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Double Date
Devising a practical joke, Travis and Christie tell stories about a haunted house and then bring their straightlaced friends Tracy and Kyle to the place, unaware that it is the site of a murderer's hideout. Original.
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First published November 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
September 7, 2021
Another in my Point Horror re-read that I couldn’t really recall the plot.
In fairness this is pretty typical to most in the series, where a group of teens continue to play pranks on each other.
This leads to various fake out chapter cliffhangers, which takes away the jeopardy.
The action really picks up once the group get to the supposedly haunted 1920’s lodge, the odd occurrences has a satisfying conclusion.
This ended up being an enjoyable re-read.
In fairness this is pretty typical to most in the series, where a group of teens continue to play pranks on each other.
This leads to various fake out chapter cliffhangers, which takes away the jeopardy.
The action really picks up once the group get to the supposedly haunted 1920’s lodge, the odd occurrences has a satisfying conclusion.
This ended up being an enjoyable re-read.
January 5, 2025
I read this with my book club that I run on Instagram where we revisit Point Horror and other books from our childhood - @talespointhorrorbookclub
Tagline - Dating can be deadly.
Memorable For – Pranks in a 1920’s hunting lodge complete with moose head and Racoon!
Some Thoughts -
It all starts in eighth grade where Tracey, who fancies a boy called Travis, pretends she doesn’t to the popular girl in school who is laughing at her! Well Travis pretends to slit Tracey’s throat for saying such a thing and thus begging the revenge plot of all revenge plots….the pranks to beat all pranks ever….for revenge!
Other highlights include a deserted1920s hunting lodge - our characters snowed in, strange things going on, secret passage ways, ghost stories, bloodied scissors, hair cutting and a raccoon full of rabies?!
And not forgetting a high number of pranks!
Also a possible Point Horror parent record .... page 141!
I had so much fun revisiting this one! It was a different take on the usual Point Horror reveals albeit a little far fetched in places!
Tagline - Dating can be deadly.
Memorable For – Pranks in a 1920’s hunting lodge complete with moose head and Racoon!
Some Thoughts -
It all starts in eighth grade where Tracey, who fancies a boy called Travis, pretends she doesn’t to the popular girl in school who is laughing at her! Well Travis pretends to slit Tracey’s throat for saying such a thing and thus begging the revenge plot of all revenge plots….the pranks to beat all pranks ever….for revenge!
Other highlights include a deserted1920s hunting lodge - our characters snowed in, strange things going on, secret passage ways, ghost stories, bloodied scissors, hair cutting and a raccoon full of rabies?!
And not forgetting a high number of pranks!
Also a possible Point Horror parent record .... page 141!
I had so much fun revisiting this one! It was a different take on the usual Point Horror reveals albeit a little far fetched in places!
January 2, 2021
The first half is a group of teenagers constantly playing obnoxious pranks and being butthurt when the protagonist doesn't get the joke. The second half turns into another story entirely. After loving Dream Date by the same author this one was a bit of a disappointment. It had some interesting ideas but the execution felt a bit messy and not as well developed as it could have been.
October 16, 2020
I read this for our podcast Teenage Scream, which dissects the best (and worst) of 90s Teen Horror.
https://soundcloud.com/teenagescream
https://soundcloud.com/teenagescream
November 17, 2022
I didn't hate this one and it got more than two stars so I'd call that good in my book about a book.
I still have two more Sinclair Smith novels to read after this one.
Better than The Waitress and The Boy Next Door yet not as good as Dream Date or The Diary (aka Let Me Tell You How I Died)
There is some suspense to keep you on your toes.
We get a prologue at an eighth grade Halloween party. Tracy is new to town. She tries to get in with the popular girls (as anyone would at that age I admit freely) and Tina Beston seems to be the middle school/junior high Queen Bee.
She comes dressed as a witch...Tracy is a princess...guess who's costume is closer to "girl world" probably.
