Welcome to the Dark House

June 1, 2014
A group of disparate teens win a contest to meet their favorite horror-movie director and find themselves in a real horror experience.Of the teens, only 18-year-old Ivy has no interest in horror films or in the famous director, Justin Blake. She survived a real horror experience six years earlier, when her parents were murdered while she listened from her room across the hall. Now she wants to conquer her fear and thinks that learning why people enjoy horror movies might help. She and the others enter an Internet contest to describe their worst nightmares, winning a trip to rural Minnesota to meet Blake and arriving via chauffeured hearse to a replica of the Dark House. The next night, the hearse transports them to an amusement park custom built to make them face their own personal nightmares. Rather than offering innocent thrills, however, the individually tailored nightmare rides seem to be quite real....Although Stolarz shines the spotlight mostly on Ivy, she gives multiple chapters to the other five participants, each with a distinctive personality, including Garth, a pierced and tattooed rebel who sees horror as cool, and Natalie, a disturbed girl who might have some insight into the reality of what the group faces. The suspense starts pounding when the teens enter the park and doesn't stop until readers are ready for the sequel.Stephen King would love it. (Horror. 12-18)

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June 1, 2014

Gr 6-9-A fun, scary ride. Readers are introduced to seven teen "superfans" of the horror film director, Justin Blake. They have all won tickets to meet the director and preview his new film, and as if that isn't enough, all of their expenses are included. The teens are also promised "special fun" based on the nightmares that they submitted as their entries to the contest. Once they arrive, they find that all of Justin Blake's horror films are being reenacted; especially the Nightmare Elf (a Freddie Krueger-esque character who forces victims to live their worst nightmares). Pretty quickly, creepy things begin to happen, and the teens start to disappear one by one. Stolarz writes a wonderfully eerie story, one that will appeal to readers looking to graduate from R. L. Stine. The characters are nicely drawn, and the plot is a great big campy mix of "don't go in there!" anxiety, alternating with groans of reluctant laughter as comic relief is interspersed. The unreliable narrative, which switches between six of the seven viewpoints, makes readers as confused as the protagonists, but it works. Savvy readers will pick up on the clues much faster than the characters, but won't be able to stop until the final page. Unfortunately, the ending is a bit rushed and without a completely satisfying resolution. Still, this title will have huge teen appeal and is terrifying enough without being overly bloodthirsty. Perfect for middle schoolers looking for a quick, thrilling read.-Saleena L. Davidson, South Brunswick Public Library, Monmouth Junction, NJ

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
Grades 9-12 What is your worst nightmare? For Ivy, it's that the serial killer who murdered her parents will return. Frankie fears being buried alive, while for Taylor, it's a bear mauling; Garth is terrified of waking to the reality of a Nightmare Elf movie. Natalie's reflection holds the key to her terror; Parker's centers around a pond of flesh-eating eels. And Shayla is terrified to confront her role in her friend's suicide. All seven have won a contest for a weekend at a B&B where they will meet Justin Blake, director of the Nightmare Elf movies and get a preview of his latest film. The weekend turns deadly when the group is trapped in an amusement park with rides designed to force each of them to face their own private nightmares. Stolarz capitalizes on everyone's bad dream at the Dark House. Each comes true in its most deadly iteration, a classic horror technique made more so by its unique perverse twist tailored to each character, which leads to the ultimate disturbing question: what would Stolarz do with your worst nightmare?(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)