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Vampire
Left in the care of her strange uncle Jake--the proprietor of a tourist attraction called "Dungeon of Horrors"--seventeen-year-old Darcy Thomas experiences a very real horror when she is stalked by a vampire
214 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1991
37 people are currently reading
492 people want to read
About the author
Richie Tankersley Cusick
50 books802 followersRichie Tankersley Cusick is the bestselling young adult author of over 25 titles, including two adult horror titles, Scarecrow and Blood Roots. Her popularity grew at the height of the horror/YA boom in the late '80s/early '90s, particularly with books like Lifeguard , Trick or Treat and Teacher's Pet, just to name a few, allowing her to keep company on the bestseller paperback lists with the likes of R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike. Her fan base expanded about the time she changed publishers to Archway/Pocket Books with titles like Vampire and Someone at the Door.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
October 2, 2022
A solid YA horror novel with some elements that at times had me going what is happening a few times. The only thing that gave me pause was our heroine (Darcy) possibly getting involved with a relative in the end [read the book if you want to know about all of that]. I loved Richie Tankersley Cusick books as a teen and I still like them now even though I noted some minor things here and there. The main reason why I gave this 4 stars is that I wanted more development of the killer in this one. Deciding to just become a serial killer because a "gypsy" (they use that word in the book) at a carnival tells you something seems like a stretch.
"Vampire" follows teen Darcy who is being dumped with her Uncle Jake due to her mother's 4th or 5th wedding/honeymoon overseas. Darcy is used to her mother not caring about her, but she hopes that she can make herself useful at her Uncle Jake's and his home as well as his business called "The Dungeon" where he has exhibits showcasing movie/book/real life horror villains like Count Dracula, The Wolfman, and Jack the Ripper. As Darcy gets to know her uncle's three friends [Brandon, Kyle, Elliot, and Kyle's sister Liz] she feels as if someone is watching her. And when young women start being found dead with two lipstick marks on their throat, a serial killer called the Vampire seems intent on making Darcy his next victim.
I found Darcy to be a bit bland honestly. Usually Cusick's heroines have more gumption. She was just so passive I thought about everything. And I wondered at her even letting Brandon kiss her since he had a whole other something going on throughout the course of the book. She didn't have much personality.
I was intrigued by Jake and his affinity for his "family" as he called them. And I found Brandon, Kyle, Elliot, and Liz's friendship interesting. Cusick lays the groundwork, but there's not enough time to get into everything with the four of them.
The plot was interesting and if I was a teen reading this, I would say scary. A strange stalker/killer stalking young girls and deciding to make them his bride. Cusick's books have never been gory, but there's plenty of blood.
The flow works throughout the book though at times I found myself getting impatient. That was usually when Darcy was calling herself accusing everyone of being the killer.
The setting of the town wasn't that defined. Most of the action takes place at Jake's home/exhibit and his club.
The ending though was a bit odd. I wish that we had more time to resolve some things with the killer and one of the other characters more.
"Vampire" follows teen Darcy who is being dumped with her Uncle Jake due to her mother's 4th or 5th wedding/honeymoon overseas. Darcy is used to her mother not caring about her, but she hopes that she can make herself useful at her Uncle Jake's and his home as well as his business called "The Dungeon" where he has exhibits showcasing movie/book/real life horror villains like Count Dracula, The Wolfman, and Jack the Ripper. As Darcy gets to know her uncle's three friends [Brandon, Kyle, Elliot, and Kyle's sister Liz] she feels as if someone is watching her. And when young women start being found dead with two lipstick marks on their throat, a serial killer called the Vampire seems intent on making Darcy his next victim.
I found Darcy to be a bit bland honestly. Usually Cusick's heroines have more gumption. She was just so passive I thought about everything. And I wondered at her even letting Brandon kiss her since he had a whole other something going on throughout the course of the book. She didn't have much personality.
I was intrigued by Jake and his affinity for his "family" as he called them. And I found Brandon, Kyle, Elliot, and Liz's friendship interesting. Cusick lays the groundwork, but there's not enough time to get into everything with the four of them.
