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mirrorchaser's review against another edition
2.0
This one was boring as heck. Like [b:The Surprise Party|176637|The Surprise Party (Fear Street, #2)|R.L. Stine|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441893940l/176637._SY75_.jpg|170664] it had a huge cast of characters and they were all pretty two dimensional. The book was very short which definitely contributed to that but I would have rather had less characters in favor of more depth.
modernzorker's review against another edition
2.0
AKA: R.L. Stine's I Know What You Did Last Summer
No, it isn't a carbon copy of Lois Duncan's YA thriller, but given IKWYDLS was originally published in 1973(!), I find it hard to believe Stine wasn't at least partially inspired by her idea of a group of teens who accidentally commit a murder and conspire to cover it up only to realize someone else saw everything and wants revenge.
Della O'Conner's a member of Shadyside High's Outdoors Club, and like the rest of the gang has been looking forward to their Overnight excursion to a small, deserted island for weeks. Unfortunately, group adviser Mr. Abner has some bad news: due to a personal emergency, he can't accompany the group on their outing. They'll have to re-schedule.
Everyone's bummed out, but no one moreso than Della, who's been awaiting the Overnight for a chance to get closer to her ex-boyfriend Gary. Dumping him, she thinks, was a mistake, and maybe if she just got to spend an hour or so with him away from everyone else, she could make him realize that and take her back. Probably not though. Gary's a prime catch, and he's already moved on from Della. Now it's silver-haired punk chick Suki who has him wrapped around her little finger. Man, it's just like the classic proverb: "Once you go punk, your ex-girlfriend is sunk." Didn't anybody in 1989 read Sun Tzu?
Anyway, Suki, being so rebellious she could be a secret Jedi, suggests to the group that just because Abner's got something else going on it doesn't mean they have to spend the weekend moping around at home. They could just go on the Overnight anyway and not tell anybody Abner had to abdicate. Their parents, after all, don't know he's had to bug out. After a brief discussion on how cool it would be to take their lives in their own hands for once, even resident square Maia is forced to admit that a camping trip without Mr. Abner could be fun. Gary, as club president, makes the official proclamation: this Overnight is on, bitches!
At first, it's pretty awesome: the six members of the Outdoors Club canoe their way to the little island and set up their camp, then realize they don't have much to do. Practical jokester, complete turkey, and all-around legend in his own mind Ricky (clearly patterned after Shelly of Friday the 13th, Part III) has the perfect idea: there's three boys and three girls, and he just so happens to have six paintball guns...so girls vs. boys it is!
Maia doesn't want to play, so Della points her towards camp and sends her on her way. Suki takes off in a different direction to flank the boys, and Della flees an ambush by Ricky, evading him so well she gets lost. Wandering around, calling for her friends, she instead attracts the attention of a deranged guy who grabs her out of nowhere and starts babbling about having killed an old man and a deep-seated desire to communicate with people. In the struggle to get away, Della pushes him over the edge of a ravine. Freaking out, she runs until she re-unites with her friends, leads the group back to the site of the accident, and they check the guy over. No pulse.
He's dead, Jim.
Now the group's in a pickle: if they go to the cops, their parents will all know they went on the Overnight without Mr. Abner, and they'll get in trouble. The alternative, they decide, is to bury the body under some leaves and GTFO for the mainland. Ha ha, just kidding: they need to spend the night there, because if they don't, their parents will want to know why they came back early! For the love of...! You're already lying about the fact Mr. Abner wasn't there this weekend, just tell another one about how somebody started feeling sick and wanted to leave, so you broke camp, Mr. Abner will re-schedule, and then you don't have to explain why you're camping out a second time so soon after the first! Hell, everybody could just point the finger at Maia: she's the one having a panic attack--not about the fact a guy's dead, mind you, but that she might get grounded if her parents found out. I get teenage drama, but geezus, when your character's ramping it up to Twilight-esque levels before there's even a Twilight to compare it to, you're not helping me like her very much, Mr. Stine.
