reads_eats_explores's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
mystery111's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
emmaleanne's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
pulp_fiction_books's review against another edition
2.0
Boring is the first word that comes to mind. Unfortunately, this had very little going for it, the reveal was very obvious throughout and I don't know why it's called 'Trick or Treat' the title has nothing to do with the story bar the fact somebody says it twice on the phone.
1professional_chipmunk's review
3.0
I enjoyed reading this story. I did not expect the small piece of romance but a nice touch. It did get slow in the middle. The only down side is that there wasn’t much Halloween in the book till the end. So unless you want a book dealing with more of the aspect of Halloween , this is not the book. I will most likely re-read this book in the future.
ndiganci's review
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
**Rereading this as a 45-year-old-woman**
This was one of my favorite books when I was in high school, and as we head into Spooky Season I decided to revisit most of my favorite '90s YA horror stories (I say most, since a lot of them aren't available any longer, even as ebooks, or they're prohibitively expensive for a paperback copy, and I'm not THAT committed!)
Here, we follow new stepsiblings Martha and Conor as they move to a new city and new house. Their parents have recently gotten married, and Martha and Conor really don't know much about each other. I guess they mostly avoided each other as their parents met, dated, got engaged? There were no family dinners, meet-ups, they didn't live together before marriage? That seems odd to me, but Martha and Conor are older teens, not young kids, so perhaps they just did polite greetings and that was it? Conor seems like one of those kids who don't really need many people around and enjoys his own company, while Martha seems to need a lot of people around her, so maybe they just didn't mesh very well. There's a lot of "seems" and "maybes" here because we get very little in the way of characterization. Martha is our POV, but all we get is that in Chicago she was a good student, seemed to be known as a 'good girl,' usual girl interests (I guess??). We don't learn very much more about her. Conor is portrayed as the loner, interested in a variety of subjects, deep and mysterious, lusted after by all the girls at their high school because of his tall and brooding ways.
But anyway. Martha's dad gets called away for a photoshoot in Hawaii, and his new wife / Conor's mom decides to go with him, so that's how they get the adults out of the picture (except for Greg Chambers, but he's mostly MIA during the whole book and doesn't really seem like an "authority figure" even though he's an advisor at the high school). This leaves Martha and Conor living alone in 'The Bedford House,' the great spoOOOooooOky house on the outskirts of the small town where a vicious murder had happened the year before ~~~ on Halloween. Again, not a lot of description on the house. There's a vague idea of a couple bedrooms and a kitchen and some secret passages, but I would have loved more details on what the house looked like so I could get a better idea of the floor plan. Is the house run down? What does the outside look like? (I know this story is geared towards YA and those books tend to be on the shorter side, but 50 more pages to get into more details on the characters and the house would have been awesome). There's also a family cemetery through the woods just to add to the spook factor.
So almost right away Martha meets the Chambers: Wynn, cousin Blake, and cousin Greg (the aforementioned advisor). Blake is the ever-popular boy in high school, basketball star, all-the-girls-eyes-on-him who immediately takes an interest in Martha. Which, I get. Small town, not a lot of new people, he's probably dated all the girls he wants to date and all that's left are the dregs, so yeah. Wynn is the tragic figure - she found her BFF Elizabeth, seemingly murdered by her ex-BF Dennis (Blake's rival), all dead and bloody in Elizabeth's bed. She's been traumatized by this for the past year. There's a bit of a freakout about how Martha looks sO mUcH like Elizabeth and it starts stirring up a whole bunch of shit between everyone.
