Well, this is another one I that I didn't read when it first came out. I don't think I would have liked it as a kid either. This book was too all over the place and that ending was a bit odd since I think that Cusick is leaning towards a love triangle or something. Once again this one is more adult than I was thinking of for the time it was written (1993). We have a character threatening to rape the main character a few times. We also have once again a parent that is missing in action throughout this book. I swear I should do a YA horror cheat sheet. Do you have a parent that is never around when some scary stuff is going down? You may be about to be murdered. Once again a good example of the "Fear Street" square for Halloween Bingo 2019.

"Help Wanted" follows teenager Robin. Robin is looking to make some extra money and then responds to a help wanted ad that is up at her school. When she goes to the interview she is shocked to find that the new job is at Manorwood that has been a long abandoned mansion in the town. However, it has recently been occupied again by the uber rich Swanson family. The family's elderly patriarch is who is looking for help cataloging some books from the dead second wife of his son. Robin though quickly realizes that something is wrong at Manorwood and that someone seems intent on causing harm to Claudia, step-sister to Parker Swanson. And Parker seems intent on warning Robin off and saying that Claudia is just crazy, just like her mother. 

So Robin didn't really do a lot of investigating. Just running from scene to scene screaming Claudia's name. The book sparks up a bit IMHO when she is dealing with her friend Faye.

Faye though disappears about halfway through the book and we just have Robin dealing with the Swanson family and another new book in town, Walt.

Walt is enigmatic and seems to be around to just say random phrases and disappears again. 

I really didn't like Parker at all and thought he definitely had some issues with his whole grabbing Robin anytime he wanted to thing and starting intently into her eyes and telling her what a mess Claudia was. 

Claudia is a scared rabbit through the whole book and one wonders how she managed to dress herself and get through the day. 

The parents in this book are missing. We do get a sighting of Robin's mom when she pops up to tell Robin to bring in the groceries. Parker's step-mother is dead, we find out his mother died in a car accident. His father is...somewhere? Business trip? I don't even remember. 

The mystery of the book really is about who is out there scaring Claudia? Claudia believe her dead mother is now haunting her and wants Claudia to join her in death. Robin is determined to figure out what is going on and then starts to become scared when she it appears that something paranormal is going on. 

The ending though was definitely a surprise. I thought I knew who was doing things and why and turned out to be wrong. I do have to say though that I thought the book ended on a weird  note. And I ask again, what happened to Faye? 

I read this for Fear Street & will wait for OB to get started on her read to discuss it further. This is the first book by Richie Tankersley Cusick that I've read - I'm a bit too old to have experienced the Fear Street/Point Horror phenomenon as a tween.

Wow. Not too much to say except for the most part this was enjoyable. The book drags at times and the character development beyond a few people wasn't really there, but this was a good representation of young adult horror books from the late 80s/90s.

So "Trick or Treat" follows 16 year old Martha. Martha's father has recently got married and is now moving him and Martha to move in with his new wife and his stepson in the town of Bedford. Martha hates the scary old house that they move into, and when she finds out that almost a year ago (Halloween day to be exact) a young girl was murdered in her bedroom, she's ready to move back to Chicago. A voice keeps calling Martha and saying "Trick or Treat' and telling her she's going to die. 

So Martha at times I thought was bratty. I get it though. Her father got married without even telling her and moved her and him from Chicago to a small town in the middle of nowhere. The house is a mess, her stepmother can't cook, and her father then rushes off to Hawaii for an assignment and dumps the kids alone. I did laugh a few times how often it's mentioned the parents haven't called. I know this book was written in 1989, but seriously though, I can't imagine my parents taking a weeks long trip and not calling the house once. Martha is kind of hysterical though and tries to do some amateur sleuthing with her new stepbrother Conor when things keep happening in their home. 

Conor is kind of annoying I thought, and at times it seems as if Cusick was implying that Martha had a crush on him and vice versa. Probably because Martha keeps calling Conor her stepbrother and correcting anyone that called him her brother. 

Martha makes friends with the Chambers family which consists of Blake, Wynn, and Greg. Greg is a teacher at Bedford and hangs out way too much with his teen cousins, Blake and Wynn. So outside of these three people, Martha and Conor don't interact with anyone else in the town. 

I got a creepy vibe from Blake and from Greg too. Who hangs out with teens and tells one of them how pretty they are? 

The parents are barely developed beyond being selfish and we hear third hand accounts about the girl who was murdered and her ex-boyfriend who stands accused of killing her who disappeared.

I thought the writing was a bit disjointed in parts and the flow needed to be a bit cleaned up. That said, this is a different type of book and I rated it based on that. Young me who read this at the age of 9 (the age this was published) would probably have been scared to death the whole time and had nightmares for weeks.

The setting of Bedford was definitely creepy and hearing about the backstory of the Bedford family and the young girl who was murdered really set the mood for the book. I wish that Cusick had given us more details on Bedford. I am still puzzled if this is in the mid-west or not. I also wanted to know more about other people in the town adults, kids, etc. There was bare bones with regards to developing this past enough to keep readers engaged with Martha's story.

The ending was a surprise to me though and kind of gruesome. I think it definitely echoes the types of YA horror that was coming out that time though. 

So I never read this book back in the day. Shocking I know since I inhaled Cusick and R.L. Stine like no one's business back in the day. I think because it was hard to find Cusick's books at the store when I was a kid and Stine was all over the place.

"Trick or Treat" follows Martha who has moved from her home in Chicago to go live with her father and his new wife in some rundown home in a small town. I am going to just assume this is in the mid-west somewhere though so far no one has given any clues what state this new place is. I am staring to lean towards the east coast because of the mention of the style of house with a gabled roof and all. I could be wrong. Martha's dad kind of sucks. He eloped and had his new wife buy a house and moved his daughter away. Martha has a new stepbrother named Conor who she seems "intrigued" by (I need bleach) and hates the new home that also has a cemetery on the grounds. Martha so far has only met one family in this whole place and has been told her home called the Bedford House had a murder in it years ago. Dun dun dun.

Here are the squares you can read for if you finish this book and why:

Oh you got the scary house with gables, it's creeky, dark, and a new stepbrother who is talk, dark, and handsome. There's also some weird mystery going around that centers around a heroine. 

There's a cemetery on the property. Enough said. 

Book starts off in October and there's already mention of jack-o-lanterns, scarecrows, and decorating for Halloween. And there's the title. 

This would be a perfect book to read by flashlight or candle light. The setting of this house is creeping me the heck out.

Going by the way the house is described. I wish someone would say where this is located. So this one is a maybe.

Well it's a mystery. Someone is calling Martha going "Trick or Treat" and we know a murder happened in the home. 

Hmm. I guess that Martha and Conor may start to investigate their home. We will see. This one is a maybe too.

It's mentioned a bunch of times this is a house set in the country and not in the town.

Should fit too since we now are hearing about the murder.

Martha thinks the house is haunted and it seems that way based on the cold spots and the whispering.

Same reason as above.

Martha is in high school and attended school already. Also I think the school is called Bedford and that's the name of her house too. Weird.

The cover is black!

Book was written in 1989!

Book fits the horror category.

Fits for Fear Street description!

There is mention of how small this town is. Whose name I am still unclear on. 

This takes place in America. 

Yeah I know. Sometimes you just read books one after another that tickle your funny bone cause they are really not good. I mean, I get what Cusick was trying here, but after I got to the end and all is revealed I was like, dang? Really? This is a more brutal horror book for Cusick I thought. Ryan (she's a teen girl) and her sister Marisa are walking in the woods collecting pine cones for Christmas decorations (as one does) and Marisa falls through some ice and drowns. Ryan tries to save her, but is haunted by not being able to pull Marisa out. Just three weeks after her sister's death, Ryan starts to feel like Marisa is still there watching and blaming her for not saving her.

I think this is the first Cusick book I can recall off the top of my head that someone we are introduced to in the first few pages dies. I wish I could feel sorry for Ryan. But she had some terrible logic when it came to figuring out what is going on. She also tells everyone her plans and just generally has everyone thinking she's losing her mind.

Ryan is a teen girl that once again has two boys falling for her. Heck one of them even tells her that he only went out with her sister to get closer to her. Um thanks dude, you also kind of suck.

Ryan's best friend Phoebe and Phoebe's brother Jinx (yeah I am not looking up if I spelled that right) are seriously her only two friends besides the owner of the toy store she works out.

Due to Ryan's mother being a freaking moron, some random dude named Charles shows up saying he was dating Marisa and wants to be close to her family since she died. Since Ryan's mother went to the "I am a terrible mother and have no common sense" school she allows the dude to move in with them, and makes Ryan move out of her room into her dead sister's room so Charles can stay in her room. I am serious.

Honestly this whole book reads like a bad farce. You keep having random people thrown at you and you wonder how everything ties together. It really doesn't when the final reveal comes. My face probably looked like this:

Maybe this just means I should stop reading books from my youth, because most of these did not hold up well at all.