Our protagonist, Diane Browne, her boyfriend Lenny Boyle and their friends Cassie Wylant and boyfriend Jordan Townes are walking when they stop by a very garish house adorned in Christmas decorations. Hey, picked up a Christmas book for our buffer. Nice. The house belongs to their math teacher, Mr. Crowell. Turns out nobody likes Mr. Crowell, due to the fact that he's usually serious looking and very strict with his teaching. Even someone who is as easy to get along with like Diane gets flack from him. In fact, most of Diane's circle are the more mean kids group. Cassie and Jordan are always fighting with each other despite being together, and Lenny has a bad streak to him. Made evident as he wants to literally run over Crowell's decorations. Wow, where was this kid during Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes?
As they all give their reasons for hating Mr. Crowell, they spot someone leaving out the window of a nearby house. This is Spencer Jarvis, who moved from Shadyside for a while, but now he's back. He tells them that he's sneaking out of his house because he likes to do this during the midnight hours. He calls his late night activities [[NAME OF THE BOOK]]. Turns out Spencer's been gone for a while. After his dad's store went out of business they went to Washington to live with his sick grandmother. Now that she's better, they moved back to Shadyside. Why haven't they all seen him? Why, he's at St. Ann's of course. Hmmm, this alibi is starting to sound a little familiar already Stine. Is his name going to be an anagram too?
Since it's midnight and Spencer is ready for one of his night games, he invites the others to come with him, which they all accept, even Diane. And that game for tonight is pretending to be a cop and scaring a couple making out. They all run for it with the couple not really even giving much chase. Lenny, Spencer and Jordan are all excited, but Cassie and Diane don't see the big deal of just playing cockblock to some random kissing kids. Spencer invites them to go on another night game the following Monday night. The boys are all for it, while Cassie and Diane reluctantly agree.
At school that Monday, Lenny gets in trouble once again with Mr. Crowell. Things get pretty heated to the point that Lenny gets up and knocks his desk over before going to Crowell with plans to punch him out. But he stops before he lands what could be a killing blow, as we learn that Crowell has a heart condition that I'm sure will play no part in the story later. He should also calm down given he's already been suspended twice. If Lenny gets in trouble again, he'll be sent to a different school and Diane doesn't want that.
The next night games commence as Spencer brings the others over to Crowell's house. They spy on him for a bit then start to leave, not before Spencer starts to tear apart Crowell's decorations. Suddenly, Crowell shows up to yell at them, but they all escape in time. Again, the boys are thrilled by what they did, while Cassie and Diane aren't so amused. Spencer invites them to go out again the next night, but Diane wants him to promise to at least warn them before he goes berserk again. Since we're just on page 31 at this point, safe to say don't cash in your chips on that promise holding. Diane comes home only to get a call from her ex-boyfriend Bryan Hedges who wants to get back together with her, but she's not interested what with being with Lenny. Brian then warns Dianne that she'll be sorry if she stays around with Lenny. Really making yourself look desirable there, bud. The phone rings again, but this time it's a Fear Street staple, a raspy voice on the other line warning her about what he saw. She chalks it up to being Bryan because it's still early to clue in.
We then flash back one year prior with Spencer at his uncle's ski lodge. Hopefully not the same one from Truth or Dare. Diane, Lenny, Jordan and Cassie arrive, with Jordan splashing Spencer with his car then Lenny makes fun of Spencer's weight (which he lost upon his return in the present time). Turns out that Spencer isn't fond of Lenny either. Not just for being a jerk, but his own jealousy that Diane chose to be with Lenny and not him. Spencer later hears Diane and Lenny argue for a bit before the others laugh at Spencer some more. And then the power goes out. Lenny leaves after arguing with Diane some more. When Spencer and Diane go out to get firewood, Lenny sneaks in a punch to Spencer's face and continues to act possessive of Diane. So, Stine decided to just give us all of the likely motivations for Spencer's actions later, huh? Oh Stine, why can't you try to make the mystery flow?
