I have a grave weakness, a sickness that comes back again and again. That weakness is for the many works and wonders of Robert L. Stein. Too often I find myself reading yet another one of his novels for young adults and children. They have cheesy plots, debatable writing style, and unbelievable stupid characters. Yet somehow I manage to come back around again and again for his strange and disturbing trips into the macabre. I've read my fill of Stephen King and a few other adult horror novelists. But after my last encounter with the splatter-punk author Edward Lee I decided I was more comfortable and got greater enjoyment out of horror novels geared towards the younger audience. I find them surprisingly more tasteful, tactful, and relateable. So either that means that adult writers are simply bad at the their craft or I never matured. I will assume the later.
Being a writer myself I have dabbled in the young adult genre multiple times and I find it a refreshing medium. Mostly I have found that in my childhood and youth I was inspired and driven to imagine, explore, and most importantly - write, because of the horror novels I read. It just so happened that most of them we're by R.L. Stein.
Stein's earlier series, Fear Street, was geared to the upper middle grade age group and were usually somewhat darker than his more well known Goosebumps series. (One I also loved and enjoyed) Halloween Party is the 8th installment in the series and centers around (surprise, surprise) a creepy Halloween party. Now I automatically picked this one up and bought it when I saw it. I am a huge sucker for any story centered around Halloween. I feel it is a magical time that oozes creativity and possibility. Secondly there was a haunted house on the front. And (as it is another weakness of mine) any book, movie, or game that has a creepy old mansion on the front is more than likely added to my library for later viewing or reading purposes.
Halloween Party was no exception. The unfortunate truth about most haunted house books is that it takes a while before our characters have entered the haunted abode. I'm impatient and want to get the party started right away. The first section of this book drags with boring, yet necessary, exposition. After that the creepiness doesn't really set in until they've been in the mansion for a short while. Overall, the wait isn't horrible.
It's near around this point that a night of All Hallows tricks turns into murder and then we are plunged into a night of screams and horrors. It begins to feel like a classic slasher flick, just tone down the gore and number of kills. The lack of kills doesn't take away from the story. I won't spoil it but it gets maniacal the closer you get to the climax of the book.
Being a writer myself I have dabbled in the young adult genre multiple times and I find it a refreshing medium. Mostly I have found that in my childhood and youth I was inspired and driven to imagine, explore, and most importantly - write, because of the horror novels I read. It just so happened that most of them we're by R.L. Stein.
Stein's earlier series, Fear Street, was geared to the upper middle grade age group and were usually somewhat darker than his more well known Goosebumps series. (One I also loved and enjoyed) Halloween Party is the 8th installment in the series and centers around (surprise, surprise) a creepy Halloween party. Now I automatically picked this one up and bought it when I saw it. I am a huge sucker for any story centered around Halloween. I feel it is a magical time that oozes creativity and possibility. Secondly there was a haunted house on the front. And (as it is another weakness of mine) any book, movie, or game that has a creepy old mansion on the front is more than likely added to my library for later viewing or reading purposes.
Halloween Party was no exception. The unfortunate truth about most haunted house books is that it takes a while before our characters have entered the haunted abode. I'm impatient and want to get the party started right away. The first section of this book drags with boring, yet necessary, exposition. After that the creepiness doesn't really set in until they've been in the mansion for a short while. Overall, the wait isn't horrible.
It's near around this point that a night of All Hallows tricks turns into murder and then we are plunged into a night of screams and horrors. It begins to feel like a classic slasher flick, just tone down the gore and number of kills. The lack of kills doesn't take away from the story. I won't spoil it but it gets maniacal the closer you get to the climax of the book.
In the ending I felt very sad for the characters but also sad for the murderer as well. In many ways this is a small sign of the decency of Stein's writing. His characters still manage a sense of ambiguity so that we manage to connect with them. When we manage to connect with the psychopath of the story then we begin to understand horror at its core.
Summing it Up
Halloween Party isn't my favorite of the series but it captures many elements I love of the holiday and of the genre. The simple development of the characters and the driving horror story manage to outshine any rusty elements in this macabre tale from the master of young horror R.L. Stein. I can hope to write at least one novel as successful as any of his.
Language: 1
Gore Factor: 2
Sex Factor: 0
Scare Factor: 3
Fun Factor: 5
Overall Rating: 3
Language: 1
Gore Factor: 2
Sex Factor: 0
Scare Factor: 3
Fun Factor: 5
Overall Rating: 3
To learn more about my rating system click here.