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Slumber Party
Hodder&Stroughton rp paperback vg In stock shipped from our UK warehouse
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
23 people are currently reading
1811 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Pike
261 books5,466 followersChristopher Pike is the pseudonym of Kevin McFadden. He is a bestselling author of young adult and children's fiction who specializes in the thriller genre.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
McFadden was born in New York but grew up in California where he stills lives in today. A college drop-out, he did factory work, painted houses and programmed computers before becoming a recognized author. Initially unsuccessful when he set out to write science fiction and adult mystery, it was not until his work caught the attention of an editor who suggested he write a teen thriller that he became a hit. The result was Slumber Party (1985), a book about a group of teenagers who run into bizarre and violent events during a ski weekend. After that he wrote Weekend and Chain Letter. All three books went on to become bestsellers.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
McFadden was born in New York but grew up in California where he stills lives in today. A college drop-out, he did factory work, painted houses and programmed computers before becoming a recognized author. Initially unsuccessful when he set out to write science fiction and adult mystery, it was not until his work caught the attention of an editor who suggested he write a teen thriller that he became a hit. The result was Slumber Party (1985), a book about a group of teenagers who run into bizarre and violent events during a ski weekend. After that he wrote Weekend and Chain Letter. All three books went on to become bestsellers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 276 reviews
December 22, 2017
Six teenage girls that haven't seen each other for eight years reunite for a ski weekend (eight years after a fire at a previous slumber party they were all at disfigured one of the girls and killed the girl's sister). Then strange things start to happen...a girl goes missing, new fire-related accidents begin to occur... Could this be some sort of revenge over something that happened many years ago?
This was an absorbing, fast-paced, short read for teens and young-adults. The cast of characters was interesting, some I liked, some I didn't. (There was a twist at the end but I saw it coming.)
An entertaining mystery-suspense from the 80's with a nice cold and snowy setting near a ski resort.
This was an absorbing, fast-paced, short read for teens and young-adults. The cast of characters was interesting, some I liked, some I didn't. (There was a twist at the end but I saw it coming.)
An entertaining mystery-suspense from the 80's with a nice cold and snowy setting near a ski resort.
February 26, 2021
Slumber Party was another reread for me as I am starting all the way at the beginning and reading/re-reading Pike's work. That's the plan, at least. This still isn't my favorite Pike book, nor is it my favorite Point Horror, but it was a fun read overall. It does lag a bit in the middle and is quite predictable (as most Point Horror books are), but it hit a lot of my favorite '80s and '90s YA horror beats. Boy drama? Check. Totally mean, unlikable characters? Check. Dark secrets? Big check. The only thing it was missing was a murder or two. That was the main drawback here.
It was interesting to see how Pike's writing grew from the beginning of his career to books like The Midnight Club though. He went from a mean-spirited book like Slumber Party to something far more sympathetic and heartfelt. Maybe that's why he only wrote two books for Point; he just didn't fit into the "write-for-hire" canon of that series. He had much better things to offer than this. So if you're new to Pike, don't start here!
2.5 stars
It was interesting to see how Pike's writing grew from the beginning of his career to books like The Midnight Club though. He went from a mean-spirited book like Slumber Party to something far more sympathetic and heartfelt. Maybe that's why he only wrote two books for Point; he just didn't fit into the "write-for-hire" canon of that series. He had much better things to offer than this. So if you're new to Pike, don't start here!
2.5 stars
October 11, 2019
Atmosphere, Atmosphere, Atmosphere!
I have been a Pike fan since my teens. This little book packs a heck of a demented and creepy punch. Perfect Halloween pick people!
The fact is this is YA Mystery but GOOD and QUALITY YA mystery. Quality makes a difference. So too does atmosphere.
And man oh man have we atmosphere here. The whole book takes place at a ski lodge with a group of girls. Fire and a bit of Pyromania is thrown in. Nell, Lara, Dana, Rachel..are all alone at this ski lodge. It is the first time all the girls have been together since a tragedy in their past.
It is short but really intense. This is a book you read for fun if you want to be a bit creeped out. You will be. It is creepier then many of Pike's earlier stuff.
SPOILERS:
I knew (SORT OF) where it was going but that does not mean I was not completely creeped out by the whole Eerie premise including the basement scene where some girls are held captive.
This was a scary little horror tale...I am a Pike fan, of his early stuff and this one should not be missed. 3.5 stars.
I have been a Pike fan since my teens. This little book packs a heck of a demented and creepy punch. Perfect Halloween pick people!
The fact is this is YA Mystery but GOOD and QUALITY YA mystery. Quality makes a difference. So too does atmosphere.
And man oh man have we atmosphere here. The whole book takes place at a ski lodge with a group of girls. Fire and a bit of Pyromania is thrown in. Nell, Lara, Dana, Rachel..are all alone at this ski lodge. It is the first time all the girls have been together since a tragedy in their past.