Tina starts bad mouthing a young man named Travis Judd. Mostly rubbing it in the face of Tracy because Travis asked her out on a date. He's a loner with a bad temper but he has a sense of humor that makes Tracy laugh and he's cute.
Tracy emphasizes that she would rather die than date Travis Judd. Loud enough that he hears her.
Travis hides the hurt and uses a trick knife to make it look like he slit Tracy's throat...where are the chaperones at this dance?
Travis moved away with his older brother and now he's back in Westlake four years later and quite a babe! He sees Tracy at the local hangout and they get reacquainted where she can't help but drool over him and Travis admits he missed her even though she broke his young heart...awww.
Too bad Tracy has a boyfriend, Kyle Farris. She tells Travis this and he doesn't seem to care until Kyle shows up and it looks like the guys are going to fight, Travis towering over Kyle.
It was a joke. Travis and Kyle are good buddies, unknown to Tracy at the time, and she tells this to her friend Laila Crandall over the phone before they go shopping.
Out shopping, Tracy tells Laila that she and Kyle are in a rut always hanging out with Tina and her boyfriend Roger. She would rather do something different for a change. Travis even asked the couple if they would like to double date with his girlfriend.
Kyle said no and Tracy has alternative motives to flirt with Travis but acts affronted that Kyle never asks her what she wants to do. Tracy talks to Kyle and is stunned when he says Travis asked him again and he said yes this time. Not so stunned when Travis shows up with his girlfriend Christie in her tight dress with her tall figure and model good looks under waves of black hair.
These teens are driven by their hormones.
The couples do go out later that Friday and it is full of shenanigans. Travis absent-mindley steals some mints at a gas station, the owner throws him out, they fight, Christie almost throws a rock through the window and then Tracy thinks Travis got shot when he plays a sound effects tape.
Tracy is the only one not amused.
The "date" continues where they end up at this bar with big choppers outside to get some barbeque. Travis seems friendly with the rough crowd and he and Kyle shoot some pool while Tracy fumes with her coffee and Christie does some dancing alone.
Kyle accuses Travis of cheating at the game and sucker betting him before Travis stabs his hand...with his old faithful trick knife. The bikers join in with laughter and still Tracy is not amused.
Travis' humor was funny when they were kids but now it's getting twisted and Kyle looks a little too cozy with Christie.
Travis takes them up to an abandoned hotel, opened in the 1920s and shut down in the 1940s, called The Normandy. Travis' brother is planning to turn it into a ski lodge. The couples are going to party in this place.
They have no way of knowing how wild and terrifying a night is in store...
The characters get better. The action gets better. The ending seems all wrapped and happy but it gives you something to think about...
Better than I thought it would be given my waffling with Smith as an author but it's a decent read...I'd recommend it.
I still have two more Sinclair Smith novels to read after this one.
Better than The Waitress and The Boy Next Door yet not as good as Dream Date or The Diary (aka Let Me Tell You How I Died)
There is some suspense to keep you on your toes.
We get a prologue at an eighth grade Halloween party. Tracy is new to town. She tries to get in with the popular girls (as anyone would at that age I admit freely) and Tina Beston seems to be the middle school/junior high Queen Bee.
She comes dressed as a witch...Tracy is a princess...guess who's costume is closer to "girl world" probably.
Tina starts bad mouthing a young man named Travis Judd. Mostly rubbing it in the face of Tracy because Travis asked her out on a date. He's a loner with a bad temper but he has a sense of humor that makes Tracy laugh and he's cute.
Tracy emphasizes that she would rather die than date Travis Judd. Loud enough that he hears her.
Travis hides the hurt and uses a trick knife to make it look like he slit Tracy's throat...where are the chaperones at this dance?
Travis moved away with his older brother and now he's back in Westlake four years later and quite a babe! He sees Tracy at the local hangout and they get reacquainted where she can't help but drool over him and Travis admits he missed her even though she broke his young heart...awww.
Too bad Tracy has a boyfriend, Kyle Farris. She tells Travis this and he doesn't seem to care until Kyle shows up and it looks like the guys are going to fight, Travis towering over Kyle.
