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Fear Street #28
Truth or Dare
The truth hurts.
What else is there to do, with all seven of them stuck in Dara Harker’s luxury ski condo? There are three guys and four girls—some of them friends, some nearly strangers—all of them trapped. A blinding blizzard has stilled the lifts, blocked the roads, and killed the phones.
A game, they think, will help them break the ice. Who will tell the truth? Who will take a dare? And how far will each of them go?
But then the game turns deadly. One of them, it seems, would rather kill than tell the truth.
And kill again.
What else is there to do, with all seven of them stuck in Dara Harker’s luxury ski condo? There are three guys and four girls—some of them friends, some nearly strangers—all of them trapped. A blinding blizzard has stilled the lifts, blocked the roads, and killed the phones.
A game, they think, will help them break the ice. Who will tell the truth? Who will take a dare? And how far will each of them go?
But then the game turns deadly. One of them, it seems, would rather kill than tell the truth.
And kill again.
146 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1995
20 people are currently reading
2607 people want to read
About the author
R.L. Stine
1,679 books18.7k followersRobert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.
R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.
Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.
http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...
R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.
Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.
http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 153 reviews
March 6, 2019
Una de las cosas que más recuerdo de este libro, es la capacidad que tiene de transmitir sensaciones y emociones, porque podía sentir el frío cada vez que lo leía.
R.L. Stine tiene un don especial de dotar sus personajes de un realismo que me encanta leer.
Es imposible no identificarse con la historia tan claustrofóbica que viven los protagonistas y si a eso le sumas el clima helado, y que tus amigos poco a poco comienzan a morir en circunstancias extrañas, es la dosis adecuada para leer sin parar.
R.L. Stine tiene un don especial de dotar sus personajes de un realismo que me encanta leer.
Es imposible no identificarse con la historia tan claustrofóbica que viven los protagonistas y si a eso le sumas el clima helado, y que tus amigos poco a poco comienzan a morir en circunstancias extrañas, es la dosis adecuada para leer sin parar.
May 27, 2018
When I think of all the RL Stine books I read in my youth, this one often comes to mind. I loved that whole, 'trapped with nowhere to go' setting and it was a juicy lil horror/mystery.
Stine gives a lot of detail that I never cared about as a kid, but his horror is top stuff. I'm honestly amazed I was allowed to read some of his books at such a young age!
OH THE MEMORIES. <3
Stine gives a lot of detail that I never cared about as a kid, but his horror is top stuff. I'm honestly amazed I was allowed to read some of his books at such a young age!
OH THE MEMORIES. <3
July 26, 2012
Moral of the Story: Wintertime sucks. Also, what's up with RL Stine and hatchets?
Body Count: 2 (one from the past) - Dara, the hostess, and Barbara, the beach bunny
The Usual Suspect(s): Josh, Ken
The Actual Suspect(s): Jenny
Gaping Plot Holes: None that I could sniff out, but I was genuinely creeped out by this one. It could be that I was reading it at midnight.
Plot: Our fearless (Ha!) narrator is April, with whom RL Stine attempts to write in the first person. His attempt doesn't go very well. What we have in this book is a combination of April Fools' Day and The Shining. Read: a bunch of kids are trapped in one place (in this case, Dara's house surrounded by ski lodges), and one of them (April) starts to lose her mind as a result. For a while I actually thought it would go the way of the classic horror film April Fools' Day, but thankfully it didn't.
Our main players (literally) are Dara, Ken and Jenny, April, Josh, and Tony and Carly Rae. Wait, Carly Rae? What's the Call Me Maybe chick doing in a Fear Street novel? Naturally they have come to Dara's house to have fun and go skiing. However, as the book opens, they haven't seen much snow. It's all been sleet and no powder. Without the ability to ski everyone is getting restless. Dara, cruel and unusual punisher that she is, decides on a game of Truth or Dare. SHE doesn't have to answer any truth questions, however, because SHE'S the hostess. Well, the game kicks off with questions asked and answered. One person completes a dare. Then it's April's turn again. Dara asks her what a secret is that she knows but wishes she didn't know. She immediately blurts out the TRUE answer: the girl at Sumner Island. This has to do with Ken, and he eyes her suspiciously. Turns out that the girl at Sumner Island was a girl named Barbara whom April saw making out with Ken. This is a problem since he's with Jenny, her best friend. April hasn't had the courage to admit the truth to Jenny or confront Ken. She's going to regret her nonaction soon enough.
That night the snow really starts to fall. Dara picks up one of the jackets in the pile of parkas and ventures out to get firewood. Josh is also gone, but nobody notices until in the morning. During Truth or Dare Dara really picked on Josh. They used to go out, and Dara was on the verge of telling everyone that Josh was a rotten kisser. Josh hates being picked on more than anything in the world. He stays upset with Dara for the night.
When April comes down for breakfast in the morning she notices that Dara and Josh are missing. Her descent into Crazytown slowly begins. Being an actual smart person, she instantly suggests that they must call the police. Tony and Carly Rae don't want that to happen, however, because their parents don't know they are at Dara's house, and they aren't supposed to be. Everybody persuades April to give it some time. April has become suspicious of Tony due to his refusal to call the police.
The snow has escalated to a blizzard and tensions are high. The gang hears a knocking at the door and goes to investigate, only to find that it is a door outside banging against another door. So much for that. Ken and April volunteer to go shut the door so the banging won't drive everyone crazy. But just as the go to shut the ski door, something tumbles out of it. SomeONE. It's Dara, and she's dead. Her face is blue, and her lifeless eyes are boring into April's. There is a hatchet in her back. This whole entire scene gave me the serious heebie jeebies. It is reiterated so much what she looks like that it's just - ugh! Creepy as fuck.
So now Dara is dead, and they all have to stare at her dead body through a glass door. They finally move her to the garage. Being that Josh isn't back yet and they haven't found him dead, they assume he must be the killer. Their suspicions are confirmed when they search Dara's room only to find a letter written in a red ballpoint pen - a letter signed from Josh!! He writes that he wanted Dara to meet him at midnight. Alone. This is about all the proof they need. At least they can rest easy knowing the killer isn't one of them. April is frantic about calling the police now and insists that Tony do it. He tries, but he can't. The phone line is dead. 1994 had it rough, man. No cell phones!!