The plot was interesting and if I was a teen reading this, I would say scary. A strange stalker/killer stalking young girls and deciding to make them his bride. Cusick's books have never been gory, but there's plenty of blood.
The flow works throughout the book though at times I found myself getting impatient. That was usually when Darcy was calling herself accusing everyone of being the killer.
The setting of the town wasn't that defined. Most of the action takes place at Jake's home/exhibit and his club.
The ending though was a bit odd. I wish that we had more time to resolve some things with the killer and one of the other characters more.
July 19, 2017
I thought The Drifter was the all time low in RTC novels but I've been proven wrong again, because it looks like Vampire might just beat it out for first place. While Drifter was offensive in how it handled the relationships between parent and teenager Vampire is just . . . bizarre. It's a messy, incoherent jumble of a million things, a bunch of stumbled beginnings on dozens of different subplots thrown together that never manage to produce a victor that will take over and guide the story line.
The story follows our bland and insipid heroine Darcy (a character so woefully under developed that we never even get so much as a description about her hair color) as she spends the summer with her uncle Jake, a budding entrepreneur who divides his time between running a hip club that apparently doesn't serve alcohol (? one must assume this is ala the 50s diner in 90210) and a wax work museum that specializes in old fashioned horror movie monsters. Darcy is instantly liked by all of the boys in her uncle's group, which is a good thing considering that he unceremoniously dumps her with them and never sees her for half the novel. There's a bit of predictable fighting with her and the girlfriend of the Hot Guy where he ends up telling her he doesn't want the ravishing beauty, he only wants her, the plain girl who's just sailed into town. If that sounds boring to you don't worry - we only get about 3 pages devoted to each guy at max and we never linger long enough to develop an actual romance or feeling for their characters.
Thrown into this is a bit of a silly subplot that defeats even its self before it has the chance to develop. There's a serial killer going around town and slitting girl's throats and leaving a lipstick mark on their neck like a vampire bite. This would be ok if this were a serial killer novel, the only trouble is that it then spends the next 3/4ths of the book trying to bill its self as a supernatural novel with hints that one of the waxwork display dummies in the shop shaped like Dracula might have a connection with the murders. But we're told early on that the bite marks are lipstick, that the girls are cut with a knife obviously there's no supernatural threat - so why base all the tension on this?
Eventually the story is solved with the usual twist ending of we thought you were a bad guy but now you're really good, a bit of monologuing by the villain in order to explain what in the heck their motivation was in the first place since by that time no one in the audience can make out what in the hell they were supposed to be doing, a bit of last minute romance thrown in between Darcy and a character she only sees for the last half of the novel. Over all this is by no means the most painful of all the teen lit to come out of the 90's but its a far cry from the best. If you're looking for a good RTC novel I say save your money and get Trick or Treat instead. At least then you get some laughs thrown into the bundle at no added fee.
The story follows our bland and insipid heroine Darcy (a character so woefully under developed that we never even get so much as a description about her hair color) as she spends the summer with her uncle Jake, a budding entrepreneur who divides his time between running a hip club that apparently doesn't serve alcohol (? one must assume this is ala the 50s diner in 90210) and a wax work museum that specializes in old fashioned horror movie monsters. Darcy is instantly liked by all of the boys in her uncle's group, which is a good thing considering that he unceremoniously dumps her with them and never sees her for half the novel. There's a bit of predictable fighting with her and the girlfriend of the Hot Guy where he ends up telling her he doesn't want the ravishing beauty, he only wants her, the plain girl who's just sailed into town. If that sounds boring to you don't worry - we only get about 3 pages devoted to each guy at max and we never linger long enough to develop an actual romance or feeling for their characters.
Thrown into this is a bit of a silly subplot that defeats even its self before it has the chance to develop. There's a serial killer going around town and slitting girl's throats and leaving a lipstick mark on their neck like a vampire bite. This would be ok if this were a serial killer novel, the only trouble is that it then spends the next 3/4ths of the book trying to bill its self as a supernatural novel with hints that one of the waxwork display dummies in the shop shaped like Dracula might have a connection with the murders. But we're told early on that the bite marks are lipstick, that the girls are cut with a knife obviously there's no supernatural threat - so why base all the tension on this?