It was a joke. Travis and Kyle are good buddies, unknown to Tracy at the time, and she tells this to her friend Laila Crandall over the phone before they go shopping.
Out shopping, Tracy tells Laila that she and Kyle are in a rut always hanging out with Tina and her boyfriend Roger. She would rather do something different for a change. Travis even asked the couple if they would like to double date with his girlfriend.
Kyle said no and Tracy has alternative motives to flirt with Travis but acts affronted that Kyle never asks her what she wants to do. Tracy talks to Kyle and is stunned when he says Travis asked him again and he said yes this time. Not so stunned when Travis shows up with his girlfriend Christie in her tight dress with her tall figure and model good looks under waves of black hair.
These teens are driven by their hormones.
The couples do go out later that Friday and it is full of shenanigans. Travis absent-mindley steals some mints at a gas station, the owner throws him out, they fight, Christie almost throws a rock through the window and then Tracy thinks Travis got shot when he plays a sound effects tape.
Tracy is the only one not amused.
The "date" continues where they end up at this bar with big choppers outside to get some barbeque. Travis seems friendly with the rough crowd and he and Kyle shoot some pool while Tracy fumes with her coffee and Christie does some dancing alone.
Kyle accuses Travis of cheating at the game and sucker betting him before Travis stabs his hand...with his old faithful trick knife. The bikers join in with laughter and still Tracy is not amused.
Travis' humor was funny when they were kids but now it's getting twisted and Kyle looks a little too cozy with Christie.
Travis takes them up to an abandoned hotel, opened in the 1920s and shut down in the 1940s, called The Normandy. Travis' brother is planning to turn it into a ski lodge. The couples are going to party in this place.
They have no way of knowing how wild and terrifying a night is in store...
The characters get better. The action gets better. The ending seems all wrapped and happy but it gives you something to think about...
Better than I thought it would be given my waffling with Smith as an author but it's a decent read...I'd recommend it.
December 22, 2024
Travis and Christie love playing practical jokes, the crazier the better. When they take Tracey and Kyle on a double date to an abandoned ski lodge it all starts to go wrong. They begin disappearing one by one, is the ghost killer Travis tried to scare them with, actually true or is someone asked stalking them?
Well, just when you think you’ve met the craziest Point Horror couple in walks Travis and Christie, they find scaring people great fun and they are full of barely repressed rage, the slightest provocation sets them off! This is a mad story. Poor Tracey so desperate to be liked often to her own detriment with a dreary boyfriend mooning over the once geeky now rakishly handsome boy she once rejected and his stunning but strange girlfriend, I mean, why not go on a double date 😆
The abandoned location is isolated and a snowstorm cuts them off. As the others start disappearing after a few taped screams and props have freaked Tracey out, she is soon the only one left. Tracey thinks it’s all part of Travis’ stupid practical joke and the killer ghost of his stories just seems ridiculous. But, someone is moving things, leaving messages on walls and where are the others? Is it a ghost or someone very real trying to scare her!
Well, just when you think you’ve met the craziest Point Horror couple in walks Travis and Christie, they find scaring people great fun and they are full of barely repressed rage, the slightest provocation sets them off! This is a mad story. Poor Tracey so desperate to be liked often to her own detriment with a dreary boyfriend mooning over the once geeky now rakishly handsome boy she once rejected and his stunning but strange girlfriend, I mean, why not go on a double date 😆
The abandoned location is isolated and a snowstorm cuts them off. As the others start disappearing after a few taped screams and props have freaked Tracey out, she is soon the only one left. Tracey thinks it’s all part of Travis’ stupid practical joke and the killer ghost of his stories just seems ridiculous. But, someone is moving things, leaving messages on walls and where are the others? Is it a ghost or someone very real trying to scare her!
January 27, 2025
In true Point Horror style this one is absolutely bonkers and incredibly farfetched. Our main character Tracy has many inappropriate intrusive thoughts which she shares with the reader adding to the fun.