The next day April turns to see Josh's dead body at the door. Only... he isn't dead! He's pounding on the door to be let in. Now, if these characters lived in Scream, they might understand better not to let the alleged killer back into their home. However, these are stupid white people, so they decide to let Josh back in the house. I can picture them all just glaring at him accusingly while he is dying from frostbite. April is ready to convict and punish, but Josh insists on something warm to drink. After all, he did just walk in a blizzard for miles. They oblige and then approach him about the letter. Josh is incensed. This isn't his handwriting! He explains his side of the story. Yes, he was very, very upset about what Dara said to him during Truth or Dare. He did leave around the same time she did, fleeing in her Jeep. He took it because he wanted to piss her off and get her back. He acted irrationally, but he certainly didn't KILL Dara. April doesn't quite believe him, but, well, she doesn't really believe ANYBODY. She is starting to lose her mind. Heeeeeere's Johnnnyyyyy!!!!
April decides she has to get out of the house. She goes to find her blue parka in the pile, but it's missing. She is certain she left it in the pile. Until she remembers what Dara was wearing when she died. A blue parka! April revisits the gruesome scene only to have her fears confirmed. Dara was killed in April's blue parka. This means that Dara's death was a complete accident. The person meant to kill April - he/she thought it was HER under the blue parka. Well, clearly there's no use sticking around now that she's the target for murder. April grabs a random red parka from the pile and heads out the door.
It's still snowing pretty heavily, and April has nothing on but the parka, which isn't keeping her all that warm. She stuffs her hands in the pockets - only to find the red ballpoint pen. Ruh roh. April realizes the parka is so big that it must be Ken's. Since the pen is in his pocket, Ken has to be the murderer! It isn't Josh.
Lo and behold, who should come running after April but Ken! She screams as he grabs her and tries to drag her back to the house. April realizes that Ken tried to kill her over the Truth or Dare secret she spilled about him. She still doesn't want to confront him though - now he could kill her and bury her in the snow!! This book is so morbid and creepy. She tries to keep the conversation light in order to distract him as they head back to the house. Ken doesn't pull anything weird, but April is still hella scared and suspicious. Of course.
April's got one more trick up her sleeve. This time her brilliant plan is to tell Jenny, her best friend, what has happened and escape with her on skis. The snow has let up enough for them to be able to ski out. She isn't able to tell Jenny that the Sumner Island secret involved Ken, but Jenny doesn't really need any convincing in order to escape the house. Hmmmm. They ski for a while until they come upon a ski lift. There is a man in the booth who tells them that if they travel up the ski lift they will see a ranger station. I don't know why they don't just ask if he has a phone to use and just call the police from there and stay on the ground. It is common knowledge that anything up in the air is a bad idea.
Jenny and April hop on the next available ski lift and start towards the top of the hill... until suddenly Jenny turns to April with a sneer. Well. I wasn't really expecting this, folks!! Jenny tells April she's sorry (but not really, of course), and gives her a giant shove towards the ground. April doesn't fall all the way, and she and Jenny struggle in the ski lift car. Then Jenny plays the Big Bad Villain and tells her story in an almost-trance. Apparently she knew about Ken's Sumner Island bitch, Barbara, all along. In fact, Jenny killed her!
Yes, Jenny killed Barbara, and when April blurted out her secret during Truth or Dare, Jenny assumed that April knew that she killed Barbara. Jenny swears it was an accident. After Ken wouldn't stop seeing her, she confronted Barbara. She didn't mean to hurt her, honest. Somehow, though, Barbara ended up dead as a result of Jenny's recklessness. I don't know why she didn't just kill Ken, but whatever. The actual cheater is the one who deserves to die, but RL Stine doesn't really seem to make that happen. It's very disappointing. Anyway, April tries to dissuade Jenny's attack on her life by talking to her and telling her that she wasn't referring to THAT secret. Jenny has gone all Howard Hughes and keeps repeating that NO ONE can know her secret. She finally succeeds in pushing April off the chairlift.
April lands and expects to be dead until she realizes that they had reached the top and she only fell about a couple of feet. Ken is there, magically to the rescue!, and everything is finished in the next three pages. Jenny is still babbling on, but she seems to have realized that April really didn't know her secret. April fills Ken in on this nonsense. She says that their game of Truth or Dare revealed more than it was intended to. Ken says that next time she should take the dare. Yes, because I can see how well THAT book would go. April says they should just stick to Trivial Pursuit.
Might I suggest Clue?? :-)
Body Count: 2 (one from the past) - Dara, the hostess, and Barbara, the beach bunny
The Usual Suspect(s): Josh, Ken
The Actual Suspect(s): Jenny
Gaping Plot Holes: None that I could sniff out, but I was genuinely creeped out by this one. It could be that I was reading it at midnight.
Plot: Our fearless (Ha!) narrator is April, with whom RL Stine attempts to write in the first person. His attempt doesn't go very well. What we have in this book is a combination of April Fools' Day and The Shining. Read: a bunch of kids are trapped in one place (in this case, Dara's house surrounded by ski lodges), and one of them (April) starts to lose her mind as a result. For a while I actually thought it would go the way of the classic horror film April Fools' Day, but thankfully it didn't.
Our main players (literally) are Dara, Ken and Jenny, April, Josh, and Tony and Carly Rae. Wait, Carly Rae? What's the Call Me Maybe chick doing in a Fear Street novel? Naturally they have come to Dara's house to have fun and go skiing. However, as the book opens, they haven't seen much snow. It's all been sleet and no powder. Without the ability to ski everyone is getting restless. Dara, cruel and unusual punisher that she is, decides on a game of Truth or Dare. SHE doesn't have to answer any truth questions, however, because SHE'S the hostess. Well, the game kicks off with questions asked and answered. One person completes a dare. Then it's April's turn again. Dara asks her what a secret is that she knows but wishes she didn't know. She immediately blurts out the TRUE answer: the girl at Sumner Island. This has to do with Ken, and he eyes her suspiciously. Turns out that the girl at Sumner Island was a girl named Barbara whom April saw making out with Ken. This is a problem since he's with Jenny, her best friend. April hasn't had the courage to admit the truth to Jenny or confront Ken. She's going to regret her nonaction soon enough.