Flash forward to present winter. Diane talks to Cassie about Bryan's call, then tries to talk about how much of a good guy Lenny is. A scarily violent guy, but I'm sure just a kitten at heart. As they begin to talk about how much Spencer changed from geek to more confident and in better shape, Lenny then shows up with his hand bloodied. He punched his locker after another confrontation with Crowell. After arguing over artichoke on pizza and Lenny still ready to explode, the topic turns back to meeting Spencer for the next night outing. Only this time, Lenny knows what he's going to do, and that's get some revenge on Mr. Crowell.
And sure enough they're all back out again at midnight. Diane talks about how the night games are exhilarating in a way that only a teenage girl whose never been in a gang before would talk. She also notices that Spencer seems so different. So confident. So able to make others follow him. The foursome are there, but it seems Spencer's late. Spencer soon arrives, claiming he slept in, which made him later than usual. He has his own ideas for the night, but Lenny tells Spencer that tonight the plan is to get revenge on Mr. Crowell. That's top priority. However, when they arrive there's no sign of Mr. Crowell. His car is gone. But that doesn't stop them from opening his window and coming in. Cassie warns that this is a bad idea, but Diane's too into this now to want to stop. Well, so much for the whole good girl act I guess.
Lenny goes to turn on the light as he readies to tear things apart, but Spencer, sounding like someone who has definitely done crimes before, tells him not too. Lenny wants to break things, but Spencer tells them to just move stuff around. That'll really screw Crowell up. Everyone goes about the place, with Diane commenting on Crowell's Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck curtains and laughs at Crowell being a closet cartoon watcher. I mean, I get that this joke is more for the fact that Crowell is strict but come on. No one outgrows Looney Tunes. Diane heads to the bedroom and thinks she sees a body on the bed, but it's just Crowell's pajamas.
Suddenly, they hear a car door slam and see Mr. Crowell heading home. They manage to escape in time, while Spencer steals Crowell's CD player. Everyone goes home, Diane especially excited about the night's events, while also seemingly starting to fall for Spencer. The next day, she gets another call from the raspy voice, telling her that he knows about the night games and knows what they were doing the previous night. Diane still thinks it's Bryan, but the voice just tells her that they'll pay. At Crowell's class the next day, the kids suspect that he knows, but Crowell doesn't mention anything. Cassie and Diane think now's the time to stop the night games, but Jordan and Lenny are still high on it. But they decide to talk with Spencer regardless.
When they head to Spencer's after school however, there's no one there. They just chalk it up to maybe Spencer's at St. Ann's. They leave, thinking they can talk to him later. That night, after leaving Cassie's, she runs into Bryan who was following her. He warns her about Lenny, but she isn't listening. She then accuses him of the raspy calls, but he has no idea what she's talking about. And Bryan, doing a great job making himself look more like a creep than Lenny, starts grabbing at her before he runs off. When she gets home, Lenny shows up. Turns out that Crowell called his parents about the incident in class and now he's likely to not end up in college. He also talks about his fantasies in beating up Crowell, which Diane is shocked by. I mean sure, he was just about to punch Crowell out a few days ago, and wanted to bust up Crowell's house, but a violent sociopath? Not Lenny. Not Lenny!
Cassie shows up and shows Diane and Lenny a threatening note about knowing what they did. Cassie and Lenny think Crowell, but Diane still thinks it's Bryan. Though, I think Stine made the culprit too obvious again, but we're halfway done. Cassie suspects Spencer since he's so different now, but Spencer shows up to show them his note saying that night games can be deadly. Time to flash back to the previous winter again. The kids have a snowball fight. Spencer gets Lenny with an ice ball for the punch in the mouth the prior night. To which Lenny and Jordan then grab Spencer and start to shove his head into a snow bank, seemingly trying to suffocate him. They stick Spencer in the snow and completely bury him to the point that he can't escape under his own power and then just drive off. And given he respected Diane all this time, he realizes that even she wasn't a real friend. Again, maybe too much motivation so early, but we'll see.
