Fear Street books in order

Reading order

The original Fear Street series by R.L. Stine launched in 1989 with The New Girl and ran for 49 books through 1997. Every book takes place in and around Fear Street in the town of Shadyside, where teenagers face stalkers, murderers, and the occasional supernatural threat. Unlike Stine’s Goosebumps books, which targeted middle-grade readers, Fear Street was written for a teen audience and dealt with darker subject matter, including murder and psychological horror.

Each book is a standalone story with its own cast of characters, though a handful got direct sequels. The Wrong Number and Wrong Number 2, The Stepsister and The Stepsister 2, and The Best Friend and Best Friend 2 are the notable pairs. The series covers a wide range of horror setups, from slasher-style plots (The Prom Queen, Halloween Party) to psychological thrillers (The Cheater, The Confession) to stories with supernatural twists (Haunted, The Sleepwalker).

Stine published these books at a rapid pace, sometimes releasing six or more per year during the series’ peak in the mid-1990s. The books consistently hit bestseller lists and sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. Fear Street helped define the YA horror genre during the 1990s and remains popular with readers who grew up on the series, as well as new fans who discovered it through the 2021 Netflix film trilogy.