Spring Break

The Nightmare Club #11

by Nick Baron

Trapped by a storm in Florida's historic, reportedly haunted Isley Inn, April Mannerly and her friends face a terrifying nightmare as, one by one, they fall victim to vengeful spirits.

Genres: Young Adult, Horror

223 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

About the author

Pseudonym for author Scott Ciencin .



Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full recap at ogwnostalgia.wordpress.com/spring-break
This book is nowhere near as good as 13-year-old me remembered. The scenes in the Chaos Motel are creepy and effective, but too few and far between, and it takes forever to really get going. It's like The Shining for teens, except it's terrible! But hey, I read it so you don't have to!

[Matthew MacIntyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 3.5 stars. The first half of the book is way better than the second half. What starts out as five friends (April, her best friend Lisa, Lisa’s twatwaffle bf Jimmy, Paulo and Naomi) from Cooper Hollow (not set there at all so didn’t feel like a nightmare club book in the least) going on spring break to Florida. They are partying and enjoying all the MTVness that’s going on in the town when the group is driving and hit a random guy on a dark road ala I Know What You Did Last Summer. Now if the story would have stuck with that premise I would have been so happy. Well they come up with some story bury the guy and tell the police they were attacked. Then go back to the hotel where they want to party again but oh no a big storm is coming ala I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. Hell I would have taken a book that’s like that movie. But no it becomes a weird ghost story that was dumb and didn’t make much sense. Plus side was a lot of the insufferable characters died I did laugh when five were killed simultaneously by a falling tree. That’s how important they were no individual gruesome deaths. If the book wasn’t so bipolar I would have liked it better. I just want a good teen slasher novel please!!

[Erica Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts with your typical spring break bros flexing their pecs in Florida, breaks for some spooky storytelling amongst strangers in an old, creepy hotel, and ends in a gruesome and ghosty murder spree.

I mean, what more could you want?

It’s abundantly clear that the author is a huge horror fan with all the horror/sci-fi references and name dropping. It’s also probably why this book feels like an homage to stories I’ve read before; a bit of a blend of I Know What You Did Last Summer (Duncan) x Midnight Club (Pike) x The Shining (King).

But you know, with gothic hotel stormy Florida vibes.

It’s bloody and trippy and I had no idea where it was going, and for that, I loved it. What a ride.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written and interesting until about halfway through where it goes off the rails. I didn’t understand the ghosts. It reads more adult than YA too. Like Christopher Pike YA.

[Stacy Simpson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wasn't impressed with this at all. Very drab boring have no clue why I kept it around. Glad I decided to reread all my books in my small collection because ugh what was I thinking. Skip it if u have it.