The book could really be divided into two. It begins with Tracy rejecting the nerdy boy Travis in front of popular girl Tina in eight grade. Travis then slits Tracy's throat... or does he? Ha, it is a prank with a fake knife. Travis then disappears from school. Fast-forward to when they are 'seniors' (I think!) and Travis turns up again like a bad penny, except this time he has grown into his good looks. He convinces Tracy to double date with her yucky boyfriend Kyle and Travis' own girlfriend Christie. Highjinks then ensue with many many practical jokes played on Tracy and lots of chapter fake outs... until Travis takes them to an old abandoned ski lodge with a chequered history. Another narrative voice pops up belonging to someone else spying on them in the ski lodge. Is it a murdering maniac? Or a ghost? It turns out to be and it is down to Tracy to get herself and her friends out of there alive (without being bitten by rabid raccoons).
I really enjoyed this. It is definitely one to read if you like Point Horror; I'd list this as a classic for all the tropes and stylistic manoeuvres! I think I did read it as a teen as when I got to the second half the person hiding out in the ski lodge seemed very familiar!
The book could really be divided into two. It begins with Tracy rejecting the nerdy boy Travis in front of popular girl Tina in eight grade. Travis then slits Tracy's throat... or does he? Ha, it is a prank with a fake knife. Travis then disappears from school. Fast-forward to when they are 'seniors' (I think!) and Travis turns up again like a bad penny, except this time he has grown into his good looks. He convinces Tracy to double date with her yucky boyfriend Kyle and Travis' own girlfriend Christie. Highjinks then ensue with many many practical jokes played on Tracy and lots of chapter fake outs... until Travis takes them to an old abandoned ski lodge with a chequered history. Another narrative voice pops up belonging to someone else spying on them in the ski lodge. Is it a murdering maniac? Or a ghost? It turns out to be and it is down to Tracy to get herself and her friends out of there alive (without being bitten by rabid raccoons).
I really enjoyed this. It is definitely one to read if you like Point Horror; I'd list this as a classic for all the tropes and stylistic manoeuvres! I think I did read it as a teen as when I got to the second half the person hiding out in the ski lodge seemed very familiar!
February 13, 2025
I loved Point Horror books as a teenager, and this is one I hadn't read at the time.
Tracy and her boyfriend, Kyle, agree to a double date with Travis and Christie after Tracy complains that they always do the same thing every Friday night. Travis is the local bad boy whose heart Tracy broke a couple of years prior.
Travis takes them on an adventure, firstly to a gas station where he steals candy, then a biker bar, and finally to an abandoned ski lodge in the middle of a blizzard!
Lots of odd things begin to happen at the lodge, but what is causing the issues? Could it be Travis as revenge for his broken heart, the ghost of the ski lodge killer, or something more dangerous?
Tracy and her boyfriend, Kyle, agree to a double date with Travis and Christie after Tracy complains that they always do the same thing every Friday night. Travis is the local bad boy whose heart Tracy broke a couple of years prior.
Travis takes them on an adventure, firstly to a gas station where he steals candy, then a biker bar, and finally to an abandoned ski lodge in the middle of a blizzard!
Lots of odd things begin to happen at the lodge, but what is causing the issues? Could it be Travis as revenge for his broken heart, the ghost of the ski lodge killer, or something more dangerous?
December 21, 2017
2.5 stars.
Sinclair Smith has never been a favorite, but Double Date wasn't so bad. Once the story really got going there were actually quite a few scary scenes that kept me peering over my shoulder.
Sinclair Smith has never been a favorite, but Double Date wasn't so bad. Once the story really got going there were actually quite a few scary scenes that kept me peering over my shoulder.
December 22, 2024
Not the best Point Horror for me, the characters were not likeable and the writing wasn't great. The plot and the setting were ok but the story didn't deliver. An extra star was given for the dead body in the closet!
