St. Martin/s Press; 281pages; $18.99; Amazon |
What is the name of book?
Well, it's called Give Me A K-I-L-L: A Fear Street Novel by R.L. Stine. I'm sure almost every reader has at least heard of the author's name, as Mr. Stine has over 400 books in print worldwide and his titles have been translated into thirty-five languages. His most popular book series are Goosebumps and Fear Street.
The very first Fear Street young adult novel, The New Girl, was published in 1989. The series was popular with teens during the early 1990s, but the franchise began to fizzle towards the end of the second millennium. R.L. Stine brought back the franchise in 2014 with a revamped "A Fear Street Novel" book series.
Give Me A K-I-L-L centers on a teenager named Gretchen Page, who has just transferred to Shadyside High School. She was the star of the cheerleader squad at her old school, and she hopes that her talents will win her spot on the Shadyside cheerleader squad. Unfortunately, due to cutbacks of funds, there is only one spot available in the squad.
While the competition to win the open slot should be fun, it actually turns out to be terrifying as somebody ends up dead!
Since Gretchen is the new kid in school, everybody automatically suspects her as the killer. However, Gretchen has her own theory that involves the spoiled, rich Devra Dalby, a young woman who is dying to get on the squad.
Final Thoughts: My favorite Fear Street books from the 1990s happens to be all the ones involving the cheerleaders. If I remember correctly, there are five in the spinoff series. Once at got a glance of the cover art for Give Me a K-I-L-L, I instantly got goose bumps (No pun intended!). My first thought is that it was a continuation of the original evil cheerleader books, but this title turned out to be a standalone novel. While I was slightly disappointed, I nevertheless read the novel.
Similar to the more recent Fear Street books, Give Me a K-I-L-L is less of a horror story and more of a teenage drama; well, for the most part. Towards the end, there is a Goosebumps-like twist that I didn't see coming; though if I reread the book, it would probably be clearly obvious.
Overall, Give Me a K-I-L-L is a well-written installment in the Fear Street series. The main character, Gretchen, is an interesting character, and most readers will probably connect with her. Well, that is until the twisted ending!
*I received a complimentary copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Omc! Oh, my cousin and I had a huge collection of these growing up! I think I may check this out for old times sake.
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