Tagline: You can keep it.
Back tagline: Jennifer is not herself.
Summary: Ever since she got the antique necklace, she has been living in a nightmare. She believes the necklace is forcing her to commit terrible crimes.
But will it make her kill?
First impressions: We haven’t seen Jennifer much in the last few books so it’ll be nice to see her again, especially in the main protagonist role. I’m sure her heritage as a Fear will come into play at some point, and exploring the Fear family is always fun. The blurb is short and sweet and doesn’t give a lot away, but I’m sincerely hoping there’s some deaths coming our way because there were none in the last book.
This cover continues the trend of some kind of weapon on the cover, and this time we have scissors. Will they actually be used to murder someone, or will someone just use them for normal purposes? Will scissors even be mentioned?! On the inside cover, we see Jennifer Fear, Trisha Conrad, Matty Winger and I believe Ty Sullivan having a jolly good time setting up Christmas decorations, so I guess it’s Christmas time in Shadyside. I’ve covered several Christmas-centric Fear Streets on the blog so far and enjoyed them, so hopefully this one’s good too. Let’s find out! [Note from future: This is not a Christmas-themed book; rather the plot just happens to take place during the Christmas break, but after Christmas day]
Recap
We’ve got our usual yearbook photos, plus one additional character to add to the roll call:
Dominique – The original owner of Jennifer’s new necklace.
The book begins the day after Christmas [Oh, so it’s not a Christmas book] as Jennifer Fear arrives at her best friend Trisha Conrad’s huge mansion overlooking the Conononka River. In Trisha’s room, she shows off her favourite Christmas gift — an intricate, gold-link necklace with a dark red garnet hanging from the chain. Jennifer’s dad found it in a junk shop in the Old Village, and it has an inscription on the back that reads Dominique Fear. Trisha’s in awe of the necklace but is very surprised that Jennifer’s wearing it because she hates anything to do with the name Fear. This was the case until Jennifer laid eyes on this beautiful necklace; apparently it’s from the nineteenth century! Her dad might know who Dominique is because he’s got lots of old Fear papers and books, but Jennifer has no interest in learning about the previous owner; she just likes the necklace.
While Trisha takes a call from her boyfriend, Gary Fresno, Jennifer takes a seat by the window and thinks about her family lineage. The Fears came to Shadyside in the 1800s and were plagued by rumours of evil and sorcery, but Jennifer doesn’t believe in that crap and only knows the basic details, like unexplained deaths and a mysterious fire. [I don’t get why she has no interest in her ancestry. If I was a Fear I’d be looking into absolutely everything because it’s so interesting. For those who don’t know much about the origins of the Fear family, I’ve already recapped the Fear Street Saga, so go and check them out!] Unfortunately her dad is obsessed with his ancestry, scouring the town for anything that had belonged to a Fear to add to his collection. They even live opposite the old, burnt-out Fear Mansion in a huge, gloomy house of their own. Their downstairs library is full of old Fear letters and papers as well as ancient books with evil spells in them. A few months ago Jennifer, Deirdre Palmer and Josie Maxwell tried to perform a doom spell, and a teacher died not long after. But Jennifer’s sure that was just a coincidence. [Jennifer, plz]
