Tales Point Horror Book Club – Beach Party by R L Stine
Do you remember the Point Horror Book Series from the 90’s? The Point Horror Series was a series of young adult point horror books and was launched in 1991 by Scholastic always with the Point Horror banner on the spine and on the top of every point horror book. There were a number of authors that wrote these books for Scholastic: R L Stine, Diane Hoh, Caroline B Cooney, Sinclair Smith to name but a few.
Are the Point Horror books we loved as a teenager still our favourites on the re-read? Are you new to Point Horror? Has our opinion changed? Are they still as good? Do they stand up to modern day YA Horror? Or are they a whole load of cray cray?
Lets find out…
#pointhorrorbookclub
Join in the discussion with this months pick….
Beach Party by R L Stine
Don’t forget to use the #pointhorrorbookclub on twitter so I can see your thoughts or tweet me using @chelleytoy
For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here
Vote for the next #PointHorrorBookClub read at the bottom of this post!
** Please note that as this is a discussion there will be spoilers**
The Tagline
Some come to party. Some come to die.
Okay ….so…What’s It All About?
Karen lives in sunny LA and her best friend since they were 9, Ann-Marie, is coming all the way from New York to stay. Karen ditches all parents and takes Ann-Marie to stay in an apartment by the beach for the month!
Oh wow! Sun, sea and relaxation right?
Well…..no not quite, but there’s lots of dangerous snorkelling, polluted sea water which is as green as pea soup (*heaves*), creepy phone calls and messages, jellyfish and contaminated sun cream!
Sounds kosha to me to be honest…..
Let’s move on shall we!
I missed out a mention to the secret beach party’s, sunbathing, hot men, lots of snogging and some murder!
Murder?! But you are destroying the dream!
Yes! Murder my dear friends….murder. This is Point Horror after all! And when Karen gets involved with Jerry someone is not happy about it…..not happy at all!
The Girl
Karen Mandell with her straight black hair, oval face, dark skin that always looked like she had a tan, black eyebrows and shocking blue eyes which were so wide and so blue completely won me over at the start with her quick witted since of humour and sarcasm making me feel like she was going to be pretty kick ass. And she was great….all with the exception of her attraction to danger which she always seemed oblivious too…. lets going snorkelling Karen even though I hate your guts, jump on my motorbike Karen even though you don’t know me and I might be a murderer …. you get the idea.
Mentionable nod to the fact that I was cheering Karen on for throwing THE BEST insults at Vince and his gang of friends who were circling her and Ann-Marie at the start of the book…..she was so close to kicking his botty before Jerry came swooping in to save the day *rolls eyes*
Karen liked driving fast in her navy blue mustang convertible that her Daddy bought her following his divorce from her Mummy and with her crystal from her ex boyfriend Mike (more on him later) around her neck she had a strange tendency to compare everyone to not only famous people of the 90’s (when this book was written), but also animals.
And Karen gets bonus points for not one but two holiday romances! She snogged two boys! Although after the snog she had with Jerry I wouldn’t be going back for more! What a kiss from hell! Ugh!
She was actually an okay Point Horror girl to be fair.
The Love Interest
Ugh goody two shoes Jerry….or should I say Todd? #PlotTwist Too soon? *puts plot twist back into the book* With his preppy looks, straight dark hair, light eyes, perfect straight nose, broad chest, powerful looking arms and a passion for the smell of coconut….he apparently looked like Tom Cruise!
Jerry got on my nerves just a little. I mean he cheats on his girlfriend Renee and effectively kills her as Todd, but he was just too ugh for me and omg that kiss with Karen sounded excruciatingly painful that I was cringing! Tom Cruise lookalike or not….I think I will pass.
And I can’t move on without mentioning the quickest ending of all Point Horror’s when we find out that Jerry’s brother Todd died a year before and Jerry, who felt so guilty as he couldn’t help Todd, took on a split personality of his brother Todd who just happened to be evil and a murderer. How convenient! The ending of this book was a complete blur following this revelation that we seemed to only have what felt like one paragraph to explain and digest everything. It actually made me feel a little mad if I’m honest.
The Gang
Best friend Ann-Marie who had been friends with Karen since she was 9 and visiting Karen in LA from New York was not your typical Point Horror best friend. She was the total opposite to Karen in everyway….thin, looked like a fashion model, straight blonde hair, fashionably short with high cheek bones, pale creamy skin and emerald eyes she had all the makings of a Point Horror best friend but too be honest she didn’t do much at all except get with Karen’s ex Mike and make tea. Every time Karen was in danger or an “accident” had happened to Karen she was no where to be seen and yes she was our classic Point Horror red herring, but there still would have been a story without her.
Renee, Jerry’s girlfriend, who with her high pitched voice like a little mouse, oval face, big dark brown eyes, frizzy brown hair, parents in Bel-Air (yes I did sing Fresh Prince), strange sense of humour and passion for Carrie Fisher’s gold bikini was a little possessive over her boyfriend Jerry, but to be fair he basically cheated on her with Karen in front of her face….or at least whilst she was standing in the shadows. She loved him that much….that he killed her! Yes! She didn’t see that plot twist coming when she signed up for this Point Horror! Poor Renee. I was actually starting to like her a little too.
