Killer Instinct

Horror High #2

by Caroline B. Cooney

Holly and her friends are looking for excitement - a night to end all nights. When they break in to a mysterious, dark house, the don't expect the owner to be a vampire. But he promises that they can leave, unharmed - all expect one that is. One of them must stay and forever be the vampire's. How will they decide who it should be?

Genres: Horror

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Caroline Cooney knew in sixth grade that she wanted to be a writer when "the best teacher I ever had in my life" made writing her main focus. "He used to rip off covers from The New Yorker and pass them around and make us write a short story on whichever cover we got. I started writing then and never stopped!"
When her children were young, Caroline started writing books for young people -- with remarkable results. She began to sell stories to Seventeen magazine and soon after began writing books. Suspense novels are her favorites to read and write. "In a suspense novel, you can count on action."
To keep her stories realistic, Caroline visits many schools outside of her area, learning more about teenagers all the time. She often organizes what she calls a "plotting game," in which students work together to create plots for stories. Caroline lives in Westbrook, Connecticut and when she's not writing she volunteers at a hospital, plays piano for the school musicals and daydreams!
- Scholastic.com

Reviews

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay, but a bit silly. And as the story was set in America, why the hell would they dial 999 for the police? And what aren't we really told how long after Bethany lived in the house this story takes place?

* 6 kids go into a haunted house which is due to be demolished.
* They are attacked by a vampire who tells them they must pick one of them for him to eat and the rest can leave.
* They don't want to choose. Max falls out the window and the vampire saves him. Rob tries to go through the door and gets stuck. Jessica lifts some floorboards and falls into the vampire's nest. Ben offers himself to save Holly, and the vampire says he's safe now. Katie offers herself then gets pissed off when the vampire says alright. Holly hears her brother outside so offers herself so that the others can keep her brother safe.
* Everyone leaves except for Holly, Holly sets the Vampire's lair on fire, and manages to escape, but the car thief who was trying to steal Ben's car gets got by the second vampire.
- So what happened to Bethany and her family? How long ago did they leave? Why did they leave? Did Bethany discover the second vampire under the floorboards?

[Char · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m really disappointed with this, what’s more, I should’ve known. My previous attempts to read books and authors that I loved as a teen haven’t gone well and I was naive to think that this would go any better. This wasn’t at all scary and it failed to capture my attention. This is a really short book (184 pages) but it dragged on, I honestly feel that it could have been made even shorter. The writing isn’t anything particularly special and the fact that the author was constantly changing POV in this book frustrated me as it made the story disjointed and it failed to settle down. The majority of the book takes place in one room and so for the story to feel disjointed is an incredible feat. Maybe I should give Ms Cooney some credit for that.



I couldn’t connect with any of the characters as I was rarely with them for more than a couple of paragraphs at a time. As the reader I like to be able to get to know the characters and form opinions on them. It makes it so much more difficult to review a book if you don’t feel that you could relate to at least one person. The impressions I got of the characters however weren’t positive. They didn’t seem to have any redeeming qualities and what could have made them better people was erased from their memories. As for the vampire, I didn’t really grasp what the author was trying to do with him. My ideas of him are confused as he was never really explained. This means that he’s not very scary because you don’t have this mental image of him. He was a complete let down.



Overall I think this book is average. I don’t have anything positive to say but I’m not sat here tearing my hair out telling you that I’ve been tortured by some mean author lady. If I’d known I was going to have yet another case of realising I can’t be a teenager forever, I really wouldn’t have read this. I mean, I read for excitement yet recently I’ve read quite a few books that I haven’t liked and that saddens me. I’m not sure if I’d recommend this as Cooney’s fans will have grown up and moved on and the YA market doesn’t need me telling you about another author that’s best described as mediocre.

[Beena · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is interesting, for younger readers, otherwise, you may get bored.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a drag at first but good. Some parts were jumpy and just not in important. But yeah, it was ok.

[St Stephen's C C]

Holly and her friends are looking for excitement - a night to end all nights. When they break into a mysterious, dark house, they don't expect the owner to be a vampire. But he promises that they can leave, unharmed - all expect one, that is. One of them must stay and forever belong to the vampire. And he'll even let them choose.