Trisha’s call ends and the girls discuss Jennifer’s New Year’s Eve party. It’s the first one she’s ever thrown and she’s super excited! They won’t be using the ballroom, though, because she wants a normal party, [Not even mega-rich Trisha has a ballroom!] so the living room it is! Jennifer’s also excited because Ty Sullivan is coming; he moved to Shadyside over the summer and lives next door to Jennifer. All the girls were after him, but Jennifer’s been dating him for the last few weeks, and they’re going out tonight. Jennifer still can’t believe Ty picked her to date out of all the other girls in school! Trisha isn’t sure Jennifer should get too invested due to Ty’s reputation for dating lots of girls at once. [Oh, and Gary Fresno, who cheated on poor Mary O’Connor with you, is so great, Trisha?] Jennifer is well aware that Ty’s cheated on a lot of girls at school, but it’s different with her. Ty says he really cares about her! [Jennifer, don’t be an idiot, he’s definitely said that to everyone]
Trisha apologises, and all is forgiven because Jennifer understand Trisha just doesn’t want her to get hurt. Trisha then asks to try on Jennifer’s necklace, which brings on one of her trademark visions. While she waits for Trisha to come out of her trance, Jennifer remembers back to Trisha’s vision of the whole senior class rotting in their graves. And since school opened in September, four people have died; Mr. Torkelson, Danielle Cortez, Ms. Sanders, and Debra Lake. [Only two of which were part of the senior class… Also I’m still celebrating Debra’s death] In addition to that, transfer students Anita Black and Jon Milano had mysteriously disappeared at the start of the school year. Trisha finally snaps out of it and reveals she saw “her” die — ‘”They put a noose around her neck and hanged her!”‘ [I assume she’s talking about Dominique?] Jennifer asks which senior she’s talking about, but Trisha doesn’t think it was any one in their class; this young, very pretty girl died a long time ago, judging by her old-fashioned clothing. The girl was terrified, and so furious it was almost palpable; ‘”She was totally full of anger. And hate.”‘ Trisha suggests it was Dominique she saw, but Jennifer doesn’t really want to talk about it. She can’t believe Trisha’s freaking out so much over a necklace — ‘”It’s not like it’s evil or anything.”‘ [Famous last words, Jennifer]
Later that night, after pizza and a movie, Ty drives Jennifer down an old bumpy lane that cuts through the middle of the Fear Street Cemetery, and parks the car amongst the tomb stones. Jennifer quickly figures out his trick; ‘”You bring girls here and they get scared. Then they forget all about it the minute they start making out with you.”‘ Jennifer doesn’t mind, though, and soon she’s following in the footsteps of every other girl he’s brought here. [It must have been Ty that Mira was meeting here in No Answer!] After some smooching, his lips trail down her neck, but he suddenly pulls away with a gasp. He puts a hand to his chin and winces, pulling it away to reveal a dark smear. Blood!
Ty angrily demands to know what she’s done to him, and Jennifer’s just as confused because she’s got blood on her neck, but no cut or anything. Then she realises her necklace must have scraped Ty’s chin, and sure enough the sharp point has some blood on it. They clean themselves up with some tissues from her bag before Ty litters them out the window. Ty then starts the car up, and they leave. He’s clearly still pissed from the cut, but Jennifer seems oblivious and asks if he wants to hang out tomorrow night. She suggests several plans that are all shot down by the time they reach her house, where Ty finally suggests they slow down a little — ‘”I just think we shouldn’t see each other so much, that’s all.”‘ Poor Jennifer is crushed, and she accuses him of seeing someone else. He admits it, pointing out that he and Jennifer never decided to be exclusive. He insists he cares about her, but he likes to have fun, and Jennifer’s so serious. Jennifer has no idea what he’s talking about because she’s a fun gal, but he tells her to forget it and says it’ll be better if they just stop seeing each other. Jennifer refuses to beg or let him see her cry, [Good thinking, Batman] and quickly flees the car to cry in her room. [I’m kind of confused because he did a complete 180 after being cut. Did the necklace do something to him when it cut him? Or is he just a flog?]
