Review - Shockers: Grave Doubts by John Peel

Grave Doubts is simply one of my favorite books from my childhood as it has always stuck in my mind after almost twenty-years later. I recall ordering many books from the Scholastic flyers when I was an elementary student. I was in the sixth grade (aka - the year I got glasses) when I read Grave Doubts during study hall.

In book three of the Shockers series, Matt Howard had blocked out the murder of his older sister, Penny, for ten years, but now those unwanted memories have resurfaced. A family friend, Mr. Ciprelli or known as Uncle Joey, went to a mental hospital shortly after Penny's brutal murder, but he has now returned and is moving into the house next door. Matt finds the man to be very odd as he is always watching him.

Matt doesn't have many memories about his sister, except for what people have told him about her. It seems that Penny was the perfect daughter and student. Matt gets into trouble at home and at school. He is told constantly from his parents and teachers that he was nothing like Penny and that she shouldn't have been the one to die.

He takes a bike ride to the local cemetery and places some flowers on Penny's grave. That is when he see's a girl standing in the distance. As he walks closer, he realizes that she looks exactly like Penny!

I won't go into any more details as I don't want to giveaway any of the twists and turns that Matt comes across. Reincarnation does play a role throughout the plot as Matt tries to find out who this Penny double actually is. Back when I first read this, I had already been reading the Goosebumps series. Grave Doubts was my first introduction into the horror teen genre. Soon after, I started reading Fear Street books and other Point Horror novels. As you can see from the cover, I have read the book many times!