That night the snow really starts to fall. Dara picks up one of the jackets in the pile of parkas and ventures out to get firewood. Josh is also gone, but nobody notices until in the morning. During Truth or Dare Dara really picked on Josh. They used to go out, and Dara was on the verge of telling everyone that Josh was a rotten kisser. Josh hates being picked on more than anything in the world. He stays upset with Dara for the night.
When April comes down for breakfast in the morning she notices that Dara and Josh are missing. Her descent into Crazytown slowly begins. Being an actual smart person, she instantly suggests that they must call the police. Tony and Carly Rae don't want that to happen, however, because their parents don't know they are at Dara's house, and they aren't supposed to be. Everybody persuades April to give it some time. April has become suspicious of Tony due to his refusal to call the police.
The snow has escalated to a blizzard and tensions are high. The gang hears a knocking at the door and goes to investigate, only to find that it is a door outside banging against another door. So much for that. Ken and April volunteer to go shut the door so the banging won't drive everyone crazy. But just as the go to shut the ski door, something tumbles out of it. SomeONE. It's Dara, and she's dead. Her face is blue, and her lifeless eyes are boring into April's. There is a hatchet in her back. This whole entire scene gave me the serious heebie jeebies. It is reiterated so much what she looks like that it's just - ugh! Creepy as fuck.
So now Dara is dead, and they all have to stare at her dead body through a glass door. They finally move her to the garage. Being that Josh isn't back yet and they haven't found him dead, they assume he must be the killer. Their suspicions are confirmed when they search Dara's room only to find a letter written in a red ballpoint pen - a letter signed from Josh!! He writes that he wanted Dara to meet him at midnight. Alone. This is about all the proof they need. At least they can rest easy knowing the killer isn't one of them. April is frantic about calling the police now and insists that Tony do it. He tries, but he can't. The phone line is dead. 1994 had it rough, man. No cell phones!!
The next day April turns to see Josh's dead body at the door. Only... he isn't dead! He's pounding on the door to be let in. Now, if these characters lived in Scream, they might understand better not to let the alleged killer back into their home. However, these are stupid white people, so they decide to let Josh back in the house. I can picture them all just glaring at him accusingly while he is dying from frostbite. April is ready to convict and punish, but Josh insists on something warm to drink. After all, he did just walk in a blizzard for miles. They oblige and then approach him about the letter. Josh is incensed. This isn't his handwriting! He explains his side of the story. Yes, he was very, very upset about what Dara said to him during Truth or Dare. He did leave around the same time she did, fleeing in her Jeep. He took it because he wanted to piss her off and get her back. He acted irrationally, but he certainly didn't KILL Dara. April doesn't quite believe him, but, well, she doesn't really believe ANYBODY. She is starting to lose her mind. Heeeeeere's Johnnnyyyyy!!!!
April decides she has to get out of the house. She goes to find her blue parka in the pile, but it's missing. She is certain she left it in the pile. Until she remembers what Dara was wearing when she died. A blue parka! April revisits the gruesome scene only to have her fears confirmed. Dara was killed in April's blue parka. This means that Dara's death was a complete accident. The person meant to kill April - he/she thought it was HER under the blue parka. Well, clearly there's no use sticking around now that she's the target for murder. April grabs a random red parka from the pile and heads out the door.
It's still snowing pretty heavily, and April has nothing on but the parka, which isn't keeping her all that warm. She stuffs her hands in the pockets - only to find the red ballpoint pen. Ruh roh. April realizes the parka is so big that it must be Ken's. Since the pen is in his pocket, Ken has to be the murderer! It isn't Josh.
Lo and behold, who should come running after April but Ken! She screams as he grabs her and tries to drag her back to the house. April realizes that Ken tried to kill her over the Truth or Dare secret she spilled about him. She still doesn't want to confront him though - now he could kill her and bury her in the snow!! This book is so morbid and creepy. She tries to keep the conversation light in order to distract him as they head back to the house. Ken doesn't pull anything weird, but April is still hella scared and suspicious. Of course.
April's got one more trick up her sleeve. This time her brilliant plan is to tell Jenny, her best friend, what has happened and escape with her on skis. The snow has let up enough for them to be able to ski out. She isn't able to tell Jenny that the Sumner Island secret involved Ken, but Jenny doesn't really need any convincing in order to escape the house. Hmmmm. They ski for a while until they come upon a ski lift. There is a man in the booth who tells them that if they travel up the ski lift they will see a ranger station. I don't know why they don't just ask if he has a phone to use and just call the police from there and stay on the ground. It is common knowledge that anything up in the air is a bad idea.
Jenny and April hop on the next available ski lift and start towards the top of the hill... until suddenly Jenny turns to April with a sneer. Well. I wasn't really expecting this, folks!! Jenny tells April she's sorry (but not really, of course), and gives her a giant shove towards the ground. April doesn't fall all the way, and she and Jenny struggle in the ski lift car. Then Jenny plays the Big Bad Villain and tells her story in an almost-trance. Apparently she knew about Ken's Sumner Island bitch, Barbara, all along. In fact, Jenny killed her!
Yes, Jenny killed Barbara, and when April blurted out her secret during Truth or Dare, Jenny assumed that April knew that she killed Barbara. Jenny swears it was an accident. After Ken wouldn't stop seeing her, she confronted Barbara. She didn't mean to hurt her, honest. Somehow, though, Barbara ended up dead as a result of Jenny's recklessness. I don't know why she didn't just kill Ken, but whatever. The actual cheater is the one who deserves to die, but RL Stine doesn't really seem to make that happen. It's very disappointing. Anyway, April tries to dissuade Jenny's attack on her life by talking to her and telling her that she wasn't referring to THAT secret. Jenny has gone all Howard Hughes and keeps repeating that NO ONE can know her secret. She finally succeeds in pushing April off the chairlift.
