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A review by stephanienicole
Beach Party by R.L. Stine
3.0
3.5 stars
This is a fun summer horror story from R. L. Stine. He kept me guessing who the killer might be. I love all the 90s references: I miss leaving notes on the fridges instead of texting, but my retinas sure don't miss the Day-Glo everything.
The ending was a bit too ridiculously cheery. Someone is killed. The protagonist Karen is harassed and almost killed twice. Once the killer is caught, Karen immediately cuddles up to the other boy, and I guess she just forgets she considered her best friend a MURDER SUSPECT and is okay with her dating her PHYSICALLY ABUSIVE ex-boyfriend. They just continued on with their beach party!
Other problems:
Where are the parents? Karen's parents' absence is explained, but what about the other parents? Like Jerry's parents?!?!?! When they learned he was a murder suspect, they should have stepped in (or maybe have suggested a therapist when he denied the existence of his sister).
And on that note, why was everyone fine with unstable Jerry just leaving with his sister after he killed one person and tried to kill another? He is strong, mentally unstable, and dangerous!
Karen had a terrible taste in men: At one point, each of the three guys in her life physically restrained her. She ends up with the gang leader whose gang tried to rape her!
Why was Karen fine with Ann-Marie seeing her ex Mike after Mike still expressed interest in Karen and PHYSICALLY RESTRAINED HER to stay with him. Oh nevermind, Karen ends up with a GANG LEADER, so clearly her moral compass is out of whack.
I forgot that in 90s teen lit, teens are "independent adults." These teens: not so much.
This is a fun summer horror story from R. L. Stine. He kept me guessing who the killer might be. I love all the 90s references: I miss leaving notes on the fridges instead of texting, but my retinas sure don't miss the Day-Glo everything.
The ending was a bit too ridiculous
Other problems:
Where are the parents? Karen's parents' absence is explained, but what about the other parents? Like Jerry's parents?!?!?! When they learned he was a murder suspect, they should have stepped in (or maybe have suggested a therapist when he denied the existence of his sister).
And on that note, why was everyone fine with unstable Jerry just leaving with his sister after he killed one person and tried to kill another? He is strong, mentally unstable, and dangerous!
Karen had a terrible taste in men: At one point, each of the three guys in her life physically restrained her. She ends up with the gang leader whose gang tried to rape her!
Why was Karen fine with Ann-Marie seeing her ex Mike after Mike still expressed interest in Karen and PHYSICALLY RESTRAINED HER to stay with him. Oh nevermind, Karen ends up with a GANG LEADER, so clearly her moral compass is out of whack.
I forgot that in 90s teen lit, teens are "independent adults." These teens: not so much.