When twenty-year-old Butch gets out of jail, he is driven by an insatiable desire for revenge against Margaret Louise Connelly, the attorney who put him in prison, and he decides to get even through Margaret's sixteen-year-old daughter. (from amazon.com)Sounds like of . . . bland. Been there, done that kind of thing. Meh. I'd probably skip over this one.
When Hades, a new video arcade, opens downtown, all the teenagers are thrilled. But the video games are not only violent, the figures on the screen take on familiar faces and characteristics of kids from school. Soon the teens are not only committing bizarre, violent acts . . . they're dying one by one. (from bn.com)Editorial Reviews:
Who should preside over sleepy little Dinsmore's newest commercial enterprise but the Devil himself? Introducing himself as Everett Blacke, the proprietor of the Hades video arcade takes special pains to lure the town's teenagers, particularly the pariahs. He steers them to games with names like Roadkill and Safari Slaughter that somehow feature their real-life persecutors, and before long they are committing real-life murders. Can Joe and Lorinda, themselves much taunted, stop Mr. Blacke before he wins everyone's soul? Joe must come to terms with his deepest desires for revenge before he can battle the archfiend. Locke does a good job of setting up the final, epic confrontation between Joe and Mr. Blacke, but Sunday school-solemnity and banal imagery turn the showdown into an anticlimax. The stuff B-movies are made of. (Publishers Weekly, bn.com)
Yet another unstimulating depiction of good versus evil in the YA world of technology. In this quickly predictable tale of horror, a wicked new video arcade called Hades opens. Its games are similar to the standard violent kill-anyone-in-your-path type that people usually play. But here, the characters on the screen look exactly like the players' school enemies. The players, each increasingly bloodthirsty having had a taste of revenge with the video games, actually begin to murder their enemies. P. J., who played ``Roadkill'' at Hades, later drives his mother's car back and forth over two people. Arlo, who played ``Death Match,'' chops up a classmate with an axe. And so it goes. The plot is transparent and grisly, and the characters are mere stereotypes. Still, the book may be popular with readers who want lots of action and are glad when a story doesn't stray from its familiar conventions. (School Library Journal, bn.com)
A juvenile version of cosmic conflicts with Satan. Joe Wagner, a video game champ, finds himself in Hades, a video arcade in his neighborhood. He also finds himself locked in combat with the owner of the arcade, Mr. Blacke, as it becomes obvious that the Great Enemy is perverting local teens through their obsession with video games. Ironically, Joe's knowledge of the technology enables him to destroy Hades. Stock characters support Joe, the unexpected hero of this novel, which has some of the same flavor as Card's "Ender's Game", Mahy's "The Changeover", and Charles Williams' plots. There's also a gory scene or two. Don't be surprised if the novel becomes a movie. (BookList, bn.com)This one could go either way for me but considering the time it came out, kind of predicted a rather eerie future, didn't it? How many kids do you hear about in the news recreating scenes they played out from video games like Grand Theft Auto? I wonder if Locke's intention was to write about the course of kids and their games or not. Either way, it's kind of creepy.
A pulp novel marked by tedium and clich instead of suspense. Four friends who regularly use a teen phone line, 1-900-PARTY ON, are stalked by an unsavory caller. The killer leaves three victims in his grisly wake, the police chief doesn't believe the plucky heroines, and the girls take matters into their own hands. A kindly, eccentric school custodian becomes a prime suspect, but the true perpetrator has been driven to murder by his rich, overbearing parents. So much for character development and motivation. These parents also appear to lack powers of observation since they fail to notice serial murders going on in their own home. The plot is disjointed, lurching from mall to school hallway to crime scene and back again. Hang up on this one. (from bn.com)At this point, Locke's work seems to have a running theme - they're not all that well-written. Eh. Like that's any different now with the mix out there. Still, I think the premise has potential. Considering this teacher that reviewed for the School Library Journal couldn't spell chiche, I'm a little disinclined to give her review the weight she might think it deserves. I mean, aside from getting the characters and plot details right, if you're a teacher doing a review for an educational magazine, wouldn't you want to at least spell check?