That night, Jennifer dreams of venturing through the cold night to ‘his’ house. Night is the only safe time, where no-one will see her, and she can’t let anything stop her. At last she arrives at his house, and it appears he has no idea of her presence, nor would he care. His house stands in front of her, completely dark except for a single light burning in an upstairs window. Wondering if it’s his light, she gazes up, and then screams. [The dream is pretty ambiguous, and I’m not entirely sure whether Jennifer is herself in the dream and is at Ty’s house, or if she’s Dominique Fear in the dream at Dominique’s love interest’s house. ] Cut to Jennifer waking up not in the comfort of her bed but outside in the cold, frozen grass. She realises she’d been sleepwalking, and then finally figures out where she is; Ty’s backyard! [Was she mirroring what was happening in her dream? This is confusing]
The next morning, Jennifer meets Trisha at the computers of the Shadyside library so they can work on their college application essays. She’s still shaken up by the sleepwalking incident and wonders if maybe she dreamed so hard about wanting to change things with Ty that she actually got up and went to talk to him in her sleep. It makes sense to her, but it still scares her because of the lack of control she has of the situation. She quietly tells Trisha that she sleepwalked last night and woke up all muddy on the ground. But before she can reveal whose backyard she woke up in, head cheerleader Phoebe Yamura appears and asks if they’d heard about Ty Sullivan — he was attacked last night in his own backyard! He wasn’t killed, but he’s got a big gash on his head and is all bandaged up. Ty didn’t even see it coming, so he doesn’t know who’s responsible, and Jennifer can’t help but wonder if she’d witnessed the attack last night while sleepwalking. Phoebe then hurries off to the checkout line to spread the news to Deirdre Palmer.
Trisha asks about Jennifer’s date with Ty last night, and Jennifer explains how they broke up. Jennifer also reveals she was in Ty’s yard when she woke up from sleepwalking, and then tells Trisha everything that happened on their date, including Ty cutting his chin on her necklace. Trisha reaches out and touches the necklace, frowning, then gazes up at Jennifer, who continues to talk until she realises Trisha’s having another vision. After coming back to reality, she tells Jennifer her vision was nothing and suddenly remembers she has to go over to her grandmother’s, who wants to see her before going to France. Jennifer demands to know what she saw in her vision because the expression on her face scared her, and Trisha reluctantly admits she saw the attack on Ty. It was blurry and she doesn’t know exactly what happened, but it was like she was in the attacker’s head, ‘”Like I was looking out through her eyes.”‘ Jennifer questions Trisha’s use of pronouns and Trisha insists she’s not implying anything and has to leave right now, but will meet her at Pete’s Pizza later:
“But, Trisha …” Jennifer grabbed her arm.
Trisha glanced at Jennifer’s hand on her arm. Then she glared into Jennifer’s eyes and sneered. “Don’t try to stop me,” she muttered through her teeth. “Let go of my arm.”
Shocked, Jennifer unclasped Trisha’s arm and anxiously fingered the garnet around her neck.
Without a word Trisha hurried away.
Jennifer stared after Trisha, a little shaken and worried.
Something’s wrong, she finally decided. Something’s very wrong.
[It seems like the necklace is somehow affecting people’s personalities or something, because this is very out of character for Trisha] Later, at Pete’s Pizza, Trisha apologises for running out on Jennifer at the library, and Jennifer says it’s fine, even though she knows Trisha didn’t have to go and just wanted to get away from her because of the vision. Trisha still seems upset by it too, but Jennifer decides not to say anything because Trisha clearly doesn’t want to talk about it. Ty suddenly walks in with thick gauze covering his forehead, stitches peeking out from the edges. Jennifer wants to talk to him, but she stops herself when she realises he’s here to meet Greta Bradley for a double date with Kenny Klein and Jade Feldman. We finally learn more about Greta than just her name; she’s a tall blonde cheerleader that’s practically made of ice! Jennifer stops herself from crying, but Trisha’s absolutely fuming. [Which is very weird] Her voice starts to rise as she furiously bangs on about what a jerk Ty is, and Jennifer tries to calm her down to avoid making a scene. [Somehow history is repeating itself, and Ty is a fill-in for whoever Dominique was angry at in the past. As a Fear, Jennifer would be the obviously the stand-in for Dominique, but somehow Trisha is feeling her rage?]
