Tagline: You’re invited to…DIE!
Back tagline: Is the senior class doomed to die?
Summary: Josie Maxwell’s sure of it. Trisha Conrad had a vision. A vision of the whole Shadyside High senior class lying in coffins! And Josie’s afraid she’s done something to begin the horror.
But her stepbrother, Josh, doesn’t believe it. Senior year’s going to be the best time of his life.
But what if Trisha’s prediction is true?
First impressions: I am soooooooooooooooooo excited to finally start reading the Seniors series! I was lucky enough to find all 12 books together as a bundle on eBay a few years ago and even though I really wanted to read them straight away, I was worried that reading all of them in a row would become way too tedious, but now I’m ready to tackle it! I don’t know anything about this series except that it’s all about the senior class getting killed off, but that sounds promising so hopefully the books are actually good.
This blurb doesn’t really give too much away, but since it’s the first book I expect that it’ll just set the scene and tone of the series, and hopefully we’ll get some deaths. I like the style of these covers, too. A weapon cutting into the actual cover, revealing a window to the second cover page featuring our cast of potential victims.
I’m thinking the series will be like a teen soap but filled with mystery and murder, but there’s only one way to find out. Let’s read!
Recap
Instead of our usual roll call section, I’m gonna just include photos of the yearbook featured inside each book:
Part One
The book begins with the final bell of junior year, signalling the start of summer. Everyone is super excited and the room erupts into laughter and chaos, like Gary Fresno and Mickey Myers [Mickey’s last name is spelled Meyers in the yearbook photos] pinning down nerdy Justin Thompson [Who’s not in the yearbook] and wiping his hair with the chalkboard eraser, and Dana Palmer and Marla Newman singing about summertime by the door. Making his way to the back of the room, Josh Maxwell bumps into Matty Winger, who’s about to drop a water balloon out of the second-storey window onto some poor unsuspecting victim below. Mickey appears and slaps the balloon hard, causing it to burst all over Matty and his chubby face. Josh and Mickey tease Matty about being fat and going to a Fat Farm, which Matty protests is an exercise camp. Despite the teasing, the three appear to be friends, even though Josh thinks Matty’s a loser; apparently it’s his great sense of humour that saves him from more bullying. [Okeh]
Josh soon leaves, pulling Dana’s ponytail loose as he passes, which she ignores. Dana’s a major hotty, and he sometimes finds himself gazing at her, thinking all kinds of thoughts. He’s been going out with Debra Lake for the past five months, though, and he likes her better; he’s sure they’re going to have a great senior year. Speaking of Debra, after grabbing his tennis racquet from his locker, he’s off to meet her at the courts. As he approaches, he realises she’s not alone — why is Clark Dickson standing so close to her?! Clark almost always wears black which, paired with his solemn manner, reminds everyone of a vampire, earning him the nickname Count Clarkula, which Josh isn’t sure he’s even aware of. But why does Clark have his arm around Debra? And why is he lowering his head to her throat?!
Josh calls out, startling the pair as they quickly pull away from each other. When Josh reaches them, Debra explains she had something in her eye and Clark was helping her, [Yeah right, Debra] but she seems pretty suss to me and Josh. After some small talk, Clark gets the hint and leaves, leaving Josh and Debra to play some tennis. She’s not that keen on playing and seems unusually low energy today, explaining that she’s just tired from all the studying, so the match doesn’t last long.
They’re soon interrupted by Josie Maxwell, Josh’s stepsister, who’s in a bad mood because Mr. Torkelson gave her a D in trigonometry — she worked so hard on her notebook and had even done an extra project! Josh knows how important grades are to Josie, especially because their parents won’t let her buy her own car unless she makes honor roll. Debra suggests Josie go talk to him, which is exactly what Josie marches off to do, hurrying back towards the school. [God knows why she didn’t confront him first and the come out to complain, but oh well] Josh feels sorry for Josie, explaining to Debra that she can never catch a break ever since his dad married her mum. Debra’s never seen Josie so excited, since she’s usually shy and quiet, and Josh explains that she has a hard time because school is so easy for him while she has to work much harder to get Bs and Cs.
Next, the pair spot Trisha Conrad running over to them, but she stops suddenly, her mouth dropping open in horror before she collapses to her knees. She seems to be in some sort of a trance for a few moments before shaking her head, snapping out of it.