Eventually the story is solved with the usual twist ending of we thought you were a bad guy but now you're really good, a bit of monologuing by the villain in order to explain what in the heck their motivation was in the first place since by that time no one in the audience can make out what in the hell they were supposed to be doing, a bit of last minute romance thrown in between Darcy and a character she only sees for the last half of the novel. Over all this is by no means the most painful of all the teen lit to come out of the 90's but its a far cry from the best. If you're looking for a good RTC novel I say save your money and get Trick or Treat instead. At least then you get some laughs thrown into the bundle at no added fee.
June 4, 2019
A "vampire" serial killer is on the prowl. He exsanguinates women by slitting their throats, leaving makeshift puncture wounds on their necks as his signature. This may not exactly be what vampo-philes signed up for when they got in on the craze, but what do I know? What's certain is that it seems like he's set his eyes on poor Darcy, and she has to use all of her wits and friends to avoid a bloody (or bloodless, depends on how you look at it) fate.
Near the end, I was bowled over by what seemed like an impending huge double red herring. I mean - for the two people Darcy thought was out to get her to turn out to be the actual killers - that would have knocked my socks off. It turned out that my original bet was right all along. With Cusick, it's usually the most unlikely and unexpected character who's the culprit.
This is another trend that I noticed in some of the author's thrillers. Near the denoument there would be a morass of clues incriminating a certain suspect, until the climax when the narrative makes a very sharp turn and points out the actual perp. Sometimes it would be a seamless performance, but in others it would be heavy-handed and ungainly, as in this book.
I still enjoyed it though, so I'm rating it 6.5/10 or 3 stars out of 5.
Near the end, I was bowled over by what seemed like an impending huge double red herring. I mean - for the two people Darcy thought was out to get her to turn out to be the actual killers - that would have knocked my socks off. It turned out that my original bet was right all along. With Cusick, it's usually the most unlikely and unexpected character who's the culprit.
This is another trend that I noticed in some of the author's thrillers. Near the denoument there would be a morass of clues incriminating a certain suspect, until the climax when the narrative makes a very sharp turn and points out the actual perp. Sometimes it would be a seamless performance, but in others it would be heavy-handed and ungainly, as in this book.
I still enjoyed it though, so I'm rating it 6.5/10 or 3 stars out of 5.
February 9, 2022
4.25 stars. I loved the atmosphere in this one. The setting and characters lent well to an intense character study of who could be the killer/Vampire. The ending was rushed and a little too happy and polished for my tastes considering the tone was darker for most of the novel. However, it was a fun time. Review to come.
August 18, 2019
It was a typical campy vampire horror. I kept going back and forth thinking I knew how it was going to end, and was pleasantly surprised by it. It was very easy to read, and very quick. Nice summer, cheesy read. :D
May 20, 2023
I'm trying to read all of my old books to see what I want to keep or get rid of. Richie Tankersley Cusick was my favorite author in the 90s because she always had a gothic style atmosphere with lots of hot guys for the heroine to choose from. It was another reviewer that made me realize that very few of her heroines had any sort of characterization, so that the presumably female reader could insert herself into the pages. Vampire is probably the best example of this as Darcy has no personality.
We meet Darcy after she's been dumped on her Uncle Jake's doorstop while her mom runs off to Europe to get married to a guy who doesn't like kids. Darcy is 17 and we find out Jake is 23 and the adopted brother of her mom and her aunt and they don't get around. We also know that Darcy thinks Jake is super hot. And that's where RTC lost me. It didn't bother me at 17, but yes adopted kids are part of the family and even if they aren't blood relatives, they are still related. Therefore Jake, you can't bone your underage niece.
But I digress. The plot takes off at the typical 90's thriller speed with a cast of supporting (hot) guys and one (bitchy) girl. The plot really makes no sense, but if you just squint and go with it, it does make for some entertaining reading. I finished this book in just a few hours, but it's not one I'll keep. It's just not that good and RTC had better stories like Fatal Secrets and Trick or Treat.