It is short but really intense. This is a book you read for fun if you want to be a bit creeped out. You will be. It is creepier then many of Pike's earlier stuff.
SPOILERS:
I knew (SORT OF) where it was going but that does not mean I was not completely creeped out by the whole Eerie premise including the basement scene where some girls are held captive.
This was a scary little horror tale...I am a Pike fan, of his early stuff and this one should not be missed. 3.5 stars.
April 18, 2023
oh yes, the distinctive melodrama of 1980s YA horror. after reading paperback crush, i was feeling nostalgic for this so-bad-it's-good type of dramatic terror, and rather than revisit the fear street series, i decided to try something else.
i didn't read much christopher pike as a kid, but i was a fear street fanatic and was aware of pike's novels as readalikes. that's probably why this story feels so familiar, so comfortingly predictable.
we have six girls away for a ski weekend in an isolated mountain mansion during a snowstorm. they are childhood friends with a dark shared history from a slumber party in their youth (they accidentally burned one girl to death and disfigured her older sister). there are some flames, lots of dramatic tension, a pretty mean girl whom our main character immediately suspects, and a simultaneously farfetched and predictable twist.
the spooky, snowy atmosphere is really well done. i love that creeping feeling of isolation, knowing that something is very wrong, someone here is not to be trusted, but who?
my favorite part is when one of the besties goes missing on her hike alone from the ski area back to the mansion, vanishing before dusk and leaving only one lost ski along the path. the remaining girls proceed to cook dinner and decorate for the party they're having, since "Well, there was nothing she could do about it now. Food for the party would have to be the priority. She was pleased to discover that Nell had stocked a diverse supply of sandwich ingredients..." these girls really never doubt their own decisions.
i didn't read much christopher pike as a kid, but i was a fear street fanatic and was aware of pike's novels as readalikes. that's probably why this story feels so familiar, so comfortingly predictable.
we have six girls away for a ski weekend in an isolated mountain mansion during a snowstorm. they are childhood friends with a dark shared history from a slumber party in their youth (they accidentally burned one girl to death and disfigured her older sister). there are some flames, lots of dramatic tension, a pretty mean girl whom our main character immediately suspects, and a simultaneously farfetched and predictable twist.
the spooky, snowy atmosphere is really well done. i love that creeping feeling of isolation, knowing that something is very wrong, someone here is not to be trusted, but who?
my favorite part is when one of the besties goes missing on her hike alone from the ski area back to the mansion, vanishing before dusk and leaving only one lost ski along the path. the remaining girls proceed to cook dinner and decorate for the party they're having, since "Well, there was nothing she could do about it now. Food for the party would have to be the priority. She was pleased to discover that Nell had stocked a diverse supply of sandwich ingredients..." these girls really never doubt their own decisions.
May 20, 2019
Pike's first book and there is little to make it stand out except for how thrillingly awful these teenagers are to their best friend who was horribly scarred in a fire, which makes it an extremely realistic depiction of teenagers.
September 11, 2021
Why are these girls even friends? What is with these 90’s men authors and the way they write girls?!
March 14, 2009
This is a cut & paste from my Nest post yesterday:
I picked this book up yesterday and I can only describe it as awesomely bad.
I've reread several of my favorite old Christopher Pike books over the last year and most of them were still entertaining and suspenseful, but this one, not so much.
If you don't remember the plot, basically Lara and her other high school friends head up to a friend's cabin for a ski weekend/ slumber party combo. The cast of characters includes Dana, the buttaface with a nice body, Rachael, the barbie doll look alike beotch (everyone worships her, obviously), Mindy, who wants to be just like Rachael (obvious choice to get killed off first), the mysterious 'Celeste' who doesn't share personal details about her life and doesn't even know what her name means, and Nell, who was disfigured in a terrible accident involving fire the last time all of these girls minus Celeste got together. Oh, and Nell's sister Nicole died in that accident that nobody wants to talk about.
Soon weird things start happening. A snowman melts when it shouldn't have, Lara overhears a weird phone call, someone disappears leaving only one ski behind and no tracks. Oh, and there is a crazy snowstorm so when things start to get really intense, the remaining girls are pretty much snowed in with the murderer.
Even the grammar is sometimes bad. For example:
"I told you," Dana said, tossing Celeste a duffel bag, who caught it and promptly disappeared giggling in to a wall of snow.
Last time I checked a duffel bag is not a 'who' and cannot catch itself.
I'm pretty sure that this was Christopher Pike's first book and I'm happy to say he got better from here.
I picked this book up yesterday and I can only describe it as awesomely bad.
I've reread several of my favorite old Christopher Pike books over the last year and most of them were still entertaining and suspenseful, but this one, not so much.
If you don't remember the plot, basically Lara and her other high school friends head up to a friend's cabin for a ski weekend/ slumber party combo. The cast of characters includes Dana, the buttaface with a nice body, Rachael, the barbie doll look alike beotch (everyone worships her, obviously), Mindy, who wants to be just like Rachael (obvious choice to get killed off first), the mysterious 'Celeste' who doesn't share personal details about her life and doesn't even know what her name means, and Nell, who was disfigured in a terrible accident involving fire the last time all of these girls minus Celeste got together. Oh, and Nell's sister Nicole died in that accident that nobody wants to talk about.
Soon weird things start happening. A snowman melts when it shouldn't have, Lara overhears a weird phone call, someone disappears leaving only one ski behind and no tracks. Oh, and there is a crazy snowstorm so when things start to get really intense, the remaining girls are pretty much snowed in with the murderer.
Even the grammar is sometimes bad. For example:
"I told you," Dana said, tossing Celeste a duffel bag, who caught it and promptly disappeared giggling in to a wall of snow.
Last time I checked a duffel bag is not a 'who' and cannot catch itself.
I'm pretty sure that this was Christopher Pike's first book and I'm happy to say he got better from here.
September 15, 2016
Okay I will first of all say that this is outside my usual reading circle (and comfort zone) so I beg a certain amount of generosity when drawing your own conclusions.
You see it is know amongst my friends and colleagues that not only do I read a lot (they have no idea honestly) but I also support reading groups and charities who are always on the lookout for books and as a result I get a lot of donations. I was given a large stack of Christopher Pike books in one such donation. Now its a standing joke that I scour the bags of books and if there is anything there that catches my eye I will give it a go before passing it on.
Now back in the 90s it seemed that many British publishers found foiled covers and as a result went to town publishing as many as they could with revised covered (I actually have some of the original Dean Koontz covers of this style when I shameless begged for them after a publishing promotion tour), and neither did the works of Mr Pike which also didn't escape this eye catching redesign.
As a result I have been meaning to try some of his work for some time but I never really go round to it - well not any longer. What can I say, within a matter of pages I felt like I had fallen in to a Hallmark movie, predictable and hardly challenging, however you still find yourself hours later suddenly realising you have spent the afternoon totally engaged and lost to the story - this book is no different.
If asked to describe it or even recommend it I would struggle and yet as a distraction there is a lot worse you can do and I have to admit it was entertaining if a little predictable. I will admit I would not have bought the book but I will certainly try another from the stack.
You see it is know amongst my friends and colleagues that not only do I read a lot (they have no idea honestly) but I also support reading groups and charities who are always on the lookout for books and as a result I get a lot of donations. I was given a large stack of Christopher Pike books in one such donation. Now its a standing joke that I scour the bags of books and if there is anything there that catches my eye I will give it a go before passing it on.
Now back in the 90s it seemed that many British publishers found foiled covers and as a result went to town publishing as many as they could with revised covered (I actually have some of the original Dean Koontz covers of this style when I shameless begged for them after a publishing promotion tour), and neither did the works of Mr Pike which also didn't escape this eye catching redesign.
As a result I have been meaning to try some of his work for some time but I never really go round to it - well not any longer. What can I say, within a matter of pages I felt like I had fallen in to a Hallmark movie, predictable and hardly challenging, however you still find yourself hours later suddenly realising you have spent the afternoon totally engaged and lost to the story - this book is no different.
If asked to describe it or even recommend it I would struggle and yet as a distraction there is a lot worse you can do and I have to admit it was entertaining if a little predictable. I will admit I would not have bought the book but I will certainly try another from the stack.
March 30, 2024
“You were such a good friend.”
Boy am I glad my sleepover parties were never like this.
Pike always had a flair for the dramatic—and catty girl fights. Throw in a melted snowman, tenuous friendships (and frenemies), lots of skiing, and some underage drinking for good measure, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
A bit predictable but still a satisfying, action-filled ending.
Boy am I glad my sleepover parties were never like this.
Pike always had a flair for the dramatic—and catty girl fights. Throw in a melted snowman, tenuous friendships (and frenemies), lots of skiing, and some underage drinking for good measure, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
A bit predictable but still a satisfying, action-filled ending.
February 5, 2023
This was quite entertaining. I started to think of what the twist could be quite early on and I thought it was too far fetched, but it turned out that I was right! So I enjoyed that Pike went to that level of twist. It was a fun read!
January 11, 2010
I was obsessed with this book's font. It was wonderfully 80s-y and round. They don't do fonts like that anymore. Now everything is crisp and angled. *Sigh*
That's about all I remember from this one, except for the useful tip that when you need to shoot off a flare gun but your hands are stiff from cold, peeing on them works. ***The more you know***
That's about all I remember from this one, except for the useful tip that when you need to shoot off a flare gun but your hands are stiff from cold, peeing on them works. ***The more you know***
June 27, 2022
I thought i had this book all figured out, but I was so wrong! Fun and fast paced.