After basketball practice that evening, Jennifer’s driving Stacy Malcolm home when Stacy asks what was going on with Trisha at Pete’s earlier. Jennifer informs her of her breakup with Ty, and good friend Stacy offers her support. Climbing out of the car, she tells Jennifer not to think about Ty because he’s a total jerk. [Amen, Stace!] Jennifer continues home amidst the thick, swirling fog, thinking about the attack on Ty. She’s sure Trisha thinks she did it, even though she won’t say it, while Jennifer isn’t sure what to think; she was in Ty’s yard, after all. A shadowy figure suddenly appears in front of the car, and although Jennifer tries to swerve, the car skids on a patch of ice and continues forward, forcing her to pump the brakes. The car just speeds forward instead, but doesn’t hit anything, and Jennifer finally manages to bring the car to a stop. She hurries out to investigate, apologising to the figure climbing to his feet near the curb. It’s Ty, looking pissed, his head bleeding beneath his bandage. He accuses her of trying to run him down [Buddy, you jumped out in the middle of the icy road on a very foggy night, you’re at fault here] and explains he was trying to get someone to stop because his car broke down. Jennifer tries to apologise again but he yells at her to stay away from him.
Later that night, Jennifer dreams once again of walking to a house under the cover of darkness. Tonight she’s prepared and nothing will stop her! The fog begins to clear as she reaches her destination, and she pulls the small box from her pocket, accidentally dropping it. She’s unable to grab it from the ground thanks to her thick gloves, so she pulls them off and successfully picks up the box. Then she stands there, the matchbox in one hand, a match in the other… [Again, I’m not sure if she’s herself in this dream, or Dominique, or if this is Ty’s house or someone’s house from Dominique’s timeline]
Jennifer bolts upright, freezing cold, and wonders if she’s sleepwalked outside again. Luckily she’s in her room, but she remembers that she was in Ty’s backyard in the dream. [OK, why couldn’t we clear that up while the dream was happening?] She doesn’t remember what happened once she got there, though. Jennifer then realises it’s almost 10am, the time she’s supposed to pick up Trisha so they can go to the mall for more party supplies! She quickly showers and heads downstairs, grabbing her jacket from the coatrack. Her keys are in one pocket, and the other one contains a single glove. It’s partner doesn’t seem to be anywhere nearby, so she figures it fell out of her pocket in the car or driveway. [Or at Ty’s!]
The doorbell rings, and Jennifer’s surprised to find Trisha on her doorstep. Trisha couldn’t wait and had to come over to make sure Jennifer was OK, explaining she had another vision. This time, it was an attack on Ty’s house; she was in the attacker’s head again and saw what she did, but also saw who the attacker was — ‘”It was you! The attacker was you!”‘ Stunned and a little betrayed, Jennifer calls her crazy and claims the vision isn’t true. But Trisha insists it did happen; she’d heard on the radio that someone set Ty’s house alight last night. He was awake at the time and smelled the smoke, and luckily the fire department was able to save the majority of the house. There’s still a fire truck there, and Trisha wonders how Jennifer managed not to hear any sirens.
Jennifer barges outside to check for herself and notices the smell of smoke still hanging in the air. The girls hurry along the tall hedge separating Jennifer’s property from Ty’s and walk through the gap where the path leads to his yard, discovering that Ty’s closed-in back porch has been burnt to the ground. Jennifer insists she’s not responsible and is sure Trisha’s vision was wrong. The girls are turning away to leave when Trisha notices something amongst a pile of charred wood. Despite Jennifer’s warning not to touch anything that might be considered evidence, Trisha bends down and picks it up anyway. It’s a glove, partly charred black, but the other part is lemon-yellow with white snowflakes knitted into it — Jennifer’s lost glove!!!!
