Item - The Mystery of Chimney Rock

This CYOA is badly written and squarely aimed at seven year olds. The titular mystery isn't intriguing, the plot architecture is sloppy, and path determination is far too random, even for a CYOA. There are good books in the original CYOA series, but Chimney Rock isn't one of them.

More reviews by amesgames

This book scared the living daylights out of me as a child, which I suppose was the idea.

The book was notable for having its own crazy dream-logic - although most of the events fall down when subjected to serious scrutiny, when you're 'in the story' they seem perfectly horrible and possible. Particularly creepy were the huge black cat and the eternal punishment for breaking the old lady's china. Give this one to your ten-year-old if you want her to have nightmares!

More reviews by Aussiesmurf

I thought this was a slightly below average CYOA book, with some very similar, repetitive endings, and an underdeveloped plot that's somewhat claustrophobic. There were some neat, creepy endings, but most of the endings were negative and there were no truly happy endings that felt satisfying. Choices seemed arbitrary, although sometimes this made things unpredictable and creepy in a good way. A few choices led to pages right next to each other, ruining any surprise element. You can see my map for this book here.

More reviews by DavidSky

This is a good horrific adventure; it's very strange at times and has a slightly creepy atmosphere (which, of course, is desirable).

More reviews by Demian

This was a nice, little book. Somewhat suspenseful and genuinely creepy at times, this book provided an entertaining read. I think that less endings and more in-depth threads would have made the story a little better at times, but nonetheless I enjoyed this one for its atmospheric moments.

More reviews by Enigmatic Synergy

While turned off by how creepy the book was when I was younger, now I see this as one of the better early CYOA books. For a book aimed at children ten and under it's pretty scary, and the number of unfavorable endings shows just how powerful the evil of Chimney Rock is. Give it a look.

More reviews by Fireguard

The Mystery of Chimney Rock by Edward Packard is probably the first horror gamebook ever published. I have to join in the chorus of praise for it - the book manages to build up a horror atmosphere quite well. Chimney Rock essentially laid the foundations for later gamebooks in the horror genre. I'm not sure what one of the previous reviewers means by saying that there are no particularly happy endings - the book has many endings where you manage to escape with your life (which is the basic goal of a book like this) as well as one or two where you can both escape *and* become rich. What exactly is unhappy about that?

While Chimney Rock is a classic, it is also far from perfect. Its flaws can mostly be attributed to the author being inexperienced in writing at the time. Since the plot is very barebones, the different branching paths repeat the same plot details over and over. This makes repeated play a bit tiresome. The book also has many continuity errors. In spite of these flaws, it is a great read. Recommended.

More reviews by Guillermo

The Mystery of Chimney Rock is based around an age-old premise used in several books and films, especially those designed for children's cautionary tales. You take on the role of a young person who is staying with cousins who is dared to enter an old mansion named Chimney Rock, which the local townsfolk all say is cursed. You either have the option of accepting the dare or letting your friend Jane do it, and from there things spiral very quickly.

This book is actually quite interesting as not only is it genuinely creepy in parts, but there are also some topics portrayed that some writers of childrens books might steer away from these days; e.g. feeding drugged food to children, kidnapping, murder, mind control, witchcraft (okay maybe that one is still used a lot in children's books!) and even frightening a person to death. All of these potential occurences (depending on the choices of the reader) revolve around the curse in the mansion and what it actually entails (which you can find out for yourself if you read it).

This is one of the books written by Edward Packard when he was still involved in writing Choose Your Own Adventure stories and, as a result, is again one of the better tales told in the series. Sadly this also means the book is unlikely to ever get a re-release by ChooseCo, though the book often pops up in different places second-hand. So this is another great interactive tale by Edward Packard, one of the true pioneers of the genre, and well worth the time of any reader who is entertained by such things. It is still entirely suitable for children (in my opinion, though I grew up with the uncensored Grimm's fairy tales!) and I still found it an entertaining read as an adult.

