What do you think?
Rate this book
The Midnight Library #12
Blind Witness
Liam loses his sight but starts having strange visions, Becky gets drawn into a sinister fashion show, and a group of friends get more than they bargained for in the depths of a wax museum.
- GenresHorrorYoung Adult
192 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2007
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 16, 2012
“Blind Witness” is actually just the first of three stories in this book (although you’d never know it from the cover, which makes it seem that it is a novel not a collection of short stories). When I opened this book I was horrified to find out that the stories were actually written by Shaun Hutson, author of the worst book I’ve ever read. I tried to just forget about that and not let it affect my opinion though.
Blind Witness
Despite having no friends and being bullied a lot, Liam loves school. He hates being at home because his mum left and he doesn’t like his dad. There’s no real reason for Liam to dislike his dad – he’s not abusive or anything, he just doesn’t get along with him and wants to stay away from him as much as possible. The scenes were Liam is being bullied were very realistic and relatable to me... I liked that, but it’s ruined later in the book when they suddenly act friendly to Liam, after causing him to go blind! That is not realistic. Perhaps they would stop bullying him but try to be friends with him? No! And Liam accepts their friendship, as if they didn’t just cause him a lot of pain and cost him is eyesight!
The scene where Liam loses his eyesight, by accidentally getting very strong acid which surely wouldn’t be allowed in a school, in his eyes is very gruesome. I like that – unlike Goosebumps this series doesn’t shy away from actually making horrible things happen. The scenes where Liam is blind after his accident were good, however he gets a retina transplant and quickly regains his vision. After that it becomes a ghost story – Liam begins to see a shadowy figure in the corner of his eye and in his dreams. Eventually he finds out that the eyes came from a person who was murdered by his dad, who is some kind of criminal.
This story was okay, but it would’ve been a lot better if it had focused more on the blindness rather than having it quickly cured.
Wax Museum (I can’t remember the actual title of this story)
This is just a typical was museum horror story - it turns out that the models are made from people who has wax poured over them. There was a lot of build-up but not much pay off and a lot of wasted potential. Not very memorable.
Fashion Victim
Becky likes to spend her time in expensive shops looking at clothes that she can’t afford. Kinda stupid in my opinion. She falls in love with a handmade dress, and gets upset when the store owner won’t let her try it on even though it turns out to be for a friend of hers, who happens to be modelling at the same show as her. The next day she comes back to the shop with her friend to collect the dress. The dress maker tells the friend (can’t remember names and don’t have the book here) not to let Becky try the dress on. But she does anyway. The next day she goes to the shop again, this time with her little sister, just to show off that she wore the dress. In the shop there are dolls wearing exact replicas of every handmade dress. The little sister steals the one of the dress Becky’s friend bought. The next day at the fashion show, the dressmaker talks to Becky, accusing her sister of stealing the doll, but Becky insists her sister would never do something like that. Just like the family of every criminal ever. The friend gets nervous for some reason and makes Becky go on stage in the dress instead of her. While she’s on stage Becky sees her sister with the doll, pulling the strings on the back of the corset, and as she does, the dress gets tighter for real!
It ends with Becky being crushed to death by the dress. It was a lot of build up just for that gory moment and the supernatural elements don’t make a lot of sense. Why does the dressmaker make these “voodoo” dolls, and why is she so insistent that Becky can’t wear the dress? Unless she was planning to use the doll to murder the friend, which seems highly unlikely, there really is no explanation.
Conclusion
I like that this series isn’t afraid of being gruesome, however the build-up to scary things is often drawn out too much. Blind Witness could’ve been better but it was not bad. The other two stories were nothing special.
Blind Witness
Despite having no friends and being bullied a lot, Liam loves school. He hates being at home because his mum left and he doesn’t like his dad. There’s no real reason for Liam to dislike his dad – he’s not abusive or anything, he just doesn’t get along with him and wants to stay away from him as much as possible. The scenes were Liam is being bullied were very realistic and relatable to me... I liked that, but it’s ruined later in the book when they suddenly act friendly to Liam, after causing him to go blind! That is not realistic. Perhaps they would stop bullying him but try to be friends with him? No! And Liam accepts their friendship, as if they didn’t just cause him a lot of pain and cost him is eyesight!
The scene where Liam loses his eyesight, by accidentally getting very strong acid which surely wouldn’t be allowed in a school, in his eyes is very gruesome. I like that – unlike Goosebumps this series doesn’t shy away from actually making horrible things happen. The scenes where Liam is blind after his accident were good, however he gets a retina transplant and quickly regains his vision. After that it becomes a ghost story – Liam begins to see a shadowy figure in the corner of his eye and in his dreams. Eventually he finds out that the eyes came from a person who was murdered by his dad, who is some kind of criminal.
This story was okay, but it would’ve been a lot better if it had focused more on the blindness rather than having it quickly cured.
Wax Museum (I can’t remember the actual title of this story)
This is just a typical was museum horror story - it turns out that the models are made from people who has wax poured over them. There was a lot of build-up but not much pay off and a lot of wasted potential. Not very memorable.
Fashion Victim
Becky likes to spend her time in expensive shops looking at clothes that she can’t afford. Kinda stupid in my opinion. She falls in love with a handmade dress, and gets upset when the store owner won’t let her try it on even though it turns out to be for a friend of hers, who happens to be modelling at the same show as her. The next day she comes back to the shop with her friend to collect the dress. The dress maker tells the friend (can’t remember names and don’t have the book here) not to let Becky try the dress on. But she does anyway. The next day she goes to the shop again, this time with her little sister, just to show off that she wore the dress. In the shop there are dolls wearing exact replicas of every handmade dress. The little sister steals the one of the dress Becky’s friend bought. The next day at the fashion show, the dressmaker talks to Becky, accusing her sister of stealing the doll, but Becky insists her sister would never do something like that. Just like the family of every criminal ever. The friend gets nervous for some reason and makes Becky go on stage in the dress instead of her. While she’s on stage Becky sees her sister with the doll, pulling the strings on the back of the corset, and as she does, the dress gets tighter for real!
It ends with Becky being crushed to death by the dress. It was a lot of build up just for that gory moment and the supernatural elements don’t make a lot of sense. Why does the dressmaker make these “voodoo” dolls, and why is she so insistent that Becky can’t wear the dress? Unless she was planning to use the doll to murder the friend, which seems highly unlikely, there really is no explanation.
Conclusion
I like that this series isn’t afraid of being gruesome, however the build-up to scary things is often drawn out too much. Blind Witness could’ve been better but it was not bad. The other two stories were nothing special.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 9, 2011
This book is one of my most favorite books because it makes me want to read on and on and on. It alway makes me ask a lot of questions. This book is the types of genre i like to read (Horror and Mysterious) .
January 29, 2014
Book of short stories for younger readers. Why did I read it? Shaun Hutson
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews