The Dead Girlfriend

by R.L. Stine

Annie just met Jonathan. She doesn't know about his last girlfriend.

Doesn't know how beautiful she was. Doesn't know how popular.

Doesn't know how she died.

But Annie is about to find out. Because Jonathan's old girlfriend might be dead.

But she isn't gone...

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Fantasy

182 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1993

About the author

Robert 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...

Reviews

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta es una de las historias más creativas sin dudas de la serie de los trillets.
Me gustaron todos los personajes y las circunstancias que envuelven la muerte de la chica es un misterio que se saborea a cada página.
Descubrir que fue lo que pasó y las personas que estuvieron involucradas es una cosa emocionante y tal y como los protagonistas puedo sentir el viento fresco de un paseo en bicicleta por el sendero hacia la montaña, y cuando estoy en un lugar así, siempre viene a mi mente esta historia.

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst most of the Point Horror's havent been as good as I can recall, this one certainly falls into the it's so bad it's not even worth remembering.

Admittedly it has most of Stine's usual fakeout tropes, but even the central mystery of the plot was uninteresting.

New girl Annie really likes Johnathan but soon learns that his previous girlfriend Louisa died tragically from a cliff.
Was it purely a simple accident or was she pushed and by whom?
Annie soon receives threats to stay away from Johnathan, which completely removed any tension posed throughout the book that Johnathan must have pushed Louisa.
It's just their to add more pointless cliffhanger chapters!

But the worst ones involved Annie being grabbed from behind.... by her cat!
Talking about pets - trigger warnings that Stine also includes that 90's trope of killing the animal.

Even the conclusion had very little payout, a disappointing entry in the range.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I happen to like all Point Horror books, no matter how silly or how redundant the tropes and plot points are.
This is no exception. I grew up on Goosebumps and RL Stine so there is a soft spot for these books that led me into the adult horror genre I so Love.

Typical point horror here. Mysterious person moves to town, with a mysterious past. Red Herring here, red herring there. They didnt do it or did they lol.

5 stars for Nostalgia and fun

3/25/ 24 Re-read this classic gem. What a fun quick read. New girl moves to town, new boyfriend has a checkered past. He may or may not have pushed his ex Gf off a cliff. Someone is threatening our main protagonist, telling her to stay away from him and he is dangerous. 1 boiled cat, one electrocuted girl via keyboard , a YA love triangle that may be deadly, a few red herrings here and a possible twin or ghost there and we have a point horror story that was very fun.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars


https://youtu.be/l2ZDTGTP_ro

I.
Am.
A.
Genius.

Not really. Some days I'm as dumb as a doorknob (expecually when I go without my B vitamins!) but right now I'm a genius. I've figured out how to fit in more reading time. Normally audiobooks and me don't mesh well. But after speaking to a really good friend of mine from this site MissBecka, it got me thinking. Can I give audiobooks another try and work them into my daily routine?

So I decided to gave it another go and knew if have to really focus and not let my mind drift. But I decided that while doing a particular part of my morning routine each day, I can fit in at least an hour of an audiobook. Some days I may only be able to do really short ones but hey, it's something.

So this story. R L Stine is most famous for his Goosebumps series but these Point Horror, in my opinion, come in a close second. This was quite a good story. I'm not sure if I read it as a kid as I don't remember it but still, it was enjoyable. Well, that is to say the ending of it was definitely what bumped my star rating up an extra half point. Can't say I would have guessed how it ended so I like that it surprised me.

Can't wait to be able to do this more often as I was missing not being able to read as much as I use to. Yeah yeah I know, audiobooks aren't technically reading but you know what I mean.

The year is looking bright.

[Austin Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of Stine's weaker Point Horror entries. Fake out scares and cheesiness galore. This one didn't do much for me.

[Jerrica8123 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I. This book. Oh my. I just remembered the plot the other day and I started freaking out because I couldn't remember what it was called. I used to LOVE this book. It's so crazy that I found it.

[Kirsty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Re-read this for Teenage Scream podcast (lovingly dissecting the best and worst of 90s teen horror):

https://soundcloud.com/teenagescream

[Alyssa Bond · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reread this little jewel during a track meet and then a soccer practice yesterday so it’s a very quick read. I have to admit it is not as good as I remember when I read it the first time in sixth grade, but I still enjoyed it and it took me right back to that 12 year old me. I can remember finishing this book back then at my grandmother’s house and just being blown away. My grandmother did not approve of the book cover. When I was in 5-8th grade, I read every book R. L. Stine wrote. Trust me, there’s a lot. I have so many books of his and I think it’s time to revisit some of them.

[Luna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is your typical R.L. Stine novel. New kid comes to town, mysterious person, mysterious history, oh wow, someone else did it. This isn't gonna be an eye opener. It's not fantastically written (and while Stine isn't the best author, he's got some good books for kids), but this is quite poor. There's no reaction to action, there's a lot of repeated ideas, sentences, phrases, and the characterisation is nonexistent.

The ending bothered me the most. Character A pushes Character B over a cliff to their death, and then character C admits they killed Jonathan's girlfriend. When the police turn up, only character C is arrested... and then there's a romantic moment?

I am so confused. No. Go away, stop now.

[Jason Harlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story follows Annie who moves to the small town of Shocklin Falls and meets this guy named Jonathan Morgan, whose previous girlfriend died in a mysterious way. This has everything you'd expect from an R.L. Stine Point Horror book (a love triangle, fakeout scare sequences, creepy phone calls, a twist ending, etc.) and was surprisingly really fun. This is a rare instance where a Point Horror book actually gets better as it goes on, as opposed to the opposite. I was excited for the end reveal and it definitely didn't disappoint. Without some of the corny dialog, lame characters and an obvious red herring, this would probably be a 5/5. Recommended for people who enjoy stuff like this.

[Melissa Namba · Rating 1 out of 5]

So I was thinking that this was one of the better R.L.Stine books until I reached the end. And then I had to laugh. What kind of morally depraved people feel OK about pushing a girl off a cliff as long as she doesn't die? The fact that Annie fell into Jonathan's arms with a smile and full of relief was absolutely ridiculous!

[Sarah Oldham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like the point horror books more than the fear street books. I don't know if it's because they're stand alone and feel like they have more of a twist or what.
but what was up with the death of the cat?! JESUS. give me a warning ⚠️

[Lucy Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolute madness. R.L. Stine Like RTC suffers from confusingly written action sequences and the story jumps about on a confusing timeline, but the story is fun and exactly what you expect from point horror. The main character isn't annoying which is always a bonus, every other character is bat shit insane which I enjoyed.

[Mehsi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really the best R.L. Stine book, I had expected lots of excitement, lots of horror or creepy things.

Sadly, the cover is pretty much the only horrific thing, that and some event that happens near the end. Other than it, it is a pretty tame and calm story. Sure there are some events happening that could give you a case of small goosebumps, but mostly I was wondering when the real excitement would start, and as the pages went by, the end was coming nearer, I wondered if a few threats, a few arguments here and there would be all to the story.

Sure, it kept me excited to find out who did it. I had a list of people who could be possible suspects, but I can say that finding out who did it for real was quite a twist for me. I didn't have that person on my list. I didn't think that person would be capable of this, and even looking back on the book, I don't think I could ever have known. Maybe there were hints, maybe they are quite obvious, but it wasn't obvious to me.

I didn't like Jonathan or how he acted around Annie. They were together, yet also not. I get, he lost his girlfriend, but really, he was mostly just being quite weird, with mood spells even girls would be jealous off and I didn't feel any romantic sparks coming off him. None at all. The only thing I felt coming off him was moodiness and also a bad case of Hey-this-girl-is-hot.

Annie. *sighs* Annie. Urgh, I just didn't know what to do with the girl. All kinds of stuff happens, but as is typical in these kind of books, she just jumps around like nothing happens.
I also really, really got tired of her: Oh I don't know how a PC, sorry a Mac works thing. Yes, I can imagine it is really hard, but then just ask for help, from either a teacher or someone else. I know this book was written during a time that computers weren't that common place as the current time, but come on.
Also her constant: I am such a jerk, or I am acting like a big jerk got soo frustrating. It didn't sound like a girl saying it, it sounded more like a guy saying it. And she said it soooo often. I was wondering what was wrong with her.

The plot, as I said, was pretty boring. I was expecting lots of ghosts, lots of horror and hauntings, but well, meh.

The ending was pretty decent, but it felt like it was cut off short. I won't spoil anything (of course), but it was just a shame. It was all kinds of awesomeness and then bang, over.

I also feel that that one event (near the end, after the birthday party), was just too much and I felt like it wasn't even needed to add that, it was beyond disgusting and sick.

Would I recommend this book? On the one hand, yes. But it is also quite a bit of boring and blandness. If you are looking for a scary book, I would recommend other books by this author. He has written some amazing stuff.

Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Angel Torres · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is OKAY. It's not bad, it's not good, it's just Okay. It's a filler campy horror story.

I really hope this book it's not your first R. L. Stine story, because he is an amazing writer, but this isn't his finest work.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely ridiculous. Good fun.

[Eekind · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twist and Turns in this Point Horror extravaganza that actually lets the main character be an active participant

TW: Animal Death, Pet Death, Mental Illness, Death

I really enjoyed this entry as a whole. There were definitely moments that dragged in setting up so many related characters. You have the MC her two new best friends, the main love interest and his two best friends on top of all the lore about Louisa the Dead GF which definitely adds to the heft of this story. Plus this book definitely pulls from The New Girl from a few years prior that opened the fear street series.

That said the twists were solid for what they were and there were some particularly shocking pranks and threats that really get across why Annie is so thrown into dissarray (RIP Goggles the fluffy white cat with piercing blue eyes). That said when Annie throws herself at Ruby after she’s been shocked by the 80’s Macintosh computer that was sabotaged to kill her, I really felt the thrills that so many of these Teen horror books drive for but rarely deliver on because they are afraid of making their main character unlikable or a poor Cipher for the presumed Middle Grade reader

I also really liked how Jonathon’s story was handled. It would have been nice if RL stated plainly that Jonathon had clinical depression or was manic depressive, because that’s clearly how he’s written an referred to before and after Louisa’s death. I do like that we get some good moments between him and Annie where they set up boundaries and model good Allyship between a partner who is neurodivergent and their Neurotypical partner

I was a little underwhelmed by the setup of Dawn as the main villian. I do like that the narrative effectively shields who is the antagonist the point where you think Ruby and Jonathon killed Louisa together and it’s just sheer luck they both didn’t fall off the cliff at the end. I wish Ruby, Dawn and Annie were all fighting over Jonathon at the end but it is hard to telegraph Dawn is killing people so she can have Jonathon all to herself given the existing setup of all these teens being paired off so quickly

[Aurora Dimitre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stine really is very true to form in this one, even including a ‘I’m dead!’ “Wait that was just my imagination!” scare during the climax, which I would be more annoyed with if I didn’t find it humorous at this point. You do really get to know this man’s writing the more that you read of him.

It was predictable who the “real” killer was. Stine did feed us a plethora of red herrings, and generally, with Stine, there is a formula. These are not ground-breaking, phenomenal horror novels. They are RL Stine and he does the same thing every time. That’s really the reasoning for the lackluster rating. It’s not bad. It’s Stine. It’s how it always is.

That spaghetti-eating scene was borderline hilarious, though. Who brings a bunch of people around for a birthday party and serves them SPAGHETTI??? Hello??? Annie???

[Ulises Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sin duda es uno de los mejores libros de R.L. Stine que he leído, buenos personajes, buena trama, buena ambientación, y el plot twist es muuuuuy bueno, fue muy entretenido de leer.

Lo único que me causo un poco de conflicto fueron las tres líneas finales, fuera de eso es un gran thriller.

La parte del gato Googles estuvo épica, me revolvió el estómago .

[Charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

instead of engaging plot twists, there were like six non-substantial fake outs that were thrown in the last few chapters.

her “best friend” being the secret antagonist felt like such a big cop out. this girl boiled Annie’s cat??? for like no reason??

maybe it’s because I’m older now and not really the target demographic, but R.L. Stine’s books felt so much more gripping as a child.

