Trick or Treat by Richie Tankersley Cusick

 

RTC is one of my favorite YA horror authors. She's a little bit up and down in terms of quality but for the most part, she writes exactly the sorts of stories that I went. The best ones have multiple hot guys, gothic elements, and some dramatic one-liners that wouldn't be out of place in a dark romance.

TRICK OR TREAT is set during Halloween. Martha's father has just remarried and they've moved to a big house out in the countryside and she has a hot and brooding stepbrother named Conor. But pretty soon, things get kind of weird. Apparently there was a murder in their house, and the girl who used to live there looked a lot like Martha.

As the book goes on, Martha starts receiving creepy phone calls and feels like she's being watched. Just like Elizabeth did before she was murdered by her ex-boyfriend... who was never found. Is it her stepbrother who has a secret passageway that leads into her room? The sexy young creative writing teacher with boundary issues? The golden boy? Or someone else?

This is one of the better RTC books I've read but the ending falls into a twist that I've seen this author do at least three times. Now I almost always see it coming and it kind of spoils the surprise. Also, I wish more had come from the stepbrother element. I thought that was kind of risque for a YA novel. If this had had a stronger ending and a better twist, I would have given it a five.

3.5 out of 5 stars