Horror Review: Bad Dreams (Fear Street #22) by R. L. Stine (1994, Simon Pulse)

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Maggie Travers is having a rough life, no two ways about it: her father's death left a hole in the family that neither her mother nor her colossally bitchy, I-am-actively-rooting-for-your-demise-as-a-reader, sister Andrea can fill. Worse still, after his stroke, the family was no longer able to afford their old home. 'Budget cuts', as it were. They got a great deal on a new house though. 23 Fear Street sold for a song. The previous owners took everything with them, of course. Everything but a beautiful canopy bed which just so happens to be in the bedroom Maggie requested.

The bed's a gorgeous antique, worth at least a thousand dollars (those are 1994 dollars, so you know you're talking real money today). The mattress is cloud-soft. The pink canopy is perfect, promising a calm and restful sleep for anyone stretched out beneath it. That's a good thing because Maggie's on the swim team, and she's going to need all the rest she can get to compete in the All-State swimming championships. Mrs. Travers has no idea why anyone would leave such a remarkable piece of furniture behind, but maybe it's a sign their luck is about to change.

The nightmares Maggie has while sleeping in it, however, tell a different story. Every night it's the same dream: a young blonde girl, tangled up in the sheets, head slammed against the solid wooden headboard, stabbed over and over again by an unrecognizable assailant. Maggie always awakens with a scream, gasping for breath, before the dream ends, but now she's seeing things: a ghostly figure who appears out of the corner of her eye. But is this apparition there to menace, or send a warning?

Slowly but surely, Maggie's convinced she's losing her mind. Her best friend and closest competitor on the swim team is roughly pushed down the school stairs, falling hard and breaking her arm. Another team mate, and rival for one of two positions at the All-State championships is stabbed after practice one day. Their injuries have insured Andrea a place right beside her sister at the big meet. Could Maggie's younger sibling be behind all this, or are too many sleepless nights taking their toll on her sanity? One thing's for sure...if Maggie doesn't solve the mystery soon, she may enter her own nightmare from which she can never awaken.

Up until the ending reveal, this book was well on its way to a solid five stars. Its phenomenal atmosphere, a protagonist who you can't help but feel sorry for (I can totally identify with the death of a father), a terrifying premise, and any number of plausible scenarios that could explain what's causing all the bad luck in Maggie's life all combine to create a great read. Since this is Fear Street, you have to suspect the supernatural as well, and I'm OK with that even if I think it can be a cop-out Stine used when he wrote himself into a corner.

I prefer when Stine comes up with a mundane explanation that fits all the evidence he's laid out so far, but despite this being what he delivers with Bad Dreams, I found it as unsatisfying as a sandpaper-lined fleshlight. I'm talking dissatisfaction to the point where I wish he'd played the 'supernatural' card--it's that disappointing. There were other plausible explanations he could have gone with I would have accepted without batting an eyelash, but I'm sorry, the ending of Bad Dreams is the cop-out to end all cop-outs. I'm open-minded as a reader, so if I'm calling B.S. on a plot twist, it has to be for a reason. No spoilers, but man, talk about a disappointment. This isn't like The Overnight where the whole thing feels average from the get-go, this is some next-level pain Stine laid on me with this one.

That hurt, Bob. That really hurt. Promise me you won't do it again?