January 3, 2008
OK. I read this book many many years ago, back when I was devouring books like these at a rate of three or so a week. By the second page, the experience came back to me all at once, I remembered the twist ending, and most of the details. I don;t remember liking this one back then, and I certainly don;t love it now, but it's got serious nostalgia factor.
Some of the characters in this book are so thin that you keep forgetting what the hell they've been up to. Mindy? You unnecessary fringe character, you. The others are ostensibly friends going on a trip for the weekend, though they all have varying degrees of loathing for each other, and suspect one another of murderous capabilities with very little prodding. The male characters are downright bizarre, with half-written back stories that never get resolved, and they have a tendency to wander in and out of the story at convenient moments.
I'm rereading all Pike's books as part of a Christopher Pike Book Club, and plan to have a blast tearing this one apart. If memory serves, they get better from here, which is just as well, but this one definitely falls into the so-bad-it's-funny category.
Some of the characters in this book are so thin that you keep forgetting what the hell they've been up to. Mindy? You unnecessary fringe character, you. The others are ostensibly friends going on a trip for the weekend, though they all have varying degrees of loathing for each other, and suspect one another of murderous capabilities with very little prodding. The male characters are downright bizarre, with half-written back stories that never get resolved, and they have a tendency to wander in and out of the story at convenient moments.
I'm rereading all Pike's books as part of a Christopher Pike Book Club, and plan to have a blast tearing this one apart. If memory serves, they get better from here, which is just as well, but this one definitely falls into the so-bad-it's-funny category.
September 18, 2021
Honestly, I hardly ever give a 1 star rating unless the book is seriously shit with no editing, or there's unnecessary rapey/abusive crap. This isn't either of those but it's still only gettin' a lone star rating from me.
Why? I hear you ask.
I wonder if Mr Pike has ever actually met a teenage girl? I had the first hand experience of being a teenage girl and currently have thetorture pleasure of one residing in my house, wee darling that she is... I can attest first hand that teenage girls are, at times, not altogether thoughtful of those around them, or that they make very clever decisions on a daily basis. However, the they are not as vapid, stupid and selfish as old Pikey depicts them here.
Nope. Just nope.
I read this with some of my crew from HA in our YA buddy read, and even though this one was a bit of stinker I still had fun and am looking forward to next month xo
Why? I hear you ask.
I wonder if Mr Pike has ever actually met a teenage girl? I had the first hand experience of being a teenage girl and currently have the
Nope. Just nope.
I read this with some of my crew from HA in our YA buddy read, and even though this one was a bit of stinker I still had fun and am looking forward to next month xo
September 6, 2022
Bonnnn voilà, terminé ce 4e Frissons : Cette nuit là
Des jeunes filles se retrouvent dans un chalet de ski plusieurs années après qu'un terrible drame se soit produit...
Malheureusement, on dirait bien que tout squi est arrivé auparavant revient maintenant les hanter.....
Yaurait il quelqu'un qui veut se venger ?
Un ptit roman ado (je dirais 10-15 ans)
Des jeunes filles se retrouvent dans un chalet de ski plusieurs années après qu'un terrible drame se soit produit...
Malheureusement, on dirait bien que tout squi est arrivé auparavant revient maintenant les hanter.....
Yaurait il quelqu'un qui veut se venger ?
Un ptit roman ado (je dirais 10-15 ans)
July 26, 2020
A classic young adult thriller, published in the 1980s, about a weekend ski trip and a terrible plan. A bit outdated by today's standards, but still an interesting and thrilling story. I loved Christopher Pike's books as a young teenager and am now rereading them in my late 30s.
August 18, 2021
The thing that I'm really coming to love about Christopher Pike is that he is a young adult author who isn't afraid to show that teenagers drink and do a variety of other illegal things. They think about sex a lot, too. I can relate. I thought about sex a LOT when I was a teenager. Sure didn't do any more than think about it until college, though plenty of my high school friends had less crippling shyness than I did and thus were banging.
The plot of Slumber Party is classic and fun. I've read a few books and seen a few movies in my day, however, so I could read the bold font foreshadowing on the wall. It didn't make the journey any less worthwhile, though.
I remember reading an R. L. Stine book when I was in junior high that I found in my sister's room. It was a teen drama, not one of his horror books. I forget what it was called, but in it there is a female character who is dating this jock with a rock for a brain, and he asks her if she's ever read a Coca Cola can. He then goes on to say that it's "fascinating" or something. The point of the scene is to illustrate that he's kind of a dunce. Anyway, my point is that after reading some Pike, reading a Stine book feels like reading a Coca Cola can.
So I shall continue to catch up on -- and greatly enjoy -- Pike's books.
The plot of Slumber Party is classic and fun. I've read a few books and seen a few movies in my day, however, so I could read the bold font foreshadowing on the wall. It didn't make the journey any less worthwhile, though.