And then the mystery: who actually killed Elizabeth? "They" say Dennis did and killed himself right after, but did he really? Is he the murderer? Is he STILL ALIVE AND OUT TO GET MARTHA? After all, Martha's been getting the creepy phone calls and experiencing the creepy events since they moved into the house. ******SPOILER HERE*******
The end is the reveal of Wynn as the killer and a chase scene of sorts through the secret passageways and tunnels in the house (again, HOW BIG IS THIS HOUSE??). Fires are set, Blake and Greg try to be the heroes, and it all ends in confessions and crypts. Dennis is actually dead, killed by Wynn the same night she killed Elizabeth (someone was BUSY...) his body stuffed in the family mausoleum (for Wynn to visit on occasion?). Conor has been hurt - he's been suffering with the flu but gets stabbed by Wynn in disguise as she tries to kill Martha and then drags himself through these tunnels all the while bleeding out. The ending is what REALLY got to me: Blake is relieved Martha is okay, he's "so lucky to have her," and the last line is Martha saying "I'm the lucky one." WTAF? What happens next? Does Conor survive? What the hell are their parents going to be told? Did they not check in with their kids the whole time they were in Hawaii? (Here I go, adulting again...)
I know this isn't geared towards me in my old-lady-ness. I knew what I was getting myself into when rereading these old books, so none of this is really surprising to me. I only wish the story were fleshed out a bit more because everyone deserves a good story no matter your age.
This was one of my favorite books when I was in high school, and as we head into Spooky Season I decided to revisit most of my favorite '90s YA horror stories (I say most, since a lot of them aren't available any longer, even as ebooks, or they're prohibitively expensive for a paperback copy, and I'm not THAT committed!)
Here, we follow new stepsiblings Martha and Conor as they move to a new city and new house. Their parents have recently gotten married, and Martha and Conor really don't know much about each other. I guess they mostly avoided each other as their parents met, dated, got engaged? There were no family dinners, meet-ups, they didn't live together before marriage? That seems odd to me, but Martha and Conor are older teens, not young kids, so perhaps they just did polite greetings and that was it? Conor seems like one of those kids who don't really need many people around and enjoys his own company, while Martha seems to need a lot of people around her, so maybe they just didn't mesh very well. There's a lot of "seems" and "maybes" here because we get very little in the way of characterization. Martha is our POV, but all we get is that in Chicago she was a good student, seemed to be known as a 'good girl,' usual girl interests (I guess??). We don't learn very much more about her. Conor is portrayed as the loner, interested in a variety of subjects, deep and mysterious, lusted after by all the girls at their high school because of his tall and brooding ways.
But anyway. Martha's dad gets called away for a photoshoot in Hawaii, and his new wife / Conor's mom decides to go with him, so that's how they get the adults out of the picture (except for Greg Chambers, but he's mostly MIA during the whole book and doesn't really seem like an "authority figure" even though he's an advisor at the high school). This leaves Martha and Conor living alone in 'The Bedford House,' the great spoOOOooooOky house on the outskirts of the small town where a vicious murder had happened the year before ~~~ on Halloween. Again, not a lot of description on the house. There's a vague idea of a couple bedrooms and a kitchen and some secret passages, but I would have loved more details on what the house looked like so I could get a better idea of the floor plan. Is the house run down? What does the outside look like? (I know this story is geared towards YA and those books tend to be on the shorter side, but 50 more pages to get into more details on the characters and the house would have been awesome). There's also a family cemetery through the woods just to add to the spook factor.
So almost right away Martha meets the Chambers: Wynn, cousin Blake, and cousin Greg (the aforementioned advisor). Blake is the ever-popular boy in high school, basketball star, all-the-girls-eyes-on-him who immediately takes an interest in Martha. Which, I get. Small town, not a lot of new people, he's probably dated all the girls he wants to date and all that's left are the dregs, so yeah. Wynn is the tragic figure - she found her BFF Elizabeth, seemingly murdered by her ex-BF Dennis (Blake's rival), all dead and bloody in Elizabeth's bed. She's been traumatized by this for the past year. There's a bit of a freakout about how Martha looks sO mUcH like Elizabeth and it starts stirring up a whole bunch of shit between everyone.
