Blind Date (novel)

Blind Date launched the Point Horror series, a Scholastic imprint brand by various authors and one of the first Scholastic brands to cater to the young adult horror genre. Stine has also often credited Blind Date as his transition from writing comedy to writing horror, as Blind Date was his debut horror novel.^[3][4][5]

Blind Date received mixed reviews from critics. Publishers Weekly stated "though the plot is convoluted and some details are stomach-churning, Stine moves the story along, handling the red herrings with finesse."^[6] Lisa Marie Bowman of Through the Shattered Lens said "the story goes from one strange development to another. It makes for a kind of weird story that doesn't always make sense but it is compulsively readable. And really, that's the thing with the work of both Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine. You don't reread these books because they're particularly scary or even that well-written. You read them because they're just so damn strange. It's never enough to have just one twist. Instead, there has to be a dozen twists and if they don't really seem to make sense or go together ... well, so what? That's what life's like when you're a teenager, right? It may not always make sense. It may not always turn out the way you want. But it's still something you miss once it's gone."^[7]