Trisha explains that she just had the most horrifying flash, which prompts an eye roll from Debra because she’s a non-believer in Trisha’s psychic visions. Josh doesn’t believe Trisha can see the future either, which might be the only thing he doesn’t like about her; she’s super rich thanks to her father building the Division Street Mall as well as other malls and complexes across the country, but she’s a warm and friendly girl and never acts superior or snooty because of her money. [Love that] Trisha explains that she saw all of the senior class lying in coffins, all green and rotting — ‘”We all died, one by one.”‘ Trisha interprets the vision to mean there’s a curse on the senior class and not everyone will survive senior year, but Josh quickly changes the topic to Trisha’s party to avoid the uncomfortable conversation. Her parents are going to Japan and it’s going to be the first major party of the summer, set at the Conrads’ luxurious mansion atop the cliffs overlooking the Conononka River. Unfortunately, though, Trisha tells them she had to cancel the party because ‘”I don’t want anyone to die.”‘
It turns out Trisha had another vision a few days ago, and she looks so grim that Josh can’t help but laugh until he realises how serious she is. A whole scene had flashed into Trisha’s head of something bad happening at her party. A girl sprawled on the floor, possibly dead, but Trisha couldn’t see her face. Everyone was crying and screaming, including herself, Debra and Josh, and it just felt so real that Trisha felt the need to cancel the party altogether. Debra comforts Trisha, suggesting the image was just an ugly fantasy conjured by the stress off finals, while Josh insists that everyone’s counting on the party, promising nothing bad will happen and ‘”We’ll all kill ourselves if you don’t have it!”‘ [A bit dramatic, Josh]
Later, after dropping Debra home, Josh decides to go visit Mickey’s house, where he’s hanging out with Matty, and we get more insight into the friendship between the three — ‘Matty was always hanging around, like a bad cold. He was desperate to be their friend. Josh and Mickey tolerated him mainly because they felt sorry for him. He was such a nerd!’ [Well, if I didn’t really like someone that much I wouldn’t be inviting them over to my house to hang out. Maybe Mickey likes Matty more than Josh realises?] Josh asks if either of them have ever seen Debra hanging out with Clark, informing them of what he saw on the tennis courts, and Matty jokes that Count Clarkula had been drinking her blood. Josh ignores him, explaining that Debra has been acting weird lately. She’s so tired all the time and has no energy, and she looks so pale now too. Mickey’s expression suddenly goes solemn as he moves towards Josh, asking who else Josh has learned the truth about. He asks if Josh believes in vampires, but before Josh can answer, Mickey grabs his shoulders and moves his face down towards Josh’s neck, sinking his teeth into his neck.
Of course, it’s just a cheeky little prank and Mickey and Matty laugh and laugh about Josh screaming and believing in vampires. Furious, Josh storms out of the house and drives home, passing by Debra’s place on the way just to make sure Clark’s black Volvo isn’t there. It’s not, thankfully, and he soon arrives home to the phone ringing. There doesn’t seem to be anyone else home, so he answers the phone himself:
“Hello?”
“She’s mine now,” a voice rasped.
“Huh? Excuse me?” Josh said.
“She’s mine now.” The words repeated in such a gruff, throaty whisper. “Debra is mine. If you try to stop me, I’ll drain you. I’ll drain you, Josh.”
[Do I smell another prank from Mickey or Matty?]
Part Two
Over to Josie and back in time a little bit as she’s about to confront Mr. Torkelson about her grade, but not before a quick stop at the bathroom to brush her hair and put on some lip gloss! As she’s about to enter the classroom, Clarissa Turner comes storming out, furiously complaining that Torkelson’s a jerk. She doesn’t want to talk about it, though, and stalks off, leaving little hope for Josie — Torkelson actually likes Clarissa, so if he wouldn’t change her grade, what chance does Josie have?
Inside, Torkelson apologises for giving Josie the D, [😉] explaining that he averaged the test scores three times and was surprised himself that it was only a D. He asks what happened, since she’d been getting Cs and Bs the rest of the year, and Josie explains that she had a flu during the final exam. Torkelson remembers her coughing and sneezing a lot, but so did Marla Newman, who’d gotten a perfect score. This angers Josie even more, because she hates Marla Newman even more than Torkelson – ‘Beautiful. Smart. Captain of the gymnastics team. Editor of the yearbook. National Honor Society. President of the student council… Of course the perfect person got a perfect score even though she was perfectly sick!’ [Poor Josie, definitely can’t catch a break] When Torkelson compares Josie to Josh, a great math student, she completely loses it and in a fit of rage, bashes him in the head several times with the glass vase on his desk.
But I know better by now, [And I’m sure you do too] and this, of course, is just an extremely violent fantasy. Instead, Josie just screams the word ‘No’ at the teacher and runs out of the room and down the hall, where she’s traumatised by the letter D on a banner hanging by the door. She makes it outside and over to the parking lot, where the D in the ‘Drivers with permits only’ sign also assaults her, and as she’s heading down the stairs, she’s met by Jennifer Fear and Deirdre Palmer, [Deirdre is spelled Deidre in the yearbook. Another damn typo!] and Jennifer correctly guesses that Josie’s upset because of trig. Deirdre teases that as a Fear, Jennifer’s a mind reader with all kinds of weird powers, upsetting Jennifer because ”I hate being teased about my family.”‘
The girls had bumped into Clarissa, who’d mentioned Josie was trying her luck with Torkelson, and apparently there’d been a line of kids waiting outside his door to discuss their grades earlier. [So the teacher is the problem, not the students?] Deirdre mentions that Dana, her twin sister, got a B- and had been expecting an A, and Josie takes some time to think about how different the twins are, despite looking identical; Dana’s a popular, perky and enthusiastic cheerleader who has to fight boys off while Deirdre is shy, uncomfortable around others, studies hard and has never had a serious boyfriend.
The girls invite Josie over to Jennifer’s so they can cheer her up, with Deirdre suggesting Jennifer can cast an old Fear family spell to make big purple warts grow on Torkelson’s lips. When Jennifer argues that her family doesn’t do that stuff, Deirdre insists her ancestors did, the ones who lived in the creepy burnt-out mansion across from Jennifer’s house. [Jennifer lives across from the old Fear mansion? What a coincidence] Deirdre’s grandmother told her all about how people would disappear inside the mansion and come out days later changed into ugly, inhuman beasts. Upset by Deirdre’s comments, Jennifer ends up running off, followed by an apologetic Deirdre. With nothing better to do, Josie chases after them and soon they’re all inside Jennifer’s giant house, painted blue on the outside to try brighten it up a bit. It’s not that effective, since no light seems to filter through the trees, basking the home in shadows, and no sunlight seems to penetrate the inside either. Josie’s never felt comfortable inside the home, unable to stop thinking about the frightening stories she’s heard about the Fears.
As they walk through the giant home, which is way too big for the family of three, Jennifer shows them the built-in chapel where Deirdre teases that Jennifer’s grandparents would sacrifice goats and bring the dead back to life. [Deirdre needs to stfu about this shit] While Jennifer goes to fetch some Cokes and snacks, Deirdre and Josie explore further down the hall, commenting how weird the house is [There’s even a ballroom here!] and how weird it is that Jennifer’s so normal. They eventually come to a door, the only one painted black in the whole house, and just as Josie’s about to turn the glass knob, Jennifer comes shrieking at them from down the hall, warning them not to go in there.
Josie and Deirdre enter the room anyway, because they’re awful friends, and discover a huge library filled with books on witchcraft and sorcery and the like. While Deirdre and Jennifer argue about believing in this stuff, Josie finds an old book called The Spell Book. [Aptly named] Flipping through the pages, she discovers a Doom Spell, and Deirdre really wants to try it out. Jennifer declines, but the others insist it’ll just be a goof, and besides, ‘”You said you don’t believe in this stuff, anyway.”’ [Doesn’t mean she wants to test her faith, Josie!]
“It looks really easy. You just light some black candles and—”
“Where would I get black candles?” Jennifer demanded.
“How about right over here?” Deirdre said. She pulled a big carton pf them out from a bottom shelf.
[Hahahaha] Jennifer reluctantly agrees to go along with it, and they create a circle with the candles and light them up. The trio kneels and holds hands, with Josie declaring that Torkelson deserves this Doom Spell. If it works, she might cast one on Marla Newman who, other than being annoyingly perfect, allegedly stole Josie’s summer job! [Ok, the hatred makes more sense now] Ignoring the fact they have no idea what the Doom Spell is supposed to do to its victim — will it kill Torkelson or just give him some bad luck? — the girls go ahead and picture the teacher as Josie whispers the words of the spell. A wave of cold wraps around Josie as wind howls and a candle flickers out, and soon the girls hear the thud of footsteps approaching. A dark, heavy presence then floats into the room as more candles die.
Josie screams, but there’s no need to be afraid because it’s just Jennifer’s mother, coming to let Jennifer know she’s home. She frowns when she realises what they’re doing, warning that these books could be dangerous, then asks Jennifer to help her set the table for dinner. Deirdre’s mum, who’s been trying to track her down for an hour, calls, and soon Josie finds herself all alone in the library. Since the spell had been interrupted, she decides to continue it herself, this time picturing both Torkelson and Marla Newman as she whispers the words.
Again, a heavy cold swirls all around her, and as she finishes the words and raises her head from the book, she spots a hooded, red-cloaked figure rising above her. Terrified, Josie’s filled with immediate regret as the hood slides back to reveal a yellowed, toothless skull beneath, a snake with a head at each end curling out from the eye holes. The skeleton’s bony fingers grip Josie’s throat as air rushes through it’s open jaws, ‘making a dry hee hee sound’. [A giggling skeleton? Cute!] Soon Josie’s being swallowed by darkness as the giggling skelly tightens its grip, and then Jennifer appears in the doorway, asking what Josie’s doing on the floor. The skeleton’s gone, and Josie isn’t sure whether it was real or just a hallucination. She tells Jennifer she was just reading and returns the book to the shelf, trembling, before following Jennifer out. She tells herself there’s no such thing as a Doom Spell, but then why is she still so cold? Why can’t she erase the cloaked figure from her mind? ‘Why do I feel as if I’ve started something … something horrible?’ [Because you’ve just doomed the whole senior class!]
Part Three
On Friday night, Josh and Mickey head to the mall, with Josie tagging along at the last minute. During the car ride, there’s some flirty banter between Mickey and Josie, but I can’t tell if it’s serious or not on Josie’s part, and she ends up blurting out that Deirdre has a crush on him. It kind of seems out of place in the conversation, as in a very deliberate thing to say, but I’ll give Josie the benefit of the doubt and hope it was an accident. Josie then complains about needing to find a summer job and we finally learn why it’s Marla Newman’s fault — Josie got a job at Marla’s father’s athletic store at the mall, but at the last second Marla decided she wanted to take the job, so Josie wasn’t needed. [Marla’s rich so I doubt she needed the money, what’s the bet she did it to spite Josie?]
When the trio runs into Marla at the mall, it’s clear Josie’s hatred is totally justified because Marla’s a total cow. Josh even seems to be uncomfortable whenever she’s around, but he’s not sure if it’s because ‘she’s so smart and awesome looking’, or because she seems to always turn up her nose at him and Josie. Marla looks Josie up and down and assumes she’s here at the mall to buy some new clothes, and Josie angrily informs her she’s trying to find a job. Marla fake apologises and hopes Josie isn’t too upset that she’d decided to take the job at the last second, and when Josie doesn’t respond, she antagonises her some more:
“I heard about your trig grade,” she told Josie. “That was really a shame. Maybe you should take a summer school course, too.”
“I don’t think so,” Josie replied angrily. “I have a life!”
Marla pretended to be shocked. “You do?”
Before Josie could reply, Marla spun away and hurried off to greet some other girls.
