R. L. Stine's writing wouldn't get him out of ninth-grade English; his sentences are choppy and often incomplete, and the story has no depth or characterizations. But young reluctant readers who enjoy gruesome supernatural thrillers love it. This kind of book fills the bill for large numbers of kids who don't like to read.

It requires little effort to understand what's going on, though the time switches make it marginally more challenging than most of Stine's books. Everything stays on the surface. The story moves quickly, keeping readers' interest high and not wasting any time on such traditional aspects of storytelling as descriptions (except for the gore), characters, or emotional depth. The grisly plot appeals to many young readers. It's purely pulp fiction, meant for entertainment only.

Stine does give us an intriguing explanation for the evil car in this book, however. In extensive flashbacks to 1698, he shows how the colonial townsfolk condemn a seemingly innocent girl because of her birthmark. Those flashbacks can work as a brief introduction to historical fiction--embedded in a pulp supernatural thriller, it could possibly be used as a springboard to something better, though Stine's readers are often resistant.

For suspenseful and far better treatment of witch trials, Kathryn Lasky's Beyond the Burning Time or Ann Rinaldi's A Break with Charity are worth a shot.

Extremely reluctant readers like R. L. Stine because his books pander directly to them and because they know that adults can't stand the stuff. To wean young lovers of horror from Stine, try better-written horror, such as Neil Shusterman's Mindquakes or The Eyes of Kid Midas. Strong readers may enjoy Stephen King's novels.