The Overnight

So weird to say that a Fear Street book did not have enough gore or murders going on. This was actually a pretty pat read and there were no surprises here. I was honestly a bit disappointed, but still liked the lovely vibe of the Fear Street books that I recall from my pre-teen/teen years.

"Overnight" follows teen Della who is part of an Outdoor Club at Shadyside High (oh Shadyside, more body counts than Sunnydale High School) with a couple of other teens which includes her now ex-boyfriend Gary. Della is looking forward to an overnight on Fear Island (why people why?) and hopes she can use that time to make up with Gary. But when the club's advisor has to cancel, the teens all decide to go anyway (dun dun dun) and a stranger appears who show more threatens Della. When an accident befalls, the teens all decide to lie about what happens, but it appears someone knows what they did (hello shades of I Know What You Did Last Summer) and the teens race to find out who knows what happened before one of them are harmed.

I liked Della, and I think this is the first book that brings up Suki Thomas who pops up in a later book I am blanking on now. Della though doesn't have a lot of personality I think. She wants to be with Gary. She seems sporty, and is indecisive about another guy who likes her since he is too "preppy" for her.

Gary is fitting that teen trope of leader of the pack, but dubiously. I actually liked Pete (preppy) more since he had some sense. Maia got annoying fast. She's fitting that girl who screams and cries through a whole horror movie trope. The other teens were all right, but nothing shocking or revealing.

Of course the writing and scenes are dated, this was published in 1989. People said "rad" and I refuse to believe that was a word that was ever uttered by a teen. LOL. And of course because of the time period things like cell phones don't exist. There's even a scene involving an actual camera that had me go wow.

As I said above this book was a paint by numbers with no real reveals which made me wonder if R.L. Stine did write this since he's pretty hard core about his Fear Street body counts. show less

I really like that this book takes place on a island and the story is a little different from other “Fear Street” books.

Possible Spoiler Alert:

I either guessed or remembered the ending long before finishing this. I'm so tired of all the murder mysteries with nothing actually supernatural going on in this series. I also wasn't into the main character, who tended to be mean and selfish.

2.5

One of the best fear streets out there.

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