[OK, we hate Marla, but love the level of bitchiness] Josie’s furious, positive that Marla only took the job so Josie couldn’t have it, and Josh assures her she’ll find a better job. The boys wish her good luck as she heads off, and they continue to roam the mall. Mickey wants to check something out in World of Music and as Josh follows him in, he spots Debra and Count Clarkula together at the back of the store. Mickey spots them too and informs Josh that vampires can control people’s minds, but Josh is sick of all the vampire talk and ditches Mickey to go confront them. The pair are a little too close before Josh forces a smile and interrupts them, and a blushing Debra awkwardly explains they’d run into each other while coincidentally looking for the same CD. [Assuming Debra is cheating, she’s a fkn idiot for doing it at the mall where the whole class hangs out often] Josh agrees that it’s a weird coincidence, then asks Clark if he called yesterday to threaten him. Clark denies it and bids them farewell, so Josh demands to know the truth. Debra’s reluctant to talk because she can’t really explain it, but finally admits that she feels drawn to Clark, possibly out of pity, but she’s not really sure. Josh questions the tiny red dot on her throat he suddenly glimpses, and after finding it with her finger, Debra assumes it’s a mosquito bite and demands to know his problem. Josh admits that he doesn’t like her hanging out with Clark, and Debra gets angry that he’s trying to control her and storms off. [She’s definitely guilty and trying to deflect]
Josh briefly looks for Mickey before deciding to just head home alone, deciding that Mickey will find another ride. [Rude. And what about Josie?] He can’t stop thinking about how weird Clark is — he doesn’t have any friends, he writes mysterious, violent poetry in creative writing class, and he paints strange, dark watercolours of the moon and clouds without any colours in them. Josh has never even seen Clark at a Tigers game, or a school dance or party. Clark’s just sooOOo0oooOooOoOo0o0oo0O0000ooo weird! Pulling into the driveway, Josh suddenly remembers Josie, but decides she’ll call if she needs a lift. After pacing back and forth in his room for god knows how long, Josh’s troubled thoughts are interrupted by another threatening phone call. The whispery voice asserts that ‘”Debra is mine now,”‘ and complains about being thirsty. The voice warns ‘”I’m coming to drain you, Josh,”‘ [Sounds gay, I’m in] and despite putting up a brave front, Josh is feeling a little afraid, especially when the voice says they’re coming now and hangs up. As Josh tries to calm himself down, the doorbell chimes. Startled, he looks out the window and spots a dark figure on the porch… Clark?
Part Four
The next morning, Josie wakes up dreading having to continue her job search. Last night was a total bust, since most summer jobs were filled weeks ago, but Josie’s determined to find one anyway. Despite all her complaining about needing a job, Josie jumps at the chance to procrastinate from her search when Clarissa Turner calls and requests Josie’s help retrieving her art sculpture from school, where the janitor will let them in. Josie agrees to meet her at school in 30 minutes, then heads downstairs for some breakfast. Josh is already chowing down on cereal, and Josie asks why Clark was here last night. Josh explains he’d been returning a sleeping bag that he borrowed ages ago, and Josie remarks that she thought Clark sleeps in a coffin! Josie then turns serious, enquiring whether Josh believes in the supernatural. Josh doesn’t, as we know, but he mentions the threatening phone calls and how he’d seen Debra and Clark together at the mall, which they both agree is weird.
Walking to the school a short time later, Josie decides she’ll head to the Old Village to search for a job after helping Clarissa with her sculpture. As she’s walking past the edge of the teacher parking lot, she spots Mr. Torkelson in his little yellow sports car come squealing around the corner, going way too fast. He sticks his hand out the window and waves to Josie as he passes, but the car ends up skidding on some grease on the road and spinning into the brick wall of the parking lot, then bounces off the wall into an oncoming delivery van:
“Nooooooo!” Josie’s cry rose over the crash of metal, the shatter of glass.
The car spun again. She glimpsed Torkelson’s arm hanging out the window.
And blood. Spurting up like a fountain.
Blood. So much blood.
Before she realized it, Josie was running. Running to the little car, tilted half on the curb, half on the street.
Crushed in. Crushed in with the blood spurting from the outstretched arm.
“Noooo,” What was that lying in the street?
That pink glob on the pavement near the crushed car door?
Josie stopped and stared down at it, hands still pressed to her face.
No. No! Oh … no!
Torkelson’s hand on the street.
The hand ripped off at the wrist. The arm stuck out the window, spewing a river of bright red blood.
And the hand—Torkelson’s hand—on the pavement. The fingers moving … the fingers curling up at her … grabbing for her … grabbing.
“Nooooo.” Another horrified moan escaped Josie’s throat. She sank to her knees beside the pink, grasping hand.
“I did it,” she murmured. “I did this—with the Doom Spell. I’m a murderer.”
[You sure are, Josie! Poor Torkelson] The next hour or so passes by in a blur as Josie deals with the police, and when she finally arrives home, she tells Josh about the horrifying ordeal, but his reaction is basically, “You hated him anyway, why do you care so much?” Josie admits to the Doom Spell she’d cast, thinking it wasn’t serious, and Josh just laughs at her and asks if she can cast a Doom Spell on Clark. A short time later, Josie dashes over to Jennifer’s house to meet her and Deirdre, where she confesses to completing the spell when the others left the library, thus making Torkelson’s death her fault. Jennifer and Deirdre try to persuade her otherwise, but Josie’s adamant the Spell has worked.