At school the next day, we get another argument between Lenny and Mr. Crowell. He still didn't punch the teacher out, but he's more angry than ever. Angry enough that he wants one more night game at Mr. Crowell's house. They meet up with Spencer and enter Crowell's house again. Also, Lenny's got a gun! No, wait. It's a spray paint can. Unless that's a gun-shaped spray paint can then Diane's tripping. As they graffito-tag the place, both Diane and Cassie think this is going too far. And that's when they spot Mr. Crowell's body on the ground. Dead. The kids panic, then realize that the cops will show up and that the spray paint can has their DNA on it. They nab the can and run off.
The next day, Cassie gives Diane the news. Mr. Crowell had died of a heart attack. She thinks that means they're in the clear, but given the shape of the house, the cops suspect that whoever spray painted the house caused Mr. Crowell to die. Later that day, Diane gets another note that says "You Die Next". When she shows the others, Diane again assumes it was Bryan, so they go to find Bryan. They do find Bryan... and Jordan. Diane thinks that it was Jordan the whole time, but he says he's innocent. They then go to Spencer's and find his corpse on the ground, which then talks to them.
Yep, Spencer's been dead this entire time. When they stuffed his body in the snow, he never managed to escape and died there. But his hatred for the ones who killed him filled his spirit with the power to get his revenge. He was the one who killed Crowell as well, as part of his plan to get back at them. He starts to choke Diane, but suddenly she hugs him. They all start hugging him and telling them that they liked him. Not enough to get him out of the snow so this is bullcrap. But it's enough to make Spencer's spirit disappear.
The biggest problem with Night Games is the obvious one. Stine reveals too much too quick. This is a constant issue with his work. And this is the worst example yet. It feels like Stine had no idea how to integrate the back story with how the group buried Spencer in the snow and killed him, so they're shoehorned in and not very well. So you're just waiting for the obvious. That this is all part of Spencer's revenge, which yes, he's more than due given that again, they buried him in snow then left him to die. And given the ending with the big hug, it feels like a load of crap. Again. They left him for dead. Like hell Lenny or Jordan cared. Cassie's questionable. The only exception is likely Diane as she did want to help Spencer, but was likely dragged off by Lenny. Meaning that technically Lenny and Jordan got away with murder.
The other problem with the book is that it feels like so many other Fear Street books that it fails to feel original. The general plot feels like a mishmash of other books. The Dare with its plot involving kids angry at their strict teacher. The Fire Game with how the book is about a series of dangerous games that go too far. The Perfect Date with Spencer being a ghost out for revenge and the St. Ann's alibi. Sunburn with how the wronged person is the one who dies in the end (or died early on as well). Even Truth or Dare for the flashback being at a ski lodge. That ultimately leaves this book feeling like it lacks any identity of its own and more of what is really becoming a trend of Fear Street books, a lack of creativity.
Diane's an okay protagonist, though given how Lenny treats her a lot, it makes her defense of him feel kind of sad. She's seen how he acts around others and, again, was there when he punched Spencer then later buried Spencer in the snow. Granted, the only thing that keeps this from feeling worse is that at least it seems that Lenny never hurt her physically, meaning he knows restraint, but still acts like a jealous maniac. Bryan just exists to be a red herring while Cassie and Jordan kind of also just exist. Though they at least make Cassie more of the sensible character than everyone else.
Hey, what do you know? Another book with a neat cover, but weak execution. A neat idea in concept, but poorly executed and lacking anything that makes it feel like its own unique idea. Which is a shame as the idea of these kids going out in the middle of the night and engaging in games where the threats escalate is such a neat idea. The downside is that Stine clearly didn't know how to do that and just went with a plot about how this mean teacher needs to pay. Oh Fear Street, why must you sadden me so? Night Games gets a C.
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