Customer Reviews

Trick or Treat (Point)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Book description on back of book:

"Martha knew there was something evil about the house she was moving into. It was so cold...and creepy. And it wasn't just the house that was giving her a weird feeling. Martha was sure someone was following her...watching her every move.

Then the practical jokes began--the scarecrow with the carving knife in its head, the fire. And the phone calls: 'Trick or Treat, Martha...you're dead.'

It was October, but these were no Halloween tricks. Someone would be coming home this year with more than just a bag of treats. And Martha was the prize.

Trick or Treat"

This is one of the first books by Richie Tankersley Cusick that I read, and I still enjoy reading it. I love the setting, which is a "haunted" house outside of a small town, around Halloween. Martha and her dad and her new stepmom and stepbrother Conor move into this deserted house. After living in the big, lonely house for about a week, their parents go on their honeymoon, so Conor and Martha are all alone. Martha is terrified of the new house, because she thinks weird things are happening. To make matters worse, at her new school she is not doing so well. Luckily she has made a few friends: Blake, a cute guy who seems to like her, and his cousins Greg (who works at their school and is Martha's advisor), and Wynn, who is Martha's age. Martha finds out from her new friends that a girl named Elizabeth Bedford who was her age and looked a little like Martha was killed in her bedroom in the Bedford house, but no one ever found out who the killer was. I really liked this book because it was a scary, easy read that I couldn't put down, and the ending is so surprising. Richie Tankersley Cusick's other books are just as good.

Try: The Lifeguard, The Mall, Someone at the Door, Vampire, and Scarecrow.

I'm giving this one 3.5/5 stars as an adult. If I were a teenager, I would have given it 4 stars. It could have been a lot more spooky and gory. But from what I hear that's not the authors style...well this is a "teen" sort of book so maybe it SHOULDN'T be that way haha. I'm a huge horror fan so that's what I like.

The only thing I would have liked better about this book, is if it had more to do with Halloween. Being named Trick or Treat it didn't have a whole lot of Halloween themed stuff, which is the #1 reason I picked it up in the first place.

This author is definitely up there with Christopher Pike & I wish I had known about her books when I was a teenager reading R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike's books.

Look for a more in depth review of this on my Horror movie/book review blog Shivers of Horror. Link in my Amazon profile.

I first read this book about 9 years ago and loved it. I'm 24 now, and re-read Trick or Treat a few times a year. I think all of Ms. Cusick's books are great, but this one has to be the best of them all...Silent Stalker is a close second though! I would recommend this book to anyone! It's got the perfect mix of suspense and romance...

And I'm not talking down to young people. I still like this book a lot, but I read it over and over when I was in middle school. I was also reading Stephen King at this time, so it's not like I couldn't handle scary stuff; this book is really creepy. I remember getting chills down my back more than a few times. Very atmospheric; the groundfog and autumn leaves practically blow off the page into the room you're in. Fast-paced Halloween fun.

Hooray! 90s YA cheese is re-emerging! My evil plan is working! What?

Yes, TRICK OR TREAT was originally 90s cheese of my now major obsession. No, it's not a total turd like some cheese is. I was actually really surprised reading this and realizing just how well it transcended time. Initially I thought it might have been updated but with the mention of records, cassettes and VHS tapes, my fears were eased.

I am always super giddy for horror and sometimes that eagerness comes around to bite me in the ass. Not this time. While TRICK OR TREAT may come off as your standard haunted house story, the twist at the end will have you totally creeped out. I certainly didn't see it coming. Then again I'm not really adept at spotting those kinds of things in advance so take that as you will.

Martha comes off a bit insufferable, a drama queen and a definite whiner to begin with so it's really not a surprise when no one believes her when she starts complaining about the creepy house and her cold bedroom. And Conor is a bit of a creep factor. He's really elusive and isn't straight forward when he speaks. Some people might find that mysterious. I pegged him as a baby serial killer. Enter the absentee parents that leave their teen kids alone in a house for weeks while they honeymoon (brilliant!) and you have the beginnings of a super horror story.

So while Martha comes off as a bit ingratiating eventually I did get past her initial complainer attitude and start to sympathize with her plight. The house was affecting her so badly that it was starting to show physically. And still no one believed her. But by the time people started seeing the forest for the trees, it might have been a little too late. Or was it?

