A Book Review - Call Waiting by R.L. Stine (Point Horror)

You know, I don't even know what to say about this. I remember when it came out, it looked really exciting, but I never got a copy until I was about 16. I remember I borrowed it from friends at least twice. Then I picked up a 3-in-1 collection containing it in a second-hand store. I read it a handful of times since then.

And you know what? I did not remember a darn thing about the book. Not the plot, not the characters' names, not even a single powerful scene like R.L. Stine is famous for including in his books.

I think that the not-remembering was probably self-preservation. It's really not a very good book. It's one of those, like The Girlfriend, that has an interesting premise but doesn't come off well. Our female lead, Karen, is whiny and annoying and just a bit obsessive when it comes to her boyfriend. (Okay, more than a bit. She's about five steps away from Shannon in The Girlfriend.) The "twist" that comes halfway through the book is so blooming obvious that it might as well have been signposted. And the ending? The boyfriend, whose name I don't recall even though I read the book last week, actually decides that he loves whiny obsessive Karen.

Sigh. Perhaps I'm just bitter. My ex decided he loved his whiny obsessive girlfriend too. There seems to be a lot of it going around.

Verdict: One of the few books where I was rooting for the villain instead of the "heroine".