April lands and expects to be dead until she realizes that they had reached the top and she only fell about a couple of feet. Ken is there, magically to the rescue!, and everything is finished in the next three pages. Jenny is still babbling on, but she seems to have realized that April really didn't know her secret. April fills Ken in on this nonsense. She says that their game of Truth or Dare revealed more than it was intended to. Ken says that next time she should take the dare. Yes, because I can see how well THAT book would go. April says they should just stick to Trivial Pursuit.
Might I suggest Clue?? :-)
July 15, 2010
I truly LOVED Truth or Dare. In my opinion it's definitely one of the BEST Fear Street novels.
The killer remains unknowns till the very last page and I really didn't had any idea. The entire book you keep guessing, guessing, and guessing how you think the killer is. Sometimes you'll get a clue, which leads you to a suspect, but then that person gets killed with a hatchet!
You think you know how the story will end, but an other occurrence completely takes that thought away, and you keep on searching in the dark...
And then, at the most unexpected moment, the shocking truth reveals it self.
A GREAT thriller by R.L. Stine, which took my breath away.
I think you can also learn something from this book, something very important which you should not forget: You can't escape the past, you should always trust your friends, and you should keep some secrets better to yourself...
AMAZING!!! 5*****
The killer remains unknowns till the very last page and I really didn't had any idea. The entire book you keep guessing, guessing, and guessing how you think the killer is. Sometimes you'll get a clue, which leads you to a suspect, but then that person gets killed with a hatchet!
You think you know how the story will end, but an other occurrence completely takes that thought away, and you keep on searching in the dark...
And then, at the most unexpected moment, the shocking truth reveals it self.
A GREAT thriller by R.L. Stine, which took my breath away.
I think you can also learn something from this book, something very important which you should not forget: You can't escape the past, you should always trust your friends, and you should keep some secrets better to yourself...
AMAZING!!! 5*****
January 10, 2022
My last Winter-themed book this season, and it was....just okay! I feel like I'm forever chasing that high from the SUPER BONKERS WACKNESS of some of the other Fear Streets, and when they dont measure up, I get disappointed 😅😅
This was a pretty straightforward (albeit a little tepid) WHO-DONE-IT Thriller. 7 teens are trapped in some fancy ski lodge belonging to rich bitch Dara's dad, during a wild snowstorm...amd someone gets MURDERED 💀 Meanwhile, the phone lines are down, the car is missing, and there are no neighbors for miles and miles. Our protag April is freaking the fuck out once she realizes the murderer is amongst her friends and tries to plot an escape.
Random observations with no spoilers, promise!!
- OKAY so there are 7 kids in total here at this fancy ski lodge, NO parents, and there are 2 horndog couples. And they all dutifully go to separate wings of the house to sleep, separated by boys and girls?? PUHLEEZE. Was this book written by my mom?? Those couples woulda been shacked up together in a heartbeat, amirite??
- The rich bitch Dara is described as having crimped blonde hair and a perky little nose job 🤣🤣 But hey, no judgement, Dara! You do you!!
-Its 1995 and I feel all this trouble would've been circumvented if they all had cellphones?! But yeah, it's not time yet...I think in 1995 I had a pager and thought I was ultra cool 😎😎
3 out of 5 sneak peeks at the frozen blue corpse hanging out outside the kitchen window because you're trapped in the house during a huge snowstorm and what else are you going to stare at?? 🥶🥶🥶
This was a pretty straightforward (albeit a little tepid) WHO-DONE-IT Thriller. 7 teens are trapped in some fancy ski lodge belonging to rich bitch Dara's dad, during a wild snowstorm...amd someone gets MURDERED 💀 Meanwhile, the phone lines are down, the car is missing, and there are no neighbors for miles and miles. Our protag April is freaking the fuck out once she realizes the murderer is amongst her friends and tries to plot an escape.
Random observations with no spoilers, promise!!
- OKAY so there are 7 kids in total here at this fancy ski lodge, NO parents, and there are 2 horndog couples. And they all dutifully go to separate wings of the house to sleep, separated by boys and girls?? PUHLEEZE. Was this book written by my mom?? Those couples woulda been shacked up together in a heartbeat, amirite??
- The rich bitch Dara is described as having crimped blonde hair and a perky little nose job 🤣🤣 But hey, no judgement, Dara! You do you!!
-Its 1995 and I feel all this trouble would've been circumvented if they all had cellphones?! But yeah, it's not time yet...I think in 1995 I had a pager and thought I was ultra cool 😎😎
3 out of 5 sneak peeks at the frozen blue corpse hanging out outside the kitchen window because you're trapped in the house during a huge snowstorm and what else are you going to stare at?? 🥶🥶🥶
December 24, 2017
Re-read.
I didn't remember anything about this book when I began my re-read. it was engaging and I read it all in 2 sittings. The one thing I found most unbelievable- no way are these kids picking separate bedrooms! but I guess R.L. had to keep it pg lol. I liked this story but I didn't try to predict who the killer was so I was somewhat surprised. I thought it would be April. She was hellva jumpy, paranoid and didn't trust anyone. it's never said but I bet she lives on fear street. actually, the only ties to fear street is that 4 of the kids go to Shadyside. anyways, this is a good, quick read if your stuck inside for a day.
I didn't remember anything about this book when I began my re-read. it was engaging and I read it all in 2 sittings. The one thing I found most unbelievable- no way are these kids picking separate bedrooms! but I guess R.L. had to keep it pg lol. I liked this story but I didn't try to predict who the killer was so I was somewhat surprised. I thought it would be April. She was hellva jumpy, paranoid and didn't trust anyone. it's never said but I bet she lives on fear street. actually, the only ties to fear street is that 4 of the kids go to Shadyside. anyways, this is a good, quick read if your stuck inside for a day.
