The Stepbrother

New Fear Street #1

by R.L. Stine

He's come back from the dead to get her!

Sondra started having terrifying nightmares right after her new stepbrother moved in. Nightmares about her own death. Nightmares about being murdered.

A psychic tells Sondra that she is remembering events from a past life. And the person who murdered her may be after her in this life, too. He may be someone close to her. Someone living in her very own house.

He may be... her stepbrother.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Thriller, Mystery, Childrens, Teen, Horror Thriller

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

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

[Nikos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ωραιοτατο θριλερακι 3,5/5!!!!!!!!

[Austin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun one. It reminded me a tiny bit of Dean Koontz (the hypnotism and thriller elements) and even R.E.H. (The past lives and reincarnation aspects).

One of the more unique Fear Street books that I've read.

[Liliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed on Lili Lost in a Book

I was a little apprehensive going into this book because these sorts of books tend to be hit or miss for me, but omg it was so much better than I was expecting! Which was really nice because it has been well over a year since I last read a Fear Street book.



I really liked the premise of this book with the whole past life thing. I always love when a Fear Street book has a little bit of a supernatural twist to it—they’re always fun! I had a good time trying to figure out who was who in their past life and who was wanting to kill Sondra and why.



And the plot twists with the who and the why? I loved it! There was one person I was suspecting from the start, but I honestly would’ve been disappointed if it did end up being them, so I’m glad I was surprised by the actual culprit because holy crap was it nuts! I loved it! Lol. And one thing I loved about this book was that instead of going to the library for research like a normal YA main character, Sondra went to some rando who works at the gas station and was alive in the 50s when the past life disaster went down 😂



But yeah, I really enjoyed this! I mean, it wasn’t a favorite, but it wasn't the worst either. The plot twist there at the end was SO good and I really liked the overall premise. I really enjoyed visiting Shadyside. Like I said, it had been a LONG time since I last read a Fear Street book—I finished the main series back in 2021 and haven’t read anything since then. But I do have a couple more Fear Street spinoff books to get through, including this series, and I’m excited!

The Fear Street connection: The hypnotist, Andrea, that Sondra goes to see lives on Fear Street.

In all the years Sondra lived in Shadyside, she'd never once walked down Fear Street. It wasn't a street people visited—unless they had to.

[Courtney Gruenholz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing is a strong word but I came out loving this book so I'm going to say I loved it. Since it wasn't published by Archway but Gold Key and didn't have the classic Bill Schmidt artwork (though there was a Bill Schmidt cover drawn up) I admit I was a little skeptical to read it. I shouldn't have doubted the story Stine was going to present when he is really good...he's really good.

Sondra Craft's mother hasn't been married to Eric Martin's father for very long and he will soon be starting Shadyside High with her. They get along okay but he's practically a stranger but this is just the least of Sondra's worries...for now anyway.

On a boring rainy day, Sondra's friend Mallory suggests she try and hypnotize someone in their group of girlfriends. Beth and Jess treat it as a joke but Sondra doesn't like seeing her best friend getting upset so she volunteers to do it for real. That's when everything started to go wrong...

Since then Sondra has nightmares about fire, smoke, her body trapped and burning along with someone else she can't quite see. A dumb game has unleased what seems to be memories of a past life where Sondra was a girl named Penny involved with two boys, Paul and Gary. One was the love of her life and the other...a jealous, dangerous infatuation.

Terrifying accidents begin to happen and Eric always seems to there when they do. Sondra's boyfriend Zach doesn't get along with her stepbrother and bits from the past are now starting to bleed into the present.

Sondra doesn't know how she is supposed to stop her past life from repeating in this life...or just who will be the one to cause her death this time around. Who was Paul and who was Gary? Is it her boyfriend or is it...the boy who lives just down the hall?

I like the whole past life story plot and the great misdirection of just who has been reincarnated into whom in present day Shadyside. You think you know but then you are wrong and THEN you are proven wrong AGAIN. We get a good climax and a normal happy freeze frame type ending but I'm use to those by now.

It can't take away from a good story and a solid recommendation if you get your hands on a copy of The Stepbrother.

[Tabitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sondra is having flashbacks to the '50s and realizes she's remembering a past life where she was killed in a fire, and the person who set this fire all those years ago may have just moved in with her.