Later again, Josie phones Marla to warn her about the Doom Spell, but Marla’s her usual bitchy self and is also in a hurry to meet someone named Ty, a name Josie doesn’t recognise so I’m not really sure if it’s Ty Sullivan from the yearbook. Fed up, Marla ends the call after not being able to make sense of Josie’s poor, incoherent attempt at explaining things, leaving Josie to wonder if the horrible evil she’s unleashed is still out there, and ‘will it kill again?’ [Yes, and definitely. I wonder if this is the same evil that attacked the cheerleaders]
Possibly the same evening but I’m not sure, Josh waits for Debra out front of the ten-plex. He’d called her earlier and they’d both apologised, then made plans to see a movie at 8pm. It’s currently 8:20pm, and still no sign of Debra. There’s no answer when he calls her house, so he drives over there to see if she’s home, but the house is completely dark. After going back to the ten-plex to search for her car, which still isn’t there, Josh decides to go to Clark’s place, where sure enough Debra’s blue Civic is in the driveway. [Damn it, Debra] Sneaking up to a window, Josh spots Debra and Clark inside, and he’s about to bite into her neck!!!!!! Except he’s not about to bite into her neck, and they actually just kiss. ‘And now they sat with their arms around each other, gazing dreamily into each other’s eyes.’ [Boooooooooooo, Debra]
Speechless, Josh scampers back to his car and decides to wait and see how long Debra stays inside for as he ponders how on earth Debra could be with Count Clarkula. Is Clark actually a vampire, and he’s used his mind control powers on her? She’d said she felt drawn to him after all, and she’s been very low energy lately. He decides that’s stupid and that Debra is with Clark because she likes him, and soon the happy couple exit the house, climb into Debra’s car and drive off. Instead of seeing where they’re going like a normal Fear Street protagonist would do, Josh drives over to Mickey’s house, where Mickey’s hanging out with Matty Winger. Josh tells them what he saw tonight and once again wonders if there’s any truth in the vampire rumours, and Mickey suggests they break into his house to see if there’s any proof.
A short time later, the three boys let themselves into Clark’s house through an unlocked window and find their way to his bedroom in the dark. They decide to turn a lamp on for a few seconds, revealing a silky cape on the bed next to a big book called ‘Lives of the Vampire’, with a lot more vampire books on the shelf. Josh also spots a clump of dirt on the floor, and when Matty and Mickey point out that vampires apparently sleep on ancient dirt from their homeland, [Don’t they sleep in a coffin?] they pull back the bed covers to reveal a dark mound of dirt in the middle of the bed. Josh is in denial about the proof they’ve just discovered, pointing out that vampires can only come out at night while Clark walks around in the daytime too, but Mickey suggests maybe that part of the legend isn’t true. [God I hope this series won’t be about vampires. I’ll get bored pretty quick] And then they hear a door closing and footsteps downstairs — someone’s home!!
The boys climb out the bedroom window and onto the roof, then jump to the ground and make a run for it back to the car. Josh glances back and sees a figure surrounded by light in the front window and is positive they’ve been spotted by Count Clarkula. Once the trio is safely in the car and speeding away, Josh warns the others that they were spotted and Clark the vampire will likely come after them. Dropping the boys off, he warns them to lock their windows tonight and heads home.
A short time later, the phone rings, and although he tries to ignore it, dreading more whispered threats, he ends up answering. Luckily for Josh, it’s just Trisha Conrad, calling to let him know the party’s back on since everyone insisted. She also asks if he saw her waving to him earlier tonight, since she was at the mall with Gary Fresno. Josh explains he didn’t see her and had been waiting for Debra, silently wondering why the hell Trisha was with Gary, who’s supposed to be dating Mary O’Connor and is ‘a tough-looking guy who never had a dime, lived in the Old Village, and hung out with a really bad crowd.’ Is Trisha just trying to stick it to her snooty parents?
Anyway, Josh confirms he’ll be at the party and the call ends, only to ring again straight away. This time it’s Debra, furious because she saw him through the window at Clark’s house, and also saw his car. Josh has no right to spy on her! [True, but maybe don’t ghost him to hang out with your secret boyfriend and then turn the blame around on him when you’re confronted about it????? Debra can go die] Josh tries to convince her that she’s not safe but Debra doesn’t want to hear it, especially when he blurts out that Clark’s a vampire and he’d broken into his bedroom to find proof. She tells him he’s sick and needs help, and in a fit of rage Josh wishes her good luck and tells her to have a nice life before throwing the phone at the wall. The phone rings again shortly after, and Josh is sure it’s Debra calling to apologise, which he won’t be accepting — ‘I’m not going to stand around like a wimp while she runs around with that freak.’ Instead, it’s the menacing, raspy voice on the other end, asking if Josh liked the cape; ‘”Will you like it when it’s wrapped around your throat—and I’m drinking you dry?”‘ [Sounds kinky]
[Oooh, my copy has a little mail-in questionnaire where readers were able to ‘help shape the future of the Fear Street Seniors…’ I wonder if it actually had any affect on later books?]
It’s Friday morning now, the day of Trisha’s party, and Josie’s in the law office of her next-door neighbour for an interview to be a summer intern. She’s super nervous and thinks about how Josh would be able to breeze right through the interview, although he’s been acting moody all week so she suspects he’s had a bad fight with Debra. As Josie’s waiting in her neighbour’s office for him to finish up with something elsewhere, the giggling skeleton emerges from behind the drapes and grabs for her, tearing her blouse. Josie flees from the building in terror, screaming her head off, and doesn’t stop running until she’s reached Jennifer’s house on Fear Street. Jennifer’s mother answers and informs Josie that Jennifer’s at Trisha’s place helping her set up. Josie frantically asks to visit the library inside because she needs to find a spell, but Mrs. Fear politely denies her access, explaining the spells are too dangerous and she can’t let Josie go in there. Josie debates just barging past her, then decides that hopefully she’ll find a way to stop the bad skelly at the party. [How? Like, you know nothing about it, what do you expect to be able to do?]