August 23, 2015
And we have another typical Fear Street book with crappy characters being crappy and the ending coming out of nowhere with a barely strung-together plot. How surprising. I think for the last bit of Summer of Cheese I’m going to stay away from Fear Street. It’s getting far too redundant and annoying.
So you have a bunch of teenagers going to use a rich chick’s parents’ ski house for a few days and they end up getting snowed in. To pass the time they play Truth or Dare and it riles some feathers that cause one of the residents to go off the rocker and start killing people. That’s one hell of a game.
You have more characters who don’t have any general concern for the world around them so they’re crappy to each other, don’t have much concern for each other beyond what it would serve them. So when people start dying or getting hurt it’s brushed off fairly easily. Not surprising. So I couldn’t get behind any of them although I will say the protagonist (whose name escapes me, it’s not Dara) was okay but she’s really just a conduit for the story. She didn’t have a whole ton of personality of her own.
When weird things started happening I didn’t really care. Everyone was already back-biting and getting snippy with each other so why should I? When the plot finally resolved the culprit was pretty out of nowhere. I mean, I guess a connection could be made but the way the plot was written it was never intoned that this person could be committing these crimes so, like a lot of Fear Street books the ending was like, ‘oh, by the way, it was this person that you’d never suspect because there wasn’t any reason for you to suspect them.’
I’m coming to the conclusion that these books really don’t stand the test of time. It doesn’t necessarily seem like a market thing because Fear Street books are pretty much alone in the crappy characters being crappy to each other arena. So I think it was just Stine’s style when it came to writing YA. This kind of thing doesn’t show in his Goosebumps books and I haven’t read any of his adult novels. So I think it was just a thing that sold. With the new Fear Street I don’t find that level of character crap so I think it was updated somewhat for the current market while keeping its original creep factor. These old ones, though, the market just can’t bear them anymore. They’re far too lacking in depth for today’s teen.
1.5
So you have a bunch of teenagers going to use a rich chick’s parents’ ski house for a few days and they end up getting snowed in. To pass the time they play Truth or Dare and it riles some feathers that cause one of the residents to go off the rocker and start killing people. That’s one hell of a game.
You have more characters who don’t have any general concern for the world around them so they’re crappy to each other, don’t have much concern for each other beyond what it would serve them. So when people start dying or getting hurt it’s brushed off fairly easily. Not surprising. So I couldn’t get behind any of them although I will say the protagonist (whose name escapes me, it’s not Dara) was okay but she’s really just a conduit for the story. She didn’t have a whole ton of personality of her own.
When weird things started happening I didn’t really care. Everyone was already back-biting and getting snippy with each other so why should I? When the plot finally resolved the culprit was pretty out of nowhere. I mean, I guess a connection could be made but the way the plot was written it was never intoned that this person could be committing these crimes so, like a lot of Fear Street books the ending was like, ‘oh, by the way, it was this person that you’d never suspect because there wasn’t any reason for you to suspect them.’
I’m coming to the conclusion that these books really don’t stand the test of time. It doesn’t necessarily seem like a market thing because Fear Street books are pretty much alone in the crappy characters being crappy to each other arena. So I think it was just Stine’s style when it came to writing YA. This kind of thing doesn’t show in his Goosebumps books and I haven’t read any of his adult novels. So I think it was just a thing that sold. With the new Fear Street I don’t find that level of character crap so I think it was updated somewhat for the current market while keeping its original creep factor. These old ones, though, the market just can’t bear them anymore. They’re far too lacking in depth for today’s teen.
1.5
August 11, 2017
I really liked this book. It was a good and fast read. The killer and the motivation for it, catch me by surprise. Really good read.
July 3, 2025
MM 7.41 Amazon 7/3/25
February 10, 2023
For a pre-teen thriller this is pretty good! No teenager talks like these characters and a lot of stuff is left unexplained but I can look beyond that because this isn’t trying to be an award winning thriller. I was pleasantly surprised by the various plot twists, and how the killer wasn’t extremely obvious. I was expecting I’d predict the murderer from the beginning but I didn’t! It was also pretty scary! I’ve read plenty of thrillers for adults that are way worse than this so I’m pretty impressed. If that wasn’t enough the first page that has an excerpt of a pivotal scene in the story is hands down the funniest thing I’ve ever read.
September 2, 2021
That was soooo much fun, and just what I needed after Chilling Effect.
I absolutely adore these books about teens stuck somewhere together trying to find out who the killer is. For some reason the setting in this one just did it for me - I loved the snowed in element and the cosy lodge and the characters were fun!
I genuinely thought I was being clever thinking Ken did it the whole time, but I’m letting myself off easily because I worked out the twist just in time lol.
I just loved this one!!
I absolutely adore these books about teens stuck somewhere together trying to find out who the killer is. For some reason the setting in this one just did it for me - I loved the snowed in element and the cosy lodge and the characters were fun!
I genuinely thought I was being clever thinking Ken did it the whole time, but I’m letting myself off easily because I worked out the twist just in time lol.
I just loved this one!!
July 6, 2020
3.5. I liked this one. Fun read.
July 13, 2017
Reviewed on Lili Lost in a Book
April, her best friend Jenny, and Jenny’s boyfriend Ken, are invited to Dara’s ski condo for a couple days of fun. There they run into some of Dara’s acquaintances. They then decide to play a little game to get to know each other, but a fun game of truth or dare turns deadly when one questions sets off one of the guests, leading them to murder. Dun, dun, DUN!
Truth or Dare was SO good! It had many great plot twists I did not expect at all!
Who the murder was and their motive, a twist about the murder itself, and even twistier twists surrounding the secret, the “truth,” that actually set off this person... it was insane!! Truth or Dare was suspenseful with a great setting, and an even better mystery! This is definitely one of the best Fear Street books I have read!
The Fear Street connection: I don't actually know for sure because, believe it or not, Fear Street isn't even mentioned! However, we do know that the kids live in Shadyside, so I'm guessing one of the kids (probably April, since she is the main character) lives on Fear Street.
