A Book Review - Halloween Night II by R.L. Stine (Point Horror)

In many ways, this is a rerun of the first book. After becoming friends with Brenda in the end of Halloween Night and promising to be a nicer person, Halley's turned into a brat again and is doing exactly the same things as in the first book, including stealing Brenda's boyfriend Jake - despite the fact that she's already dating Ted, the guy she seduced away from Brenda last time.

(Good Lord, R.L. Stine, where do you get these douchebag teenage boys from? Are high school boys just like this in the States? It's been ten years since I was in high school, but if my foster kid had behaved like any of these guys he'd have been in for some serious verbal whipping.)

So the pranks continue, as in the last book. Halley "accidentally" pours sulphuric acid over Brenda's hand in Chem. Someone sticks rotten pumpkin flesh in Brenda's locker. And Brenda and Traci and their new friend Angela decide to humiliate Jake - and maybe Halley - by setting up a haunted house and then pretending that they're going to kill him. A bit weak really.

Brenda's parents are marginally less scummy than in book 1, although they don't seem to have any real sympathy for Brenda's sulphuric acid burn. Halley is insensitive enough to bring the person who tried to kill Brenda last year into the house, saying that everyone deserves a second chance. Now that shit is wack. If someone brought the guy who tried to kill me into my house, I'd scream bloody murder. And then I'd kick them both out. And if I were a teenager without the authority to do that, I'd call child protective services, because clearly Brenda's parents are neglectful to the point where their daughter nearly gets killed TWICE, after receiving threats each time that the parental units didn't take seriously.

Even though Brenda's a whinger, I just feel so bad for her.

I'm tempted to up the rating again, because even though these books were uncomfortable to read, R.L. Stine obviously has talent - he makes me feel for these (annoying) characters, and get angry on their behalf. But I'll leave it down, because I'm trying to grade the Point Horror books against each other, in the context of teen horror, and these certainly aren't the best.

I don't know, maybe I'm just getting too old for Stine. He writes so many really unpleasant characters, and I like to surround myself with nice people, of both the real and the fictional variety. Some of his Fear Street books are still great, but I'm still looking for a book this autumn that makes me happy the way Beach Party did.

Verdict: Arrgh! It's Night of the Living Rerun! But with more death.