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jgurniak's review against another edition
3.0
R.L. Stine's Goosebumps books are good but his YA novels are not. The plot is usually decent but they are always badly written.
theboldbookworm's review against another edition
3.0
This was a fun, but very cheesy read. It's not one of Stine's best but still worthwhile to pass the time.
pantehnreads's review against another edition
2.0
Utter garbage. The writing was awful, the character's were awful, the plot spent more time on a boring teen love story then the suspense of the party line kidnapper. Our lead was annoying, immature and all in all a douche bag. I would have given it one star, but it is still not the worst book I have read. If you a fan of these Point thrillers... Skip this one.
dnemec's review against another edition
3.0
I distinctly remember going to Waldenbooks at the mall to buy this book. Loved that I found a copy to reread!
pagesofpins's review against another edition
2.0
Sad sack working-class Mark has to use the discount teen party line if he ever wants to score a girlfriend (is there a teen in the world who has any idea what a party line even is anymore?). I grabbed this 1989 teen horror novel at the thrift store thinking it would be good for a laugh, but unfortunately it was mostly....really dull. 90 percent of the book follows Mark and his lonely high school friends learning how to date 1950s style (I took Janine out last night but now Marcy at the roller rink wants to go steady, what shall I do?) and the entertainment to be had was in the outdated tech (computers have spell check now sometimes) and in Mark's terrible musings about girls (When I kiss her my knee joints tingle! Girls are just boys with boobs!). The guy making girls disappear from the party line doesn't appear until the end, and he's the least scary slasher ever. Boo!
lanecropolivre's review against another edition
1.0
Whoa! Si c'est représentatif des romans d'horreur pour jeunes adultes de l'époque, j'ai vraiment rien manqué durant mon adolescence! C'est pas seulement très mauvais, ça respire le mépris pour le lecteur. Mal écrit, constellé de répétitions abrutissantes et de fausses alertes absurdes. Risible et très idiot.
bookishwyvern07's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
stagasaurus's review against another edition
3.0
Before I begin, can I just ask how Micah can complain in a velvety voice? Spent a good five minutes trying to imagine that one!
Reminds me of: the movie Pillow Talk with Doris Day.
"It was probably just a practical joke" moment:
Spoiler
Karen should have thought this more often. What with that brother and cousin of hers we must have had a world record of disappointing cliff hanger chapter endings. The best was the "it isn't a joke" kitchen knife dream. Though I think Ethan said it a few times about the calls."You probably just imagined it" moment: No one said this. But she really did, didn't she.
Innocent victims?: Karen was straight up damaged. So was Micah, Ethan must have a thing about crazy chicks. Only truly innocent victim was poor Wendy, whose art project and little-old-self got pushed down the stairs for no good reason. Why the hell didn't Karen get disciplined for that?
How blindingly obvious?: Yeah, totally obvious. But the author knew that, cause they threw the first twist in early on. Enjoyable all the same, enjoyed Karen's descent into craziness. Second twist was very fun, and pretty creepy. However, also obvious as why the hell else would you introduce a random clock into someone's house in a beginning chapter?
Plot holes / Unfinished plot lines: Poor Adam. The life of a red herring doesn't get much resolution does it? Hopefully he goes to college and meets folks as interested in history as he is. He settles down with a nice French major and they set up a museum all about the French Revolution and have interpretation panels about what they actually did with all those heads.
Also, what exactly is the message of this book? That pretending you have a psycho stalker is a good way to keep your wavering-towards-cheating-boyfriend? In reality, as soon as she told Dr. Rudman about the calls from her own brain on a phone that doesn't work she'd be on anti-psychotic meds faster than you can say "this is your imagination calling".
Why did Jake not like Karen? Apart from her being a whole lot of drama that Ethan does not need in his senior year? I know why really. To create another red herring. But I like my red herrings caught and lined up with an explanation.
Inappropriate happy ending: They just leave and Micah lets out sobs of defeat? Yeah, I'm not sure Micah is gonna go that quietly. The next day at school is gonna be awwwkwward.
mochomito's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't like this, the protagonist is very annoying.
doralanda13's review against another edition
1.0
46%
I remember reading this book when I was in middle school/ high school and I loved it. Now though...Karen was so insecure and overly jealous! It made her so annoying. She would literally jump to the worst conclusion with one simple sentence. When someone says, "have to pick up extra night shift. Gotta cancel our date" doesn't mean, "I canceled our date to be with someone else. I'll probably break up with you too." And that ending...disappointing is too nice of word. The ending was total bullshit.
I remember reading this book when I was in middle school/ high school and I loved it. Now though...Karen was so insecure and overly jealous! It made her so annoying. She would literally jump to the worst conclusion with one simple sentence. When someone says, "have to pick up extra night shift. Gotta cancel our date" doesn't mean, "I canceled our date to be with someone else. I'll probably break up with you too." And that ending...disappointing is too nice of word. The ending was total bullshit.