The Bookworm: Halloween Night II
Halloween Night II, by R.L. Stine. 178 pages. Scholastic Inc. September 1994.
“No. We have to make him believe we’re going to kill him,” Brenda said. “We really have to make him believe. We want the camcorder to pick up those beads of sweat on his forehead. We want to see him squirming and shaking” (p. 104).
My intention was to finish Halloween Night II by Halloween night. That did not happen. I had other, pressing matters and was unable to finish it until last night.
Halloween Night II is, more or less, 178 pages of déjà vu. The main characters from Halloween Night return and not much has changed. Brenda is once again fighting with her cousin, Halley, who is now a permanent member of the family. (In Halloween Night, Halley’s parents were locked in a vicious custody battle. Early in II it is revealed that a judge declared both of her parents unfit and awarded custody to Brenda’s parents. Could that happen in real life? I have no clue.) Brenda again falls victim to a handful of threatening and gross pranks: she receives an ominous Halloween card, a rotten pumpkin is placed in her locker at school, and worms are stuffed into her pillow. Halley, of course, is the main suspect.
Complicating matters is the fact Dina, the character who tried to kill Brenda in the first book, has been released from a mental institution and is back at school. Brenda obviously keeps her distance, but Dina and Halley become good friends (another strike against Halley). Then there’s Brenda’s relationship with a womanizing jackass named Jake, who has dated just about every girl at school. Though Jake previously dated Traci, Brenda’s friend, he and Brenda are an item at the beginning of the book. However, he soon dumps Brenda and starts seeing Halley. Then he dumps Halley and creeps back into Brenda’s life. After a certain point, nobody likes Jake and a plan is devised to scare him “to death” on Halloween. Brenda, Traci, and Angela, an insecure new girl at school, want to get it all on tape to embarrass him.
Angela is an interesting character. Not only does Brenda not know much about her — despite the fact they have apparently become best friends — Angela lives in a dilapidated house that her parents are supposedly renovating. Her parents are also obsessed with Halloween, so the house is decked out in cobwebs and other spooky decorations, including two coffins in the living room. I love Halloween, too, but am not crazy enough to own two coffins. (If you ask me, coffins are pretty useless. But that is a completely different subject.) Anyway, I think Brenda mentions somewhere that she has never met Angela’s parents. Hmmm…
A third plot-point pops up every now and then. A maniac, who assaults and robs his victims, is on the loose in the city and everyone is on edge. While at the mall, a fat, untidy man starts following Brenda after she loses her wallet. Brenda assumes he is the maniac and that she is his next victim. The fat man even visits Brenda’s house. (I will give you one guess how that situation resolves itself. It is painfully obvious from the beginning. Sometimes I wonder if these books purposely highlight our inability to effectively communicate and understand one another.)
The book meanders through all its varying plot points. It is mostly a collection of mini-dramas and the events of Halloween night do not come into play until late; everything makes the case for Jake being a jackass who deserves to be embarrassed. The mystery of Brenda’s harasser is maintained until the end; Stine does a good job of preserving the suspense and keeps Dina and Halley in the mix as potential suspects. The ending, however, disappoints. It feels rushed, is a little too convenient, and Brenda and Halley once again make up.
Unlike its prequel (would it be a prequel?), I did not get the sense that II was gorier and more mature than its Fear Street counterparts. In fact, it seemed pretty tame. Except for the rotting pumpkin and worm-infested pillow, there was nothing remotely disgusting about the book. It was also quite boring and uneventful, a total bummer.