Jennifer quickly snatches it and puts it in her pocket, and Trisha realises it’s hers. Jennifer has no idea how it got here because she’s positive she couldn’t possibly have lit the fire, but the evidence shows otherwise. Instead of going back to Jennifer’s house to talk, the girls go to the Donut Hole because I guess they think discussing whether Jennifer’s trying to kill Ty or not should be a public conversation. [????] Jennifer explains how she almost ran Ty down last night and how he reacted to it, and admits to sensing that she’d sleepwalked again when she woke up this morning. Trisha thinks she knows what’s going on, pointing out that all the troubles started when Jennifer got that necklace. She’s sure the vision she got when trying it on was of Dominique Fear; she’s continued to see her ever since, and the picture kept getting clearer, so Trisha finally saw that Dominique was wearing the same necklace. She then reiterates that she’d felt Dominique’s pure hatred when she’d tried the necklace on, but now adds that it was more than that; she’d felt that Dominique was evil. She didn’t want to tell Jennifer and spoil her happiness about the necklace, thinking it wouldn’t matter anyway. Jennifer’s still not quite following, so Trisha explains that while Dominique is dead, her spirit isn’t — ‘”I think she used that necklace to come back. To act out … through you.”‘ Jennifer doesn’t understand why it would be happening to her, forcing Trisha to remind her that they’re both Fears. [Duh, Jennifer] Trisha advises her to get rid of the necklace, and an upset Jennifer asserts that she may be a Fear, but she’s not evil and she refuses to believe what Trisha’s saying. Trisha insists it’s the only possible explanation, reminding Jennifer that she’d woken up in Ty’s backyard the night he was attacked, and now they’ve found her burned glove there as well. Unfortunately, Jennifer freaks out and snaps at Trisha before fleeing the Donut Hole. [Jennifer, don’t be dumb. All you have to do, seemingly, is get rid of the necklace. Or at the very least, stop wearing it. Who knows how far you’ll go during your next sleepwalking adventure?]
Later that afternoon, Jennifer’s heading through the school halls to the gym for basketball practice when she spots cheerleaders Jade Feldman, Dana Palmer and Greta Bradley standing by the gym door. She eases back around the corner before being seen, not wanting a run-in with Ty’s latest squeeze, and can’t help but overhear their conversation. The trio discuss the fire at Ty’s and wonder who would do such a thing. Dana suggests a jealous ex-girlfriend, since Ty has plenty of them, and the girls all laugh. Greta tells the others that Jennifer’s the latest dumpee, and Ty’s already mad at her because she almost ran him down with her car, too. Jade doesn’t think Jennifer would torch his house as revenge for dumping her, though, and then the girls’ voices fade as they enter the gym. Jennifer remains where she is, frantically trying to convince herself she couldn’t have set fire to Ty’s house while also acknowledging that if she didn’t do it, how can she possibly explain her charred glove at the scene of the crime?
That night, Jennifer heads to the ooky spooky library of her giant home to see what she can find out about Dominique Fear, desperate to learn if the woman really was evil. She finds a book titled ‘The Fear Family – A Chronicle’ and starts to read. The first entry is from 1860, but Jennifer doesn’t see Dominique’s name. A new writer takes over in 1863 [I wonder if the previous author was mysteriously killed, or died of old age?] and we learn that Dominique was born to Charles and Mary Fear that same year, but she’s not mentioned again until 1879. Apparently she’d had a shameful affair with Nigel Fetherston, and while it was over by the time of writing, it still threatened to ruin the Fear name and leave the girl in disgrace, with no man willing to have her. [Dominique was only 15 or 16 at the time, how scandalous!]
Dominique isn’t mentioned again until the following year, when she gave birth tom a baby boy. Then there’s nothing about her until 1882, when she was ”Tried, convicted and hanged for the murder of Nigel Fetherston.’ It seems Dominique had been seeing visions since she was a young girl, and a few years after she married, she had one about Nigel. She saw him walking along a cliff, and he slipped on the wet rocks, falling 100 feet to his death. Dominique had tried to warn Nigel, but he wasn’t home so she told his wife, who called her crazy and threw her out of the house. A few days later, the vision came true and Nigel’s wife accused Dominique of killing him. The police believed the wife and Dominique was put on trial before being executed. She swore revenge with her final words, promising someday, someone will pay for her death.
This all finally convinces Jennifer that Trisha was right, and Dominique is using her as a vessel to get her revenge. She scampers up to her bedroom and attempts to remove the necklace, but no matter how hard she tries she can’t get the clasp open. She frantically tries tearing it off, but the gold links don’t break apart, cutting into her neck and hands instead. [Jennifer was able to get the necklace off before Trisha tried it on, so I’m wondering if maybe Trisha trying on the necklace woke up Dominque’s spirit or something, since they’re both prone to visions. What if it’s Trisha being possessed, and not Jennifer? But then that might not make sense given the sleepwalking] Luckily, Mum walks past the open door and easily unclasps the necklace for Jennifer. When Mum leaves, Jennifer drops the necklace in an old sock and hides it away at the back of a drawer.