We meet Darcy after she's been dumped on her Uncle Jake's doorstop while her mom runs off to Europe to get married to a guy who doesn't like kids. Darcy is 17 and we find out Jake is 23 and the adopted brother of her mom and her aunt and they don't get around. We also know that Darcy thinks Jake is super hot. And that's where RTC lost me. It didn't bother me at 17, but yes adopted kids are part of the family and even if they aren't blood relatives, they are still related. Therefore Jake, you can't bone your underage niece.
But I digress. The plot takes off at the typical 90's thriller speed with a cast of supporting (hot) guys and one (bitchy) girl. The plot really makes no sense, but if you just squint and go with it, it does make for some entertaining reading. I finished this book in just a few hours, but it's not one I'll keep. It's just not that good and RTC had better stories like Fatal Secrets and Trick or Treat.
July 18, 2025
I hate that I didn't like this one as much as I have other works from this author.
November 18, 2014
This book is just as good as I remember being when I first read it as a child, something that worried me initially because things are often so skewed in terms of literature while children are concerned.
These are the type of teen novels which should be popular, rather than weakly written books like Twilight.
In this book the characters are fleshed out, and the main character's (Darcy) fear is palpable and something that can be felt all throughout. This is a book from the advent of thriller teen fiction, at a time when the authors actually respected their readers and didn't think that everything had to be dumbed down and romanticized.
I had actually forgotten who the "bad guy" was and my head was spinning all throughout the book in an effort to figure it out and yet at the end I was still shocked.
To me this book is how thriller or horror fiction should be written for young adults, after all there is nothing wrong with being a little scared every so often when reading a good book.
My only problem with this book is that I wish these characters had appeared in more books. I'd like to know what happened to them later on in life.
These are the type of teen novels which should be popular, rather than weakly written books like Twilight.
In this book the characters are fleshed out, and the main character's (Darcy) fear is palpable and something that can be felt all throughout. This is a book from the advent of thriller teen fiction, at a time when the authors actually respected their readers and didn't think that everything had to be dumbed down and romanticized.
I had actually forgotten who the "bad guy" was and my head was spinning all throughout the book in an effort to figure it out and yet at the end I was still shocked.
To me this book is how thriller or horror fiction should be written for young adults, after all there is nothing wrong with being a little scared every so often when reading a good book.
My only problem with this book is that I wish these characters had appeared in more books. I'd like to know what happened to them later on in life.
November 24, 2020
A useless protagonist and a bunch of terrible guys who are in love with her, and one of them is a murderer. No real plot. Totally bizarre and melodramatic, but not even in a campy classic teen slasher kinda way. Don’t even get me started on Hot Uncle. Not a fan of this one.
September 10, 2022
If every single man around me was a potential murderer who I suspected of stalking me, I would probably not keep hanging around trying to decide which one of them I should date. I would also rule my uncle out of the running for a future romantic relationship right away, even before he drugged me. However Darcy is a wet rag of a girl who spends the book alternately crying hysterically and being disbelieved by the men and lying around comatose waiting to be rescued by them. There is also a second girl, but unlike Darcy, a Good Girl who looks forward to cleaning up for the boys, she is a Bad Girl who tries to destroy men by being mean to them. Lest you think I exaggerate, here is a quote:
“Girls like that just take and take and nothing’s ever enough. They get their kicks from trying to manipulate guys…from humiliating them.”
Meanwhile a man is literally murdering multiple unnamed girls. But let’s focus on the important thing: boys’s egos and the harm women do to them 🙄
“Girls like that just take and take and nothing’s ever enough. They get their kicks from trying to manipulate guys…from humiliating them.”
Meanwhile a man is literally murdering multiple unnamed girls. But let’s focus on the important thing: boys’s egos and the harm women do to them 🙄
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 1, 2020
4 out of 5 stars
Darcy is not thrilled to spend the Summer with an Aunt she really doesn't like while her Mother is about to take off on a honeymoon with her fourth husband. She is even less thrilled to find that she needs to stay with her Uncle Jake whom she has never met. There is also the fact that within her first few hours of Darcy getting settled in she hears that there is a serial killer in the city who thinks he is a vampire and before she knows it she is his prey.
