You're Invited to a… Creepover: Truth or Dare by P.J. Night

During a round of Truth or Dare, Abby Miller confesses her crush on Jake Chilson. The only people who know her secret are her friends at the sleepover – and whoever sent her a text message in the middle of the night warning her to stay away from Jake…or else!

But Abby isn’t going to stay away from Jake, especially not after he asks her to the school dance.

As the night of the dance comes closer, some very creepy things start happening to Abby. Someone definitely wants to keep her away from Jake. Is it a jealous classmate or, as Abby begins to suspect, could it be a ghost?

Truth or Dare is the first novel in the Creepover series by P.J. Night, aimed at the tween or Middle Grade (MG) segment of the reading population. Truth or Dare is 160 pages in length, but don’t let the slenderness of the volume fool you, for it contains a wealth of jumps and creepy occurrences that kept me guessing until the end.

Truth or Dare twists like a serpent, from the genuinely spooky prologue to the final confrontation in a cemetery and a promise of more chills in the epilogue.

It put me in mind of some of the spooky films I watched as a child/early teen – creepy without being outright scary or terrifying but no less satisfying.

It is possible that the Creepover series is being written with an eye to a television series as I think it would work in a visual medium, in terms of spookiness is more John Carpenter than Wes Craven with flashes of spookiness rather than full on horror.

Based on this book, I can see the series being extremely popular. Spooky enough to keep younger readers enaged but without being scary enough to upset parents or more sensitive readers.

I already have a plan to use Truth or Dare as my spooky read for Hallowe’en in my library. I will read two chapters a day during lunch break or after school for the year 7 & 8 reading groups with added special effects starting with the prologue & chapter one on Monday 22nd October I will finish with chapter 14 & the epilogue on All Hallows Eve.

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