The Mask Shop of Doctor Blaack by Steve Rasnic Tem

The Mask Shop of Doctor Blaack by Steve Rasnic Tem
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Trevor and Laura are like any other brother and sister duo; they drive each other crazy, but love each other until the end....a time which neither thought might just be so very near.

While on the hunt for the best of the best Halloween costumes...it being Laura's last year, and Trevor's first...they stumble upon a shop bearing the title of the book as its name. It's a creepy shop, displaying equally creepy items for purchase, and while supposedly being shopped just recently by a classmate, appears to be in utter abandon and disrepair. Does that stop these two from venturing forward? Nope...me, yeah, but then again I'm not running upstairs in a horror movie either, but these two are diving headfirst into an "adventure" they won't soon forget.

If Doctor Blaack himself isn't enough to frighten you, his bird man sidekick should definitely give you pause, or maybe the talking masks, or how about one that LOOKS LIKE A FUTURE YOU? Yeah, something was definitely amiss here right from the start, and only got worse as the story marched on. At first I was really surprised that the story was as DARK, as gruesome as it was considering the intended audience, but then I looked at the author's other works and I could see that this was probably just scratching the surface of weirdness for his writing talents.

All in all, not a bad read, just not something I was exactly expecting. There didn't seem to be much more moral or point to the story other than "listen to your elders" and "don't stick your nose (or face!) in places it doesn't belong"...and maybe a good reminder to listen to your gut when you get THAT feeling....but you know, sometimes those can be the scariest of stories!

**copy received for review

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