The Boy Next Door - Sinclair Smith - 4 Stars [Point Horror Classic]

Point Horror Classic

The Boy Next Door
- Sinclair Smith -
****

Randy does things by the book, she stic
ks to the beaten track and is a good girl. When she meets Randy, the mysterious boy who moves in to the old abandoned house next door, she is instantly transformed. Julian brings out another side to Randy, a darker side that longs for excitement, adrenaline. He shows her how pulling pranks and jokes on people can be fun, exciting. But when things start to get more dangerous and Julian's pranks turn a little nastier and much more darker, Randy isn't sure if she likes this side of the track anymore...

The Boy Next Door is a very thrilling read; the pages turn so easily as the story is very engrossing. Quite a nail-biter in the sense that you just want to know what Julian could possibly do next. Just when you think his pranks couldn't get any worse, he challenges your mind, he does get worse and you really start to feel that Randy really has fallen for the wrong guy, most definitely the wrong guy.

At first I really liked Julian; he brought Randy out of her shell, made her explore another side of her that she didn't know she had. He showed her excitement and a good time, he made her laugh and was a generally nice guy. Until things changed. He starts to get a bit uncontrollable and that's when you realise he most definitely isn't what he seems.

Sinclair Smith has written a very chilling read, scary in the sense that as you turn that last page, you really don't know who is who anymore, and just the extent people can go to just to have a good time, a quick adrenaline rush.

The writing is fast paced, witty at times and experimental with the character's pacing. Randy changes throughout the book; from the moment she breaks up with her boyfriend and quits cheerleading, she is a whole different character. Meaner, darker. then when she realises alongside the reader that Julian really is hiding something, she reverts back to her old self, but with a keener attitude.

For the era of this book, it is a great read; quick, painless and overall exciting. Just like Julian, you never know what is going to happen and that ending really does jump out at you.

For Point Horror fans, young and old, this book is exactly what Point Horror was designed to do, scare you and thrill you in a few hundred pages and less.