More reviews by hadlee73

Of the one hundred eighty-five books in the original Choose Your Own Adventure series, several turned out to be classics, but none make as indelible an imprint on young readers as The Curse of the Haunted Mansion (first published as The Mystery of Chimney Rock). While visiting your cousins Michael and Jane in Connecticut, you spot a forbidding-looking mansion called Chimney Rock in their neighborhood. Mrs. Bigley, a reputed witch, lived there with her cat, and after her death she bequeathed the gothic residence to the cat, who now lives there alone. Only Jervis the bad-tempered caretaker legally has access to the place, and strangers who enter are said to disappear. Michael and Jane dare you to step inside for a look; are you up for a bit of benign trespassing, or is it a bridge too far?

Almost every exterior door of the vine-strewn manor is locked, but you find a back door that isn't. Chimney Rock’s dingy interior sprawls out in numerous directions. Go upstairs if you wish to examine a room packed with antiques, along with a costume closet. Back outside the room, you run into a black cat with burning green eyes. An aged voice calls the name Melissa to the cat...but no human is supposed to live here. Is Mrs. Bigley alive? The cat is aggressive and jumpy, but make friends and you might trail her to the basement, which is on the verge of collapse. Head downstairs without Melissa, and you risk Jervis catching you. He resembles a monster and is furious at your intrusion; can you hide in the huge house? If you elude Jervis you might meet Mrs. Krim, who claims she is Mrs. Bigley's sister but comes across as senile. If you encounter Melissa again you could pick up the cat and take her with you; is she connected to the curse of Chimney Rock? Play your cards right and you'll break the curse once and for all.

Declining to enter Chimney Rock at first won't exempt you from this horror adventure. Jane volunteers to explore the mansion, but when she doesn't come back, Michael dashes off to call the police. Should you enter the house and search for Jane, or approach Jervis in his cottage and beg for help? Either way, going inside Chimney Rock puts you in a bad way. You might locate Jane cowering behind the grand staircase, convinced that invisible bars hold her here. Leaving Jane in order to bring help, you might cross paths with Lena, a young woman who identifies herself as Mrs. Bigley's maid. She offers you cheese and crackers or brownies, but can you trust her? If you release Jane from her psychological containment cell, there's a good chance Mrs. Bigley confronts you, an old woman with burning green eyes like the cat's. She has the power to turn you into a mouse, but there's just as much danger from the cursed house itself. If Michael returns with the police, there isn't much they can do against Mrs. Bigley; escaping with your life is probably the sunniest outcome. Can you avoid becoming the latest in a long line of victims?

"You must understand that there are things that people don't talk about, so you never learn about them except through experience—sometimes horrible experience."

—Mrs. Krim, P. 100

My heart pleads for me to herald The Curse of the Haunted Mansion as a triumph, but my head says that would be objectively incorrect. This has been my favorite gamebook most of my life, and the gritty, unnerving atmosphere is wonderful, but not enough care was taken to create a story that makes sense. Multiple structures of narrative canon are built in these pages, and they come into conflict. Had Edward Packard settled on just one, this could be the greatest Choose Your Own Adventure of all. Keeping track of every story path is difficult because they weave in, out, and around each other; a typical Choose Your Own Adventure branches off in two distinct directions near the beginning, but this one doesn't. I love The Curse of the Haunted Mansion, but am disappointed it doesn't live up to its all-time great potential.

More reviews by KenJenningsJeopardy74

I enjoyed this book. There was quite a bit more depth to it then I had expected.

While I thought the owner/cat thing was a bit cheesy, for the target audience, it is quite sellable.

There were some odd loose ends about finding various others turned into a mouse... and how the various 'evil' powers seemed to be there some times and not others.

There are a variety of ways to get out... and it is a challenge to go in and find out about the house and then to exit the house without dying and winning the big prize.

