As a part of my little January Sweet 16 TBR, I read my way through the entirety of R. L. Stine’s Fear Street Cheerleader series (one per day). It came as my way of nodding and recognizing my roots for mystery/whodunit fiction, and how now was the perfect time to revisit one of my favorite young adult series from my time. And, despite twenty-years worth of distance, I found myself still in love with the stories. Mostly. Think about it, though. High school cheerleaders combating a possessing and murderous evil spirit, that was essentially exacerbating the nature of teenage jealousy. An evil spirit who gets inside one girl per book (except for books four and five) to commit its deadly deeds–with "reasonable" nudgings of crushing the competition with newfound power. And each book the questions are: Who's the possessed girl? How do you destroy an evil spirit which keeps coming back?
Still good stuff indeed, man. Really, really good stuff. The series predates my "learning" of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (the TV show–that is). But the Cheerleaders series definitely has that same metaphoric bend in relating surviving high school with... well... the monster within. I just don't think Stine give it the same thought, though.