(i received an e-arc from the publisher and netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

reminiscent of One Of Us Is Lying and Scream, this thriller kept me on the edge and would not let me go until its final pages.

This was a quick YA read. I thought it would be more horror based, and more random. But you quickly figure out what is happening and why. It was fine for a quick afternoon, but nothing to write home about. Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Fright Night was interesting thriller that revolved around seven characters and their night at Fright Night. The story was about friendship, revenge, child abuse, problem kids, secrets, facing past, and munchausen by proxy.

Writing was easy to follow and fast paced. It was written in first person narrative from Dylan, Sofia and Kelly’s perspective. There were chapter in the beginning of each part from murderer’s perspective making it curious who was it.

This was character driven plot that started with three friends Quin, Sofia and Dylan deciding to try Fright Night to help Dylan fight his fears. Dylan was hiding something from his friends. No one knew what happened to him and why he was living in Quin’s house.

Sofia felt lonely as new girl in school. It was Dylan who spoke to her first and invited her to his little group. She wanted to do something special for his birthday. While Sofia was collecting picture to gift Dylan, she found postcard at his old place with a threat on the back.

It was interesting to see who sent that post card to Dylan’s house, was he in some danger, what was he hiding from his friends and what was his past that he was ashamed of.

I was surprised to find three more characters in the story. Kelly and Sandy living in child service’s problem kids’ complex and Nell who volunteered in their complex. Kelly and Sandy joined the Fright Night as staff and Nell was with her friend Martin in Quin, Dylan, and Sofia’s group to enter the Fright Night. It was interesting to see how they would fit in the story and how they all were connected.

All characters were realistic. Sofia, Nell and Quin were most likable. Dylan was mysterious. It was clear he had tough past and as it was revealed in between chapters, it was easy to root for him. What he went through was sad. I could understand why he reacted so badly when he thought his secret might be coming out. I liked how he realised his mistakes and came back for his friends.

Friendship was well presented. I liked the bond between Quin and Dylan. There was also prospect of relationship between Sofia and Dylan and Kelly and Nell.

Fright Night setting was atmospheric. I enjoyed reading the stages characters went through. Most were not that horrible but insect zone was disgusting and it truly sent a shiver through me. What I liked most was Dylan’s past, revelation of his secret, and munchausen by proxy rep.

Climax was tense. I worried for characters and I was on the edge to see how they were going to get out of the situation. I suspected two characters and I felt something off about them from the beginning but I was surprised to find one of them not as bad as looked. End was sad.

Why 3.5 stars-

I wish this was a bit longer with more fright stages. Seven characters in 200 pages so it took half of the book in character building and their background and another half had interesting parts Fright Night chapters along with Dylan’s past. This was tagged horror but I felt this was less horror and more psychological drama. If you’re looking for chill and thrill, you would be disappointed.

Overall, Fright Night was enjoyable, fast paced and interesting YA thriller.

I recommend this if you like,
Story taking place in few hours
Quick read
Escape room or scary games trope
psychological drama
Munchausen by Proxy rep
Character driven story

It was a good read, but pretty easy to figure out what was going in with Dylan mid book. The twist at the end was a good plot point but not enough to stay with me for a while.

A very quick read with little suspense. It doesn’t read like a fully fleshed out book at all and there very little actual Fright Night involved in the book.

I'm always on the lookout for more horror books for my teens, but this one just missed the mark for me. I wasn't invested in the characters, and ultimately, I couldn't think of which of my horror readers would enjoy it. Sadly, I will have to pass on Fright Night.

Great story and loved the romance. Loved the cast of characters and how the story came to be. Great story and I would read this author again.

Antes de começar a falar desse livro, preciso anunciar que agora somos parceiros da Random House Internacional, e foi deles que recebemos esse eARC (Advance reading copy: algo como “uma cópia de leitura avançada, ou seja, o livro ainda pode sofrer alterações antes de ser publicado). Gostaríamos de agradecer profundamente a Editora pela editora de agora sermos parceiros. Também gostaria de explicar que essas resenhas terão um formato diferente: por serem ARCs, não haverão quotes, já como os livros podem sofrer essas mudanças antes de serem comercializados.

