Novel about a girl who dreams the deaths of her classmates

Question

I remember flicking through a young-adult horror novel, years and years ago, but I can't remember who wrote it, or what the title was. The book was like one of those R. L. Stine "Fear Street" books (Not Goosebumps), or like the kind by Christopher Pike.

From what I remember a teenage girl starts having bizarre nightmares about people being murdered in strange and gruesome ways, only to find that her high school classmates are being found dead exactly the way she dreamed they would die. The first nightmare I remember involved a teen boy being murdered by a hooded cult, stripped naked, a yellow stripe painted down his back and flowers stuffed deep down his throat choking him with pollen. the next day she found out one of her neighbors and classmates was found dead in his room, exactly like she dreamed about, naked, yellow stripe, throat filled with flowers and pollen.

Does anyone know what book this was? It's been bugging me for years!

Answer 1

The book is The Dreamstalker by Barbara Steiner as identified by Nu'Daq. Since I have the book I'll add some details.

The protagonist is Karen Newton. The book starts with her dream:

He can’t breathe. He doubles over and sucks in air, but none reaches his lungs. His wheezing gets louder and louder. Soon he is whistling when he inhales. The boys think that is hilarious. Their laughter surrounds him, echoing through his head, down into his throat, filling his lungs with their squeals and shrieks.

Their leader, who is dressed in black, eggs them on. They stand in a field of yellow flowers, yellow like the paint that coats his skin, drips onto his toes. He starts picking flowers. Everyone starts picking flowers. And laughing—laughing—laughing.

They stuff flowers into his mouth. What little air he can draw into his lungs disappears into the flowers. Yellow pollen coats his throat, making it close tighter, tighter, tighter.

He struggles. They laugh. He falls. They shriek. He lies still. They walk away, pounding each other on the back and bending double with hysterical laughter. It is a good night’s work. A deed well done.

The boy who dies is Gordon Anderson. Karen's friend Alysia tells her:

“He was lying on his stomach, and there was a huge yellow stripe painted down his back. And that’s not all—get this. His mouth was stuffed full of daffodils. They figure he suffocated.”

It turns out the bad guy is:

Karen's brother Kerr who has the ability to enter her dreams.

Answer 2

This sounds like Dreamstalker, a novel I found in high-school. After the girl finds out about each death we hear the thoughts of the one responsible (sorry if I don't give it away), how he thinks the dead person the girl dreamed about had it coming.