Halloween Night by R.L. Stine

 

Disclaimer: If at some point I mistakenly calls this book Halloween Party, it's R.L. Stine's fault for giving all his books similar names.

Good news! After Halloween Night 2 (my next post), I'm taking a much needed break from these books until December. It may not seem like it because I barely put any effort into making these posts interesting, but it actually takes forever between reading the books, taking notes and then typing the whole thing out. So one more post after this and then I'll be back in a couple months with some [hopefully] fun winter-themed horror books.

Keeping with the Halloween theme, it's time for Halloween Night! I'm pretty sure this is a Point Horror novel. I have no idea if I ever read it as a kid, but I'm reading it now and my prediction issss...That not one jack-o'-lantern is mentioned in this book, even though there's one on the cover. Let's see if I'm right!

From the very first page, it's clear that Brenda Morgan has some hard feelings towards her cousin, Halley, when she "jokingly" compares her appearance to a Halloween mask. Her friend, Traci, laughs, while her other friend, Dina, frowns and asks her why she's always picking on Halley. Brenda claims it's because Halley is a monster. Her cousin's parents are going through a divorce and until they work things out, she's living in Brenda's bedroom. (Brenda was moved into a room the size of a closet, too small for even her Luke Perry poster, so I can understand why she's frustrated.) Halley also volunteers to help Brenda's parents with chores and then complains about them when they aren't around. Brenda insists that she tried to get along with Halley at first, but that she's too mean. I understand where Brenda's coming from. Imagine someone acting perfect and innocent around everyone else and only showing their true colors to you. And then when you try to tell people what they're really like, everyone defends them and acts like you're a bad person. And that same person has your Luke Perry poster in the bedroom they took from you. (She also steals Brenda's clothes and textbooks, and she's working on stealing her boyfriend, as well.)

Speaking of Ted, Brenda's boyfriend, guess who Halley comes waltzing in with? That's right. Ted! She asks Brenda if she can borrow her car because Ted offered to give her driving lessons. Brenda reluctantly agrees and Halley takes her care keys without even thanking her. She then uses this as an opportunity to hit on Ted, until he accidentally knocks over her purse and out falls her...Driver's license? Guess she didn't need those lessons after all. The two of them kiss, for a very long time, and I hate them.

Oh! Dina went out with Ted before Brenda did. That's against the Girl Code. I wonder if Dina is going to be behind whatever unfortunate events unfold in this book.

I feel like I missed something somewhere. Or R.L. Stine did. I think Brenda, Dina and Traci are working on writing a murder mystery as an English assignment. They plan on killing Halley and Ted. For the assignment! Not for real. (Not yet, anyway.) The girls decide on a Halloween costume party as the setting, so it's harder to figure out who murdered the victims. Coincidentally, Brenda is having a Halloween Party at her house. How much do you want to bet this story turns out to be more than just fiction?

Dina is defending Halley again, because her parents also went through a horrible divorce and she "freaked out or something." (Either this is a red herring or Dina hates Brenda for being insensitive and also breaking the Girl Code and she's going to try to kill her. Or frame her for murder.) She looks out the window and gasps, so of course the other girls come over to see what's going on outside and there's Halley, in Ted's car. Kissing him again. Brenda says she's going to kill her, but you know what? She should be just as angry at Ted. Kill them both.

At school the next day, Brenda catches Halley flirting with Traci's boyfriend, Noah. (It's going to serve Ted right if he gets his heart broken.) Noah practically begs her not to tell Traci that she saw them together, claiming they were just talking, even though Halley's hands were all over him. Brenda says she won't tell and...I kind of get it because she doesn't want to hurt her friend, but if I were Traci, I would want to know.

When Brenda is ready to go to sleep that night, she sees a man outside her window and screams. It's only a cardboard cutout of a face though, and written on the back of it is, "See You on Halloween." Wonder who stuck that on the window of her second floor bedroom. Brenda believes Halley put it there and while she's the obvious suspect, I still think something is up with Dina.

I was wrong about the jack-o'-lantern, by the way. Brenda and her friends do carve one because she wants to have a lot of them lit up at her party. (I'm glad the cover of the book is actually somewhat relevant to the story.) As they're carving the pumpkin, a giant gorilla walks in and begins waving a knife around. Oh...It's just Halley. Brenda is really bad at deciphering what's real and what isn't. A man looking into her bedroom on the second floor? A gorilla costume? Come on, Brenda. A real gorilla isn't going to just walk into your house unless you're Donald Duck.