Agora sobre o livro: a primeira coisa que me deixou bem impressionada com “Fright Night” foi o tamanho dele: ele é tipo muito, muito curto. Mas conforme a gente lê a história, fica fácil de entender o porque.

“Fright Night” se passa em apenas uma noite. Como é de se esperar, é uma “Noite de Espantos”. O plot começa exatamente apresentando isso: é uma noite próxima do Halloween e todos os anos tem um evento chamado Fright Night na cidade, onde as pessoas compram ingressos para participar (muito semelhantes aquelas casas de horror e de escape que tem feito muito sucesso) e no momento da inscrição, enquanto preenche toda a sua ficha, você tem que colocar lá o que te meta medo de verdade, porque não tendo como bastante atores pulando de lugares que não imaginam para meter medo, eles ainda criam salas especificas para seus medos.

Então nós somos apresentados a nossos personagens que fazem parte dessa noite macabra: Sofia, Dylan, Quin, que são três amigos que se inscrevem juntos. Nell e Martin, que são colocados no mesmo grupo que os outros três porque todos tem que andar em grupos de cinco. E também temos Kelly e Sandy, que apesar dos nomes considerados “femininos”, são dois garotos que se inscrevem não para participar da noite do terror, mas para trabalharem assustando os outros.

O que começa como uma suposta noite de diversão e alguns sustos, logo se transforma realmente em um terror, onde aos poucos nós vamos descobrindo mais sobre os personagens apresentados, em flashbacks que contam o que levou eles até ali aquele momento.

O livro é dividido em três pontos de vista: da Sofia, do Dylan e do Kelly. E também temos muitas vezes, entre um capitulo e outro, um pequeno ponto de vista do assassino, que carrega consigo apenas uma ou duas frases, que te instigam a querer saber quem está por trás disso e o que realmente está acontecendo.

Como eu disse lá em cima, o livro é curto, e nós entendemos que é justamente porque ele foi feito apenas para se passar assim, nessas horas do evento Fright Night, então não esperem por nenhuma enrolação na história. Ela tem dois plot twists (um que eu imaginava e o outro que me pegou meio de surpresa mesmo) e é tudo feito em uma escrita bem leve, apesar do tema, e que é muito fácil de ler, tão fácil que você nem ao menos vê o tempo passar e quanto percebe já está acabando o livro.

Eu gostei muito que tem personagens ali com segredos e nós, leitores, só vamos descobrindo na medida que eles querem que a gente descubra, com alguma lembrança ou com algum comentário, pequenas coisas e interações que acontecem que te deixam com aquela pulguinha atrás da orelha, querendo saber quem de fato é o assassino.

Ele me lembrou bastante vários filmes de terror desse gênero e é bom porque ele não enrola mesmo: apesar dos segredos que vamos desvendando com flashbacks, ele vai direto ao ponto que ele quer tocar e isso é ótimo, por isso eu achei perfeito, no final das contas, ele não ter uma quantidade muito maior de folhas, porque na minha opinião isso só abriria espaço para uma leitura arrastada e morna.

Se você, como eu, adora um bom filme de suspense com grandes viradas na história e carrega esse amor para dentro da literatura também, dê uma chance a esse livro. Tenho certeza que não vai se arrepender!

Thanks for the free book, Penguin Random House!

It was a quick and okay read. A bit short for my liking.
My main problem: After ready g the blurb, I expected a teen slasher.
But it far off of that. It was a psychological kind of Thriller and not even close to what I expected after reading the blurb.
It wasn’t bad. It’s a quick read for a Sunday or maybe Halloween.

It wasn't super scary, but had you guessing (though not too hard to figure out). I would say this is a good scary read for those wanting a milder scary. Nice quick read, story kept moving along.