April, her best friend Jenny, and Jenny’s boyfriend Ken, are invited to Dara’s ski condo for a couple days of fun. There they run into some of Dara’s acquaintances. They then decide to play a little game to get to know each other, but a fun game of truth or dare turns deadly when one questions sets off one of the guests, leading them to murder. Dun, dun, DUN!
Truth or Dare was SO good! It had many great plot twists I did not expect at all!
Who the murder was and their motive, a twist about the murder itself, and even twistier twists surrounding the secret, the “truth,” that actually set off this person... it was insane!! Truth or Dare was suspenseful with a great setting, and an even better mystery! This is definitely one of the best Fear Street books I have read!
The Fear Street connection: I don't actually know for sure because, believe it or not, Fear Street isn't even mentioned! However, we do know that the kids live in Shadyside, so I'm guessing one of the kids (probably April, since she is the main character) lives on Fear Street.
February 25, 2022
April and her friends decide to join a new girl at school when she goes to her ski lodge for some fun. With some kids April doesn't know tagging along, the group decides to play a game of Truth or Dare to get to know each other a bit better.
What they don't expect is for the game to end in murder.
I'm a sucker for a snowed in murder mystery. To make things even better, this is one of the Fear Street books I didn't get around to reading back in the day. Because of that, the killer truly was a mystery this time around.
August 1, 2018
3.5 ☆
Oh, the joy of reading a book in a day. I read quite a few of these book when I was younger, probably while I was still in primary school so these are really nostalgic books for me. I remember really enjoying them, and a couple of them were actually kinda scary.
Such was the case with this one - I don't remember reading it before and I really enjoyed it. It's short and sweet - well not really but it was hella entertaining and this is exactly what I'm looking for in these books.
Oh, the joy of reading a book in a day. I read quite a few of these book when I was younger, probably while I was still in primary school so these are really nostalgic books for me. I remember really enjoying them, and a couple of them were actually kinda scary.
Such was the case with this one - I don't remember reading it before and I really enjoyed it. It's short and sweet - well not really but it was hella entertaining and this is exactly what I'm looking for in these books.
March 13, 2022
1.5 stars
This was just not good. RL Stine mostly writes books for a ~third grade level, but he made Fear Street for teens. However, I think he assumed that all he had to do was change the age of the characters, maybe throw in some kissing, and boom, your kid series is now a teen series with the same juvenile dialogue that 8 year olds would use. But that's not how it works, and that's why this didn't work either.
March 29, 2020
3,5 Sterne
March 1, 2024
This was such a fun Fear Street visit. I loved all the characters and the whole plot was nicely done. My only complaint (and the only reason this doesn’t get 5 stars) is the ending. The way everything was wrapped up just didn’t seem quite right. But in true RL Stine fashion the road that got us there was filled with deadly twists and turns which kept things fun and interesting.
June 20, 2025
Fun book. A good twist. Not what I guessed!
December 27, 2025
gimme this as a netflix movie STAT
Read
September 6, 2020I totally remembered this book once I started reading it. I blasted through it in about an hour or so. Pure candy for the brain.
May 30, 2023
Finishing every book of Fear Street has been my dream since school. I know I've outgrown these teen thrillers but I still enjoy reading them.
This book is a good winter thriller.
This book is a good winter thriller.
March 29, 2019
I loved the book "Truth or Dare" by R.L. Stine it was amazing. I loved this book because it had many suspenseful moments throughout the book. I also like this book because of the way R.L Stine wrote it. Another reason is because I love horror stories.
I have always like R.L Stine books since I was a kid. But this one I rated 5 stars because I liked the suspense it created, it kept me interested through the book. This book stood out more than the other R.L Stine books because of the setting. The setting made the book standout to me because I wouldn't expect a murder at a skiing resort.
While this book did create suspenseful moments where I did't want to read because I was scared I would still recommend it to anyone who is interested in mysteries.
I have always like R.L Stine books since I was a kid. But this one I rated 5 stars because I liked the suspense it created, it kept me interested through the book. This book stood out more than the other R.L Stine books because of the setting. The setting made the book standout to me because I wouldn't expect a murder at a skiing resort.
While this book did create suspenseful moments where I did't want to read because I was scared I would still recommend it to anyone who is interested in mysteries.
December 22, 2024
This one is rough. It's pretty tame, with only a single death, making this feel like more of a classic murder mystery, and then the long awaited killer reveal and motivation is just laughable, as is the climax and ending.
Recommended only for die-hard FS and Stine fans. The rest can pass on this one.
Recommended only for die-hard FS and Stine fans. The rest can pass on this one.
September 29, 2011
I've been craving to read series of Fear Street and/or Goosebumps by R.L Stine. I missed them so much, it's been a long time reading them!
I liked it~
I liked it~
December 9, 2016
I remember nothing about this book, except a lot of making out.
June 28, 2017
I don't know if it was exposure to Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians" when I was in 7th grade, or reading Stephen King's "The Shining" in 8th grade, or seeing John Carpenter's "The Thing" in high school, or some combination of all three. What I do know is I'm a colossal sucker for the "group of people stuck in a place they can't escape due to bad weather with a killer on the loose" trope. Throw a half-dozen or more people into the same building, bring down a blizzard with gale-force winds, and start up the body count, and you will quickly find that I'm your biggest fan. I don't care that it's been done to death, I don't care that it's been done better, I love this 'pressure cooker' situation and I'll give anything that uses it a shot. Fresh off my kick of reading Alan Dean Foster's novelization of "The Thing", and back into my 'read every YA novel written by R.L. Stine' phase, I rummaged through the library to find something satisfying and turned up this morsel.
It was just what I needed.
The Harker family's one of the richest in Shadyside, so when she gets an invitation from Dara Harker to stay at the family's luxury countryside condo for a fun ski weekend, April Leeds isn't about to say no even though she doesn't really know Dara all that well. Besides, it's not like it's just the two of them. Dara's parents will be there, of course, and she's invited April's best friend Jenny, and Jenny's boyfriend Ken. Dara's friend Josh from Cumberland High has also joined the group. Five friends, two chaperones, and one alpine weekend they'll never forget...assuming any of them survive.