While there are several endings that you escape but isn't the 'big win,' I still found these enjoyable and more realistic.

While in the house, or about to go into the house, I could imagine being a little kid and what would I do in that situation... and once you are trapped inside that house, you only want to get out ASAP!

Overall, I found this enjoyable to read and very easy to put oneself in that situation about running off after breaking something, or sneaking in and getting caught by various people inside, etc.

Certainly one of the best in the CYOA series.

More reviews by noonxnoon

The Mystery of Chimney Rock has a classic haunted house horror theme in which your curiosity and thirst for dares get the better of you. The fundamental premise of the book has to do with you or your cousin, Jane, being daring enough to break into Chimney Rock—a mansion notoriously cursed—while your other cousin, Michael, stays on, for the most part, on the secure periphery. What follows are a number of branching stories that lead to, what would be by children’s books’ standards, some very macabre and horrific endings. Contrarily, the book also offers a minority of happy endings. Though some readers may not appreciate the paucity of happy endings, I, for one, view this as a positive aspect of the book because of the effect this has on raising the stakes and unconsciously impelling the reader to ponder more carefully, the choices presented. In this respect, The Mystery of Chimney Rock gets close to the ideal ratio of good to bad endings.

Chimney Rock, a Gothic style mansion with many winding paths within, is haunted by what can fittingly be described as an evil trinity comprising of the corporeal (i.e., Mrs. Bigley the witch/mortal), the possessed (i.e., Melissa the cat), and the unholy ghost of Mrs. Bigley. It’s incontrovertible that Edward Packard most evocatively describes the interior of the mansion in service of the plot; in fact, one need not look further than several of the other reviews on this very page praising the contribution of the atmospheric qualities weaved by the author.

Chimney Rock, with its numerous stories, stairways, corridors, halls, and decor very much reminded me of the mansion in the 1985 cult classic movie Clue. The ragtag group of characters in The Mystery of Chimney Rock (i.e., you, Jane, Michael, Lena the maid, Jervis the caretaker, the policeman etc.) are also, in one way or another, close cognates to the characters in Clue. So, though Clue is ultimately a quirky comedy as opposed to the horror that is The Mystery of Chimney Rock, those who enjoyed the latter for its atmosphere are likely to enjoy the former for that same quality.

In this vein, Chimney Rock was also somewhat reminiscent of The Great Bonza’s house in Magic Master, another fine Choose Your Own Adventure entry by Edward Packard. Even a cursory comparison of The Mystery of Chimney Rock with Magic Master allows for the realization of how the series evolved and how the sophistication of the storytelling gradually improved. Ringing in at no. 5, The Mystery of Chimney Rock was published when the Choose Your Own Adventure series was still very much in its nascent stage, a stage wherein the books were written for preteens. The books gradually became geared more toward young adults as the series progressed and the regular contributors refined their craft.

It should be mentioned that this observation is not to mean that the earlier entries were unexceptionally less enjoyable than the later entries. The Mystery of Chimney Rock, as a case in point, stands up well among the best in the entire series. Reading through The Mystery of Chimney Rock, it never seems, at least not immediately, that Edward Packard dumbed down the writing to make the book appealing to preteens specifically. I’ve noticed this quality, which I find quite admirable, consistently in the gamebooks written by Edward Packard.

Despite being random at times, something characteristic of the earlier entries in the series, The Mystery of Chimney Rock does a commendable job balancing creativity and arbitrariness. Depending on the story branch you happen to be on, Mrs. Bigley could be a witch, a ghost, a cat, a mortal, or, in a more pronounced departure, you could stumble across Egyptian mummies and skeletons adorned with exquisite jewelry in a cave underneath Chimney Rock. However, The Mystery of Chimney Rock manages its quirkiness such that it never smacks of an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink experience the way some of the other earlier entries did (e.g., By Balloon to the Sahara, House of Danger, Space and Beyond, etc.). The varied narrative paths do not clash with the broader premise established by the book (this is not to suggest that such an aspect of any given gamebook unalterably or exclusively contributes to an enjoyable read).

