This is the first R.L Stine book I have read for teenagers, and whilst I enjoyed us, all I kept thinking the whole time I was reading the book, "I am glad that my daughter didn't have the attitude and self-righteousness of the two teenage girls depicted in this book. "It is essentially a softened-up crime novel for older kids. The two main protagonists, Karen Mandell and Ann-Marie ( a bit wishy-washy) are childhood friends who meet up again when Karen invites Ann-Marie,who had moved to New York some years before, to spend some time with her back in her old stomping ground in Venice Beach, a suburb of Los Angeles. The more physically-striking of the two, Karen finds herself sought after by two young attractive males, Jerry a seemingly well-balanced guy with great friends, and the other Vince, a leather-clad member of a gang. Karen soon discovers things are not as straightforward as she initially thought, especially after discovering that Jerry already has a girlfriend called Renee who is non-to-pleased about their blossoming friendship, and that Jerry recently lost his brother in unfortunate accident. Karen starts getting threatening messages to stay away from Jerry, then her friend Ann-Marie starts behaving in an odd manner, and suddenly Karen finds herself being questioned about a murder. The plot, even if slightly contrived, is not too obvious, and I think most teenage readers would enjoy this book. The only thing I find about R.L.Stine's characters is that they are not very well developed so it is hard to feel an attachment to any of them, but then again like James Patterson, he is known for his racy page-turning publications.
This blog contains reviews and comments on children's books which I own, have read, and would like to share. I look for books at markets and opportunity shops. They are cleaned up, covered and read. Then I take them to the classroom for students to read. Students can borrow the books at any time. Many books are also from my personal library, especially the Youth Fiction. Students can preview some of them on this blog. Now, I am also on the lookout for great new releases for my grandson Archie.
Hi Mrs Coote its Viv L here from last year:)
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to thank you soooooooo much for getting me ready for the amount of homework I would get in Yr 7. I had no idea I would get so much!
We have 2 ^ minute Oral presentations to do and a 500 word Religious Ed task and maths and spelling and Music and Japanese and English and history..... yeah I think you get it...
Thanks again, Viv L
Hi Viv, I hope your week is going okay. I know all about homework, just finished about 80-100 hours reporting. Good luck with it all.
ReplyDeleteMrs C :)