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Slumber Party By Christopher Pike Eight years ago the girls had a slumber party. There were six of them there: Lara, Rachael, Mindy, Dana, Nell, and her little sister Nicole. Perhaps the trouble started with the Ouija board. Perhaps not. Either way, it was a night that the five who survived the party would never forget. Now they are having another party and Lara has invited her new friend, Celeste. So, once again, there are six of them, and they aren't getting together for a slumber party this time, but for a weekend of skiing. They don't get together often and all of them carry scars from that night eight years ago, but the scars are all on the inside. Except for Nell. She has a few scars on the outside too. She got those when she tried to save her sister from the flames. The first strange thing to happen is the snowman. It has melted, somehow, regardless of the bitter weather. All that remains of it are its scarf, its sunglasses and a cowboy hat, resting in a concave circle of ice. It's a real puzzle. Then one of the girls goes missing, and one of her skis is found near to another circle of ice frozen into the snow, and, to make things worse, a storms coming in. The main character in Slumber Party is Lara and she would probably be the most attractive member of the gang if it wasn't for Rachael. Rachael is a real stunner and she knows it.  Lara knows it too and concedes to herself that, in the looks department, she can never hope to compete with her friend. When both girls fall for the same guy though, and that guy seems to be more interested in Lara than Rachel, a rivalry develops between the two friends, and this little love triangle continues for most of the book as an interesting little sub-plot. Throughout the book, the reader is very aware that something mysterious is happening and I for one was very surprised when I reached the end of the book and found out what that something was. In fact I received more than one surprise as the truth of the situation was revealed. Slumber Party is, I would say, part mystery, part horror (slightly), and, yes, got to say it, part love story. It is a very entertaining read and has one or two amusing scenes in places. Amusing enough to even bring a smile to my face - and it takes a lot to do that - so it is not all doom and gloom in the snow. At only around 128 pages, Slumber Party is not a long book, and is probably more novella length than novel, but, to my mind, any story is only as long as it needs to be and Slumber Party does just fine at the length that it is. List of Christopher Pike books reviewed on this site    HOME