The retitled edition of The Mystery of Chimney Rock is The Curse of the Haunted Mansion. My suspicion, from a careful reading of the book, is that Edward Packard originally intended the book to be titled The Curse of Chimney Rock, but, probably due to resistance to a word as strong as “Curse” on the title to a children’s book, capitulated to the titular “Mystery” instead. Consider that the book is replete with references to “The Curse of Chimney Rock” (e.g., see pgs. 111, 114, 116, 117, 118). Moreover, perhaps the smoking gun in this vein is that your character literally comes across a book titled The Curse of Chimney Rock (pg. 96). Given that there is other evidence of Edward Packard’s playful preference for incorporating a recursive narrative device whereby your character reads a book bearing a title the same as the one you’re reading (e.g., see Hyperspace), I’m positive of my inference. I suspect the book was eventually retitled The Curse of the Haunted Mansion instead of the originally-intended The Curse of Chimney Rock because it was ultimately agreed that the former would have greater marketability.

Finally, before assigning the book a numerical score, it would be derelict of me to not comment on Paul Granger’s illustrations that greatly enhance the enjoyment of this book. Clearly a skilled illustrator, Paul Granger superbly embedded subliminal dread in his illustrations to effectively unsettle the reader’s psyche at an unconscious level. As an example, observe the illustrated façade of Chimney Rock on the front and back covers and title page of the book. Its front door, two gabled windows, and roof perfectly form the face of an evil entity poised to devour (i.e., kill) any mortal foolish enough to tread within its reach. In other instances, the dead mouse lying upside down on page 9 portends your/Jane’s doom, Jervis’ facial profile is flatly that of a humanoid golem, Mrs. Bigley is clearly a witch (albeit, without the hat), and Melissa’s bared teeth, snake like eyes, and standing hair speak to its supernatural evil.

Suffice it to say, though Paul Granger, for whatever reason, stopped illustrating Choose Your Own Adventure books after his prolific run early in the series, he was one of the better illustrators commissioned by Bantam Books.

It should be obvious by this point that I, in contrast to several of the other reviewers, have good things to say about this book. I loved being lost in this book as a young boy for its thrilling entertainment value and can still say the same as a middle-aged man looking to use compelling fiction as a vehicle for personal and professional development. The Mystery of Chimney Rock is one of the classic entries in the series that offers more than its share of twists and scares.

Fortunately, unlike later entries in the series that saw limited releases which contributed to their outrageous current market prices, one can acquire a used copy of The Mystery of Chimney Rock at a very reasonable price of right around $10, including shipping, which makes it a splendid deal for someone looking to spend a few hours immersing oneself in juvenile fiction.

Rating: 8.0/10.0.

More reviews by tonylachief

Maybe it's just because a haunted house can usually be relied upon for a decent story, but I liked this book. There is an originally creepy backstory behind the house that takes a few reads to figure out, the atmosphere stays spooky and mysterious, and the writing, for the most part, is above average. The only points that could possibly go against this book is that the story gets a bit choppy when plot paths mesh together, and the backstory could have been developed a bit more. But, you should be able to overlook these slight problems enough for a memorable experience. On a different note, this book contains Gilliam Prem, who also appears in Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey?

More reviews by Waluigi Freak 99

Very spooky little book. I still remember being haunted by the not-really ending where you get "The End" and then at the bottom of the page you have the choice to look back at the house. Of course I chose it, and it's a scream running across a page, then another "The End." Very effective at terrifying an eight year old! I've reread this book a few times. Love it. There are a lot of different paths, and some of them do meet back up and cross each other. There's a touch of the supernatural, but it's done well. I'll never forget Melissa the cat. Creepy! A definite must read.

More reviews by yunakitty