I first read this book years ago and it is a book I have picked up re-read many times throughout the years. I always tend to enjoy a YA mystery by Tankersley Cusick. She is really hooking you and I blame her, Christopher Pike,Carolyn Cooney and R.L. Stein for making me fall in love with thrillers. Whenever I am in the mood to revisit my teen years I tend to pick up a book by one of these authors and I am a happy camper.
Darcy is not thrilled to spend the Summer with an Aunt she really doesn't like while her Mother is about to take off on a honeymoon with her fourth husband. She is even less thrilled to find that she needs to stay with her Uncle Jake whom she has never met. There is also the fact that within her first few hours of Darcy getting settled in she hears that there is a serial killer in the city who thinks he is a vampire and before she knows it she is his prey.
I first read this book years ago and it is a book I have picked up re-read many times throughout the years. I always tend to enjoy a YA mystery by Tankersley Cusick. She is really hooking you and I blame her, Christopher Pike,Carolyn Cooney and R.L. Stein for making me fall in love with thrillers. Whenever I am in the mood to revisit my teen years I tend to pick up a book by one of these authors and I am a happy camper.
March 11, 2023
This isn’t even shitty in a fun way!
Darcy is a hysterical coward which is no fun, she spends the entire novel blubbering into some guy’s arms.
The whole “four guys are in love with me” thing is so forced AND ONE OF THEM IS HER UNCLE??? HELLO?? RICHIE??? What were you thinking??? Plus she chose the objectively worst one (ponytail? Won’t dump his comically cunty shrew girlfriend??) when the ominous psychic guy with creepy pale eyes and sunglasses is RIGHT THERE!!
Anyway…this sucked. Disappointing because Scarecrow was actually a decent read. Although the pacing was bad there too…whatever.
Darcy is a hysterical coward which is no fun, she spends the entire novel blubbering into some guy’s arms.
The whole “four guys are in love with me” thing is so forced AND ONE OF THEM IS HER UNCLE??? HELLO?? RICHIE??? What were you thinking??? Plus she chose the objectively worst one (ponytail? Won’t dump his comically cunty shrew girlfriend??) when the ominous psychic guy with creepy pale eyes and sunglasses is RIGHT THERE!!
Anyway…this sucked. Disappointing because Scarecrow was actually a decent read. Although the pacing was bad there too…whatever.
October 12, 2011
So, one night a gypsy fortune-teller(snerk) is super-bored and decides to tell one of her customers that he is a vampire(as you do) and will have to find his true love to have eternal happiness.
Enter our heroine. Darcy is being dropped off by her harridan mother because her honeymoon is more important than her kid and OOPS! her aunt is gone because she's a money-obsessed jerkface.
The only problem I have with this book is it's predictability. If I gave you a description of the characters, you'd know right away which one is the killer.
Enter our heroine. Darcy is being dropped off by her harridan mother because her honeymoon is more important than her kid and OOPS! her aunt is gone because she's a money-obsessed jerkface.
The only problem I have with this book is it's predictability. If I gave you a description of the characters, you'd know right away which one is the killer.
May 9, 2016
Cull 70 pages. Instill protagonist with vertebrae. Intensify relationship drama. A few steps towards making this story worth one's time, though -- I'm afraid -- hardly enough to make it a story worth telling.
August 15, 2021
Peak 90s cheese at its greatest. It has all the overblown drama you could handle, the absolutely outrageous situations, and the less-than-terrifying scenarios that might have been scary 30 years ago but don’t really hold water now.
I’m also pretty convinced that every author of YA horror at this time had no idea how teens actually acted or communicated with each other or anything. Realism in how scenarios pertained to teens just wasn’t a thing, or even necessary. Or, everyone was just trying to emulate Stine’s style, because this was very Stine-esque, with over the top cliffhanger endings that don’t really go anywhere, build up to something fantastical that ends up just being mundane, dialogue that doesn’t exist on the realm of realism.
Despite all these things, though, I kind of loved VAMPIRE a little, mainly because of how outlandish it really was. Dude, no one’s herding bats into someone’s bedroom to scare them. Seriously, no one is doing that. Or drinking warm milk unless you’re like a thousand.
