Indirectly causing the death of P. J., who had a bad heart, the attendants at Reenie's Christmas party agree to hide the body and the truth until someone begins to hunt down and kill each in turn.
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.
What better way to ring in the new year than with murder? I vaguely recall reading this in the '90s, but the revisit still felt fresh. As always, Fear Street delivers nonstop thrills, chills, and plenty of twists. I'm a little embarrassed for not expecting the surprise double-whammy at the end, but that's also the sign of great writing. A twist should leave the reader saying "Of course!" and frustrated for not guessing it.
At some point in my life I've read close to every Fear Street book published between 1989 and 1999 and none of them have disappointed. It gives me great pleasure to know I can go back to these books and experience the same edge-of-my-seat excitement I had when I was a kid. Actually, I think I like them even better as an adult.
For my final book of the year I wanted to read something set around New Years Eve, this Fear Street Super Chiller was perfect!
Set in both 1965 and 1995 there’s a fun but obvious connection between the two time periods. Though I probably wouldn’t have spotted it if I’d read it as a teenager.
An enjoyable quick read, it was great to have done supernatural elements in a Fear Street book!
I was interested through-out. It has 2 story-lines, one in the present (or what was the present at the time it was published, the mid-90s) and 1965. And until the twist at the end revealed it I had no idea how they connected and I wanted to find out. Granted I wasn't thinking too much into it and if I was maybe i'd have guessed it, i'm not sure. That's what I love about these fear street books, they are easy to read and don't require a lot of brain power.
I was frustrated with the characters cruel jokes but that's from my perspective and I understood they were teenagers just trying to joke around, but sometimes, jokes go horribly wrong as it shows. Even though I was frustrated by the characters I did like them well enough. And just when I thought I had it all figured out, who is doing the murdering, it pulled out some more twists! Granted I did have part of it figured out but only a small part of it. I really enjoyed the ending. Happy New Year!
Starting off with a flashback to the 1960's, (I'm digging Beth's white go-go boots and mini skirt!!) before coming back to present day, which is 1995, wooooo!!
We meet a group of loonies helmed by Reenie, our protag. These nutjobs love to pull sick and twisted practical jokes on each other, like leading the group into the woods near Fear Street up a steep-ass cliff and then pretending to actually fall off and die off said cliff to terrify the others. I MEAN, WHO DOES THAT.
2 new kids start up at Shadyside High, Liz and her brother PJ. (Ok do you actually KNOW any dudes named PJ?? There is the amazing actress PJ Soles from 'Halloween' and 'Rock n Roll High School'! And also rad 90s girl power songstress PJ Harvey!! But I know of no PJ dudes.) PJ is a sickly, wimpy and pale little thing that we learn has a heart murmur, and Reenie and her terrible friends decide to play one of their sick jokes on him. BRILLIANT IDEA, GUYS.
As you can probably surmise, shit goes wrong and people start dying, like for realz and not as a stupid joke. It all culminates in a deadly New Year's Eve party...one you don't wanna be invited to 💀💀💀 Ohhh and there is a TWIST at the end.
4 out of 5 cracks of the neck til it's twisted all the way around. Eww!! Nothing like a gross revenge killing, RL Stine style!!
This one was fun. There is 2 story lines going here but they are easy to keep separate. One is in 1965 and involves Beth and Jeremy. The other is in modern-day 1980/90's. Freebie and her friends just love to play jokes on each other. These jokes often involve taking their death but hahaha aren't they do funny? No. Y'all are not funny at all. One joke goes too far and people really start dying. This was a fun read. Some I figured out, some things I didnt. Stine name drops in this one like crazy. If your taking notes, have your own ready.
Everyone in Stine’s universe loves a good ‘ol fake death
Finished just in time for the new year 🥳! Stine pulls out all his fave moves: fake dying/fake murder, sick pranks, twists on twists, and a sketchy party. Also: multiple gnarly deaths (but they deserve it tbh).
- Were they ghosts?? Zombies?? Whattttt. Their bodies are solid and they can still be stabbed - I love that they were undead but still took the time to decorate and leave out their yearbook. - goth New Year’s Eve party is such a vibe - Also if they were already dead @ the time of the kiss prank, how come the one girl didn’t notice she was kissing a cold dead dude without a pulse
Fun and bonkers! Enjoy
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Like most 90s YA books, especially Fear Street books specifically, this was a quick and easy read. And I had fun time reading this between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Overall, this wasn't my favorite Fear Street read, but I still had a wonderful time digging into it.
