Thursday, April 8, 2021

#BookReview of The Goolz Next Door - A Bad Night for Bullies by Gary Ghislain #atozchallenge

Our theme for this year's A-to-Z Blogging Challenge is BOOK REVIEWS.  We don't normally post book reviews but it was fun to review some of the amazing books I've read in the last year.

G is for The Goolz Next Door - A Bad Night for Bullies by Gary Ghislain

12yo Harold Bell moved from England to Maine and lives a quiet life by the ocean, reading books, cruising along the boardwalk in his wheelchair, and trying to stay away from the town bullies.  One day, horror author Frank Goolz moves in next door with his two girls – Ilona is around Harold's age and Suzie is a little younger.  Harold meets the girls when the bullies roll his wheelchair to the edge of the pier and threaten to push him off, but the girls toss the leader of the bullies off the pier instead.

Later, Harold sees a zombie woman in the attic window of the Goolz house, and Ilona gives him a “Stone of the Dead” to keep watch over.  Bullies start disappearing, which makes Harold wonder if Frank Goolz is an author of fiction or non-fiction.

The book has several funny scenes and is spooky/scary in places but not terrifying. Frank Goolz is a quirky, eccentric, absent-minded author [aren't we all?!] who chases after paranormal sightings for “research”.  There are graveyard scenes, and the zombie woman is yikes!

It's a fun read and would appeal to readers of the Goosebumps series by RL Stine.  I'm a wimp and I don't like horror [I've never been able to finish a Stephen King book] but I did like Goosebumps and I did like this book.  It's the first in a series so I'll probably check out future installments.

Four stars.

3 comments:

Walkersvillemom said...

Sounds like an interesting read. I'm interested in the depiction of disability in media so I'll put it on my list of future reads. Thanks!

Here from A to Z. Visit me at http://theroadweveshared.com/blog where our theme is Down syndrome in the media.

Anstice Brown said...

This sounds like a good book. I do enjoy seeing bullies get their just desserts. I used to love Goosebumps. I will bear this one in mind for my students as they enjoy Anthony Hororowitz's horror stories.

Gary Ghislain said...

Thanks for your review. I'm happy you've enjoyed my first novel in the series. Gary.