Part Five
It’s party time now, and Josh is just arriving at Trisha’s gated, security-guarded mansion. [Her parents are worried about kidnappers] As he’s approaching the building, he spots Mickey arguing with an unfamiliar red-haired girl one one of the back terraces, which is a surprise; Mickey’s super laid back and gets along with everyone, so Josh has never seen him in an argument before. Even more surprising is when the girl pushes Mickey, and he shoves her back! Phoebe Yamura appears and distracts Josh away from the fight, and he congratulates her on scoring head cheerleader. She’s super happy to have won the position, but she knows Dana Palmer and Jade Feldman are upset they didn’t get the role themselves. Mickey and the redhead have disappeared by now, and Josh heads off to the refreshment table. He sips on a Coke as he watches the dancing couples, including Trisha and Gary Fresno, who’s got a cigarette dangling from his lips. [So you know he’s a bad boy!]
Soon, the redhead girl approaches Josh and tells him he’s not on her good list before shoving him. [?????] She laughs and explains she saw him watching her and Mickey, and he asks what was going on. She tells him she doesn’t remember, [How mysterious. Could she be related to the Doom Spell somehow?] and in the ensuing conversation we find out she’s from Waynesbridge before she asks him to guess her name:
He thought hard. “Is it Susan?”
“Yes!” she cried. “Wow!”
He gaped at her. “Huh? Susan? Is it really?”
“No way,” she replied.
“It’s not Susan?”
“Of course not. It’s Saralynn.”
“Saralynn? Two names in one?”
She nodded. “That’s why I’m so tall. I have two names.”
[Riveting stuff] As they talk, Josh spots Debra holding hands with Clark and decides he’ll just have fun with the very sexy Saralynn, and maybe Debra will get jealous. Saralynn vanishes while Josh fetches some beers, and then a gunshot is heard. Except it’s not a gunshot, just thunder, and then there’s a flash of lightning before rain sweeps down, an instant downpour. Everyone hurries inside, but the night isn’t ruined just yet. In fact, the weather is perfect for the murder game Trisha and Jennifer cooked up this afternoon! Trisha hands everyone a card that has a pre-assigned role of suspect or investigator, except for Marla Newman who’s been designated the victim. She wants to swap, and Josie is happy to trade, probably worried about the Doom Spell, but Trisha is firm that there can be no swaps. There’s one card lift, which is for Mickey, but he’s not with the group, and when Josh notices Saralynn isn’t here either, he wonders if they disappeared together. Then the big French doors leading to the terrace burst open, and in stumbles Mickey with blood pouring down his face.
He’s fine, explaining he went to get something from his car and slipped on the wet grass, cutting his face on the car door, but Josh isn’t convinced; the three long scratches down his cheek look suspiciously like fingernail tracks. He remains quiet, wondering why Mickey would lie, and then Trisha orders everyone with a suspect card, along with Marla, to get into the dining room, where they need to come up with a story, decide on a murderer, the motive, and clues. Matty Winger makes a reference to Clue [Or Cluedo, as it’s known elsewhere] and is told to shut up by Greta Bradley, who’s not in the yearbook. Gary asks how they should kill Marla, and in his first mention in the book, Kenny Klein jokes that they should give her a C in English, which gets a laugh from everyone because they all know not getting straight As really would kill Marla.
The investigators, including Josh, Phoebe, Jennifer, Trisha and Deirdre, who’s a lone twin tonight because Dana’s visiting a friend from camp in Boston, [Will Dana be the sole survivor of senior year?] patiently wait for Marla and the suspects to come up with their plot. Josh can’t believe Trisha’s set up a murder game, especially after the supposed premonition she had, which is the first Jennifer’s hearing of it. Before Josh can reply, they hear Josie screaming from the other room, and Josh can tell it’s genuine. The investigators hurry into the dining room, where Marla Newman is sprawled on her back on the floor, mouth frozen open, eyes wide, gazing blankly at the ceiling. Josie, Debra, Mickey and the other suspects are huddled around her, and Josie frantically shakes Marla by the shoulders, but Marla doesn’t move. In disbelief, Mickey declares that Marla is actually dead, and I really can’t tell if this is part of the game. [Surely this is the real murder mystery game?]
Trisha starts wailing that her vision has come true and she knew she shouldn’t have had this party, and we learn that the group of suspects had decided Mickey would be the killer. He then pretended to strangle Marla before he and the other suspects went into an adjacent room to come up with a story, while Marla stayed on the floor and told them to hurry up. A short time later, they’d heard a loud groan and rushed back in and found Marla actually dead on the floor. As everyone struggles to process what happened, Josie pipes up and in a trembling voice, reveals she’s the killer.
The suspects all object, since Josie had been with them at the time Marla was alone, but she quickly elaborates about the spell she cast. She also owns up to Mr. Torkelson’s death too, explaining how she’d pictured both victims while casting the spell. Jennifer assures Josie it’s just a silly old book and she can’t blame herself, but Josie protests that not only did she let the evil out, but she saw the evil’s skeleton face too. Trisha heatedly reminds everyone they can’t just stand around talking about spells with a dead girl on the floor, and demands Marla be moved to the closet. Josh protests that they shouldn’t move the body and need to call the police, but unfortunately the line is dead, presumably thanks to the storm, and Trisha starts to grow hysterical about the body on the floor. Deirdre reminds Trisha that she owns a cell phone, and Trisha returns from her visit to her handbag empty-handed — she’d left her cell in the Mercedes, which coincidentally is the car her parents took this morning.