#FrightNight #NetGalley
Thank you for the E-arc copy of Fright Night by Maren Stoffels. A fun, quick read that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

I am guilty of reading the reviews before I started reading this. I wanted to know what I was getting myself into and I'm glad I skimmed the reviews. I stopped after the first chapter and elected to label this a "did not finish". I didn't like the characters and according to the reviews there wasn't much suspense or mystery that resulted by the end.

I had a difficult time getting into this book. The characters were well developed but I thought that the plot of the book moved too slowly, which took away from the fact that this is a thriller.

**Spoiler Alert** Bit of a spoiler in the "Strengths" section.

Friends Quin and Dylan are planning to go to a haunted house that is really intense; you have a to sign a paper to participate, tickets aren't cheap, and there is even a safe word, "ketchup", if things get to scary. Of course, once the safe word is used, the haunted house is over for the entire group. Dylan is living with Quin's family; he tells everyone that his mother has cancer, and that he injured his leg in a bicycle accident. There are dark secrets in his past that he doesn't want to share. There is a new girl in school, Sofia, who has connected with Dylan. For his birthday, she wants to make him a photo album, but comes across even more inconsistencies in his stories about his past. Friends Kelly and Sandy are in care, and find that working at the haunted house is a good way to make money. As the night progresses, connections between the people at the haunted house are uncovered, and secrets are revealed. Some of these will push people to the edge and end in tragedy.

Strengths: I found Dylan's story to be very intriguing; I was able to connect his illnesses with his mother's behavior right away, and found it interesting that he was based on a real person whom the author knew who suffered the same kind of abuse he does. The cover is fantastic and would lead readers who want scary stories to pick it up right away. Definitely has an R.L. Stine Fear Street feel to it. Haunted houses are always a good subject.
Weaknesses: There's a bit of a cultural disconnect; the author is from Amsterdam and this book is a translation. The teens are shown smoking in the book, and there's an interchange where Sandy says "Did you see the tits on her?" This might be okay for high school, but the story wasn't scary enough to justify these odd things.
What I really think: I think I will stick to the new Joel Sutherland Fright Night books or the K. R. Alexander stories that are coming out from Scholastic.

I want to start with... supremely amazing cover. This is what attracted me to the book and the fact that I have been wanted to expand more into the scary and horror genre. This is a favorite genre for my students, but I tend to focus more on mystery, suspense, and thrillers.

So as I began reading I kept this in mind.. What differences are there between a book being classified as horror/scary versus mystery/suspense/thriller? I found that most of my mystery ya novels tend to have a more developed back story and more movement involved- for example, centering on a town and the people in it instead of one scary night or incident.

This book focused on Fright Night, a scary corn maze type attraction. It was told from several different point of views. I wasn't sure any of them were fully developed until the end. I found this book hard to focus on to finish. It felt a bit predictable - like I knew someone would die from the first introduction, and it would most likely happen during Fright Night hence the title. But everything that led up to those actual events were expected. I don't know if my trouble was that I am used to the mystery genre more which tends to have more twists and turns or if I didn't get invested enough in the characters.

I think that I might buy this book for my library as horror is a top genre- but I am not sure it would make it to the top of my list of recommendations. Let me know what you think of Fright Night by Maren Stoffels when it comes out in the US in Sept. 2020. It was previously published in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2018.

Picked this book assuming it would a typical scary read, along the lines of a "B Horror" movie. Turns out the story goes a bit deeper than that. Readers are treated to suspensful and frightening moments for sure. But the novel also deals with abuse and features twists and connections you will not see coming.

Description- Three friends, one with a secret past he fears sharing, decide to sign up for a Fright Night. At this event in the woods, players reveal their most hidden fears and are then subjected to living them out. (I know this sounds like Stephen King's IT, but it really is not so do not discount it for that reason.) Two more friends, roommates at home for troubled teens decide to work at Fright Night. Finally, the first three are paired with couple they have never met. Teams of five are required. Be prepared for connections you do not expect.

Read-a-likes- Recommend this book to fans of "One of Us is Lying" by Karen M. McManus, "There's Someone Inside your House" by Stephanie Perkins, the "Sacrifice Box" by Martin Steward, and "The Last Witness" by Claire McFall