Before their departure, the group swears an oath: none of them will tell a soul about the accident, and when Abner re-schedules the trip, they'll all go along with it like nothing happened. It doesn't take long before weird things start happening. Someone's sending messages to the group: "I SAW WHAT YOU DID." But how is that possible? Either one of the six is playing a sick joke, or there was another witness to the man's death who isn't going to let the teens get away with manslaughter, no matter how involuntary. What's worse, when they do return to the island with Abner, the first thing they check on is the body...and of course it's no longer there.
The Overnight has a great premise, but the execution is average, and the revelation of who's been stalking the teens and how is eye-rolling in its mediocrity. I won't spoil it, but trust me, when the truth comes out, it's a forehead-smacking, 'are you shitting me?' moment that just kills any momentum the book has built up. At 148 pages, it also suffers from a perpetual Stine problem of not enough time to wrap things up after a suitable period of suspense. It's a matter of five pages before the cops show up and put a stop to everything, which is way too fast, not to mention convenient. This is one of the earliest Fear Street books, and I imagine Stine was still getting a handle on the world he was building, but while it might work for seventh or eighth graders, there's little here to keep one's interest if you're older. Fortunately there are plenty of better stories in this series to pick from, like The Cheerleaders, Truth or Dare, or The Wrong Number. This is one campfire tale not worth revisiting for anyone except die-hard Fear Street fiends.
Two fire-charcoaled marshmallows out of five.
No, it isn't a carbon copy of Lois Duncan's YA thriller, but given IKWYDLS was originally published in 1973(!), I find it hard to believe Stine wasn't at least partially inspired by her idea of a group of teens who accidentally commit a murder and conspire to cover it up only to realize someone else saw everything and wants revenge.
Della O'Conner's a member of Shadyside High's Outdoors Club, and like the rest of the gang has been looking forward to their Overnight excursion to a small, deserted island for weeks. Unfortunately, group adviser Mr. Abner has some bad news: due to a personal emergency, he can't accompany the group on their outing. They'll have to re-schedule.
Everyone's bummed out, but no one moreso than Della, who's been awaiting the Overnight for a chance to get closer to her ex-boyfriend Gary. Dumping him, she thinks, was a mistake, and maybe if she just got to spend an hour or so with him away from everyone else, she could make him realize that and take her back. Probably not though. Gary's a prime catch, and he's already moved on from Della. Now it's silver-haired punk chick Suki who has him wrapped around her little finger. Man, it's just like the classic proverb: "Once you go punk, your ex-girlfriend is sunk." Didn't anybody in 1989 read Sun Tzu?
Anyway, Suki, being so rebellious she could be a secret Jedi, suggests to the group that just because Abner's got something else going on it doesn't mean they have to spend the weekend moping around at home. They could just go on the Overnight anyway and not tell anybody Abner had to abdicate. Their parents, after all, don't know he's had to bug out. After a brief discussion on how cool it would be to take their lives in their own hands for once, even resident square Maia is forced to admit that a camping trip without Mr. Abner could be fun. Gary, as club president, makes the official proclamation: this Overnight is on, bitches!
At first, it's pretty awesome: the six members of the Outdoors Club canoe their way to the little island and set up their camp, then realize they don't have much to do. Practical jokester, complete turkey, and all-around legend in his own mind Ricky (clearly patterned after Shelly of Friday the 13th, Part III) has the perfect idea: there's three boys and three girls, and he just so happens to have six paintball guns...so girls vs. boys it is!
Maia doesn't want to play, so Della points her towards camp and sends her on her way. Suki takes off in a different direction to flank the boys, and Della flees an ambush by Ricky, evading him so well she gets lost. Wandering around, calling for her friends, she instead attracts the attention of a deranged guy who grabs her out of nowhere and starts babbling about having killed an old man and a deep-seated desire to communicate with people. In the struggle to get away, Della pushes him over the edge of a ravine. Freaking out, she runs until she re-unites with her friends, leads the group back to the site of the accident, and they check the guy over. No pulse.
He's dead, Jim.
