The HAUNTED CAVE (SPOOKSVILLE 3) : THE HAUNTED CAVE

Rating:
Summary: GOOD BOOK!
Review: Good fun reading for anyone who likes stories of underground adventure. This book reminded me of another great book--Steward's, "Tales of Dirt, Danger, and Darkness." Buy this book!

Rating:
Summary: Book #3: "There was no way out of the cave."
Review: While Christopher Pike has been popular among older teen readers for decades, he's expanded his books to a younger audience of readers (8 - 12 year olds), in his recent series called Spooksville, which has some similarities to R. L. Stine's Goosebumps and Fear Street books.

In this third book in the series, four friends (Adam, Watch, Sally, and Cindy) go into the Haunted Cave in search of man's evolutionary missing link--something that's part human, part ape. However, three of them get trapped inside the cave without a way out, stuck on an endless trail of bloodthirsty trolls and bats and impending death, while the remaining friend tries to find a way to rescue them.

I thought "The Haunted Cave" was more of an adventure story than a horror story--and definitely not as bloody or provocative as some of Pike's older teen books; so this book is appropriate for all ages, particularly preteens. Still, I prefer his other books.