As the residents of Dinsmore fall prey to a vicious killer, Jimmy Meredith, the son of the cop in charge of the case, is only interested in Laura, the new girl at school--until he discovers Laura's dark secret. (from Amazon.com)Reader Reviews:
This is a suspenseful and sad book. It's about how Jimmy falls for the new girl in school. After the new girl came, some killings started to appear around town. Jimmy grows suspicious and asks her for the truth. The truth is hard for him to comprehend, but he still believes it.Well, we know werewolves make an appearance. I think it's pretty obvious what Laura's dark secret is but it's intriguing nonetheless. Books like this, even though the idea is rehashed, make me want to read them simply because I want to see what's been done different, if anything.
From the beginning I figured out what was happening and who was doing all of he killings. So, the plot is pretty predictable. I didn't like the ending because someone dies. But you had to expect that, because there was no other way for it to end.This was a pretty good book, I give it 8 out of 10. But it's hard to put down. (from Amazon.com)
I remember reading this book back in highschool and being blown away by the prologue and not being able to put the book down. It's definitely a page turner and the scenes just stick with you long after you've finished reading the novel. It's a great, enjoyable thriller. A simple story about teenage love with a likeable protagonist, werewolves, and heart-thumping action throughout. It reads like a great movie! Enjoy! (from Amazon.com)
Locke's menacing, albeit bizarre horror story takes a while to get started, but once it does, readers will be captivated. The sudden disappearance of Mr. Lehman, a high school teacher, has everyone stymied. Lenny, a self-described ``nerd,'' suspects Mr. Trancas, Lehman's replacement. Investigation yields incriminating evidence, and Lenny becomes convinced that Trancas has killed several brilliant students over the years. But none of Lenny's friends, including smart, beautiful Pamela, is swayed by his findings--until it's almost too late. The novel's main flaw (other than not disclosing why Trancas murdered Lehman) is the unlikely behavior of the characters: Lenny, for example, tells no one that he found Lehman's body in a shack on Trancas's property; Lenny and Pamela enter a suspected killer's home by themselves. The mounting tension, however, makes for suspenseful reading. (from bn.com)Kind of polarizing, isn't it? I can't find a summary of the plot itself but it looks like these two reviews could be for different stories. The cover alone freaks me out and has me wanting to read it!
Flat, stock characters, reminiscent of the populace of Sweet Valley High, are strewn throughout this lurid tale of Wes Coswell, the substitute-teacher-from-hell, who leaves a trail of murdered teenage victims in his wake. The sub's grisly lesson plans are uncovered, along with the rotting body of the teacher he's been hired to replace, by Lenny, a nerdy Stephen King wannabe. This student hero triumphs in the predictable ending, curing his father's alcoholism and winning popularity and the cheerleader of his dreams, but not before readers must march through scenes of Lenny's abduction and subsequent torture, and witness the gratuitous stabbing of a kindly counselor. This pointless bit of horror fluff is neither well written nor thrilling. Truly awful. (from bn.com)
Four high school seniors keep the pact they made six years earlier by reuniting in the town they all moved away from. The friends are hoping that Karin Potter, a shy outcast once included in their group, will join them, until Mrs. Potter, Karin's strange, embittered mother, tells them that her daughter has committed suicide. The four are devastated by the news, yet are soon faced with a more immediate concern: after breaking into the now-abandoned Waxhouse, a favorite childhood hangout, they must escape from a maniac who is lurking in the building and has sealed its exits. A grisly murder is followed by a near-fatality as Locke ( Kill the Teacher's Pet ) depicts the madness of the criminally insane. Unfortunately, little happens until the novel's midpoint, and except for the impulsive Bret, there's not much character delineation among the friends. The resolution also sidesteps credibility (an alive, albeit weakened, Karin breaks down a padlocked door), but horror story aficionados may forgive these shortcomings. Ages 12-up. - Publisher's Weekly (from bn.com)This book sounds like the precursor to a lot of the horror movies around today: House of Wax, the Saw franchise, Cabin Fever and any number of gore = horror movies being pumped out nowadays. I'm more of a fan of the horror that really scares instead of just makes me want to puke on myself but, given these reviews, I'm actually intrigued to read it. I've read more contrived plots.