The next day, Jennifer meets Trisha at Party Palace at the mall for some final supplies for tomorrow night’s New Year’s Eve bash. She let’s Trisha know she’s no longer going to wear the necklace and reveals what she’d read about Dominique. Afterwards, Trisha continues to shop while Jennifer heads back to her car, having a few more errands to run. As she’s putting her shopping away, Ty appears and accuses her of attacking him, trying to run him over and setting his house on fire. He warns her to stay away from him and his family or he’ll make her pay, then storms off. Jennifer’s sure the nightmare is over now that she no longer wears the necklace, but then she has an awful thought — what if Dominique can possess her even if she’s not wearing the necklace?! They’re bonded by blood, after all. Frightened, she forces the idea from her mind and hopes like hell the ordeal is over. [You probably need to actually dispose of the necklace rather than just putting it out of sight in your room]
We cut to later that night as Jennifer and Trisha have just finished decorating for tomorrow’s party. Jennifer’s been quiet all night and after some questioning from Trisha, she breaks down and tells her about Ty’s threats, and her fear that Dominique may still have control even without the necklace being worn. Trisha offers to try the necklace on again, reasoning that if nothing happens, they’ll know Dominique’s already filled her revenge quota with the attack and fire. Trisha’s sure she’ll be fine, since she’s not a Fear, but of course a vision is triggered as soon as the necklace is around her throat. This time, though, she appears to change, standing up taller and looking stronger, not as petite and delicate as she usually is. Her hands curl into fists and she repeats Dominique’s final words ‘”Someday, someone shall pay for my death!”‘ [Welp]
Jennifer realises Dominique has taken over Trisha, and the spirit complains that Nigel Fetherston meant the world to her, but he’d laughed in her face when she asked if they’d marry, telling her he’d never marry a Fear. The whole town new about their affair and when he died, the town thought she murdered him out of jealousy and vengeance. Everyone thought she was lying about her vision because she was a Fear. They didn’t dare contaminate the holy ground of the ceremony with a Fear’s corpse, so the poor girl was buried in the woods behind the cemetery. Dominique declares she needs a Fear to get her revenge, and she’ll get her revenge with Jennifer! Then she lunges at Jennifer before Trisha finally returns, collapsing to the floor unconscious. Jennifer quickly unclasps the necklace and Trisha soon comes to, not remembering much other than feeling furious. Jennifer explains that Dominique completely possessed her and isn’t finished with her revenge plans. The girls suspect all her power is in the necklace, so they toss it back in the sock and hide it in the drawer again, hoping everything will be OK.
We then cut to the party the next night where everyone’s having a great time, including Josie and Josh Maxwell, Phoebe Yamura, Matty Winger, Gary Fresno, and Kenny Klein, who’s there without Jade because she has strep throat. To Jennifer’s surprise and Trisha’s anger, Ty rocks up with Greta Bradley. Jennifer confirms she invited everyone, but that was before Ty broke up with her, and she’s really not sure why he’d want to come to her party if he thought she was trying to kill him. [Honestly, why do a lot of Shadyside teenagers do anything they do when they think someone’s trying to kill them?] Soon it’s almost midnight, and Jennifer has a little boogie with Kenny. She starts feeling dizzy and goes outside for a breather after one song, but dashes back inside when she hears Trisha scream. She follows a crowd of kids upstairs to the guest bedroom being used to store everyone’s coats where she discovers Trisha is fine. Greta Bradley, however, is lying dead on the floor in a pool of blood. [I knew as soon as we started seeing her name a few books ago she’d be murdered at some point. Why are none of the mains established in the first book being killed off?!?]
