In the previous book, bored vampires Jessica and Gabri challenge each other to a contest to see which could be able to turn an unsuspecting victim into a vampire first. This is initially a girl named April and a boy named Todd, but after Todd ends up dying before the contest is really started, Jessica focuses on April's boyfriend Matt. Matt is bitten and starts to feel the effects of being a vampire, but tries to save April before Gabri can finish the deed. They manage to kill both Gabri and Jessica. But oh no! April's a vampire now too and bites Matt.
We open with a prologue as a girl named Diana is on the beach of Sandy Hollow with a boy named Eric just as the sun is about to rise. Eric really wants to leave, but Diana says that he should just lay down under this conveniently placed beach umbrella. She then says that she actually brought Eric her to die. A year ago, vampires killed her cousin and now she's out for revenge. Eric tries to attack her, but she uses the umbrella as a makeshift stake and stabs him in the heart with it. Okay, so that's a hell of a way to start off this book.
We start proper with Billy Naughton talking with his friends Nate Stanton and Jay Windley about the greatness of Pizza Cove, the best pizza in Sandy Hollow. I mean, it's probably alright, but it's not PETE'S PIZZA. Nate's little sister Lynette doesn't like Pizza Cove, but she's mostly just being a pain. Nate is described as being sort of the big lummox of the group, twice as big as Billy. While Jay is spending this summer on the beach, Nate and Billy have jobs. Nate at a golf course and Billy working with a boat. Billy is hoping for this to finally be the summer of George-err, Billy. Since he spent an entire year in the hospital.
The group stop at the beach and see a cauldron of bats (I almost wrote flock because it's just too easy to do) flying towards the nearby island, which is referred to as Bat Island. Or Vampire Island as it's often called on account of stories of a village that contained vampires that was burned to the ground. Nate thinks it's all bunk, because he's our Doubting Thomas of the book. They continue their walk and, I mean it's still early in the book and all, but let me check my fictional watch. Yep, this is a Stine book and we're right on time for some animal abuse. A cauldron of bats swarm around a dog and lift it into the air. Despite Billy's best attempts, the bats carry the dog off to the island. But Billy knows those aren't normal bats. And he's made a vow to kill them. Jeez, three chapters in and this book's a-swarming in vampire slayers.
Billy tells the others about vampires in Sandy Hollow, but of course they don't believe him. He then mentions that last year, he had a girlfriend at Sandy Hollow named Joelle who ended up getting bitten in the neck by a vampire and died. He knew about it, and that's why he missed a year of school in a hospital, because it was a mental hospital. Of course Lynette wants to believe Billy, Nate doesn't and Jay seems more skeptical than anything. Meanwhile, off in the distance, April is watching them while two of the vampires show up. Two girls, a redhead named Kylie and a blonde girl named Irene. They hunger for "nectar" as they spot Billy and the others. They talk for a bit, with April mentioning that they're working on a play called Night of the Vampire, which is only taking rehearsals out at night. Just wear a neon sign why don'tcha? Kylie tries to woo Billy, but he's not interested. After the boys leave, the girls decide that Billy, Jay and Nate will be perfect to dine on. And, just like the gimmick of the last book, the girls decide to make this a game. Whoever can turn one of the boys into a vampire first will win the chance to feast on the others. April has Jay, Irene has Nate and Kylie takes Billy.
The next day, everyone tries out for Night of the Vampire, including Kylie, who wants the lead role. However, it goes to a girl named Mae-Linn Walsh, who also starts to hit it off with Billy, so she's probably dead meat very shortly. Irene almost manages to bite Nate, but Lynette shows up to ruin that. The next day, after having a dream about killing vampires, Billy is awakened by two cops at the door mentioning that Mae-Linn went missing. When they arrive at the beach, they find Mae-Linn... or, to be more precise, Mae-Linn's corpse! Aww, we get so few people of color characters and one gets killed off two chapters deep? That's a bummer. But Billy sees it for himself, two bite marks in her neck, meaning that what befell Joelle befell Mae-Linn. But he can't really go to the cops crying vampire since he's the prime suspect.
Meanwhile, the three vampires are at each other's throats. Literally in the case of Kylie and Irene attacking April. Irene brings up Kylie killing Mae-Linn, but she claims she's innocent. But despite these three wanting to kill one another already, they're still deep into this competition. But it seems April's already winning as the next day, Billy discovers that Jay's not feeling too good. Billy begins to suspect Jay is going to end up like Joelle and Mae-Linn at this point and vows to defeat the vampires. He heads to Nate's condo and gets scared by Lynette. They head to the rehearsal which is in chaos given Mae-Linn's death, and Billy suspects one of them may be a vampire. Not, say, Kylie, but some pale boy with freckles. Holy crap, this is just A Pup Named Scooby Doo, Billy is Fred and he suspects Red Herring.