While I've been excited to get back to the "regular" Fear Street books consistently set in more modern times, I was reminded of how much more tame these books can be. The special editions of the Fear Street series have a lot more death and more supernatural elements.

[Μιχάλης · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am too old for this shit...

Παρόλα αυτά πολύ τίμιο βιβλίο και θα το είχα απολαύσει αν το είχα διαβάσει στα 13 μου.

[Dianna M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The New Fear Street series definitely starts with a bang with this awesome book! I was very excited to read it for a while because I had heard it was really good..and let me tell you I was not disappointed. I actually have nothing but good things to say about The Stepbrother. It was very enjoyable from beginning to end and I loved the storyline and the characters were also really like-able! I also liked the a fact that the story does a really great job in drawing you in right from the first page to the very last. It was cool that the story has something to do with hypnotism and also talks about living past lives and all that, which was pretty fun and a quite unique twist compared to other books. It did a good job working with all those elements and making it all really well integrated into the plot, which made it work (make sense) and it didn’t make it totally random. There was never a really dull moment in this book and it always kept me in suspense (wanting to read more and more) so far to say that I couldn’t put it down and I finished it the very same I started. What can I say the mystery was always there throughout. I also really liked the surprise ending too, I wasn’t expecting that at all, the ending helped in convincing me to rate this book as high as I am. Overall, I absolutely enjoyed this book, it did a good job keeping me at the edge of my seat and I will highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good thriller…for me it deserves 5 out 5 stars. I can now personally say that for me The Stepbrother hands down is my top favorite of all the 4 New Fear Street series books! :)

[Khurshid Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welcome back to Fear Street. The street that always shows that if you die, it is not permanent. You return from the grave with a message.

Have you ever been interested in hypnotism?
Have you ever wondered if it is true?

Imagine as a joke with friends becoming hypnotised
Imagine feeling drowsy until your past comes back to haunt you.

Suddenly

You witness being caught in a fire
You see someone out to kill you

Soon

You realise your past is being recreated again
Everyone from the past are back

And

So is your killer

I would highly recommend

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly well written and suspenseful as opposed to the usual lacklustre books I’m used to from the Fear Street series. I expected the initial “twist” where Zach ended up being the bad guy but then a twist on a twist happened and it was really Mallory who was behind it all... that was dumb, let’s just ignore that. The premise also seemed far fetched, even for fear street but that’s just a nitpick. Besides that, probably one of the best Fear Street books I’ve read, definitely recommend.

[Tehnehn Kaijaah Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit this was one of the better Fear Street books I have read, full of twists and turns with an interesting premise. the idea of past lives has always fascinated me, R.L did a great job at putting a horror twist on the subject. It has its flaws but all in all I was entertained and at times could not tear myself away from it. Tehn out of ten would recommend.

[Amanda Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good read except for the ending. It fell a little flat. The twist was unexpected. Overall a pretty decent book.

[Crys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desde mitad del libro esperaba que fuera Zach, la verdad, pero el giro final me dejó descolocada

[Paul Lê · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, now that's what I call an ending!. Readers think they have it all figured out at the last second, but then Stine throws yet another twist in to make this book even more memorable.

[Saadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Sreypich Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was such a page turner and I didn't see that twist coming at all. My guess was definitely off in this one.

[Ger Francus · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, but not great. I enjoyed it, the story was very mysterious and thrilling enough, but in an other kind of way it was a bit boring at the same time. - A bit slow.

But the twist ending; I really did not see that one coming. (As always. ;-) ) The story was entertaining enough, and it could hold my attention, so I'm still giving it 3 stars.

[Katrina Knittle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thrilling, suspenseful, and mysterious story. I enjoyed it very much. At times, while reading the story did get a little slow. By the end of the book the twist that happens is something I did not see coming.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm having so much fun re-reading old Fear Street books!

This one is actually legitimately good, and I love it just as much now as I did back then. It's definitely one of the more creative Fear Street books, and the twist ending is awesome.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creepy but i enjoyed it!

[Stormy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that Lauren Kate must have read this before she wrote Fallen. Ha ha. Just kidding.

Bet you can't guess who the bad GUY is. :)

[Claude · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh snap!! Did not see that twist at the end there!!

[Mackenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a long time, but I know I loved it.

[Ali Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything in this book is awesome from theme to characters, from scenes to ending of each chapter but ending of this book is very very much strange and unacceptable.

[Latafat]

Stebroren R.L Stine Fear Street #1