I remember reading an R. L. Stine book when I was in junior high that I found in my sister's room. It was a teen drama, not one of his horror books. I forget what it was called, but in it there is a female character who is dating this jock with a rock for a brain, and he asks her if she's ever read a Coca Cola can. He then goes on to say that it's "fascinating" or something. The point of the scene is to illustrate that he's kind of a dunce. Anyway, my point is that after reading some Pike, reading a Stine book feels like reading a Coca Cola can.
So I shall continue to catch up on -- and greatly enjoy -- Pike's books.
May 2, 2018
A group of six teenage girls reunite at a ski resort for the first time in eight years, the previous occasion ended in tragedy after a fire disfigured one of them and killed her sister.
Whilst at the resort strange fire related events start to occur...
This is Pike’s debut novel, it’s a really enjoyable young adult horror. I practically liked the contrast between the elements.
An impossible scenario of a Snowman melting in the middle of a snowy resort was practically effective.
I’ve heard a lot about this author, so it was nice to finally read one of he’s.
A good starting point, I’m interested to see how he’s style evolves.
Whilst at the resort strange fire related events start to occur...
This is Pike’s debut novel, it’s a really enjoyable young adult horror. I practically liked the contrast between the elements.
An impossible scenario of a Snowman melting in the middle of a snowy resort was practically effective.
I’ve heard a lot about this author, so it was nice to finally read one of he’s.
A good starting point, I’m interested to see how he’s style evolves.
May 24, 2021
Even as a debut novel it’s hard to believe this is a work of Christopher Pike. It’s full of one dimensional, repugnant characters and a “mystery” you’ll figure out a couple of pages in. Boo.
January 30, 2012
Finally! A young-adult horror book from the '80s in which something actually happens! True, most of the dialogue in this book was painfully stilted, the love story was beyond cheesy, and the surprise twist ending was pretty obvious from about the second chapter (although I do admit that the red herrings did give me fleeting feelings of doubt). But the denouement was super-dramatic, and made for a GREAT reenactment at book club. What more could you want?
April 7, 2013
It's been about 20 years since I've read this, but a Christopher Pike novel was more important than the air I breathed when I was a teenager. Rereading before it ends up either in the bin or a second-hand bookstore. :(
UPDATE: I've just spent the past two hours rereading this and have revised my 5-star rating to one star. Sometimes these things are better off living on solely in one's memory. Sheesh! What a god-awful book...
UPDATE: I've just spent the past two hours rereading this and have revised my 5-star rating to one star. Sometimes these things are better off living on solely in one's memory. Sheesh! What a god-awful book...
November 12, 2020
I read a lot by thus author when I was a kid, so it is kind of fun to go back and see just how trashy these books can be.
This once includes the following:
Girl hate
Anorexia framed as appealing
Disfigurement as unsettling
Ugly face talk
Saying you're bad at dating if you haven't been on one in 6 weeks
Food/fat shaming
Asking someone "Did you enjoy being assaulted?"
9 year olds talking about sex and drinking alcohol
Fatphobia
This once includes the following:
Girl hate
Anorexia framed as appealing
Disfigurement as unsettling
Ugly face talk
Saying you're bad at dating if you haven't been on one in 6 weeks
Food/fat shaming
Asking someone "Did you enjoy being assaulted?"
9 year olds talking about sex and drinking alcohol
Fatphobia
September 17, 2019
TW: Fire, tasteless anorexia joke, attempted rape
I did like it, despite how outrageous everything in this is, though it does not age well. The girls are pretty horrible to each other; like major girl hate in this one. Probably more of a 2.5. All the problematic things (and there were many) flew over my head when I read this as a teen.
I did like it, despite how outrageous everything in this is, though it does not age well. The girls are pretty horrible to each other; like major girl hate in this one. Probably more of a 2.5. All the problematic things (and there were many) flew over my head when I read this as a teen.
November 14, 2020
Read for my guest appearance on The Pike Cast.
December 18, 2023
So it was easy to figure out who Celeste was, like, immediately, but it was a charming story. Character-wise I enjoyed them--Rachael especially.
December 16, 2020
The story is about a group of teens who meet up for a ski weekend. The girls were all very close when they were younger, but drifted apart after an accident that left one friend badly burned and her little sister dead. The burned-friend is the one whose family owns this very fancy house and so graciously invited everyone to come hang out.
Our characters don’t really get much in the way of actual characterization, but here’s the cast:
Nell, who has some facial scarring and whose family is apparently loaded
Nicole, the dead little sister
Lara, the main character (ostensibly)
Dana, who likes to eat and crack jokes (funny fat friend solidarity fist bump)
Rachael, the gorgeous blonde beauty rival of Lara
Mindy, who chews gum
Celeste, a shy girl with back problems who they’ve befriended somewhat recently
They arrive and hand over their keys to a park ranger to valet-park their car while marveling at how they don’t really know if he was a real park ranger, because I always give my keys to strangers when visiting an isolated location. Celeste asks some innocent questions about why the group hasn’t hung out recently, and the group neglects to mention the dead sister, but the reader figures it out.
