The Lost Girl

July 15, 2015
A tale of revenge on Fear Street-nothing new there. It's 1950. Beth's father is just about to open his own stable after years of working for thankless Martin Dooley, but Martin and his thugs can't let that happen. All Beth's "tricks"-magic taught her by her grandmother-can't save her beloved father, and she has to run from his murderers. Decades later, a mysterious girl starts hanging out with Michael Frost and his friends. After a snowmobile accident in which it seems they kill another teen, the friends begin getting threatening messages...and Michael's friends start dying. Does the new girl need help-or is something else going on? Stine's third of six new Fear Street novels is longer and more violent than the originals, as well as more histrionic, melodramatic, and unrealistic. Timelines and characters don't quite make sense, and the whole reads like a string of plot cliches drawn from a hat. It's the same easily read, jokey "horror" Stine's made bank on for decades. Today's horror readers know there are better scares out there. Good as a nostalgia trip for the original fans of Fear Street-but it will probably leave their children cold. (Horror. 12-16)

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August 1, 2015

Gr 7 Up-In these "Fear Street" additions, death and disappearance continue to plague the town of Shadyside. Troubled Lisa Brooks is haunted by hallucinations in Don't Stay Up Late. Eagerly taking up the task of babysitting a cherubic boy, Lisa thinks she is en route to recovery-until the murders begin. Lizzy Palmer is an intriguing new student in The Lost Girl. Michael is drawn to her, while girlfriend Pepper remains suspicious, and soon the couple is caught in a twisted ghost story of death and betrayal. Two creepy contributions to Stine's horror series for the older crowd.

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2015
Grades 7-10 In 1950, Beth is sexually assaulted, narrowly thwarting her attacker with her powers. A few days later, she sees her father brutallyand graphicallymurdered. Pursued by his killers, she runs into the woods, plunges into a cave, and free-falls into nothing. In the present, Michael invites the mysterious Lizzie to join his friends on a snowmobile ride. He loses control and runs into an unknown boy, killing him. Panicked, the group runs away. When they return, the body is gone. In the following days, the dead boy begins stalking the group, saying, You killed me. Now it's my turn. Michael works frantically to save his friends, resorting to increasingly desperate measures, all while digging into Lizzie's enigmatic background. The plot is tense and quick, the straightforward vocabulary and sentence structure amp up the pace, and the scares will please fans of Stine's novels. Sophisticated this is not, but that's hardly the point in a Fear Street novel. Horror fans, particularly reluctant readers, will be suitably pleased.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)