But Dacry’s very much every-girl, getting plunked into a completely new situation where all the boys are fawning over her and the girls are totally jealous. It’s where she becomes the target of a deranged, wannabe vampire killer yet no one believes her and they actively get mad at her for simply connecting some dots in the craziness that is her life.
Seriously, Darcy gets gaslit a fair amount in this book, all by people who “know better.” Not to mention the twist at the end hinges on no one talking to each other. If they did, it probably would have ended sooner, and not as messily. But where would the fun be in that?
One of the better old school YA horror novels, VAMPIRE doesn’t actually contain any vampires (unfortunately, spoiler), but it has every shred of nostalgia I’m looking for in these novels while still remaining palatable and readable. You’d think that wouldn’t be a tall order, but with some of these books, it really is.
4
I’m also pretty convinced that every author of YA horror at this time had no idea how teens actually acted or communicated with each other or anything. Realism in how scenarios pertained to teens just wasn’t a thing, or even necessary. Or, everyone was just trying to emulate Stine’s style, because this was very Stine-esque, with over the top cliffhanger endings that don’t really go anywhere, build up to something fantastical that ends up just being mundane, dialogue that doesn’t exist on the realm of realism.
Despite all these things, though, I kind of loved VAMPIRE a little, mainly because of how outlandish it really was. Dude, no one’s herding bats into someone’s bedroom to scare them. Seriously, no one is doing that. Or drinking warm milk unless you’re like a thousand.
But Dacry’s very much every-girl, getting plunked into a completely new situation where all the boys are fawning over her and the girls are totally jealous. It’s where she becomes the target of a deranged, wannabe vampire killer yet no one believes her and they actively get mad at her for simply connecting some dots in the craziness that is her life.
Seriously, Darcy gets gaslit a fair amount in this book, all by people who “know better.” Not to mention the twist at the end hinges on no one talking to each other. If they did, it probably would have ended sooner, and not as messily. But where would the fun be in that?
One of the better old school YA horror novels, VAMPIRE doesn’t actually contain any vampires (unfortunately, spoiler), but it has every shred of nostalgia I’m looking for in these novels while still remaining palatable and readable. You’d think that wouldn’t be a tall order, but with some of these books, it really is.
4
April 3, 2020
If you are a fan of cheesy, campy B-movie vampires, you will enjoy this book. Darcy Thomas is dumped on her Uncle Jake's doorstep when her Mother takes off for a European honeymoon. Jake happens to own a macabre place called the Dungeon, which is full of exhibits depicting various movie monsters. Jake seems a little strange, even referring to the monsters as his family.
Darcy meets several young people and things start to get weird. There is Elliott, the brain damaged young man that keeps following Darcy. Brandon is a handsome guy, recently cast in the role of Dracula for a local play. His girlfriend, Liz, takes an immediate disliking to Darcy. And, her brother, Kyle, just seems like an ordinary guy.
Darcy starts experiencing strange events and soon begins to suspect everyone she knows of being a murderer after she stumbles upon the latest victim, a young woman with strange, vampire-like marks on her neck. Can she really trust anyone or is she doomed to be the next victim of the so-called Dracula murderer?
Yes, the book has all of the stereotypical things that I love in a campy story: the heroine going off by herself in the dark, the friends who don't believe any of her strange tales, creepy alleys, stupid acts by the heroine, and lots of bad Transylvania-like accents. If you are looking for a fun way to distract yourself and you love this type of book, you won't be disappointed.
The narrator does a great job and her performance added a lot to the book.
Darcy meets several young people and things start to get weird. There is Elliott, the brain damaged young man that keeps following Darcy. Brandon is a handsome guy, recently cast in the role of Dracula for a local play. His girlfriend, Liz, takes an immediate disliking to Darcy. And, her brother, Kyle, just seems like an ordinary guy.
Darcy starts experiencing strange events and soon begins to suspect everyone she knows of being a murderer after she stumbles upon the latest victim, a young woman with strange, vampire-like marks on her neck. Can she really trust anyone or is she doomed to be the next victim of the so-called Dracula murderer?