Don’t worry, we’ll hear all about that in a moment. But first there’s a small, stupid mystery about a disappearing snowman, that melted really fast like it was burned and Lara will continue to fixate on this for the rest of the book.
They spend a little time getting settled in before hitting the slopes. Celeste and Nell hang behind despite being the two people at this gathering who presumably don’t know each other, but they hit it off great right away so good for them.
At the ski lodge, they run into a pair of boys that Rachael and Mindy know – Percy and Cal. Lara falls into an instant and irritating infatuation with Percy for some reason, deepening that rivalry with Rachael. Cal creeps on Dana, trying to grope her when they get a minute alone, but Mindy of course gets jealous of Dana for horning on on her man because of course she does.
Note: The book was written by a man in 1985.
Anyway, at the ski slopes, Dana disappears, and everyone kind of assumes she’s just trying to avoid Cal even when they find one of her skis sitting in the middle of a very mysterious patch of snow that seems to have some ash and ice in it (just like the snowman! gasp!) but it’s probably fine!
Somewhere in here we get an entire chapter told in italics to provide helpful background information about how Nicole died – which involved a bunch of 6th graders at a sleepover getting drunk from stolen brandy in the liquor cabinet, deciding to hold a seance, knocking over a candle, catching Nicole on fire, and then Lara trying to put her out with the brandy (because it’s wet!) and that of course creates a Nicole-Flambe situation. Nicole is whisked away to the hospital and dies there and Lara is wracked with guilt and so forth and so on.
And scene. Back to the present, where Dana is still missing, they can’t find the ranger who has their car keys, there’s a storm bearing down on them, but of course the most important thing is whether Percy likes Lara better than he likes Rachael. They invite the boys to come over that night.
Dana’s not back at the house, so Lara calls the lodge to ask for them to have her call if she shows up, but otherwise big shrugs about the friend’s disappearance and presumably being lost in the middle of a storm. Celeste is scandalized that they were going to eat cold cuts at a party and sets to dressing and roasting two whole chickens and a bunch of side dishes, which is of course an extremely normal thing for a teenager to do at a party.
The boys show up, and Lara feels kind of bad about not really caring where Dana is, except not guilty enough to do anything about it. Dana, you’re too good for these people, get better friends.
Anyway, they eat and do some drinking then play charades, which Celeste and Nell are eerily good at (hmmmm) and then Cal creeps on Celeste which starts a whole argument culminating in Percy punching him in the face, Cal stumbling backward, and Mindy’s arm catching fire because Nell had bitchily thrown alcohol at her earlier. They throw out the boys and start doing some first aid on Mindy, including dosing her on some codeine that they conveniently have lying around.
Percy’s gotta go, so Lara walks him out in the woods, refusing anybody else’s offer to come with her so she doesn’t get lost because she wants to make a move on him. There’s some painful flirting, some kissing, some talks about pyrokinesis and the mysterious Dana disappearance (and the snowman! that damned snowman!) and also Percy has a flare gun in his pocket for some reason.
Gag. Ugh. But ok, fine, Percy gives her the flare gun, presumably because he’s letting her walk back through the woods alone in a blizzard. She scoops up some of the ice from Dana’s disappearance-spot to bring home for evidence and then goes to bed. When she awakens, the ice has melted and she can see bones! and ash! Ahhhh!
This causes her to panic, so she runs out of the house at 3am into the woods and then, idk, freezes or something. Cal is there for some reason? She conveniently blacks out and awakens to find herself tied up in Nell’s basement. But hey look, Dana’s here! And so is Rachael!
We helpfully learn that Dana’s been tied up in a closet this whole time. Also, SURPRISE! Celeste isn’t actually Celeste, she’s Nicole! (in case this wasn’t already painfully obvious from all of the foreshadowing). She didn’t die after all! She just assumed an entirely new identity! She was just pretending not to know who Nell is!
Never mind that Celeste has parents who we have literally talked to in this book (they briefly call to check on her and Lara speaks to them instead). Apparently Nicole’s family….gave her up for adoption? but she’s still really close to her sister? Or else Lara somehow doesn’t realize that Celeste’s parents are Nell’s parents? Literally no part of this is explained in a way that makes any sense at all.
But anyway, turns out this whole weekend was just an excuse to get everybody together so that Nell and Nicole/Celeste could get revenge by dousing them in kerosene and burning them alive. Like you do.
There’s a lot of waffling and trying to win over Nicole with the power of friendship, and then she changes her mind about the plan but Nell doesn’t, which leads to some dramatic scuffling and ultimately Lara shoots Nell with Chekhov’s flare gun, but it’s totally OK because her expression is “the most peaceful” Lara has ever seen so that’s cool, and then they manage to rescue Mindy before the house blows up.
