Throwback Thursday: Bad Dreams by R. L. Stine

Author: R. L. Stine
First published by Simon Pulse 1994

Every night Maggie Travers has the same horrible dream. Every night she is forced to watch the same murder. And every night the girl in her dream cries out for help. Maggie is afraid to go to sleep again. But when the terrifying dream starts to come true and the gruesome accidents begin, staying awake is the real nightmare!

I was looking for a quick read for Throwback Thursday and this audiobook caught my eye on the shelf at the library.  I was just out of college when this series came out, so I missed out the first time around.  Bad Dreams is part of the Fear Street series by R. L . Stine.

Maggie and her family move into a home  on Fear Street after her fahter dies.  It's run down and needs some major TLC.  The bonus is that the last family left a canopy bed behind.  Maggie decides to keep it in her room and use it as her own. That is when the nightmares start.  All I could think as I was listening to this book was "ewww".  She slept on someone's old mattress.  Can you say bed bugs, mold and who knows what else?  Also, she finds to later that someone was murdered in the bed.  Double gross.  I could see saving the frame, but the mattress? 

It's an OK mystery for a YA book.  The characters were a bit underwhelming.  I detested Maggie's sister Andrea.  She was so whiny. Justin, the boyfriend, was not necessary to the book and probably could have been left out.  The ending was just plain dumb.  I was expecting a bit more reaction from the main characters.  They act like it's just business as usual.  Like they didn't just get attacked by a killer.  Also there was no resolution to a few things in the book.  I say stick with the Goosebumps books.  They are much better than this.