TRICK OR TREAT is one of those old school YA horror books that actually has some genuine creepiness to it. Chances are you won't want to read it in the dark. Or during a thunder storm. Or around Halloween. Because who knows what you'll see when the lightening flashes on that old, dying oak in your front yard? Or equally creepy lawn element? TRICK OR TREAT is a good piece of nostalgia that transcends the current YA market and injects some honest to god horror back into the YA world. I love it. I need more.

From the minute Martha moves into her new house, something doesn't feel right. Then she finds out that the girl who lived in the house before her was murdered. Her new step - brother Connor, is so mysterious he almost frightens her. Her new friends, especially Blake, are great. But Martha begins to feel like there's someone watching her, following her every move, and then the pranks begin.... Excellent book, I think 'The Lifeguard' and 'The Beach House' are by the same author. This book is so good it's falling apart from being read so many times!

Martha Stevenson has a new family. Her dad remarried, and she now has a new stepbrother. When she moves from Chicago to a small town -- Bedford -- she thinks that her life is at an all-time low. She's dead wrong! Martha starts receiving threatening phone calls and grotesque pranks bring her life down even more. Soon after, she learns that someone was murdered in her new house -- in her room, specifically. But even before she hears the news, she senses a menacing evil within the house. Something -- or someone -- wants to repeat history, and in order to do that, they must kill.....

I thought that "Trick or Treat" was great. It was definitely suspenseful and even reminded me of the horror movie "Halloween," with the murderer appearing out of the shadows.....It wasn't the best I've read by Richie Tankersley Cusick, though. I've read two others by her and they were a little more action-packed. The culprit is surprising, yet a little predictable if you think about what happened throughout the book. Overall, a nice read!

Also recommended:
a.) "Starstruck" by Richie Tankersley Cusick
b.) "Secret Santa" by D. E. Athkins
c.) "The Train" by Diane Hoh
d.) All books by Joan Lowery Nixon

Creepy doesn't even begin to describe this book! Although not gory, it has a unique scariness to it. If it was a movie, I'd have had my eyes closed through most of it! Step-siblings thrown in an old, reportedly "haunted" house, while their parents honeymoon across the country ... hidden secret passageways within the house ... a cemetery in their backyard ... and it's Halloween!

I loved this book, even though I was afraid to turn the page sometimes. I think that it is a good YA book, better for kids in early high school years and late middle school - I have a 5th grader and a 4th grader - I think they'd have enjoyed this as a movie but the book is a little above their reading level.

If you're looking for a spooky, Halloween book for your kids to read (while the East Coast is bracing for snow this Halloween weekend, I definitely recommend adding this to your reading list!!

This YA is absolutely a thriller. It won't be for all YA readers, it keeps you on the edge of your seat to the last pages!
I loved how the author managed to answer all of the questions before the end without giving away any secrets.

*Many of the books I review are loaned or gifted to me in return for my honest review.

Since I can only measure Richie's works against the scale of bad made for TV teen films I would say that this book is a little less upbeat teen drama and more of wanna be John Carpenter. So a different vibe but still highly enjoyable.

Once again her book starts off on all of the cliches that defined this genera back in it's time - new kid moves into town with her dad, step mother and step brother, has trouble adjusting but still manages to end up with the most popular and handsomest guy in school, and somewhere mixed into all this is a ghost story that almost kills her before being explained away by completely natural events at the end. Martha moves into a new house with her family only to discover that the girl who lived there before - Elizabeth, was murdered on Halloween night by her ex-boyfriend. Conveniently all the Beautiful New People she meets just so happened to be bff with Eizabeth and you can up the creepy factor for those of you keeping score at home by adding on the fact that Martha's new boy toy was the same as Elizabeth's and is even said to superficially resemble her. Then poop really hits the fan when Martha starts getting phone calls in the middle of the night addressed to Elizabeth, telling the already dead girl that she can apparently look forward to being murdered a second time. Somewhere in this mess is a subplot about Martha's room being possibly haunted, that I will admit gave me a few good kicks in the thrills and chills department.

Not high class reading, but that's to be expected. Still loved the crud out of this and plan to read another RTC as soon as I can.