December 25, 2024
3.5 stars
January 14, 2023
This book is very well written and in that Stine-style where every chapter is a cliffhanger. It relies alot on dialogue which pushes you forward quickly through the book. There are no slumps or boring parts. Overall, I really enjoyed this. It is perfect for anyone wanting a quick, thrilling teen read that is intriguing but simple. Smith is a great writer and I look forward to their other books.
Non-spoiler overview (some details included) - Tracy and her friends are in for a night they won't soon forgot. When a high school crush comes back into her life and invites her and her boyfriend Kyle on a double date, a bunch of practical jokes pushes things to the edge. With a hint of the supernatural, their night in a cabin during a worsening snowstorm grows very dangerous, very fast! Will Tracy and her friends survive the night?
Non-spoiler overview (some details included) - Tracy and her friends are in for a night they won't soon forgot. When a high school crush comes back into her life and invites her and her boyfriend Kyle on a double date, a bunch of practical jokes pushes things to the edge. With a hint of the supernatural, their night in a cabin during a worsening snowstorm grows very dangerous, very fast! Will Tracy and her friends survive the night?
August 14, 2025
Oh, how I tried to love this one. I've always been partial to a truly sinister manipulator and I thought we'd get that with , who was primed to deliver the chills. Unfortunately, the story morphed into a different story completely at about the halfway mark. Despite the potential with the ski chalet setting, the antagonist's problematic speech/motive/behaviour and the abundance of characters screaming and shrieking from twisted ankles and knees couldn't be redeemed. Had the story been divided into two separate titles, I think things would have worked out much better because I enjoy Smith's writing and do like the premise for both halves.
June 5, 2017
j'ai eu le même sentiment quand j'étais ado; un peu peur... ça pourrait aussi s'appeler la collection petits frissons pour ado doudoune mais je vais quand même TOUS les relire!
July 16, 2017
Une belle réédition au goût du jour d'un livre de la collection Frisson. Les chapitre courts plairont aux lecteurs moins habiles. Le suspense est au rendez-vous, la peur plus ou moins.
December 6, 2020
Read this for Teenage Scream podcast (lovingly dissecting the best and worst of 90s teen horror)
https://soundcloud.com/teenagescream
https://soundcloud.com/teenagescream
December 27, 2020
I just re-read this one and loved it! I remember it being good but couldn't remember the details. Sinclair Smith is one of my favorites!
August 3, 2022
Loved the chapter cliffhangers! It was very on point for a teen horror of the time. Good fun, a little silly, and entertaining.
June 3, 2024
Such a frustrating read, trying to be all genres at once. The characters are irritating, I really hate the pranks. The villain comes from nowhere.
December 29, 2024
First reading of Sinclair Smith’s books! Quite enjoy the short stories at the moment, but would much prefer a full length book version of this! The witty and less grim horror in this book was easy to grasp, follow and enjoy. Loved the eeriness behind this story.
September 11, 2017
Not as bad as some of the other Point Horror books I've reread recently, but certainly not good. The characters are so ridiculously stupid and naive, and the 'villain' is a joke.
I really need to discover a Point Horror reread that's good, the recent ones have all been poor.
I really need to discover a Point Horror reread that's good, the recent ones have all been poor.
December 8, 2013
I don't care what anyone says, Point Horror books will never fail me. I love em'!
The thing about point horrors is they allow your imagination to actually see what's happening as if you were really there. You get sucked in. And me well I'm not big on horrors. But these are friendly. Sometimes I wish I could put the book down but their just too good. Luckily most of them end happily!
The thing about point horrors is they allow your imagination to actually see what's happening as if you were really there. You get sucked in. And me well I'm not big on horrors. But these are friendly. Sometimes I wish I could put the book down but their just too good. Luckily most of them end happily!
September 21, 2012
Good book that got me quite worked up and freaked out (somehow, yes, that is a good thing). I don't think i'll be going on a double date any tim soon...
September 28, 2021
One-Line Review: Don’t be a dick.
Full review to come.
Full review to come.
February 13, 2016
I loved this one! So full of cheese!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews