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First Date

1 rating: 3.0

A book by R. L. Stine

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Tags: Books, Childrens Books, Childrens Horror Books, Rl Stine

Author: R. L. Stine

Genre: Juvenile Fiction

Publisher: Bt Bound

Date Published: January 01, 2006

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Fear Street Reviews: First Date

Jan 13, 2007

by ssjakira1
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

Rating:

Pros: Scary because it's true in real life

Cons: Easily could have been scarier - typical Stine style brings it down

The Bottom Line: With just a little more effort, this could have been a really freaky book...

Fear Street - Name of a young adult horror/thriller series by R.L. Stine, focusing on the town of Shadyside that contains a street by the same name. Site of many deaths, psychos, attempted murders, and supernatural phenomenon.

Shadyside – not a bad place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live there. ...Oh who am I kidding, you wouldn’t even want to visit.

Unlike poor Chelsea, who has just moved to Fear Street. At 15 she hasn’t even had her first date yet and is fussy about her non-model appearance and her shyness. It seems to be a wonder when not one, but two boys ask her out! There’s just one itsy-bitsy, tiny, little problem. One of them is a serial killer and Chelsea doesn’t even know it. This could prove to be a bad first date…

A good book, and the scary part is that I’m sure this sort of thing happens frighteningly often in real life. Some poor girl goes out on a date with a guy and he ends up killing her or something equally horrible and creepy. Ugh. And I put my full support behind Stine’s use of motive/psychosis for the killer. Also does not sound too unlike the real world. The end may take you for a loop unless you remain in denial like me, “No, no, he could not have killed off her…” Though I sort of had different hopes for the end.

The red herring Stine attempts to throw in may only work for a few chapters, probably even less if you have been paying attention. As things progress, it becomes more of a red herring to Chelsea than the reader, and I was sort of hoping the non-serial killer guy would be the one to jump in and save her instead of doing the whole “I’m stuck at my house with a killer” bit, as Stine does so often. Instead he’s sort of an annoying jerk, rather than a sort of “yay a good guy for Chelsea!” moment. There’s a little of that at the very end, but I miss the days when guys saved girls. Is chivalry so dead?

At least there is very little of Stine’s repetition (though again we get to read “so cold, so cold” as I suppose no one ever bought Stine a thesaurus). I do wish Chelsea had been developed just a tad more, but you never really can expect Stine’s characters to ever get fully 3D. That’s just the way life is.

All in all, no major complaints. Could have been scarier, but it’s good enough for the 14-17-year-olds out there.

Don’t know what Chelsea is complaining about anyway at 15. I wasn’t even allowed to date until I was 16 and even now at 23 I can’t remember any real first date I had…meh. Whatever. At least I never dated any psychos (that I know of… o_O)

NT

My Book’s Info:
(for once I got to handle a new one, as it’s from the library!)
Price: The spine says $5.99
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Inc.
ISBN: 1416908196
Format: Paperback
Pages: 165
Date Published: 1996
Cover Art: Sammy Yuen Jr.

Fear Street Series
The New Girl
The Surprise Party
The Overnight
Missing
The Wrong Number
The Sleepwalker
Haunted
Halloween Party
The Stepsister
Ski Weekend
The Fire Game
Lights Out
The Secret Bedroom
The Knife
The Prom Queen
The Best Friend
The Cheater
Sunburn
The Dare
Bad Dreams
Double Date
The Thrill Club
One Evil Summer
The Mind Reader
Wrong Number 2
Truth or Dare
Dead End
Final Grade
Switched
College Weekend
The Stepsister 2
What Holly Heard
The Face
Secret Admirer
The Perfect Date
The Confession
Killer's Kiss
All-Night Party
Cat
Fear Hall: The Beginning
Fear Hall: The Conclusion
Who Killed the Homecoming Queen?
Into the Dark
Trapped

Fear Street Super Chillers
Party Summer
Broken Hearts
The Dead Lifeguard
Bad Moonlight
The New Year’s Party
High Tide
Goodnight Kiss
Goodnight Kiss 2
Silent Night
Silent Night 2
Silent Night 3
Cheerleaders - The New Evil

Fear Street Cheerleaders
The First Evil • The Second Evil • The Third Evil

99 Fear Street: The House of Evil
The First Horror • The Second Horror • The Third Horror

Fear Park
The First Scream • The Loudest Scream • The Last Scream

The Fear Street Saga
The Betrayal • The Secret • The Burning

Recommended:
Yes

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