Publisher: Simon Pulse
First Published: June 1, 1989
Main Genre: Young Adult Horror Fiction
Pages: 168 pages
Format: Paperback
Source: Ebay
PURCHASE AT:
Amazon / Barnes and Noble \ Thrift Books
Synopsis:
(From Goodreads)
Welcome to Fear Street.
Don’t listen to the stories they tell you about Fear Street. Wouldn’t you rather explore it yourself…and see if its dark terrors and unexplained mysteries are true? You’re not afraid, are you?
Dying for a Kiss
She’s pale as a ghost, blond, and eerily beautiful—and she seems to need him as much as he wants her. Cory Brooks hungers for Anna Corwin’s kisses, drowns in her light blue eyes. He can’t get her out of his mind. And the trouble has only begun: Shadyside High’s star gymnast is losing sleep, skipping practice, and acting weird. All the guys have noticed, but only Cory’s friend Lisa knows the truth: Anna Corwin is dead and living on Fear Street. Now Cory must explore its menacing darkness to discover the truth. He has already been warned: come to Fear Street and you’re dead!
There are moments you want to revisit your old haunts. The places that you walked down when you were younger. The places that may have scared you just a bit, but you stayed alive through them. “FEAR STREET” was a horror young adult series when I was but a wee one. I loved walking down each journey of this street. I never read the entire series, but I remember having so many of these books or having the opportunity to read a large chunk of them at different moments. As an adult, I have worked my way into owning each of the books in the series. I hadn’t taken the time to start reading them though. I decided it was time to start and remembering just why I loved these little bits of escape. I just need to be a bit careful that I don’t get lost on my journey back to the scariest street from my childhood.
MAIN THOUGHTS:
This book focuses on the main character falling for a new girl in Shadyside. He can’t stop thinking about her, but when threats start to occur and he keeps getting told she is dead what will Cory do? There are so many twists and turns in this book. I forgot that one of the tropes that Stine does is ending each chapter on a weird cliffhanger. I remember loving these when I first read these, but here it felt like those cheap moments in a horror movie where the cat jumps out of the closet or a tree at the main character trying to get a jump. Yes, jump scares are a thing in the “Fear Street” book series.
There are elements of “Fear Street” that I remember to this day and during this first book I could see the foundational work for some of my favorite books in the series. There is a mention of the burned out Fear Mansion, if you know you know, in this book! I loved these little moments that mean basically nothing at this point, but that would eventually be a part of the larger lore of the series. This is going to be an aspect that I enjoy as I continue on with the rest of the series.
FAVORITE ASPECT:
The plot of “The New Girl” is rather static and/or predictable in nature, but still I found myself enjoying it. I understood where the ending was heading, which I had not read this book previously. Even with me knowing where the ending was headed, I enjoyed the elements that surrounded the ending that I was not expecting, such as the person that helped Cory with the main villain of the book. Also the ending felt like a true horror story. It wasn’t some politically correct or well-polished story, but instead had murder and twistedness throughout. I really was worried about these being sanitized in some way because I remembered them as actually having moments that were over the top and actually involved characters dying or being part of the overall plot. This did not disappoint and no I am not ruining anything at this point because WHO DIED? Not telling you or is anyone dead? NOT TELLING YOU. Read the book fool, if you need to know all that. I mean it is only 168 pages. Not a massive tome that will take 5 years to read. I read it over a week because I don’t read in binge sessions and still finished it in record time. I am sure you could as well. It is even available on Kindle it appears.
WORST ASPECT:
The characters feel like some are developed with personalities and others feel like they are flat characters that could have been named anything and truly have little pulse to them. Due to the nature of the story here, I will only tell you the name of my favorite character and the name of my least favorite character. To feel like some of the characters were just not developed was disappointing, but these books were created in a different time when these books were often just quick escapism for us kiddos and now we get 800 pages massive volumes of books that tell us what way the character blows their nose. SO DIFFERENT TIMES! Still, it truly was the part that was like bleh insert whatever you want about the character because they flat as heck.
FAVORITE CHARACTER:
Brad.
WORST CHARACTER:
Lisa. So much stereotype. SO MUCH!
FINAL THOUGHTS:
This was a fun first trip down my childhood favorite series of “Fear Street” and I truly will be continuing this journey because it is time to read every single book in this series. I am glad that Stine started with this as it showcases pretty well what this series will become. Murder, violence, intrigue, mystery, and so many other elements that just make these fun escapism type reads. Can’t wait to get invited to “The Surprise Party” next.
The next book in the original “Fear Street” series is “The Surprise Party” which I will be reading after my current book. I intend to read alternate between a “Fear Street” book and then go to another book, so that I don’t get burned out on this nostalgic trip.