As everyone panics, Josh spots Josie crying by the window and starts toward her to offer some comfort, but he’s interrupted by a frantic Mickey, who wants to get out ASAP because the killer may still be in the house! Josh shudders at the thought that someone in the room killed Marla, and pulls away from Mickey. He continues over to Josie, who insists she summoned an evil that killed both Torkelson and Marla. Before he can reply, the group start heading back to the French doors, having decided to leave the house and seek help, and the stepsiblings follow suit.
Despite the lightning, thunder, heavy rain and strong winds, the group ventures through the storm to the back gate, finding the security guard booth empty. [Does this family have security stationed at the front and back gates 24/7? That’s crazy. But then again, you can never be too safe in Shadyside] Trisha tries to open the gate, but it’s no use — there’s a padlocked chain keeping it closed! Josh shudders as he realises they’ve been locked in with a killer.
Back in the library, the group realise that with the only exit locked, [Wait, so there’s only that one gate? I feel like that needed to be clearer] all they can do is wait for the phone to start working again and Josh silently realises Clark isn’t here. Debra also realises Clark’s missing and asks if anyone’s seen him, but she’s not even sure if he ventured out to the gate with the rest of them. Trisha decides once again they need to move the body somewhere, but when they head into the next room, Marla’s vanished!
Trisha demands to know who moved her and why, [I don’t know why she’s complaining when she’s been banging on about moving the body anyway] and Josh points out how weird it is that both Clark and the body have disappeared. Josh also realises that Mickey’s the only one here who’s totally dry, so he clearly didn’t go out in the rain with the rest of them, which means he had a chance to move the body. Mickey denies moving Marla, but Trisha doesn’t trust him. Jennifer interrupts, having spotted a dark smear near the closet door. Trisha moves to open it, ignoring Mickey’s protests and attempts to block her way, and a body comes tumbling out. Not Marla, though, but Saralynn, with a dark line across her throat, as if it’s been slashed.
Josie accuses Mickey of killing both girls, which he denies at first, but then grabs Josie and announces he’s lost the plot and will kill again! Josh saves his stepsister by tackling Mickey to the ground, but Mickey manages to get the upper hand pins Josh down. And then Mickey starts laughing, unable to keep a straight face anymore. Trisha scolds him before Saralynn jumps to life and Marla pops her head in from a back room, asking if it’s over. Yes, the deaths were all part of the game conjured up by Trisha, and no-one’s been in any danger the whole time. What fun!
Marla confronts Josie about the Doom Spell and calls her pathetic, and Josie apologises before fleeing the room. Trisha confirms to Josh that she really did have a horrible psychic flash where there was a dead girl on the ground, but she hoped that by acting out what she’d seen, maybe it wouldn’t happen in real life. Suddenly Trisha’s mouth drops open and Josh follows her gaze to see Clark floating down the stairs. He reaches the floor, spreads his black cape and opens his mouth to reveal long, curved fangs.
Clark swoops in on the terrified teens and attempts to bite Trisha’s throat, but she laughs and pushes him off because the joke’s all over thanks to Mickey. Clark complains he’s been practicing all week for his big moment, and has even been sleeping on dirt to get into character! [He’s a method actor 💅 Does this mean all Mickey’s vampire talk with Josh had just been to help set up tonight’s big game?] The party kicks into gear again, and Josh decides to go find Josie to cheer her up, feeling like an idiot for believing everything that had happened tonight.
Meanwhile, Josie’s locked herself in the bathroom, feeling totally humiliated after her declaration of guilt and Marla’s verbal assault. She debates leaving, but decides to stay and enjoy the party, and heads back out to the main room where she assures Josh she’s fine. On her way over to Jennifer and Deirdre, the French doors burst open and a red-hooded, cloaked figure steps in. Gary tells the figure the jokes are over and starts twirling with it as the teens howl with laughter, [Sounds super funny!] but Josie recognises the evil spirit that’s intruded and she knows it’s not a joke this time.
The hood falls off, revealing the rotting, yellow skull beneath that lets out its signature wheezing giggle before starting its attack. The evil skelly hurls Gary across the room and into the wall, where his head makes a splattering sound as it crashes through the wallpaper and the plaster and concrete behind it. Josie can’t help but stare at his body, suspended in midair by his head in the wall, as blood starts seeping down the wallpaper. [Love!] Trisha runs at the intruder, demanding it leave her house, but instead the skelly rips off her right ear and throws it across the room before ripping off her scalp. [Oof] Marla’s next, copping a fist through her chest and out her back, her heart falling out of the hole as she crumples to the ground. The party guests attempt to flee out the door, but unlucky Phoebe Yamura is snatched up by the evil intruder and has her head is twisted off. Deirdre and Jennifer’s heads are smashed together so hard that their skulls shatter and bone juts through the skin, their eyes popping out and rolling onto the floor. Josh then has both arms ripped off, and that’s the last specified death we get as the evil skelly continues to dispatch of the teens one by one.
