What happens when the seemingly perfect new girl isn't so perfect after all? A group of high school students take an extra-credit field trip to the bluffs to watch a midnight meteor shower. However, it quickly becomes dangerous when the new girl sets her sinister plan into motion. Perfect grades can't hide her true intentions. As the countdown to midnight begins, students start disappearing. Suddenly, passing science class is the last thing on everyone's mind. How will they all make it out alive? And who is this mysterious new student?
One of the things that I have been enjoying about these short stories is that they remind me of an episode you would see on "Goosebumps" or on "Are You Afraid of the Dark". Spooky and creepy, but not so much that they would scare the pants off of a YA reader. In Dark Star, a group of students head to The Bluffs for an extra credit field trip to observe a meteor shower. They figure out that something isn't quite right about the newest student who seems overly enthusiastic about the shower. Years before an entire class disappeared without a trace adding to the tension of the night.
This was definitely pretty creepy in an "invasion of the body snatchers" type of way. One by one, the students seem to be enamored with the shower and something seems to have taken over their body. They also keep walking into the woods and disappearing. I won't give away what is going on, but I was intrigued out enough to want to find out what happened. I think any reluctant or emerging YA reader will find it entertaining.