DON'T STAY UP LATE

A teen babysitter encounters monstrous demons as the nightmares on Fear Street continue.

Lisa Brooks is new to Shadyside, but she's been able to make friends and form romantic entanglements pretty quickly. When a devastating car accident leaves her with nightmarish hallucinations, Lisa's world is turned upside down, her only respite her babysitting job. Her charge, Harry, is sweet and adorable. He only comes with one rule: Harry absolutely cannot stay up late. Unfortunately, Lisa's problems seem to follow her to the boy's house, with grisly murders and creepy creatures on her heels. Stine's macabre sensibility and threadbare narrative approach are on full display here. After a successful return to Shadyside with Party Games (2014), Stine wastes no time continuing to wreak havoc on the horrifying town he knows so well. Longtime readers will chuckle and squirm at all the right places, only rolling their eyes at the melodrama Stine seems to feel is obligatory. Why should readers care that Lisa kisses a boy who isn’t her boyfriend when her father is dead and a bloodthirsty animal is on the loose? Stine also stumbles a bit when it comes to the explanation for the monster, which is weird and gross but comes about 50 pages too late.

Despite a strong start, the book doesn't stick the landing, but it’s still suitably scary for fans.