[Fynnie Kemp · Rating 2 out of 5]

what in the hell ????? that was my only thought this entire book, like genuinely none of it makes any sense. theres no timeline, no stable plot, no anything.

ive heard a bunch of praise for rl stine, but if this is what his books are then im gonna stay far away from them.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!This was such a great book. I have been reading a lot of R.L Stine's books and I had high hope for this one as well.It was not a disappointment.
Annie,the new girl moves in the new Town with her family mid term. She goes off exploring the town and the famous falls she heard from the real estate agent.There she meets Jonathan who holds a reputation and recent tag of being the boyfriend of the girl who died by falling to her death.
Strange things started to creep in Anne's life as she gets closer to Jonathan where she gets late night threatening calls,bizarre occurrences and an extremely creepy wannabe who wants her to be her best friend.Up till the end you would think you got it all figured out because that's what I did too but I was so wrong,so freaking wrong about who killed Louisa(Jonathan's dead girlfriend)
Although the title of the book might mislead you thinking that this would be a stalker-ish sort of dead girlfriend seeking revenge or so but it's not,it's more like a thriller with actual living person who is sick and twisted in one sided love.

Anyways, this a quick and easy read and I wasn't sure if I was excepting that much twists and turns(I know I said high hopes but not heavy stuffs like....... it's a spoiler so can't say) but this was definitely one of best R.L Stine I read so far.If you want a quick and really short but creepy suspense you should definitely check this out.
YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

[Daniela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Los libros de R. L. Stine son cortos y, aparentemente, dedicados especialmente a un público infantil. “La habitación secreta” y “La novia muerta” son libros que una amiga me prestó hace muchísimo tiempo, cuando recién florecía esta devoción por la literatura. Leí ambos en una misma noche. Cambiaba y cambiaba de página hasta llegar al final. Realmente me entretuvieron. Considero que este caballero posee una imaginación extraordinaria.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I vividly remembered the cover of this book, but not much else. I did remember the thing with Goggles though, and I still hate that scene. =(

This was an okay book, with an ending that isn't explained well, but it was still fun to read.

[Zachary Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty typical who-done-it but fairly entertaining for a young adult thriller. Written in typical Stine fashion but fast-paced and the twist makes sense and doesn't detract from the story (as is often the case with his titles).

[Matt Micucci · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really it's just one of those low suspense books written for chirlden, and it's just like all of the other r.l. stine books written in, like, two seconds.

[Javiera · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was my favorite book of R.L.Stine

[Robyn Drummond · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good story! Once again he is a master of the creepy.

[Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

thE bOoK iS reAlLy sCaRy

[Courtney Gruenholz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate how vague the blurb on the back describes this story.

I mean are we really dealing with a ghost from beyond the grave? Answer: No.

I'm so used to Stine's formulas that they don't really hamper my enjoyment of a book.

Annie Kiernan is new to Shocklin Falls, very small town she can view in two minutes on her brother's bike, and her first day about is interesting. She thinks she's about to see a young man her age jump of the cliffs about the falls.

He isn't so it's an intense first meeting with Jonathan Morgan, late Luke Perry look-alike, and Annie thinks he is so cute.

Oh and someone slashed her bike tires when she left it to go "save" Jonathan.

Walks her home and they meet Ruby Bonds, red-haired girl who obviously has a huge crush on Johnathan and is not happy to meet Annie.

She tells Annie Johnathan is dangerous...

Jonathan decides to introduce Annie to other kids at school the weekend before she is supposed to start high school on Monday. His best friend Caleb Dorsey is a jokester and his girlfriend Dawn Pedderson is dramatic looking and clearly frustrated with her boyfriend being so immature.

They all seem to get along but Dawn also warns Annie that Jonathan is dangerous. So Annie finally asks what the deal is with Jonathan...just why is he so dangerous?

His last girlfriend Louisa died at the same waterfall where Annie met Jonathan. He was the last one to see her alive...

When it seems Jonathan is interested in dating her, Annie starts getting strange calls then someone messing with her schoolwork before things go from bad to worse...unless she stays away from Jonathan.

His last girlfriend died...could Annie be next?

A paranormal route would be interesting but most of the time Stine just uses the old teen jealousy angle to a good advantage. We havered herrings, characters introduced that don't really contribute to the story, some good curveballs to throw us off and some pretty extreme measures.

The reveal is one I didn't see coming and the ending was pretty much:

"Oh some one tried to kill me...no big deal. PTSD...what's that?"

Kidding aside, I liked it and if you haven't read The Dead Girlfriend you should give it a go.