Bad boy Vince got Karen all hot under the collar with his bad boy looks and yes I knew exactly where she was coming from with this! Tall and lanky, dimples in his cheeks, eight ball tattoo on his wrist, short blond spiked hair, a leather and denim combi and diamond stud earrings and to top all of this off …. a motorcycle! Bad ass or what?! And then Karen goes and compares him to Sting *bursts balloon with a slow screech*
*looks at picture of young Sting*
*blows balloon back up quickly*
Anyway enough of that….he kept the mystery going all the way through apart from being a complete and utter ugh at the beginning with his gang! And he gets the girl! What more can we ask for?! Oh a proper ending….just putting it out there!
Then we had Mike, Karen’s ex, who just so happens to be in the same place at the same time as Karen. With his straight brown hair, big broad shoulders, muscular arms, wide neck, round brown eyes and square forehead he seemed okay and I loved the fact him and Ann-Marie have a secret thing which of course Karen finds hilarious (she was the only one). He looked like Jim Belushi according to Karen…..
Wow Karen has very different tastes in men!
Little mention goes to Marty who I would have liked to have seen more of as he seemed funny. With his curly brown hair, round puffs of cheeks, black eyes, round face, horse scratchy voice and skateboard ….. me and Marty could have been friends but he was whipped away from me!
And let’s not forget Stephanie….you know who I mean right?!
*looks at notes*
*Reads Marty’s girlfriend and long blonde hair*
*moves on swiftly*
Fashion Faux Pas
Ohhh lots of good old 90’s fashion in this one! I spotted blue sleeveless t-shirts, lots of spandex bicycle shorts, tie dyed jean cut-offs and lots of Day-Glo!
Go 90’s!
Dialogue Disasters
Not so much dialogue disasters as in lines that made me chuckle a little….
“It was bright yellow, burning hot on the outside and frozen solid on the inside”
“Must have been lasagne”
“How did it taste?”
“Fabulous!”
Karen and Ann-Marie are auditioning for the next GBBO hosts! Someone give them a job!
“Like gag me with a spoon”
Say what Ann-Marie?! She’s from New York don’t you know!
“She was like a zombie for months. She’d sit around playing her old Beatles records and cry”
Sounds like a standard Saturday night for me to be honest!
“And your Dad?”
“He’s driving a red corvette and he’s blow drying his hair”
“Weird”
Is it? Is it really?
“But Karen do you really think this is a good idea?”
“Of course it is – what could happen?”
That old classic Point Horror line! Your in a Point Horror girls….what do you expect?!
“He looks like a squirrel. A fat squirrel storing up nuts for the winter”
Harsh Karen! Harsh!
“That’s Kenny, Alisha, Normy and Seth” Karen said hi to them forgetting their names immediately
Ah! The names of the one page Point Horror characters….bless their little cotton socks!
“One kiss and your brain has turned to oatmeal”
To be fair after that kiss with Jerry Karen I don’t blame you!
“She looks like a really scary Jack O Lantern”
It’s the lighting okay?! We can’t all be blessed with Point Horror standards you know!
Body Count
Oh this one had an actual murder! And yes I do worry about how excited I got about this ….plus she kind of deserved it!
There was also one off page death from the past, but we all know it’s what happens in the Point Horror story that counts!
Is it scary?
Hmmmm not really scary to be honest however that nightmare/dream that Karen had lit my little horror heart a light with those two pages of gore! Yes Stiney! You legend!
Did the best friend do it?
No! We could only have hoped that Ann-Marie had the umph in her to actually do something really couldn’t we?!
Some Mild Peril?
I would say the beach where they were staying was packed full of mild peril! Polluted sea, gangs, lots of boys in heavy metal t-shirts (my kind of boys may I just point out) you know that kind of thing.
But yes other than that there was the usual drowning whilst snorkelling, drowning whilst snorkelling again, and jellyfish! Yes imagine finding all those Jelly fish in your bed! Ugh! That’s almost as bad as kissing Jerry!
Is it any good?
I actually quite enjoyed this one and flew through this quite quickly. The ending was a little rushed and sudden and whilst I didn’t see the twist coming (and obviously nowadays I’m not sure if it should have been better handled), but I quite liked the premise and the actual feeling of a who dunnit in this one.
Also a nod to getting rid of the parents straight away at the start of the book with Karen’s parents being divorced and Karen and Ann-Marie staying an apartment owned by her Daddy for the summer who conveniently stayed away longer than planned. In fact it wasn’t unit page 114 that we saw glimpse of a parent, because strange and scary things are happening to you, but pffftttt who needs their parents when you have sun, sea and jellyfish to contend with.
Final Thought
Stay away from Jerry……except if it’s Ben and Jerry’s because nom!
Cover Wars!
I found this really awesome foreign cover! Which do you prefer?
Over to you!
As well as your thoughts on the book I’ve added some fun questions to ponder!
- Which Point Horror Boy….Jerry, Vince or Mike? You decide!
- Wouldn’t the jelly fish have stung Karen?
- What was Ann-Marie ACTUALLY doing for the whole book?
- What happened to Marty and Stephanie?
- Ending? Yay or Nay?
You can leave a reply by using the reply button at the top of the page!
Vote for the next #PointHorrorBookClub read here!
As the next #PointHorrorBookClub with be on the 13th February I have tried to pick a few romance-y Point Horror titles….if that’s even possible!
What will you pick?
Voting ends and the next Point Horror Book Club read will be announce on the 17th January 2018!
And the winner was…..a tie!
Therefore I have flipped a coin and picked The Invitation for next months #PointHorrorBookClub!
For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here
Thanksor joining in….
