for something offbeat and don’t mind a little weirdness, it’s worth checking out.
One of those mashups you never expect to happen and you’re not quite sure how it did and everything packed into around 20 pages or so. On one side, we have got Slappy, the creepy, wisecracking ventriloquist dummy from R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series. On the other, the cool, collected, aloof FBI agent Pendergast from Preston & Child’s thriller series. Somehow, they’re in the same story. And somehow, it kind of works.
The book leans into its bizarre premise with a good mix of camp and suspense. What's missing is that Slappy does not bring his chaotic, over-the-top energy into the mix, staying mostly docile and as a brooding presence, a waste of the character while Pendergast stays as stoic and sharp as ever. There are definitely fun moments, especially if you’re a fan of either character.
That said, the tone is all over the place at times—part horror, part crime thriller, part satire but mostly brooding, morose fun. The plot can get messy, and not everything lands. Still, it’s weirdly enjoyable in its own way. If you're up for something offbeat and don’t mind a little weirdness, it’s worth checking out.
April 10, 2025
Another manipulation of genre and mash up author’s iconic characters. In this short story we meet an FBI agent and a ventriloquist dummy with the uncanny ability to erase memories as Dr Augustine.
A new departure for me as I was not familiar with these authors and therefore unlike other face offs in the collection edited by David Baldacci or available separately this one was a fresh departure for me.
I found the set up quite interesting and the measures taken by the patient to test his memory and focus on what is real. It raises fresh ideas about “brainwashing” and the ultimate power if you can control someone’s mind and even implant false memories.
Great idea which perhaps deserves a longer format to explore the various nuances and evil pathways a villain could imagine drag his patients down.
A real positive is that FBI agent Pendergast is a cool guy who I would like to spend more time with; however some of his adventures seem quite bizarre. Time will tell.
A new departure for me as I was not familiar with these authors and therefore unlike other face offs in the collection edited by David Baldacci or available separately this one was a fresh departure for me.
I found the set up quite interesting and the measures taken by the patient to test his memory and focus on what is real. It raises fresh ideas about “brainwashing” and the ultimate power if you can control someone’s mind and even implant false memories.
Great idea which perhaps deserves a longer format to explore the various nuances and evil pathways a villain could imagine drag his patients down.
A real positive is that FBI agent Pendergast is a cool guy who I would like to spend more time with; however some of his adventures seem quite bizarre. Time will tell.
October 25, 2020
It was an interesting mini Pendergast adventure for someone who wants the complete set, but it wasn't at all what I expected from the title. Slappy was barely in the story at all, and if not for the title I wouldn't have even known that's who the dummy was supposed to be. I don't regret buying it as it completes my Pendergast set, but if you're looking for a Slappy story and don't follow Agent Pendergast there's no point.
January 19, 2020
Another short story in the Face Off series really sees a story about the character Aloysius Pendergast, who I have not read before. It could have been him alone really, because the Stine character barely rates a mention, and the story would have basically stood own its own merits without him there.
OK again, but not really a Face Off in any stretch of the imagination.
Face Off #3.
OK again, but not really a Face Off in any stretch of the imagination.
Face Off #3.
November 13, 2022
The title is apropos in more ways than one. While the idea seemed interesting, if bizarre, the result is a complete waste of well-known (and cherished) characters. Slappy basically appears in name only, and Pendergast, is, well not much like the Pendergast I remember from the books. This actually read more like some weird fan-fiction than something officially sanctioned.
October 6, 2019
What would you do if you wake up one day and remember nothing?
A cliche much abused by novels and stories.
But Preston and Stine have something new to give the story. A spin. That of an FBI agent, and a dummy.
A pleasant short read.
A cliche much abused by novels and stories.
But Preston and Stine have something new to give the story. A spin. That of an FBI agent, and a dummy.
A pleasant short read.
March 4, 2022
an interesting short story
I do wish it were longer as I love the character of Pendergast. It was a good beginning to a longer book, unique for this character. Still, I enjoyed it.
I do wish it were longer as I love the character of Pendergast. It was a good beginning to a longer book, unique for this character. Still, I enjoyed it.
June 5, 2018
Barely a Pendergast short story.
August 11, 2018
Above
OMG! Ended abruptly and I wanted more!!!!!!! Love this series! Waiting for the next, hopefully sooner than later! I'm so sad without listening to Pendergast everyday!
OMG! Ended abruptly and I wanted more!!!!!!! Love this series! Waiting for the next, hopefully sooner than later! I'm so sad without listening to Pendergast everyday!
October 9, 2018
Had difficulty following this short story. I expected so much more with Pendergast involved.
January 15, 2019
Ok fun read
Satisfied my Agent Pendergast fix. Always fun to read and have never been disappointed. Looking forward to the next adventure.
Satisfied my Agent Pendergast fix. Always fun to read and have never been disappointed. Looking forward to the next adventure.
April 1, 2019
Teaser
What a teaser!!!! Keep going with the storyline, and it will turn into a really good read.
You guys..really!!!
But.....thanks... Good short!!!!
What a teaser!!!! Keep going with the storyline, and it will turn into a really good read.
You guys..really!!!
But.....thanks... Good short!!!!
April 29, 2019
Strange little tale.
April 11, 2021
MØR€!
I want more!!!!! You got me hooked, and I want more! Pretty please! It just can’t end there, can it?
I want more!!!!! You got me hooked, and I want more! Pretty please! It just can’t end there, can it?
March 31, 2022
Fun story if enjoy Pentergras. But do not get the dummy 🤷♂️
February 9, 2023
Great short story
A face off between Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast and Slappy the dummy was the perfect creepy tale to distract my mind from reality for a short time.
A face off between Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast and Slappy the dummy was the perfect creepy tale to distract my mind from reality for a short time.
February 16, 2023
Weirdly Cool
Such a mischevious little piece, so typical of Preston and Child. And Pendergast, too. Who do you believe, reader?? A conundrum, no doubt...
Such a mischevious little piece, so typical of Preston and Child. And Pendergast, too. Who do you believe, reader?? A conundrum, no doubt...
October 8, 2023
Quick and easy read
A very quick and easy read. Lots of twists and turns as usual I recommend reading this book. Another short story.
A very quick and easy read. Lots of twists and turns as usual I recommend reading this book. Another short story.
December 12, 2023
too short left me hanging
December 7, 2024
I don't do horror!!!! Kristi & Abby Tabby Childless Cat Woman
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews