The second book in the Goosebumps series, Stay Out Of The Basement, did not disappoint!  What started out slightly slow picked up in a couple of chapters.  On the surface this book is about a father who was recently been fired from his job, his obsession with making a scientific breakthrough, his descent into madness, and the two children suffering to learn their father's secrets.  Stay Out Of The Basement is a brilliant combination of a story where Poison Ivy meets Frankenstein meets Little Shop of Horrors.

Stay Out Of The Basement did seem slightly heavier than Welcome To Dead House in terms of its themes.  Reading this as an adult, I was able to see so many different issues that I did not notice as a child, issues that Margaret and Casey (the two adolescent protagonists) probably overlooked as well.  Some of the themes/issues include: man vs nature, grief over familial illness, work/life balance (we TOTALLY get that in the Atlanta metro area), and so on.

This book is a nice blend of science and horror that our future biologists, botanists, and chemists of the world will definitely appreciate.

As the father begins changing in physical form, behavior, and attitude, Margaret and Casey start questioning his identity.  Is it really their dad who has been locked in the basement for days on end working on his scientific experiments on plants?  And what happened to their dad's former boss who stopped by?  They can't remember if they saw him leave or not.  In the end, it almost makes me question how well do we know the people we love and see every day?  Could we identify our true loved ones in a situation of life and death?