So, some spoilers ahead, so just skip if you really think R.L. Stine books are scary and you don't want to know what happens. This is a decent choice for middle school libraries, nothing inappropriate. Just don't read on if spoilers bother you. Rachel's family is struggling to make ends meet, so she waitresses at the local diner. When the wealthy and enigmatic Brendan Fear invites her to his birthday party, she is excited to go, even when her ex boyfriend, Mac, warns her not to go. She assumes it is the disgruntled Mac who puts a dead rat in her bed, but when she and some other girls are on the Fear's creepy island on their way to the party, she finds out that the other girls had various dead animals in their beds, too... and Brendan tells them that the creepy Victoria Fear was a taxidermist and often would warn people away from the house with dead animals! Sure enough, it's creepy on the island, but it gets even worse when people get injured... and then killed. One by one, the guests die in horrific ways, but then they come back. It turns out that the deaths were all staged by Brendan Fear. Ha, ha. Very funny. Then, creepy guys show up and are going to kidnap Brendan. Real, or fake? Real threat, but the bad guys are taken down by policemen that Brendan hired to perform some other role in the huge charade. There is an appearance by Victoria Fear, but instead of a ghost, it turns out to be Brendan's cousin Karen. Of course, when Rachel goes back into the house to get her jacket, how can she explain seeing the ghost then?Strengths: Stine is the master of the bait-and-switch thriller. People are threatened. Nyah, it's a hoax. Wait! Now they are dead! No they're not. This makes the books scary but not too scary for middle school students. It's nice to have a new R.L. Stine in hardcover and not in a 25+ year old prebind with pages crumbling to dust.Weaknesses: #52? Really? Does this mean that 1-51 will be available again in something that won't become a pile of dust in a year? Didn't think so. Plus, I'm not entirely sure I haven't read this book before. Not that any of it matters. Put Stine on the shelf, and someone will read it no matter what the content or condition. The older I get the more and more I realize how low-quality R.L. Stine's writing is...and yet I still keep coming back? I've been reading Stine's stuff since I was in elementary school with his Goosebumps series. Even then I knew they were bad but I enjoyed the cool monsters and strange twists, even though the twists were always kinda stupid. And when I got older, I moved on to Fear Street, which were equally as hastily written and yet I STILL enjoyed them, despite my better judgement. And after everything, I also enjoyed Stine's newest Fear Street novel, a series that hasn't been seen in several years. Although, enjoyed could be a very loose term. The writing was still monosyllabic, as always, and Stine has a nasty habit of "telling not showing"; he'll give a character's whole history the first time you're introduced, instead of revealing things gradually. However, there is one thing that I've always given Stine credit for: he damn sure knows how to lay down a twist and litter a narrative with red herrings. After years and years of writing his books, I've never been able to pin down his formula. Every time, I feel like I KNOW who the killer is and then it ends up being the exact oppposite. On the other hand, though, his twists have never been what I'd call "good storytelling". For example, for Party Games here, the villains end up being two characters that have never been seen or mentioned before in the entire book, so how is that a mystery? Why set up red herrings when the real villains come out of nowhere, like a daes ex machina to wrap up the story? Good storytelling in a mystery is having the killer under your nose the whole time, just to make you wonder "why didn't I see that? The clues were all there!" All in all, I liked Party Games alright. I hadn't read a Fear Street novel in so long, that I had forgotten all the problems I have with this series. Now that I've read some more Stine with a fresh perspective, I definitely won't be picking up any of his new books. But for a first time Stine reader, I'd say it's fine to read, although if you are determined to read some more Fear Street, I would recommend the Fear Street Sagas, which I have a lot more of a paranormal feel, which I think lends itself better to Stine's style and are more interesting as a whole, since it is a series dedicated to revealing the origins of the evil that lives on Fear Street...
What do You think about Party Games (2014)?
I watched a lot of R.L Stine TV shows and I read a lot of R.L Stine books and there so amazing. I am in love with your books R.L Stine
—Your name...
I am in love with goosebumps books
—ShamayaFairfax
Party Games is a fun, thrilling, mysterious, and quick/easy read with plenty of cool plot twists.
—jessie
Great book, twist and turns at every page. With surprise after surprise, great job. Mr. Stine
—Louiseykat
A nice trip down nostalgia lane, I used to love these books when I was younger.
—MercadoAnna