Kylie shows up and rehearses with Billy, biting his neck. But with plastic fangs, you see. What, with REAL fangs, getouttahere! Jay shows up with April and he's still weirdly buzzed. As April talks with another boy named Rick she met last year, Billy tries to see if there's a bite mark on Jay's neck, but Jay stops him and says that he's crazy and there's no such thing as vampires. After he leaves, along with Nate and Irene, Billy and Kylie take a walk and talk for a bit. It would almost be the perfect moment to bite Billy, but conveniently, two bats show up and attack them. Kylie just up and punches one and they retreat. Then she has a great idea, why not go to the island? You know, the one called vampire island? Would be fun and totally not a trap to go to VAMPIRE island, right Mr. wannabe vampire hunter? Well, despite it being a trap, Billy is more than ready to go to the island since it might be his chance at revenge.
The two head onto the island and find one of the burned buildings when suddenly a wolf attacks Billy. He manages to stab it in the chest with a table leg, and it soon collapses into dust and fur. So, definitely vampires on vampire island, who knew? He goes to show Kylie the evidence, but it disappears when she shows up. They sit for a minute and start kissing. Before Kylie can bite, Billy gets up, feeling strangely dizzy. They then look around some more and find a body. Jay's Bod-no, wait, it's not Jay. Literally the title of this chapter is "Not Jay!" and whaddya know, Stine didn't lie for once. But Kylie notes that it looks a lot like the Rick guy that April was with earlier in the night. With bite marks in the neck, it's enough for Billy to convinced that he knows who one of the vampires are.
We go to the next night. Billy called the cops about Rick's body, which is both good and bad given that he's still prime suspect in Mae-Linn's murder and all. They have pizza at Not Pete's Pizza and Billy tries to get April to eat a slice of pizza to prove his point, I guess it had garlic on it so that would be why. Either way, he's now more than certain. The next night, Kylie talks with Irene about how she's been so close but given Billy's vampire paranoia she hasn't had the chance yet. Also, lemme just check my nonexistent watch... it's animal murder o'clock as Kyle then tears apart a seagull and feasts on it. Although she then gives the remains to Irene to give to April, which I'll admit, funny scene. Billy calls Jay, tries to tell him to avoid April because that's why he's so tired and she's a vampire, but he doesn't believe him. Lather, rinse repeat.
Later, Billy heads to the local arcade where Nate, Irene and Lynette are. He tries to tell Nate about it, but again, he's not believed. Another body shows up by Lynette and Nate notes it's Jon, who was here last year. Billy recognizes Jon as the vampire that killed Joelle last year. He thought he killed Jon, but obviously not. Jon grabs Lynette and Billy gives chase. He confronts Jon and manages to kill him this time. That should be a win, but Nate shows up, sees Lynette unconscious, thinks she's dead, only to see she's alive with no memory of being nabbed, then suspects that it was Billy, and punches him. Okay, so I get it, but dude, YOU JUST LEAVE YOUR SISTER NEXT TO SOME DUDE YOU MET LIKE ONCE OR TWICE LAST YEAR, YET YOU THINK BILLY'S THE PROBLEM? Well, I've found the character I won't feel so bad about if he dies at least.
Billy then runs into Kylie and they talk for a bit before he heads home, still concerned about Jay, who at this moment is in a strange clouded dream, being bitten in the neck by April. The next day, Billy runs into Jay, we're officially in wheel spinning territory on that subject, Kylie shows up and invites him to a barbecue, thinking this will be the night for sure, even saying so to April and Irene. Rehearsals again and Billy tries again but spinning wheels got to go round. He heads to the back of the theater which is real quiet and dark. He turns the lights on and finds the play director Ms. Aaronson... or to be more precise, yadda yadda yadda. Also he spots April nearby, so she's not doing a good job being inconspicuous either. Billy is about to call the cops, then realizes "Oh, right, this might be the one they haul him in for" and instead doesn't. But April begins to advance on him. But she disappears instead of killing him.