Now the group's in a pickle: if they go to the cops, their parents will all know they went on the Overnight without Mr. Abner, and they'll get in trouble. The alternative, they decide, is to bury the body under some leaves and GTFO for the mainland. Ha ha, just kidding: they need to spend the night there, because if they don't, their parents will want to know why they came back early! For the love of...! You're already lying about the fact Mr. Abner wasn't there this weekend, just tell another one about how somebody started feeling sick and wanted to leave, so you broke camp, Mr. Abner will re-schedule, and then you don't have to explain why you're camping out a second time so soon after the first! Hell, everybody could just point the finger at Maia: she's the one having a panic attack--not about the fact a guy's dead, mind you, but that she might get grounded if her parents found out. I get teenage drama, but geezus, when your character's ramping it up to Twilight-esque levels before there's even a Twilight to compare it to, you're not helping me like her very much, Mr. Stine.
Before their departure, the group swears an oath: none of them will tell a soul about the accident, and when Abner re-schedules the trip, they'll all go along with it like nothing happened. It doesn't take long before weird things start happening. Someone's sending messages to the group: "I SAW WHAT YOU DID." But how is that possible? Either one of the six is playing a sick joke, or there was another witness to the man's death who isn't going to let the teens get away with manslaughter, no matter how involuntary. What's worse, when they do return to the island with Abner, the first thing they check on is the body...and of course it's no longer there.
The Overnight has a great premise, but the execution is average, and the revelation of who's been stalking the teens and how is eye-rolling in its mediocrity. I won't spoil it, but trust me, when the truth comes out, it's a forehead-smacking, 'are you shitting me?' moment that just kills any momentum the book has built up. At 148 pages, it also suffers from a perpetual Stine problem of not enough time to wrap things up after a suitable period of suspense. It's a matter of five pages before the cops show up and put a stop to everything, which is way too fast, not to mention convenient. This is one of the earliest Fear Street books, and I imagine Stine was still getting a handle on the world he was building, but while it might work for seventh or eighth graders, there's little here to keep one's interest if you're older. Fortunately there are plenty of better stories in this series to pick from, like The Cheerleaders, Truth or Dare, or The Wrong Number. This is one campfire tale not worth revisiting for anyone except die-hard Fear Street fiends.
Two fire-charcoaled marshmallows out of five.
em_harring's review against another edition
4.0
[3.5 rounded up]
The strongest of the fear street books I've read. The main "problem" I have with the series thus far is the writing. There are some genuinely creepy, unsettling moments, but the writing is...not great.
The strongest of the fear street books I've read. The main "problem" I have with the series thus far is the writing. There are some genuinely creepy, unsettling moments, but the writing is...not great.
stephheartsbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Della and her friends are apart of The Outdoor Club. They sneak onto Fear Island for an overnight trip and things go south.
The Overnight gave me thrills and chills. Set mostly outdoors it was atmospheric and spooky. A nice walk down memory lane with this one as I used to read Fear Street books when I was a child.
The Overnight gave me thrills and chills. Set mostly outdoors it was atmospheric and spooky. A nice walk down memory lane with this one as I used to read Fear Street books when I was a child.
tablife's review against another edition
4.0
A planned overnight trip on Fear Island goes awry when a group discovers they aren't alone on the island. Has "I Know What You Did Last Summer" vibes.
jellogirl2010's review against another edition
4.0
This was by far one of the best Fear Streets in the compilation I took out from the library. It had a lot of twists and turns throughout the book and left you guessing about what could be going on until the end. I kind of guessed that the guy was alive still but at the same time I thought maybe his partner was the one doing it at the same time.
This is one of the books in the series that really made me wish the series on Netflix was a cold copy of the source material.
This is one of the books in the series that really made me wish the series on Netflix was a cold copy of the source material.
diddio's review against another edition
4.0
Only gave it so high a review because it reminded me of ‘Hit And Run’ by R. L. Stein
jac12's review against another edition
3.0
Read this with one of my students for comprehension stuff. It was a fun read. It's been so long since I've read it.
maidmee's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0