Title: The New Year's Party
Series: Fear Street Super Chiller #9 (Can be read as a standalone)
Author: R.L. Stine
Genre: YA, horror, mystery thriller
Publication date: September 1995
Published by: Archway/Simon Pulse
Source: Own paperback
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Synopsis:
Ring in the new fear.
P.J. wasn’t supposed to die. It was just a practical joke, no big deal. But P.J. had a bad heart...
The kids at Reenie’s Christmas party couldn’t tell the police what they’d done, so they hid the body... and then it disappeared.
Now someone is killing them, one by one. Someone is taking P.J.’s revenge... but who?
By midnight they’ll know. Because when the clock chimes, they’ll all get a kiss. The kiss of death.
When midnight strikes... they all die.
Reenie and her friends love pulling pranks on each other—these stupid games where they try to scare the crap out of each other by pretending to be dead.
Maybe we should stop playing this game, Reenie thought. Maybe we should stop right now—tonight—before someone goes too far.
It is honestly so dumb and I was not, in the slightest, surprised when their little games turn to reality and actually get someone killed. Sorry Reenie! But you were just a bit too late! And you probably also jinxed it by saying that. Lol.
I thought the mystery was pretty interesting, even though things don’t kick into gear until way later on in the book. But I actually enjoyed the journey there and hanging out with all these idiot, prank-playing characters.
 |
| Or whatever the equivalent was in the 90s lol |
And then trying to figure out who is turning their little pranks into reality, and OMG PJ’s body disappeared! Is PJ actually alive and torturing them? Or is someone taking revenge for his death?? I didn’t guess the plot twist or the killer till the very end, so I was glad to be surprised. But I also feel like an idiot because it seemed so obvious! Lol. But the whole thing was quite interesting... especially with one particular character who I thought had absolutely nothing to do with things! But it was an interesting twist I did not see coming!
This book also had a little bit of a dual timeline to it. There are four parts in the book, and we start off with a New Year’s party in 1965. However, we aren’t there for very long. The book takes place mostly in the present, or when the book was first published in 1995. Lol. However, the 1995 New Year’s party doesn’t actually happen till the very end of the book, which I thought was weird, but also made sense once you read it. But we do get a bit of Christmas partying, where the bad things get started! Anyway, these two events from 1965 and 1995 are connected, but I never could have guessed how until it hit me in the face! Lol.
I also loved that this book had a bit of a supernatural touch to it. Yay! But overall, I really enjoyed the read. I loved the setting (duh), and I loved seeing all the little references to characters from previous books. Here are some mentions or appearances I caught:
- Deena Martinson from The Wrong Number
- Corky Corcoran from The Fear Street Cheerleaders series
- Ricky Shore from The Overnight
- Julie Price from Final Grade
- Gary Brandt also from The Overnight
- Bobby Newkick, who could or could not be the same as Bobby Newkirk from Double Date
- Megan Carman also from The Fear Street Cheerleaders series
- Lisa Blume from The New Girl
- Justin Stiles from The Prom Queen
The Fear Street connection: The new kids, PJ and Liz, live on Fear Street. It’s no surprise PJ was the one to die. Lol.
“You don’t believe all those dumb stories about Fear Street—do you?” Marc asked.
Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! :)
When midnight strikes... they all die. LOVE IT!
ReplyDeleteMe too! It's a great tag line!
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