Gr 8-10-- A lackluster, farfetched, gratuitously violent thriller. Best friends Erika, Bret, Lynda, and Leslie, all of whom are moving away from town for various reasons, meet together for one last visit to their favorite hangout, a wax museum called the Waxhouse. They make plans for a reunion, to be held during Christmas vacation of their senior year in high school. Six years later, they discover the Waxhouse closed with its windows boarded. They break in, only to find themselves locked in and stalked by a maniacal adversary. Readers are led through stilted, unimaginative prose to the graphic, stabbing death of one of the girls. That four teenage girls would pry boards off a window and break into a cold, dirty, unlit, ghostly manor to eat junk food and gossip, when they could be in a warm, motel room, requires too much suspension of disbelief (even if their parents did allow the unchaperoned, cross-country trip). Stick to Christopher Pike's and R. L. Stine's books, where evil also lurks, but plots and characters are better developed. - School Library Journal (from bn.com)
Title: The Nightmares on Elm Street, Part 5: The Dream ChildAlice, having survived the previous installment of the Nightmare series, finds the deadly dreams of Freddy Krueger starting once again. This time, the taunting murderer is striking through the sleeping mind of Alice's unborn child. His intention is to be "born again" into the real world. The only one who can stop Freddy is his dead mother, but can Alice free her spirit in time to save her own son? (from IMDb.com)They're tie-in novels so the summary from the movie site is still relevant. The previous one I did, Part 4, is called The Dream Master. Apparently this one, The Dream Child, is the weakest movie in the series. I wouldn't know. I'm a bad horror fan and I've never seen the Nightmare on Elm Street series in its entirety. I've seen New Nightmare, but that's it. Let's hope FEARnet runs a marathon.
Title: Blood & Lace: Deadly Relations (#2)In this terrifying tale of romance and intrigue--the companion to Vampire Heart--Sabrina finally discovers her family secret: She is from a bloodline of vampires! Along with her sweetheart, Sabrina tries to help a relative escape from their uncle's greed. Original. (from bn.com)Fan Review:
I thought this was a pretty good conclusion to Vampire Heart. It ended rather quickly, but that's to be expected in a two-book miniseries. And the end certainly proved the point that what goes around comes around. I would reccomend this book to teenagers who like vampire stories, but anyone older would probably find the story too tame. (from amazon.com)I don't know about you, but I just want to shower after looking at that cover. It just has that grimy look to it, don't you think? Or am I nuts?
In the tradition of Dark Shadows comes an intriguing romantic epic. In this first book, 17-year-old Sabrina Van Fleet yearns to know the truth about her parents' mysterious death and other family secrets. Why does her eccentric Uncle Viktor sleep in a casket in the basement? Could it be that Sabrina is from a family of vampires? (from bn.com)Fan Review:
Sabrina Van Fleet is a wealthy teenaged girl who is away at boarding school in England when she learns her parents have died in a car crash. She returns to her home in Maine to live with relatives. There she learns her "Uncle" Viktor is really an ancient ancestor. Cursed to become a vampire 200 years ago, he now wants to turn Sabrina so that she can be his servant. Sabrina, her boyfriend Eric, and a group of their friends must stop Viktor before it is too late. I think teens who enjoyed books by L. J. Smith and Janice Harrell would like this book. (from amazon.com)Never even knew these books existed but now I want to hunt them down and devour them!
