Party Games: A Fear Street Novel by R.L. Stine

"Her friends warn her not to go to Brendan Fear's birthday party at his family's estate on mysterious Fear Island. But Rachel Martin has a crush on Brendan and is excited to be invited. Brendan has a lot of party games planned. But one game no one planned intrudes on his party—the game of murder.
As the guests start dying one by one, Rachel realizes to her horror that she and the other teenagers are trapped on the tiny island with someone who may want to kill them all. How to escape this deadly game? Rachel doesn't know whom she can trust. She should have realized that nothing is as it seems… on Fear Island."
-rlstine.com

After a twenty year hiatus, R.L. Stine resurrects his best-selling "Fear Street" series with "Party Games."  The original "Fear Street," novels were some of my favorite books in high school especially "The Cheerleaders" trilogy.  Suddenly not making the squad didn't seem so bad after all.  See a complete list of all the "Fear Street" and see R.L.'s personal favorite at this his website.

Sidenote, I just realized that this series debuted over 20 years ago, and therefore I've been out of high school for 15 years.  Now, there is a frightening thought that I didn't plan to encounter on "Fear Street."

The "Fear Street" magnet that I got from a school book club still hangs proudly on my fridge.

I was fortunate to not only meet R.L. Stine at Book Expo America this year but I also received a signed Advanced Reader Copy of "Party Games."

Visiting "Fear Street," again was a frightful delight.  Nothing has changed much over the years, and that's a good thing!  As soon as Rachel arrives at Brendan's party, bad things start to happen.  Just like any good slasher film, the body count starts to rise but fortunately this series was never too gory.  However, there are plenty of shocks as scares as Rachel figures out just who or what is after her and her friends.  R.L. does a great job at driving the suspense and keeping the reader guessing as to exactly who or what is causing the terror at Brendan's party and the plot twists in various directions that you, just like Rachel, won't see coming.

I recommend "Party Games: A Fear Street," novel to all "Fear Street" and "Goosebumps" fans as well as any one aged 12 and up who likes their books with a side of fright.  I can't wait for my next visit to "Fear Street."

How about you?  Did you grow up reading "Fear Street" or "Goosebumps"?  Share your favorite stories with us.

R.L. Stine and I at Book Expo America 2014

Special thanks to Macmillan Publishers/St. Martin's Press for the ARC at BEA.