3.5 stars, rounded up. One of the better ones of Stine's as far as characters go. Two twists, one I guessed, one I didn't, and lots of cross-overs and name dropping from previous books which always adds an extra half star for me.
You know the other thing I love about 'vintage' paperbacks? No F*@#ing typos and editing mistakes!
Personally, if I lived in this town I would simply not go for a walk late at night on Fear Street, or take a dip in Fear Lake, or head off into the Fear Woods (all REAL LOCATIONS IN THIS TOWN) but that's just me.
I seem to be in the minority here, as this appears to be a pretty popular and favorite in the series for many people, at least among the Super Chillers - but this is one of the worst ones, for me.
It's kind of plotless for the first 75 or so pages until we get a prank-gone-wrong scenario followed by a revenge plot that we've seen numerous times in these, with this one not doing much to keep me engaged.
We get a short but wild climax with like 3 different twists thrown in at the end, and not a single one of them making enough sense or having enough impact on the story to make me care. It's all a bit too wacky and convoluted and I just didn't care enough about the characters or anything that happened to them, really.
Overall this isn't one of the worst FS books I've read but I didn't really care for it all that much. I give it a flat 2⭐ - but would maybe still recommend it because most others seem to enjoy it quite a bit. Is it just me???
I didn’t want to read a New Years themed Fear Street, but this is what the library had. It’s then a bit ironic that this book does absolutely nothing with its title except start and end on the day of the holiday. It was nice to see a snowy Sunnyside, I guess.
The story follows a group of friends who like to play dumb pranks on each other. So this book is super boring. And the last third, when things get vaguely interesting, is spoiled by the back cover copy and also really unoriginal.
Then the climax is super goofy.
So this has got nothing going for it.
At least I read it fast, almost entirely on my work commutes and lunch break.
My first book of the year was definitely hit and miss. For me the beginning was great, taking place in 1965. Then the modern times. The characters weren't relatable except maybe PJ. The ending was perfect. A little to quick. But the twist I didn't see coming. Overall slightly above average. 3 out of five stars for me.
Cheesy and predictable with the 'shocking cliffhangers'. I grew a bit confused on the order of the stories. What annoying friends with those practical jokes too, but what would these books be without revenge?
Despite the silliness of the 'killer kiss' and the rushed and convoluted ending, this offers a good mystery and some intense horror, especially in the parts set in the past. An entertaining addition in the Fear Street series.
This is one of those fun Fear Streets where I absolutely didn't see the twist coming, even though I very much should have, considering the flashback chapters.
Also, the pranks are so ridiculous, like who are these teens, just pretending to die every few days?
3.5! This one is actually decent! I have been having fun revisiting these books from my childhood. Some have been super cheesy, some have just been boring or lame.. but I enjoyed this one! Murders, ghosts, revenge, pranks, twists! An enjoyable hour of reading!
It's a new year and I wanted something fun to read for it. The new year's party was just that. It was a short spooky read with an interesting twist. It wasn't great by any means, but these books are a lot of scary fun
Did I read this in one sitting, so that I can make my reading goal? Yes. Was it particularly good? No. But it was bat shit crazy so I’ll allow it as my final book of the year.
Not saying this was a bad book, but definitely not the strongest from R.L. Stine. My biggest issue with the story for me was that it had one too many characters. I got confused at times of who was who's brother, sister, or friend. For the plot the first half of the book was a very simple storyline that really didn't do much building up of what was going to come later. Halfway through is when the twist happens is when the story really picked up and added that supernatural twist. That's when it got a little silly but what else would you expect? Overall it was still an enjoyable read but not one of my favorites of the series. At least it was a short book at only 193 pages.
It's rare that Stine earns four stars from me, but I had to this time. He managed to show some restraint with the typical Stine-isms (don't worry, though, characters still yell "noooo!" a couple times!) to produce a pretty well-written book. A completely bonkers book, with multiple reveals and twists trying to one-up each other in the last few chapters; stupid pranks; and HEADS TWISTED COMPLETELY AROUND! I had so much fun reading this one.
2.5/5 This was a decent read, but I found myself getting a little bored at some points. It was very predictable and the climax was a little bit underwhelming. The gore was cool, but I thought that the bullying was disgusting and dumb. Overall not the best Fear Street book I’ve read and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to others.