From there, we’ve just got some loose ends to tie up. We’re rescued by the suspicious ranger from earlier who it turns out actually is a ranger, so that’s cool. How did he find them? Why, that strapping young man Cal tipped him off that they might be in trouble!
You heard it here first, folks. Cal, the guy whose characterization up to this point has been “gropes girls without consent” and “tells funny war stories about napalm” is actually the real hero here! What a find stand-up young gentleman that serial offender is.
Also, again, Dana, you are too good for these people, find new friends.
Anyway, the girls end up in the hospital, where they promise a vow of secrecy but also Lara and Nicole are totally going to be best friends now, no harsh feelings. Also Lara is totally going to hook up with Percy, because that was definitely the most important thing to come from this weekend and she’s definitely not in any way going to be traumatized about any of this.
The end.
distant gagging sounds
Our characters don’t really get much in the way of actual characterization, but here’s the cast:
Nell, who has some facial scarring and whose family is apparently loaded
Nicole, the dead little sister
Lara, the main character (ostensibly)
Dana, who likes to eat and crack jokes (funny fat friend solidarity fist bump)
Rachael, the gorgeous blonde beauty rival of Lara
Mindy, who chews gum
Celeste, a shy girl with back problems who they’ve befriended somewhat recently
They arrive and hand over their keys to a park ranger to valet-park their car while marveling at how they don’t really know if he was a real park ranger, because I always give my keys to strangers when visiting an isolated location. Celeste asks some innocent questions about why the group hasn’t hung out recently, and the group neglects to mention the dead sister, but the reader figures it out.
Don’t worry, we’ll hear all about that in a moment. But first there’s a small, stupid mystery about a disappearing snowman, that melted really fast like it was burned and Lara will continue to fixate on this for the rest of the book.
They spend a little time getting settled in before hitting the slopes. Celeste and Nell hang behind despite being the two people at this gathering who presumably don’t know each other, but they hit it off great right away so good for them.
At the ski lodge, they run into a pair of boys that Rachael and Mindy know – Percy and Cal. Lara falls into an instant and irritating infatuation with Percy for some reason, deepening that rivalry with Rachael. Cal creeps on Dana, trying to grope her when they get a minute alone, but Mindy of course gets jealous of Dana for horning on on her man because of course she does.
Note: The book was written by a man in 1985.
Anyway, at the ski slopes, Dana disappears, and everyone kind of assumes she’s just trying to avoid Cal even when they find one of her skis sitting in the middle of a very mysterious patch of snow that seems to have some ash and ice in it (just like the snowman! gasp!) but it’s probably fine!
Somewhere in here we get an entire chapter told in italics to provide helpful background information about how Nicole died – which involved a bunch of 6th graders at a sleepover getting drunk from stolen brandy in the liquor cabinet, deciding to hold a seance, knocking over a candle, catching Nicole on fire, and then Lara trying to put her out with the brandy (because it’s wet!) and that of course creates a Nicole-Flambe situation. Nicole is whisked away to the hospital and dies there and Lara is wracked with guilt and so forth and so on.
And scene. Back to the present, where Dana is still missing, they can’t find the ranger who has their car keys, there’s a storm bearing down on them, but of course the most important thing is whether Percy likes Lara better than he likes Rachael. They invite the boys to come over that night.
Dana’s not back at the house, so Lara calls the lodge to ask for them to have her call if she shows up, but otherwise big shrugs about the friend’s disappearance and presumably being lost in the middle of a storm. Celeste is scandalized that they were going to eat cold cuts at a party and sets to dressing and roasting two whole chickens and a bunch of side dishes, which is of course an extremely normal thing for a teenager to do at a party.
The boys show up, and Lara feels kind of bad about not really caring where Dana is, except not guilty enough to do anything about it. Dana, you’re too good for these people, get better friends.
Anyway, they eat and do some drinking then play charades, which Celeste and Nell are eerily good at (hmmmm) and then Cal creeps on Celeste which starts a whole argument culminating in Percy punching him in the face, Cal stumbling backward, and Mindy’s arm catching fire because Nell had bitchily thrown alcohol at her earlier. They throw out the boys and start doing some first aid on Mindy, including dosing her on some codeine that they conveniently have lying around.
Percy’s gotta go, so Lara walks him out in the woods, refusing anybody else’s offer to come with her so she doesn’t get lost because she wants to make a move on him. There’s some painful flirting, some kissing, some talks about pyrokinesis and the mysterious Dana disappearance (and the snowman! that damned snowman!) and also Percy has a flare gun in his pocket for some reason.
Gag. Ugh. But ok, fine, Percy gives her the flare gun, presumably because he’s letting her walk back through the woods alone in a blizzard. She scoops up some of the ice from Dana’s disappearance-spot to bring home for evidence and then goes to bed. When she awakens, the ice has melted and she can see bones! and ash! Ahhhh!
This causes her to panic, so she runs out of the house at 3am into the woods and then, idk, freezes or something. Cal is there for some reason? She conveniently blacks out and awakens to find herself tied up in Nell’s basement. But hey look, Dana’s here! And so is Rachael!
