Monster Blood

Monster Blood is a Goosebumps novel by R. L. Stine, published in 1992. It is a short middle-grade horror novel from the first year of the original Goosebumps run.

The premise is a purchase rather than an accident. Evan is twelve and staying near his great-aunt's house when he finds an old toy shop and buys a can of Monster Blood, assuming it is a novelty to play with. The book's tension comes from the gap between that assumption and what the substance actually is, and it does not require an adult to be negligent for the child to be in danger. Its tension is generated by delay rather than by violence: the can is bought and carried home long before it does anything, and Evan's own confidence in it makes the situation worse.

The series specialised in giving one ordinary object an unpleasant purpose, and the subjects add charms to the list, which indicates what the can turns out to be. The Goosebumps books were sold through book clubs and school fairs as well as shops, which is part of why their titles and covers are so recognisable, and this is one of the earliest in the sequence.