Halley's gorilla costume gives Brenda an idea for her story and she starts brainstorming with Dina and Traci. They debate over who the killer should be and how Halley should die (with someone suggesting she gets stabbed in her gorilla costume so no one knows she's dead). Brenda goes up to her room for a moment and stops dead in her tracks. On the wall, in blood (real blood, this isn't Brenda's overactive imagination for once) are the words, "SEE YOU ON HALLOWEEN." Dina is in her house right now. Just saying. Brenda thinks Halley is responsible for her new paint job and tells her parents about her suspicions, but they side with Halley, as usual.

While Brenda is out with Traci, they catch Halley and Noah together, holding hands. What is with this girl? Traci confronts her and Halley acts like she is wrong for being upset. Seriously. I'm pretty sure Halley won't die in this book and they'll try to give her some kind of redemption arc, but she is dead to me. At least Brenda will have someone on her side now. After this, Traci hates Halley, too.

Ted's an absolute idiot and tells Brenda that they still have a date to the Homecoming dance. Really, Ted? After you were sneaking around behind her back, with her cousin? Brenda's an idiot, too, because she decides to take him back and then he declares, " I just think we should see other people, too. You know. Not be so serious." AKA, "I want to date you and your cousin." I've put up with a lot of really awful behavior from guys, so I shouldn't be getting this annoyed at a fictional character for making bad choices, but Brenda is being really stupid right now and she needs to get rid of this guy.

Brenda and Traci are commiserating together over Halley stealing their boyfriends, when Dina yells up from downstairs that she can hear every word they're saying from the vent in Brenda's room. I'm making note of this now because it's the second time the vent has been mentioned and I'm sure it's going to be important later on. The girls go downstairs and work on their assignment. I think they've finally settled on Halley being stabbed in her gorilla costume. They begin discussing their own costumes for Brenda's party. Brenda is going to dress up as a clown, Dina will be a monk and Traci is going as a peacock. They decide that the murderer should be the least likely suspect, and since Brenda and Traci hate Halley for going after their boyfriends, that leaves Dina. As they continue plotting out their story, they realize having Dina convince Brenda to switch costumes with her is a good idea, since everyone will believe Brenda is actually the murderer.

Brenda once again goes to her bedroom and finds a surprise. A lit jack-o'-lantern with a headless bird inside it and a note that says, "YOU'RE NEXT. ON HALLOWEEN." Halley is home, and sure, she could have done this, but Dina excused herself to go get a Coke before, sooo...My money is still on her.

Several times now, Halley has taken Brenda's car without asking her if it was okay first. This time, she got into an accident. She tells Brenda she went through a stop sign because she doesn't know the neighborhood well and the other person was going so fast, so it's not her fault that the car is wrecked. That's the last straw for Brenda and she lunges at Halley and attacks her, until her parents pull them apart. Her mother says they should just be grateful Halley is alive. Should Brenda have tried to strangle her cousin? Maybe not. But would it kill her mother to try to understand her feelings for once?

The next morning, Dina tells Traci what happened between Brenda and Halley the night before and claims she's really worried about her. Tracie shares some news of her own, she saw Ted and Halley making out in his car again, even though he just got back together with Brenda. They both decide it's probably best not to tell Brenda, since she did just try to strangle her cousin.

At school, Brenda notices conversations halting whenever she walks by and wonders if Halley told everyone about their fight. Ted is awkward with her at lunch and when Dina and Traci come over that night, they're visibly uncomfortable, too. They give up on working on their project for the night and go home. When Brenda is ready to go to sleep, she finds rotten meat, covered with maggots, in her bed. The chapter ends with Brenda thinking to herself that she knows what she has to do, but I want to know how she got rid of that mess. And did she tell her parents about it?? How can you end a chapter like this?

Brenda goes to the homecoming dance with Ted and he disappears at some point. When she finds him, he's kissing Halley. This is why everyone was acting strange around her at school, she thinks. To make matters worse, Noah also sees Ted and Halley together. The two boys end up outside in the parking lot and begin fighting each other. Brenda catches a glimpse of Halley and she's smiling like she enjoys seeing them fight. Brenda runs home and calls Traci, saying, "Let's really kill her!"

