THE LOST GIRL

A tale of revenge on Fear Street—nothing new there.

It’s 1950. Beth’s father is just about to open his own stable after years of working for thankless Martin Dooley, but Martin and his thugs can’t let that happen. All Beth’s “tricks”—magic taught her by her grandmother—can’t save her beloved father, and she has to run from his murderers. Decades later, a mysterious girl starts hanging out with Michael Frost and his friends. After a snowmobile accident in which it seems they kill another teen, the friends begin getting threatening messages…and Michael’s friends start dying. Does the new girl need help—or is something else going on? Stine’s third of six new Fear Street novels is longer and more violent than the originals, as well as more histrionic, melodramatic, and unrealistic. Timelines and characters don’t quite make sense, and the whole reads like a string of plot clichés drawn from a hat. It’s the same easily read, jokey “horror” Stine’s made bank on for decades. Today’s horror readers know there are better scares out there.

Good as a nostalgia trip for the original fans of Fear Street—but it will probably leave their children cold.