Don't Stay Up Late - R.L. Stine

Lisa and her parents moved to Shadyside back in February, and it took her a little while to make some friends and have a boyfriend.  On the night of April 12th her parents thought she was staying in her room, but Lisa snuck out to be with her friends.  She is hanging out with Nate, Saralynn, and Isaac at the local burger place when Lisa's father shows up there.  Lisa forgets her phone, and tells her dad to turn around when their car is struck.  She see her dog run out of the car before losing consciousness.  In the hospital she has hallucinations of her father in the bed next to her.  Her mother tells her he didn't make it.  After being home from the hospital for a week she is still having nightmares of her father and the car accident.  Nate is allowed to come over the following week.  While he is there someone comes claiming they have found her dog.  Lisa tells the guy it's not her dog, and keeps hoping Monty will come home.  Later that night she hears howls outside and sees a tall figure running through the trees.  She goes outside to investigate and thinks she is dreaming.  Her mom finds her in the woods, and Lisa is still confused about the creature she thinks she saw.  The next day she heads over to Nate's before her appointment with Dr. Shein.  Her friends are shooting Saralynn's horror movie for film class, and the costume of the demon nearly scares Lisa to death.  She leaves and heads to her appointment.  Dr. Shein recommends Lisa go back to school and have something else to occupy her mind.  Lisa used to babysit her cousin and Dr. Shein knows of someone looking for a babysitter for their eight year old boy.  The thing is the woman and her son live on Fear Street.  Her friends try and get her to understand the curse of Fear Street is real and she shouldn't go there.  Nate takes her over to meet Brenda Hart and her son Harry.  After Brenda explains what she wants Lisa to do and Lisa meets Harry she accepts the job.  There is one warning from Brenda, don't ever let Harry stay up late.  Lisa starts the next day and everything is going fine.  After Harry is put to bed she see a shadow figure darting across the landing.  She goes to check on Harry, but he isn't in his bed.  She sees what looks like a demon from a horror movie jumping out the bedroom window.  She finds Harry safe but scared in the coat closet. She doesn't say anything to Brenda because she might think Lisa is crazy, and Lisa does need the money.  She tells her mom and Nate about the intruder, but both of them think it's a figment of her imagination. The next day she tells Dr. Shein about the incident.  She thinks Lisa did see something, but it could be from the impact her brain had from the accident.  Friday night they all go and see Isaac's band play.  While at the club Nate's former girlfriend Summer tells her that they have to talk about Nate.  Nate thinks nothing of it, but something is bugging Lisa about the encounter.  The following Monday while she is babysitting, Summer calls her phone.  She lets it go to voice mail, and then hears a noise in the kitchen.  It turns out to be Nate who came in through the back door when she didn't answer the doorbell.  He was checking to see if she was ok.  He leaves, and Lisa hears another noise.  She sees the demon creature at the bottom of the stairs.  She tries to ask it what it wants, but it hisses and spits at her.  It runs out the back door, when she hears a scream for help.  Lisa looks outside and doesn't see anyone.  Brenda comes home only to find Harry still awake.  He was pretending to sleep so he could stay up late.  Just as Lisa is ready to tell Brenda about the intruder, Nate comes to pick her up.  As she gets into the car something catches her eye across the street.  They find the body of Summer clawed to pieces.

I really enjoyed this book, as I have all of the Fear Street novels over the years.  It felt like I was in a horror movie while reading this book.  I really liked the twist at the end.  If memory serves me right I don't think it's been done in a Fear Street novel before this one.  I can't wait for more tales from Fear Street. 

T.B.
5/12/15