#richie tankersley cusick
The best kind of stories, whether it’s fanfiction or published work, are the ones you can’t stop thinking about while you are doing other things during the day. Like, you can’t wait to get back home and just start from where you left off.
April Fools features one of the best opening chapters I’ve read in my Point Horror reviews. It flies out of the gate with a very believable and terrifying car accident. I was immediately invested in Belinda’s anxiety around the horrible decisions her friends were making. The rest of the book didn’t quite live up to the promise of this scene, but it was still an enjoyable read. I didn’t predict the ending, so kudos to Cusick for that. I thought for sure I had figured it all out. For most of the book, I was struck by how badly Belinda needed to find better friends. Hildy and Frank sucked on a deep and fundamental level. This was by design and a part of the story arc, but I still think Cusick was way too kind to them. I wish the book had spent less time on pranks and fake scares, even though that was very much in line with the theme and title. What April Fools really needed was higher stakes, more dire consequences, and a better fleshed-out villain than the one we got at the end. I think it would have benefitted from being less of a mystery and more of a true horror story. The book bears some obvious comparisons to I Know What You Did Last Summer, but it was not a rip-off by any means. April Fools is my least favorite of Cusick’s books that I have read (see The LockerandTrick or Treat) but I still had fun with it.
Score: 3
And if you want a deep-dive, snark-filled, recap review with spoilers, gifs, and meme, head on over to my website blog Fits of Nostalgia.
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Trick or Treat does a lot of things well. I enjoyed the way that Cucsick created a creepy atmosphere and played with the idea of houses holding on to trauma. There was a sense of foreboding from the first page that only built as the story went on. That is exactly the sort of thing I look for in these books. The main character Martha was annoying but in a very believable way. I could see where it would be too much for some people, but I like that she got called out on it and showed growth throughout the book. I didn’t see the exact twist at the end coming, but I knew a twist was coming. Cusick does a good job at muddying the waters but I think I’m starting to pick up on her tells. In other words, when someone seems like an obvious suspect, it’s probably not them. The biggest issue I had with this book involves a different character whom I will not name for spoiler reasons. You’ve gotta go to my blog and read my whole post for that. To put it vaguely; I wasn’t sold on this particular character’s motivations. It’s par for the course in these books that we find some pretty dated depictions of mental health. This one was far from the worst but still cringy in that respect. There were a lot of parallels here to Cusick’s book The Locker, which is less popular but far superior in my humble opinion. So if you liked Trick or Treat, go check that one out. Overall, this was an imperfect but still fun Halloween read.
Score:3.5
For my full, deep-dive, snark-filled recap with memes, gifs, and all the spoilers, check it out over on my website blog Fits of Nostalgia!
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Richie Tankersley Cusick’s THE LOCKER is a creepy, atmospheric teen horror novel that hit all of the right notes for me. While not the most original, it’s easily the best I’ve read in the Point Horror series so far.
https://www.danstalter.com/the-locker/
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