Superstitious - Hardcover

Stine, R. L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0446519537 ISBN 13: 9780446519533

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 1995

Synopsis

On the small Pennsylvania college campus Liam O'Connor cuts a dashing, romantic figure. The Irish-born professor of folklore has good looks, a sweet charm, and a host of Old World superstitions - all of which dazzle beautiful graduate student Sara Morgan. Plunging headlong into a sudden love affair, Sara barely has time to notice the dark drama unfolding on the campus. Four murders have been committed, each more gruesomely horrifying than the one before it, each committed by someone, or something, with terrible fury and strength. Suddenly Sara is receiving crank phone calls, warning her to stay away from Liam ... fearing her ex-boyfriend Chip's next angry outburst ... wondering why Liam's unmarried sister, Margaret, is so suffocatingly close to them ... and trying to escape the lecherous stares of her boss, Milton Cohn, the dean of students and the owner of a murderous-looking knife collection. When Liam proposes marriage, Sara accepts, making love by the light of sixteen candles, one of Liam's superstitions. Somehow, that final step seals her fate. The police begin to close in on a killer, the death toll mounts, and Sara is caught in an ever-tightening web. At its center, behind the most innocent superstitions, waits the greatest terror of all...

About this title

Reviews

YA?In his first adult book, Stine continues his page-turning incorporation of horror, the supernatural, and a naive heroine. Short sentences and a relatively simple plot will capture the attention of YAs in this tale of love (or is it self-centered delight in apparent adoration and sexual gratification?) before the horror takes over. Sara Morgan, fleeing an abusive relationship, returns to Moore State College for a masters in psychology. Swept off her feet by Liam O'Connor, a glamorous and brilliant visiting professor of folklore, she soon becomes his devoted wife. She views her husband's adherence to supersititon fondly at first, but gradually finds it wearing and extreme. Liam tells her his behavior keeps the demons at bay. In fact, their first argument involves supersitition, as does the shocking circumstance of their final estrangement. The book is a long way from "Fear Street" (Pocket), and sure to be as popular.?Barbara Hawkins, Oakton High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Stine has written 56 YA novels and one adult novel, all horror. Readers will recognize this as the adult novel because it's hardcover and several characters in it curse, enjoy X-rated sex and die gruesomely detailed deaths. Otherwise, this simple, sturdy story of occult mayhem on a bucolic college campus features the sort of crude yet functional casting, plotting and prose that have made Stine America's bestselling YA author: characters verge on caricature, for easy identification; stormy nights and cliff-hangers abound; and no-frills prose, arranged in short sentences and paragraphs for speed reading, tells the tale ("The fingers stab deep. Her eyeballs make a soft plop plop as they are pried out"). Even those with minimal attention spans will keep turning pages as grad student Sara Morgan meets and marries hunky prof Liam Morgan. So what if Liam has a murky past, lives with his sister and takes his field?Irish folklore?so seriously that he throws salt over his shoulder for good luck and cringes in terror when a black cat jumps on his lap? Does that mean he's involved in the brutal mutilation-murders that are plaguing Moore State? Stine shakes a finger at two other suspects but doesn't reveal the reason for the bloodletting until novel's end. And that's just as well since, like the rest of this story, the underlying premise is about as sophisticated, though as effective, as jumping out from a dark corner and yelling "boo!" Major ad/promo; film rights to Miramax (Brandon Tartikoff, producer); Time/Warner audio due in October; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Stine, best-selling author of YA novels (e.g., Call Waiting, Scholastic, 1994), here crosses over to the adult horror market. Sara, who invariably falls for complete jerks, falls madly in love with Liam O'Connor, an Irish professor of folklore. At first, his obedient observance of numerous superstitions seems charming to her, but after she marries him she begins to find him fanatical. Soon, she learns that he has connections to all the women who have been savagely murdered in their small college town. Unfortunately, Stine's characters are flat and uninvolving, so despite the incredible gore?this novel is not for the weak of stomach?and the stalking of females, there is no real suspense. However, since Brandon Tartikoff plans to create a film version, public libraries may want to buy this book despite its weaknesses. Additionally, Stine's many YA fans may want it as well.
-?Marylaine Block, St. Ambrose Univ. Lib., Davenport, Ia.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

According to USA Today, immensely popular juvenile mystery writer Stine " sold the most books of any author in America" in 1994. Now Stine turns to adult horror fiction. Still reeling from a failed love affair with her abusive boyfriend, 24-year-old Sara Morgan enrolls as a graduate student at a small Pennsylvania college, where she meets and falls in love with world-renowned Irish folklore scholar Liam O'Connor. The couple marries, and life is idyllic except for O'Connor's obsession with superstitions and his strict adherence to rituals. Seemingly unconnected but equally disturbing is the fact that a series of gruesome murders is occurring on campus. When Sara learns that her enigmatic husband knew all the victims, she wisely begins to fear for her own safety. Readers who can accept scary supernatural beings and evil demons as forces to be reckoned with will find this a satisfying, although somewhat superficial, page-turner. Expect high demand. Sue-Ellen Beauregard

Edition details

• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0446519537
• ISBN 13: 9780446519533
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400