BOOM!; $24.99 (hardcover), $19.99 (softcover) 

R.L. Stine’s The Graveyard Club: Revenge Game and The Graveyard Club: Fresh Blood have been collected into one spooky volume.  

Graves End is a weird town, geographically speaking, because the otherwise typical small town is surrounded by cemeteries. In fact, graveyards are so prevalent that the high school mascot is called the Graverobbers. In this boring little town, Parker, Patti, Caleb, Trip, and Rhonda have formed the Graveyard Club. When they were kids, it was the spot for games of hide and seek, and as teenagers, it’s where they go to make out and drink beer. 

But, things change when a harmless joke sets off an increasingly more dangerous prank war between the Graveyard Club and the bullying duo of Officer Higgins and his son Billy-Roy. On top of that, the local bat population is behaving strangely, shrouded figures are appearing in the cemetery, and the violent energy around them is having an effect on members of the club. 

Coming from Stine, the young adult horror genre master, The Graveyard Club has the hallmarks of a Fear Street book. It’s coming of age meets horror as the club and their nemeses escalate their retaliation against each other. The other strangeness points to a sinister, underlying threat that could have its own plans for the Graveyard Club. 

In the second entry, the kids discover that some of their loved ones were last seen at a hotel that is now abandoned. Two of the them head there to investigate and learn an awful secret that even their other best friends might not believe. 

The second entry in Stine’s Graveyard Club is split between the teenagers behaving like juvenile delinquents and trying to figure out what is happening in the town of Graves End. The boredom and isolation that can occur in small town life are the main themes in this book. The teens keep getting into trouble because they don’t have anything else to do, and people are afraid to talk about the strange occurrences they witness, choosing ignorance instead of confrontation. This story answered the big questions, but left the door open for more tales at Graves End. 

For the art, Carola Borelli, and colorist Francesco Segala with assists by Gloria Martinelli, produced a dark and spooky cemetery and continued the motif into other areas of the town, whether it’s a living room or the locker room. This effect makes everything in Graves End appear sinister and dangerous. 

–Amanda Sheriff