Later at the beach, Billy tries again to talk to Jay about things and it keeps going the way you'd expect. But Billy says that if they were to double date with himself and Kylie, maybe then he could prove to Jay that April is a vampire, which Jay accepts in hopes of finally shutting him up about it. Maybe saying it with April nearby however wasn't a good idea because she was there and she sure heard it. For a vampire killer, you really suck at it. They go dating and a convenient storm hits. They head to the theater and into the basement where Billy yanks April into a room with with a window just as the sun shines. And nothing happens. Because April isn't a vampire. She's been pretending to be a vampire this whole time because she's actually Diana Devlin, the girl from the beginning of the book. Okay, I was wondering what the hell happened to her, but wasn't expecting this twist so good on you, Bob.
See, April was Diana's cousin and, much like Billy, she too is out for revenge. After the events of the previous summer, April returned to Shadyside as a vampire. But she hated being a vampire. After confiding to Diana about everything, she later walked into the sunlight and killed herself. Jesus! And thus Diana came to Sandy Hollow for revenge on Diana's behalf. When Rick showed up and recognized her as Diana, she led him off. She didn't kill him given she's not a vampire, but instead it was Kylie and Irene who are the real vampires. She's been hiding her identity so that she can infiltrate the two to finish them off. So, if Diana's not a vampire, what's going on with Jay? That's probably Kylie clouding his mind, making him think it's April and feasting off him. So they don't have too much time left. They'll head to vampire island tomorrow, find their coffins and finish the job once and for all.
The pair head to the dock to get a boat, but the dock is destroyed. Likely by the vampires. They take a boat with no anchor and arrive on the island. They split up and after some searching, Billy finds a building with the coffins, Irene and Kylie inside. He's about to stake them when they wake up. They try to hypnotize him, but he clears his mind long enough to finish off Irene. Kylie is about to kill him when Diana shows up and reveals that she was never April. Kylie seems to almost bite Billy, but he up and pulls a fucking Three Stooges double eye poke which is enough for Diana to break a board from a window as the sun rises and hits Kylie, killing her instantly.
This is a rare case of a Stine sequel not being that bad. And, more importantly, a Super Chillers not being too bad either. Granted, the book suffers the sins of both of them. Similar plot elements, a lot of wheel spinning, a sense of being way longer than it needed. But I think it managed to work out to one of Stine's better supernatural stories. Probably better in all honesty than the original, which was a fine vampire story, but just lacked the oomph to make it work better. This one was sluggish to start but worked for a more brisk and energetic second half. And it has a decent mid-book twist that I should have suspected but didn't. I mean, we never see April as a vampire, just in the shadows. And we could easily chalk up the scene we kind of get vampire April is a clear hypnosis scene. So her being Diana all along actually does work and doesn't feel as sloppy a twist as, say, The Dead Lifeguard did with a similar "we've been following the wrong character" swerve.
The second swerve, Billy was a vampire all along, does track, and I kind of think it's fine. You could argue why if he's someone willing to kill to feed, why does he even really care if Jay or Nate survive? Unless he intended to feed on them himself, which isn't too out of the question. I wouldn't shed a tear, they kind of suck as friends. I'd guess because he has some code of honor, he's not going to feast on them immediately. Diana, oh he'll finish her in a heartbeat. And it's not even a "Eww, guys" deal either given he feasted on Rick. So it must be because he either considered them friends or he was ultimately going to do them in. Lynette as well no doubt. So a character with more shades or grey than most Stine protagonists gives this one a huge thumbs up. It does feel like a classic "Oh Stine added this way late" thing, but it's far from his worst case of that.
My only issue is that for as built up as the contest and the vampire stuff is, they feel super rushed out by the end. So much build on Kylie trying to feast on Billy with no success, only for her to just be the easily beatable end boss kind of stinks. Irene mostly exists. We really don't get much with her or Nate, who also just fucks off at the end of the book. You know what, aside from punching Billy because he's a bad brother, Nate is ultimately our Superfluous Clay of the book and, by extension, so is Irene. This could have just been about Kylie and not too much would have been lost. Though with it being three vampires as opposed to two, it makes for the reveal of Diana as April work better. So not the most Superfluous of Clays we've ever had.
So yeah, this one was another decent Fear Street outing. It suffers from a lot of Fear Street trappings and a lot of wheel spinning, but for a book more centered around supernatural elements, this one does a better job than most. So I will say when it comes to vampires and Fear Street (including Ghosts of Fear Street), Stine doesn't do too bad a job. For our final book for this year's (Woo!) Party Summer, it's a solid book to go out on. Goodnight Kiss 2 gets an A-.
IT WAS ACCEPTABLE IN THE 90s: TMNT Arcade Cabinets, Arcades, Being a shitty brother who doesn't pay attention to his younger sibling being near almost-total strangers.
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