Ahh, I do love returning to Fear Street. A place that I still say is the inspiration for the Hellmouth on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "The Second Evil" I found to be too short and also it doesn't give you a chance to mourn any characters that we lose. Of course the ending leaves open another book (which I am so reading).

"The Second Evil" follows some months after the events in the first book. Corky is left mourning her sister Bobbi who was murdered. She's left the cheerleading squad and is now dating Chip. Yeah that Chip. Chip who has gone from dating another member of the squad (Kimberly) and then Bobbi and now Corki. I was not a fan of Chip. When Corky starts seeing things and one of the squad keeps intoning the evil has returned, she starts to worry that what they all did a few months ago didn't vanquish the evil for good. And she's right to worry.

Corky is definitely a MC you can root for. I do miss Bobbi, but Corky has more of an investigative spirit I thought. She starts trying to run down leads with Chip and then some of the girls on the squad. I have to say though there's not much development of anyone else really in this one besides us getting more information on Sara Fear. I definitely loved the more information on the Fear family and wanted to know even more about them. When I was a pre-teen and later teen reading these books I would get so freaked out about the whole idea behind Fear Street. A few blocks down from my home was a cemetery that sat besides the railroad tracks. We would go down there during the summer and picnic and play touch football or tag, but we were always taught to be respectful of the graves and people visiting. In the daylight there was never anything that was too scary about the place, but as soon as dusk came around 7, 8, or 9 (depending on the time of year) the place felt lonesome and you felt like someone was out there wanting to touch you. Stine at times makes me recall how I felt the first time as a pre-teen reading this (I was 12 when this book was published) and that alone was enough for me to give this 4 stars.

The writing was solid, but there's not a lot of scares (at least for me) in this one. We do get some gruesome scenes here and there, but Stine quickly moves along as if he is afraid of freaking out his readers. The flow is a bit stop and start in a few places too, but since this is a fairly short book (180 pages) it doesn't hamper things.

The setting of Shadyside and Fear Street still resonate with me and I so wish that Netflix or someone else would consider picking up this series. You can easily update these books and I think would be a fun horror series to sink your teeth into.

So I don't even know what to say. What a crazy ride this book was. Also it takes place in 1984 and I maybe laughed at how some of the characters were talking. But the main plot and reveal of what the villain was up to made me go what in the world. And then I started to wrack my brain and wonder if I had seen a tv movie based on this book or what since it sounded familiar to me. I never read this the first time this was published back in 1990 so this was a new read for me.

"Halloween Party" takes place in the town of Shadyside (everyone needs to move okay?!) with a group of teens being invited by the new girl who has recently transferred to an exclusive party at a house purported to be haunted on Fear Street. Yeah, I got nothing, I would have hard passed, stayed home and ate some candy.

I liked that Stine started off the book with Terry and his girlfriend Niki walking through a graveyard on the way to this party and then the book jumps a couple of weeks back to when some of the students (9) get invited by the new girl, Justine, to a Halloween Party in an old mansion that her uncle is fixing up. 

There is some tension in the book prior to the party with the group of 9 kids turning on each other and splitting off into a jocks and wimps team. Since Terry is now dating his ex best friend's ex-girlfriend (you follow that?) he has even more tension built up about this party. 

I liked Terry a lot and Stine switches between Terry, Nikki, and another character as well (no spoilers). The fight between groups sounds like something stupid I would have done in high school so well done Stine. And I honestly didn't get what was going on with the party until the reveal so well done again.

The flow worked and I thought this was a nice book to get you in the Halloween mood.

The town of Shadyside has to have been built on a Hell Mouth though or something. I just laugh at people always going, yeah Fear Street and moving along. 

Deadlands Square: Sandy Hollow is still overrun with vampires who exist to tell us that girls can't be friends and that Stine invented the whiney undead.

Overall this is a pretty limp sequel to 'Goodnight Kiss', which wasn't that impressive to begin with. Stine has gone on the record saying he hates bothering with continuity and likes a clean slate and it shows. A lot of rumors circulate around Sandy Hollow and 'Vampire Island', but no one talks about events of the last book except for April. It might have been interesting to get a broader picture of this weird vampire colony that chooses to live and hunt in a seasonal beach community. Is the nectar better?

Also, the Shadyside connection is pretty slender, with April and some guy named Rick showing up, otherwise the main characters are from Holcomb, a town that nobody cares about. 

The plot is simple: Billy has returned to town for REVENGE. Last summer his girlfriend Joelle was killed by a vampire and, he confesses to his friends, he had to spend the whole school year in an institution because of it. His friends think he's working a summer job, but he's really on the look-out for vampires to slay. The problem is he's really, really bad at spotting vampires. Us readers know the vampires from the beginning (or DO We?!), but Billy has zero instincts on this point. There's also some major plot holes that I can't discuss without spoiling the shocking twist of it all. Let's just say that none of the characters in this book are burdened with good instincts.

The typical abusive relationship patterns are present here, but this time its only the women who are the problem. R.L. Stine: Feminist. Vampires Irene and Kylie are crazy possessive, demanding, and are nasty to each other about their looks - that's what good friends are like on Fear Street, I mean Sandy Hollow.

There is a twist to the book, but logically it makes no sense even for a 'Fear Street' novel. Also, the plot hinges on a bet between the vampires about who can turn a teen into a vampire first...which...is exactly what the plot was last time. Way past lame, Stine. Way past.

Fear Street Super Chillers

Next: 'Silent Night 3'

Previous: 'The New Year's Party'

Fear Street Square: Teens roam at their own risk in Sandy Hollow, a beach community beset with vampires.

The book begins with Jessica, a townie in the beach community, shopping for her blind date with Gabri. She's excited its summer again and there will be so many people around. The date with Gabri is enchanting, but there's a problem. It turns out they're both Eternals. Vampires, and so both of them wasted a night going for that sweet vein nectar. They refer to blood as nectar. Gabri and Jessica are both pushy jerks and they decide that the better vampire will be able to 'turn' a teen before the other. This requires three feedings spaced out, otherwise the teen would die and the bet would be off.

The next day April is helping her parents and twin sisters move in to the summer cabin. It's so much better in Sandy Hollow than in Shadyside! She's happy that her boyfriend Matt's family is coming to the beach again this year, as well as their friend Todd. Todd appears to be ok, even though he lives in one of those dumps on Fear Street.

The vampires make their bets, the unsuspecting teens go about visiting arcades, going to pizza shops and visiting the carnival. Will they make it through the summer alive?

This was OK. There wasn't much to jeer or cheer. The plot was instantly supernatural, but the vampires are still like bratty kids (take that Stephanie Meyer!). April makes a really strong case for liking her boyfriend, but then proceeds to complain about every one of his interests. Girl, get your priorities straight.

I'll keep saying it: these super chillers are only 15 pages longer than regular 'Fear Street' novels, I'm not sure why they didn't just cut some of the banter and descriptions of baggy swim trunks and publish them as part of the main series. In reality, it probably had to do with the publishing schedule of the others, but if publishing more than one a month floods the market how is the different packaging preventing the flood? I don't know.

Oh well. I have the sequel on hand, but since this is a 'Fear Street' novel they may not share any characters. We'll see....

Fear Street Super Chiller

Next: 'Broken Hearts'

Previous: 'Silent Night'