Soon, Josie’s the only one left, but she manages to flee outside to the row of cars belonging to the dead teens and discovers Josh’s keys in the ignition. [Convenient for the plot, but why would anyone do that?] The gate’s unlocked now, so Josie speeds out of there and over to Jennifer’s house, hoping that no-one’s home and she’ll be able to find an antidote spell in the ancient book to stop the evil, even if it’s too late for the senior class. Unfortunately for her, Jennifer’s parents are home, and Josie quickly lies that Jennifer had asked her to pick up some CDs. As soon as the Fears are out of sight, Josie scurries to the library, hoping she won’t get caught because then she’d have to tell the truth — ‘Then the horror begins for everyone else in Shadyside. The horror begins… and never ends.’ [Josie, sweetie, the horror began for everyone in Shadyside years ago] Unfortunately for Josie, the book seems to be missing, a gap in its place on the shelf she’d originally found it on.
No need to panic, though, because it’s laying on it’s side on top of the books ok the next shelf. [Stine, plz] She searches through the book for a way to reverse the original spell, but all she finds is page after page of more Doom Spells, until finally finding a Time Spell that can move time back one hour. That’s just what Josie needs, [Is it? How’s she planning to prevent the giggling skeleton from killing everyone? Won’t it just happen again?] so she quickly lights some candles counter clockwise and reads the spell from bottom to top, as per the instructions. As she reads, she starts to feel a terrible ache through her body, as if she’s being pulled backward. She pushes through the pain and continues reading, and the candles snuff out all at once as soon as she recites the last word. She shuts her eyes, praying the spell has worked, and slowly the pain fades. Has she done it? Has she reversed time?!
Opening her eyes, Josie finds herself surrounded by silent, solid darkness, but soon sounds of laughter and voices return before the room slowly comes into view. She’s back in Trisha’s bathroom during the moment she’d been preparing to go back to the party after being humiliated by Marla. Relieved, she rushes out of the bathroom and walks into the main room backwards, as instructed by the spell book, just as Trisha explains to Clark that the joke is over already thanks to Mickey. Josie spots her stepbrother and smothers a confused Josh in a hug, then waits by the French doors, wondering if she’s turned back time only to have the same horrifying hour repeat itself. She waits and waits for the hour to be up, and sure enough as the end draws near, she spots the cloaked figure advancing towards the closed doors from outside.
In stunned silence, Josie watches as Giggles and its eye snakes press up against the glass, ready to push the doors open. But then it just simply backs away, just as Josie had backed into the room this time, vanishing in the darkness, ‘leaving only a thick, greasy smear on the other side of the glass.’ [I’m so confused about the logistics of this Time Spell, because it really hasn’t been explained. Does it just reverse one event entirely? Like, Josie didn’t do anything to actually stop the creature, so how come history just didn’t repeat itself, right? How did the spell know what she was wanting to change?] Relieved that she’s saved everyone, Josie can’t help but wonder if the evil creature is still out there somewhere, if the senior class is still doomed. But let’s not think about that now, because everyone’s alive! Time to celebrate!
We cut to Josh immediately after Josie wraps him in another hug. He wonders wtf is wrong with her as she dashes over to Jennifer and Deirdre and hugs them too. Over by the drinks table, he chats with Trisha about Clark not being a vampire, and mentions how Clark had been threatening him over the phone. Trisha reveals the phone calls were actually from that pesky Matty Winger, who’s been telling everyone about his dumb prank calls. Josh then finds a clear, plastic package on the ground, and after Trisha explains it’s the plastic fangs she’d got Clark last week for his costume, the book ends with one last scare:
“But—but—” Josh gasped. “the package hasn’t been opened. The fangs are still inside!”
“Weird,” Trisha muttered. She turned to talk to someone else.
Josh raised his eyes to the door—and saw Clark walking out with Debra, his arm around her shoulders.
“Debra, wait—!” Josh called, frantically waving the plastic fangs. “Hey—Debra!”
[So is Clark a vampire, or did he have his own set of fake fangs? Is this whole vampire subplot stuff going to bleed into the next book?]
Final thoughts
OK, so this wasn’t amazing, but it had me turning the pages and wanting to read more, so that’s still a win. I’m thinking the series will get better as it goes on, now that a some of the characters and their dynamics have already been somewhat established. The bloodbath at the party was pretty cool, even if it did all get reversed, but we did still get one death at least. RIP, Mr. Torkelson! Speaking of deaths, there was no knife involved, but there’s a knife on the cover, so I wonder if each book just has a random weapon on it regardless if it’s relevant to the story or not.
The two subplots came together nicely, even if the vampire stuff was a bit farfetched, like with Clark sleeping on dirt to help get into character for a bit that would have lasted, like, five minutes at the party. Speaking of which, what exactly was the plan for the murder game? If Mickey was supposed to be a murderer, how exactly was a vampire going to come into play? Although vampire stuff bores me, Stine did well here with the whole is he/isn’t he a vampire, and I’m still not what Clark’s deal is. Hopefully that plot gets wrapped up quickly in the next book, because I expect it will become very repetitive if not. Similar to the vampire mystery, the murder game was done well enough too, to the point that I really couldn’t work out either way if Marla really had been killed or not. She’s awful, so I was kind of bummed so wasn’t dead, but hopefully that’ll change very soon in one of the following books. I also hope Debra dies for the way she treated Josh, who was a decent protagonist outside of his feelings towards Matty. I enjoyed Josie too, and would like to see more of the stepsiblings, but I’m not sure if they’ll get another stab as main protagonists when there’s so many other characters to go through. Hopefully they survive senior year!
All up, 122 awful girlfriends who get angry at you for confronting them about cheating out of 169!