Yes, the book has all of the stereotypical things that I love in a campy story: the heroine going off by herself in the dark, the friends who don't believe any of her strange tales, creepy alleys, stupid acts by the heroine, and lots of bad Transylvania-like accents. If you are looking for a fun way to distract yourself and you love this type of book, you won't be disappointed.
The narrator does a great job and her performance added a lot to the book.
January 17, 2022
Vampire was a unique read. It wasn't exactly good or bad it just sort of fell into the middle. The plotting was ok though the Darcy back story and how the mom just drops her and leaves at the start of the book is sort of weak. The way the story plays out though has some nice twists to it though the ending seemed out of place but wasn't bad though it felt rushed. It basically was like an 80's B style comedy horror. All in all it wasn't a bad read just compared to some of her other work it wasn't the best. You should check out some of her other stories as they offer some fun talesto enjoy.
January 12, 2026
It’s a mess. A bunch of jumbled story beats, a premise that doesn’t make sense. Weird quasi uncle/niece incest b plot. Characters that act one way in the beginning and act completely different whenever the story needs them to. A very unenjoyable experience
Personally I automatically give a 0 or 1 star to any property that markets itself as having a monster only to be a serial killer the whole time. Same thing with movies that title itself “from the book of” and then there’s no book in the movie. Pass on this
Personally I automatically give a 0 or 1 star to any property that markets itself as having a monster only to be a serial killer the whole time. Same thing with movies that title itself “from the book of” and then there’s no book in the movie. Pass on this
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 25, 2025
This read had all the drama and thrills! A teen pawned off on her young uncle who owns a horror exhibit because her mom wants to go off with her new man. It seems like all 4 guys in this have the hots for her...and also seems that anyone could be the vampire serial killer roaming the streets. And soon she knows he is after her, except no one will take her seriously! I felt they were working together two or all of them. My theories kept changing, and it was very enjoyable!
February 12, 2025
3.5 to 4 stars. I enjoyed this overall but there are issues that need to be discussed. The MC was bland but the other characters, setting, premise/plot were solid. Also there’s some weird taboo stuff which I don’t mind, but it didn’t work for this story. Cusick must’ve been reading too much VC Andrews when she wrote this. Love the monster wax museum setting and the plot is fun: all these hot dudes but which one is the killer?
February 2, 2026
This ain't my first RTC rodeo and it probably won't be my last. This is the first time I bent my mind to figuring out the killer ahead of time. The trick, with RTC, is that's it's always the last person you'd expect. You have to rule out anyone with motive or unnerving personality traits, because RTC's favorite trope is that evil lurks behind the eyes of every boy next door.
October 23, 2020
Just as campy and satisfying as I remember! Remember that this is a YA novel written in the early 90s. You’re getting cheese and solid plot twists — not beautifully dynamic characters and compelling relationship drama. It’s a fun romp!
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June 11, 2025I wanted to reread this because I remembered enjoying it to some degree as a preteen and I’m happy to announce it was genuinely one of the worst books I’ve ever read and still nostalgic and somehow enjoyable. Like Goosebumps for young adults but really, really bad. It was awesome
June 28, 2025
The Lifeguard by Richie was one of my favorite books when I was younger so I thought this would be a great book to complete my ABC Reads Challenge 🧛🏻♂️
I def thought it would be the guy with the ponytail lol
I def thought it would be the guy with the ponytail lol
June 28, 2018
Back to my youth
I read all these when I was a teenager growing up and these stories have lasted the test of time. Thank you Richie tankersley cusick
I read all these when I was a teenager growing up and these stories have lasted the test of time. Thank you Richie tankersley cusick
August 15, 2018
Nice story good characters but a bit slow for me
March 18, 2019
This book was lame. I hate vampires anyway so I already had low expectations. The ending was surprisingly unexpected so u do have that to look forward too. Otherwise I didn’t like it.
September 20, 2019
This book started my obsession with books. It’ll always have a special place in my heart.
March 4, 2021
I read this in High School and recently re-read it. Some of the story elements were vague, especially pertaining to Elliot but I enjoyed this book then and now.
May 18, 2022
Oh my god, so good! Definitely not what I thought was going on.
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