We helpfully learn that Dana’s been tied up in a closet this whole time. Also, SURPRISE! Celeste isn’t actually Celeste, she’s Nicole! (in case this wasn’t already painfully obvious from all of the foreshadowing). She didn’t die after all! She just assumed an entirely new identity! She was just pretending not to know who Nell is!
Never mind that Celeste has parents who we have literally talked to in this book (they briefly call to check on her and Lara speaks to them instead). Apparently Nicole’s family….gave her up for adoption? but she’s still really close to her sister? Or else Lara somehow doesn’t realize that Celeste’s parents are Nell’s parents? Literally no part of this is explained in a way that makes any sense at all.
But anyway, turns out this whole weekend was just an excuse to get everybody together so that Nell and Nicole/Celeste could get revenge by dousing them in kerosene and burning them alive. Like you do.
There’s a lot of waffling and trying to win over Nicole with the power of friendship, and then she changes her mind about the plan but Nell doesn’t, which leads to some dramatic scuffling and ultimately Lara shoots Nell with Chekhov’s flare gun, but it’s totally OK because her expression is “the most peaceful” Lara has ever seen so that’s cool, and then they manage to rescue Mindy before the house blows up.
From there, we’ve just got some loose ends to tie up. We’re rescued by the suspicious ranger from earlier who it turns out actually is a ranger, so that’s cool. How did he find them? Why, that strapping young man Cal tipped him off that they might be in trouble!
You heard it here first, folks. Cal, the guy whose characterization up to this point has been “gropes girls without consent” and “tells funny war stories about napalm” is actually the real hero here! What a find stand-up young gentleman that serial offender is.
Also, again, Dana, you are too good for these people, find new friends.
Anyway, the girls end up in the hospital, where they promise a vow of secrecy but also Lara and Nicole are totally going to be best friends now, no harsh feelings. Also Lara is totally going to hook up with Percy, because that was definitely the most important thing to come from this weekend and she’s definitely not in any way going to be traumatized about any of this.
The end.
distant gagging sounds
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 28, 2022
3.5 stars rounded down. I didn't dislike this read. It just felt like a typical old school Point Horror book. Usually, I go into those reads knowing what to expect: simplicity, nostalgia, boy drama, clichés, and so on. Overall, I mostly enjoy these books for what they are: nostalgic, quick and easy reads.
However, I actually went into Slumber Party with a little higher of an expectation because of who wrote it: Christopher Pike. I recently read his book Monster, and I was blown away by the story. Slumber party was definitely not as good as that book. However, there are a few reasons for that. One reason is that Slumber Party was one of his earliest works, and I assume that another reason is because Pike may have been forced to stick to a certain formula when writing for Scholastic.
I read this book for my YouTube channel book club, The Midnight Book Society. We had a very fun and in depth live stream discussion on it. To check out the stream (which featured multiple opinions and points-of-view on this book), here's the link: https://youtu.be/yeK_g5kWtoA
However, I actually went into Slumber Party with a little higher of an expectation because of who wrote it: Christopher Pike. I recently read his book Monster, and I was blown away by the story. Slumber party was definitely not as good as that book. However, there are a few reasons for that. One reason is that Slumber Party was one of his earliest works, and I assume that another reason is because Pike may have been forced to stick to a certain formula when writing for Scholastic.
I read this book for my YouTube channel book club, The Midnight Book Society. We had a very fun and in depth live stream discussion on it. To check out the stream (which featured multiple opinions and points-of-view on this book), here's the link: https://youtu.be/yeK_g5kWtoA
Read
September 13, 2018Vintage Teen Horror Challenge Book 4
A group of teens take a ski trip and give their car keys to a complete stranger who doesn't offer a legit name besides "Colonel". I fear for the survival instincts of these kids. In a flashback we learn one of these girls had her face burned off after playing an Ouija game during a party. Amazing that they all remained friends.
Memorable Quotes:
“I’m worried about the snowman too!”
“Mindy’s not that hurt.” “But she was on fire.”
A group of teens take a ski trip and give their car keys to a complete stranger who doesn't offer a legit name besides "Colonel". I fear for the survival instincts of these kids. In a flashback we learn one of these girls had her face burned off after playing an Ouija game during a party. Amazing that they all remained friends.
Memorable Quotes:
“I’m worried about the snowman too!”
“Mindy’s not that hurt.” “But she was on fire.”
August 21, 2019
Very obviously at the beginning of Pike’s career in YA thrillers. It’s a bit dated with teens trying to sound mature using phrases like “damn you to the deepest hell” or “you’re a liar Lara you’re hornier than me”. It’s a fun book but fairly simple to figure out the main mystery. There’s a reason I didn’t remember much about this book but I still enjoyed the reread.
February 7, 2022
Still one of my favourite Christopher Pike books.
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