Dina and Traci go to Brenda's house, where she tells them she wants to put their murder plot into action. She plans to switch costumes at the party and shows them a Frankenstein's Monster costume she bought at the store. Everyone will think she's dressed as a clown, but she'll actually be in that costume. She says Traci can wear her clown costume and Dina can wear Traci's peacock costume. Once they're all in different costumes, Brenda says she'll stab Halley and no one will notice because the gorilla costume is so heavy and thick, the blood won't seep through. When that's done, she'll change into Dina's monk costume and discard the Frankenstein's Monster costume. (For the record, R.L. Stine calls it a Frankenstein costume, but the monster is not Frankenstein, so I'm correcting him.) Dina refuses to be a part of this plan, but she says she won't tell anyone what Brenda is going to do. Isn't that just as bad? Brenda makes some adjustments to her scheme, since Dina is no longer involved. And Halley hears the entire thing through the vent in Brenda's room.

Brenda runs into Ted at the mall and she's done giving him chances to not be a screwup. She tells him he's still invited to her party though and says he can do her a favor by coming dressed as Frankenstein's Monster.

We're given more evidence to support my theory about Dina. When Dina's parents were getting divorced, Brenda "couldn't bear" to be with her or see her. "It was just too sad." How do you think she felt, Brenda? This girl really sucks as a friend.

When Brenda gets home, Halley is waiting for her in her bedroom. And she's crying. She asks Brenda if she's been so hateful that Brenda wants to kill her. She says she really wanted to be friends with Brenda, but she made her feel like an intruder. So that gave her the right to go after other people's boyfriends? What did Traci ever do to her? Brenda agrees to forgive Halley, thinking, "What a shame that I have to go ahead with my plan anyway."

The night of the party, everything goes as planned. Frankenstein's Monster approaches the gorilla and stabs them. No one notices as the murderer sneaks away from the scene of the crime. Not at first, anyway. Eventually, they notice a puddle of blood near the gorilla. The clown (who is the clown, I don't even remember anymore) runs over to the gorilla, crying, "Halley?" But Halley isn't in the gorilla costume. Brenda is. The clown is Traci and everyone wants to know why she's wearing Brenda's costume. Dina, in her monk costume, exclaims, "You killed her, Traci! You and your stupid murder plot!" Traci denies this and Halley comes forward, saying Brenda forced her to switch into the peacock costume, after switching costumes with Traci. (This is getting convoluted.)

Everyone is throwing accusations around. Dina is yelling at Traci, Traci is yelling at Halley. Halley screams at Traci, saying she heard her plotting to kill her. Traci claims there's no way she could have changed out of the Frankenstein (I'm sorry, I'm tired of correcting Stine's mistake) costume that quickly, to which Dina replies, "Then it was Ted!" She's really eager to pin the blame on someone, isn't she? The two Frankensteins at the party step forward, but neither of them are Ted. Noah informs everyone that Ted was never at the party, he stayed home with the flu. Suddenly, Brenda begins to move. "Happy Halloween," she says bitterly. She picks up the plastic puddle of blood from the floor (are you telling me people can't tell the difference between real blood and plastic blood) and tells her guests that the party is over. She asks Halley to escort everyone out. 

Brenda heads into the kitchen, with Traci and Dina trailing behind her. Brenda says it's over, she knows which one of them tried to kill her, and she lunges at Dina, pulling her monk robe open to reveal the green costume hidden underneath it. DINA! I WAS RIGHT! And Dina stupidly says, "I stabbed you, Brenda! Why aren't you dead?" You just admitted you tried to kill her, Dina.

Brenda isn't dead because she's a good seamstress (her words, not mine) and she sewed a "double-thick pad of foam rubber" into her costume. Would that really make a difference if someone stabbed you? Dina asks how Brenda knew it was her, she was supposed to believe Halley did all those awful things to her. Brenda says the blood on the wall had to be animal blood and there was also the headless bird. And the meat in her bed was actually spoiled dog food. Dina works for a vet. (Oops, sorry, forgot to mention that earlier.) Brenda already knew Dina was to blame before the party.

Dina overheard Brenda and Halley switching costumes with each other through the vent that everyone uses to eavesdrop in this book. She says Brenda wasn't her friend when she needed her during her parents' divorce. Dina saw her doing the same thing to Halley and it brought back all those emotions and she apparently decided murder was the best way to deal with her feelings. She tells Brenda that when she was talking about killing Halley, that gave her the idea to murder her. Brenda never planned to actually kill Halley though, it was all a trick to draw Dina out. The cops arrive and take Dina away and Brenda and Halley drink hot chocolate and laugh together. (Okay, so I'm taking this a little out of context.)

I liked Halloween Night! A lot! Out of all the YA horror novels I've read so far, I think this was the most enjoyable, even though it was predictable. It's nice that Brenda and Halley made up at the end, I hope this carries over into the next book. I'll make a prediction for the sequel now: A year after Dina tried to kill Brenda, she comes back and Brenda begins receiving threatening messages again. Find out next time!