It doesn't take long for plans to unravel. There's a forty percent chance of snow, and the slopes are currently so bare the ski lifts aren't even running. Dara's parents have to cancel at the last minute, so there's no adult supervision. What's more, the group walks into the house to discover they aren't alone. Dara's condominium is a time-share, and a confused Tony Macedo and his girlfriend Carly Rae (no, not that one) thought this was his family's weekend, so they snuck up to the place for a little date-night action. Tempers flare, but everyone agrees to keep their secrets on the down-low. Tired from the trip, bored from lack of snow, and chilled from the cold wind and open floorplan, the group settles on a game of Truth or Dare around the crackling fire, and it doesn't take long for one simple question and one innocuous answer to derail the fun: Josh blows up at Dara, Ken realizes April saw something she shouldn't have last summer, and suddenly slumber doesn't come so easy for the group of seven. The last thing April sees before falling asleep that evening is Dara putting on her coat to grab some more firewood from the shed out back.
The next morning, Dara and Josh don't show up for breakfast. Dara's Jeep is missing, there's no sign that either of them even slept in their beds, and that 'forty percent chance of snow' has turned into a one hundred percent chance of a blizzard. What's more a search of the house uncovers an angrily-written note from Josh asking Dara to meet him outside that evening so they can discuss something.
The group finds Dara's frozen body out back, a hatchet buried deeply between her shoulder blades. With no means of transport, freezing temperatures, and the phone lines down from the ferocity of the storm, the group realizes they're trapped in a nightmare. What's worse, when Josh shows back up, he convinces April he didn't kill Dara...which means one of the people she's trapped inside with is a cold-blooded murderer.
"Truth or Dare" is a lot of fun. Like I said, I'm a total sucker for the "group of people who are stuck in one place and can't leave" theme, and even though I managed to guess the killer's identity before Stine's reveal, I applaud his misdirection skills. Seventeen-year-old me wouldn't have seen it coming.
My only real complaint is the page count (146 in my paperback) doesn't give Stine any room for extra details, and the conclusion, when it arrives, wraps everything up far too quickly. This isn't uncommon in the Fear Street series, but I still think the climax suffers for it. Otherwise the rest of the story is just fine: the condo becomes suitably claustrophobic as the teens all realize the danger they're in, and the overall body count is quite small. The story never feels gratuitous like a slasher, although Dara's death is awful and April can't help re-living the moment of discovery once she makes a significant realization. I burned through it in a couple of hours, and it kept me entertained. One does not open a bag of Doritos and complain about not getting a five-course meal. If all you're in the mood for is a light snack, "Truth or Dare" is like snapping into a Slim Jim--and I'm totally cool with that.
It was just what I needed.
The Harker family's one of the richest in Shadyside, so when she gets an invitation from Dara Harker to stay at the family's luxury countryside condo for a fun ski weekend, April Leeds isn't about to say no even though she doesn't really know Dara all that well. Besides, it's not like it's just the two of them. Dara's parents will be there, of course, and she's invited April's best friend Jenny, and Jenny's boyfriend Ken. Dara's friend Josh from Cumberland High has also joined the group. Five friends, two chaperones, and one alpine weekend they'll never forget...assuming any of them survive.
It doesn't take long for plans to unravel. There's a forty percent chance of snow, and the slopes are currently so bare the ski lifts aren't even running. Dara's parents have to cancel at the last minute, so there's no adult supervision. What's more, the group walks into the house to discover they aren't alone. Dara's condominium is a time-share, and a confused Tony Macedo and his girlfriend Carly Rae (no, not that one) thought this was his family's weekend, so they snuck up to the place for a little date-night action. Tempers flare, but everyone agrees to keep their secrets on the down-low. Tired from the trip, bored from lack of snow, and chilled from the cold wind and open floorplan, the group settles on a game of Truth or Dare around the crackling fire, and it doesn't take long for one simple question and one innocuous answer to derail the fun: Josh blows up at Dara, Ken realizes April saw something she shouldn't have last summer, and suddenly slumber doesn't come so easy for the group of seven. The last thing April sees before falling asleep that evening is Dara putting on her coat to grab some more firewood from the shed out back.
The next morning, Dara and Josh don't show up for breakfast. Dara's Jeep is missing, there's no sign that either of them even slept in their beds, and that 'forty percent chance of snow' has turned into a one hundred percent chance of a blizzard. What's more a search of the house uncovers an angrily-written note from Josh asking Dara to meet him outside that evening so they can discuss something.
The group finds Dara's frozen body out back, a hatchet buried deeply between her shoulder blades. With no means of transport, freezing temperatures, and the phone lines down from the ferocity of the storm, the group realizes they're trapped in a nightmare. What's worse, when Josh shows back up, he convinces April he didn't kill Dara...which means one of the people she's trapped inside with is a cold-blooded murderer.
"Truth or Dare" is a lot of fun. Like I said, I'm a total sucker for the "group of people who are stuck in one place and can't leave" theme, and even though I managed to guess the killer's identity before Stine's reveal, I applaud his misdirection skills. Seventeen-year-old me wouldn't have seen it coming.
My only real complaint is the page count (146 in my paperback) doesn't give Stine any room for extra details, and the conclusion, when it arrives, wraps everything up far too quickly. This isn't uncommon in the Fear Street series, but I still think the climax suffers for it. Otherwise the rest of the story is just fine: the condo becomes suitably claustrophobic as the teens all realize the danger they're in, and the overall body count is quite small. The story never feels gratuitous like a slasher, although Dara's death is awful and April can't help re-living the moment of discovery once she makes a significant realization. I burned through it in a couple of hours, and it kept me entertained. One does not open a bag of Doritos and complain about not getting a five-course meal. If all you're in the mood for is a light snack, "Truth or Dare" is like snapping into a Slim Jim--and I'm totally cool with that.
