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A review by stagasaurus
The Girlfriend by R.L. Stine
3.0
This one took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting to like it but I kind of had fun.
Reminds me of: This is so close to Fatal Attraction it's almost like Stine took the entire plot and just shoehorned it into a Point Horror novel. Surely not, right? I'm sure he came up with the whole idea on his own.
"It was probably just a practical joke" moment:
"You probably just imagined it" moment: Again, not used, I kind of liked that it didn't follow the normal tropes.
Innocent victims?: It is interesting reading this straight after The Boyfriend how much more sympathetic Stine writes his male unfaithful character than his female counterpart in that other book. Poor Fluffernutter was totally innocent, apart from the salmon mousse incident.
How blindingly obvious?: It wasn't really supposed to be a mystery, but having read any Point Horror ever before it was super obvious that the huge brother wasn't going to be a brother.
Plot holes / Unfinished plot lines: 1. "She's just crazy" isn't really enough of an explanation. It's lazy and insulting. 2. Why would you hold a surprise birthday party at a house your surprisee wasn't supposed to be going to? This made no sense, but I still really enjoyed the scene where he dumped the "dead" body in front of them all as they shouted surprise. 3. How did she have time to unwrap the ski pole to try to stab him with it? And ski poles aren't that sharp in my experience. She might have given him a nasty bruise on the sternum but that's about it.
Inappropriate happy ending: Fucking hell! Seriously? It was ridiculous. I would have given this book four stars if it hadn't been for the last couple of lines, " 'This was one surprise party that was a surprise - for everyone.' They were still smiling as she walked him out to his car to say goodnight." REALLY!!??!! REALLY??!! Forget the cheating, forget all about that. If my husband, who I love and adore, thought he had killed someone by accident and instead of calling 999 for an ambulance took the body somewhere to dispose of, I would not be laughing about it. I would be getting a divorce.
Overall though, it did keep up a good level of suspense and threat. I kind of enjoyed it.
Reminds me of: This is so close to Fatal Attraction it's almost like Stine took the entire plot and just shoehorned it into a Point Horror novel. Surely not, right? I'm sure he came up with the whole idea on his own.
"It was probably just a practical joke" moment:
Spoiler
I can't remember this happening."You probably just imagined it" moment: Again, not used, I kind of liked that it didn't follow the normal tropes.
Innocent victims?: It is interesting reading this straight after The Boyfriend how much more sympathetic Stine writes his male unfaithful character than his female counterpart in that other book. Poor Fluffernutter was totally innocent, apart from the salmon mousse incident.
How blindingly obvious?: It wasn't really supposed to be a mystery, but having read any Point Horror ever before it was super obvious that the huge brother wasn't going to be a brother.
Plot holes / Unfinished plot lines: 1. "She's just crazy" isn't really enough of an explanation. It's lazy and insulting. 2. Why would you hold a surprise birthday party at a house your surprisee wasn't supposed to be going to? This made no sense, but I still really enjoyed the scene where he dumped the "dead" body in front of them all as they shouted surprise. 3. How did she have time to unwrap the ski pole to try to stab him with it? And ski poles aren't that sharp in my experience. She might have given him a nasty bruise on the sternum but that's about it.
Inappropriate happy ending: Fucking hell! Seriously? It was ridiculous. I would have given this book four stars if it hadn't been for the last couple of lines, " 'This was one surprise party that was a surprise - for everyone.' They were still smiling as she walked him out to his car to say goodnight." REALLY!!??!! REALLY??!! Forget the cheating, forget all about that. If my husband, who I love and adore, thought he had killed someone by accident and instead of calling 999 for an ambulance took the body somewhere to dispose of, I would not be laughing about it. I would be getting a divorce.
Overall though, it did keep up a good level of suspense and threat. I kind of enjoyed it.