And then the mystery: who actually killed Elizabeth? "They" say Dennis did and killed himself right after, but did he really? Is he the murderer? Is he STILL ALIVE AND OUT TO GET MARTHA? After all, Martha's been getting the creepy phone calls and experiencing the creepy events since they moved into the house. ******SPOILER HERE*******
Spoiler
Wynn is the bad guy - she wants Dennis all for herself. Or does she want Elizabeth all for herself? It's kind of muddled in her confession at the end. But anyway, she uses the secret passages to move through the house without being seen, up to Elizabeth's room where she kills her BFF in a fit of jealous rage. I assume it was big news when someone bought the Bedford place and started moving in, otherwise does Wynn just hide out in the woods surrounding the house waiting to see if anyone moves in? The suspicious acts start almost immediately after Martha arrives there, so maybe Wynn heard about the sale and started her stakeout shortly after that.The end is the reveal of Wynn as the killer and a chase scene of sorts through the secret passageways and tunnels in the house (again, HOW BIG IS THIS HOUSE??). Fires are set, Blake and Greg try to be the heroes, and it all ends in confessions and crypts. Dennis is actually dead, killed by Wynn the same night she killed Elizabeth (someone was BUSY...) his body stuffed in the family mausoleum (for Wynn to visit on occasion?). Conor has been hurt - he's been suffering with the flu but gets stabbed by Wynn in disguise as she tries to kill Martha and then drags himself through these tunnels all the while bleeding out. The ending is what REALLY got to me: Blake is relieved Martha is okay, he's "so lucky to have her," and the last line is Martha saying "I'm the lucky one." WTAF? What happens next? Does Conor survive? What the hell are their parents going to be told? Did they not check in with their kids the whole time they were in Hawaii? (Here I go, adulting again...)
I know this isn't geared towards me in my old-lady-ness. I knew what I was getting myself into when rereading these old books, so none of this is really surprising to me. I only wish the story were fleshed out a bit more because everyone deserves a good story no matter your age.
jedisuckerpunch's review against another edition
5.0
I'd read this as a teenager and remember enjoying this book a lot- a lot enough to want me to try it out again since I don't remember much about and also cause Halloween is just around the corner.
domislibrary's review against another edition
5.0
Another great book from my childhood!! I remember reading this book in the 4th grade and it being really scary but also not being able to put it down. Reading this again was fun and I can see how it spooked me out when I was younger. I enjoyed this book.
grinningcheshire's review against another edition
5.0
It remains one of my favourite Point Horror books of all time! Epic conclusion!
wyrmbergmalcolm's review against another edition
3.0
This is my first Point Horror experience and it was an enjoyable one.
The big annoyance for me was the criminally neglectful parents who, the day after moving in and pretty much introducing step brother and sister before, swan off to Hawaii for several weeks. Martha had already provided enough concerning behaviour regarding the whole situation and the anxiety the new house was giving her to at least have her dad address these issues. But no, off they go leaving two hormonally charged and unrelated teenagers alone in a spooky house in the middle of nowhere.
Apart from that, I found the story flowed pretty nicely. The character of Martha was not great but then she did spend most of the time being scared witless and possibly suffering from anorexia (seriously, she barely eats). Her stepbrother Conor was deliberately kept as an unknown factor to increase tension, but it did become a little ridiculous.
The horror 'tropes' quickly revealed the true nature of the evil leading to a final confrontation which did ramp up the tension very effectively. The big reveal at the end was a bit Scooby Doo with a motivation that was just plain nuts.
In the end, I found there was enough in here to keep me engaged with some good scenes.
The big annoyance for me was the criminally neglectful parents who, the day after moving in and pretty much introducing step brother and sister before, swan off to Hawaii for several weeks. Martha had already provided enough concerning behaviour regarding the whole situation and the anxiety the new house was giving her to at least have her dad address these issues. But no, off they go leaving two hormonally charged and unrelated teenagers alone in a spooky house in the middle of nowhere.
Apart from that, I found the story flowed pretty nicely. The character of Martha was not great but then she did spend most of the time being scared witless and possibly suffering from anorexia (seriously, she barely eats). Her stepbrother Conor was deliberately kept as an unknown factor to increase tension, but it did become a little ridiculous.
The horror 'tropes' quickly revealed the true nature of the evil leading to a final confrontation which did ramp up the tension very effectively. The big reveal at the end was a bit Scooby Doo with a motivation that was just plain nuts.
In the end, I found there was enough in here to keep me engaged with some good scenes.