July 21, 2024
Aislamiento en una cabaña alejada rodeada de una manta espesa de nieve, jóvenes en la edad del pavo queriendo picarse con secretos e indiscrecciones y listo, ya está, con esos pocos elementos Stine te lo hace pasar en grande, inyectando la tensión en plena vena, poniéndote en guardia como si formaras parte del grupo, como si te hubiesen reventado los planes para hacer esquí con un incómodo asesinato. Yo me había construido mi teoría sobre la identidad y el móvil del asesino, estaba convencido de que iba a acertar, pero el talento que tiene este autor para darle la vuelta a todo en las páginas finales es asombroso y cuando digo en las páginas finales no exagero, aquí se desvelan los motivos en las 2 últimas páginas y sorprende como si fuera un truco de magia. Intuyes lo que va a hacer, te acercas al resultado, pero te sigue maravillando. Sin embargo, he notado que en este libro hay menos interacción entre los personajes, apenas hablan entre ellos cuando se desencadena todo, ni se molestan en investigar, solo quieren esperar a que pase la ventisca y largarse cagando leches xd, eso hace que pierda un poco si lo comparamos con otros libros de la colección que son más moviditos.
English
Isolation in a remote cabin surrounded by a thick blanket of snow, teenagers wanting to be stung with secrets and indiscretions and that's it, with those few elements Stine makes you have a great time, injecting tension into your veins, putting yourself on guard as if you were part of the group, as if your skiing plans had been ruined with an awkward murder. I had built my theory about the identity and motive of the murderer, I was convinced that I was going to be right, but the talent that this author has to turn everything around in the final pages is amazing and when I say in the final pages, I dont exaggerate, here the reasons are revealed in the last 2 pages and it surprises as if it were a magic trick. You sense what he is going to do, you get closer to the result, but it continues to amaze you. However, I have noticed that in this book there is less interaction between the characters, they barely talk to each other when everything breaks out, they don't even bother to investigate, they just want to wait for the blizzard to pass and get away, flying like a bat out of hell. That lowers the quality a little if we compare it with other books in the collection of Fear Street.
English
Isolation in a remote cabin surrounded by a thick blanket of snow, teenagers wanting to be stung with secrets and indiscretions and that's it, with those few elements Stine makes you have a great time, injecting tension into your veins, putting yourself on guard as if you were part of the group, as if your skiing plans had been ruined with an awkward murder. I had built my theory about the identity and motive of the murderer, I was convinced that I was going to be right, but the talent that this author has to turn everything around in the final pages is amazing and when I say in the final pages, I dont exaggerate, here the reasons are revealed in the last 2 pages and it surprises as if it were a magic trick. You sense what he is going to do, you get closer to the result, but it continues to amaze you. However, I have noticed that in this book there is less interaction between the characters, they barely talk to each other when everything breaks out, they don't even bother to investigate, they just want to wait for the blizzard to pass and get away, flying like a bat out of hell. That lowers the quality a little if we compare it with other books in the collection of Fear Street.
October 30, 2024
Thrilling tale!
This a prose novel which is part of the “Fear Street” original book series.
TRUTHFULLY DARING
April Leeds is invited along with other of teenage friends to a weekend at the snowy mountains of Shadyside, in a cabin which is of Dara Harker’s family (in reality is a time sharing deal but still).
Dara Harker is a rich girl and she invited some of her acquaintances, April Leeds (protagonist), Ken Knight and Jenny Byrd (a romantic couple), and Josh Berman (he doesn’t assist Shadyside High but he is kinda friend of Dara), however, once there they arrived to the cabin, they find another couple Tony Macedo (his family is time sharing the cabin) and Carly Rae.
A cool detail is that Corky Corcoran (protagonist of the Cheerleading saga) is mentioned in a dialogue of them. Corky is quite popular in the Fear Street book series, therefore while she doesn’t appear in other books of the series, she is quite mentioned here and there.
The group was planning to ski in the snowy mountains, however there is a blizzard and they have to remain in the cabin, so to be entertained, it’s proposed to play a Truth or Dare game, but they didn’t imagine that that game would lead to…
…MURDER!!!
That night a member of the group is murdered in a very violent way, having a hatchet in the back, and another member of the group is missing, and the only car dissappeared, and obviously the only phone isn’t working (this is before of the cell phones)…
…so they are alone in the middle of a snow storm and with a murderer among them!
I really liked this story, the narrative was way entertained and the ambiance is well crafted to the thriller, and I couldn’t guess who and why was the real murderer, so that was good too.
This a prose novel which is part of the “Fear Street” original book series.
TRUTHFULLY DARING
April Leeds is invited along with other of teenage friends to a weekend at the snowy mountains of Shadyside, in a cabin which is of Dara Harker’s family (in reality is a time sharing deal but still).
Dara Harker is a rich girl and she invited some of her acquaintances, April Leeds (protagonist), Ken Knight and Jenny Byrd (a romantic couple), and Josh Berman (he doesn’t assist Shadyside High but he is kinda friend of Dara), however, once there they arrived to the cabin, they find another couple Tony Macedo (his family is time sharing the cabin) and Carly Rae.
A cool detail is that Corky Corcoran (protagonist of the Cheerleading saga) is mentioned in a dialogue of them. Corky is quite popular in the Fear Street book series, therefore while she doesn’t appear in other books of the series, she is quite mentioned here and there.
The group was planning to ski in the snowy mountains, however there is a blizzard and they have to remain in the cabin, so to be entertained, it’s proposed to play a Truth or Dare game, but they didn’t imagine that that game would lead to…
…MURDER!!!
That night a member of the group is murdered in a very violent way, having a hatchet in the back, and another member of the group is missing, and the only car dissappeared, and obviously the only phone isn’t working (this is before of the cell phones)…
…so they are alone in the middle of a snow storm and with a murderer among them!
I really liked this story, the narrative was way entertained and the ambiance is well crafted to the thriller, and I couldn’t guess who and why was the real murderer, so that was good too.
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