Bright blue pieces of ceramic are scattered across the floor, a large, blood-stained chunk near Greta’s head, and Jennifer realises one of her mother’s ceramic bowls had been smashed onto the girl’s skull. [Surely one blow wouldn’t be fatal?] Ty appears and immediately accuses Jennifer of murder, insisting he’d come up here a few minutes ago to look for Greta and saw someone running out of this room. He’s sure it was Jennifer! Jennifer’s confused, since she’d been dancing with Kenny and then went outside, but before she can protest she’s overcome with nausea and dashes to the guest bathroom to throw up. Trisha checks in on her and asks if she knows what happened, and Jennifer insists neither she nor Dominique is responsible, explaining she’d only come up here when she heard Trisha’s scream.
By now the police arrive, and they question Jennifer and Trisha in the guest room while everyone else is downstairs. Trisha explains that she and Kenny had come upstairs looking for more CDs, and Trisha had spotted Greta on the floor when she glanced into this room. She denies seeing anyone else, and the girls follow the policeman’s gaze across the room to the high shelf where the ceramic bowl used to sit. The shelf is only hung by one bracket now, the rest of it swinging loosely against the wall. Despite a girl being dead, relief floods through Jennifer as she realises it was just an accident; the shelf fell somehow—maybe the music made the walls vibrate or something—causing the bowl to knock Greta on the head. [With enough force to kill her, though?] The policemen dismiss the girls for now and Greta’s corpse is taken away before the bedroom is taped off, with Jennifer advised not to go in there until the police say it’s OK. The girls walk the police out before Ty explodes at Jennifer. She tries to tell him it was an accident, pointing out the police would have arrested her if they thought she was a killer, but Ty isn’t picking up what she’s putting down. She may be able to fool the police, but not Ty — ‘”I know what you are. You’re a Fear. A sick, twisted killer!”‘ [Ugh, when’s Ty gonna die? I’ve had enough of him]
He storms out of the house, and Jennifer realises the whole outburst was witnessed by the other guests, who are all in the hall, heading toward the door with their jackets. Totally silent, they walk past Jennifer, not even meeting her eyes. Trisha stays behind and tells Jennifer Greta’s death wasn’t an accident. Turns out she lied to the police, and did see something! She’d had a vision of the murder, seeing the killer’s hands pull down the shelf. Jennifer knows Trisha’s talking about Jennifer’s hands and asks how that’s possible, but Trisha just says she can’t deal with this and scurries out of the house. It’s midnight now and, left all alone and miserable, Jennifer can’t help but wonder if Dominique somehow had made her kill Greta.
The next morning, Jennifer joins her parents at breakfast, who tell her not to blame herself for the accident that killed Greta. Jennifer ends up breaking down and tells them everything that’s happened since she got the necklace, including Trisha’s visions and Dominique’s possessions. Mr Fear then drops a bombshell on his family:
“When your grandfather moved to Shadyside he was on his own. Parents dead, no other relatives,” he told her. “The name Fear was big in town. If you were a Fear, people did you favors. Got you in the door at businesses. Got you into the Country Club, no questions asked. And your grandfather wanted all those things. So … he took the name Fear for himself.”
Jennifer still couldn’t speak.
“He never told my mother,” Mr. Fear went on. “And he only told me right before he died. By then the charade had gone on so long, I decided just to let things be. And then you, your mother, and I moved back to Shadyside—”
“You mean none of us are related to the Fears?” Jennifer’s mother asked in a dazed tone.
He shook his head, a sheepish expression on his face.
[Bombshell! I actually considered this earlier, thinking that maybe Dominique is getting her revenge by framing Jennifer, because she’s not actually a Fear. Because it wouldn’t make sense that she’d frame her own relative, right? But then I dismissed that idea because I didn’t think a non-Fear would want to go by the Fear name hahaha. It would make sense if Trisha’s actually a Fear somehow, especially given her and Dominique’s visions…] Jennifer starts laughing hysterically, celebrating that she’s not a Fear. She races upstairs to get the necklace and hands it to her father, declaring she never wants to see it, or anything to do with the Fears, ever again. She also complains about all the torment she’s gone through over the years from other kids because of her last name, and despite wanting to throw the necklace in the trash, her dad asks her to put it in the library, insisting it doesn’t have magical powers. [Do you have a better explanation for everything your daughter’s just told you?] Jennifer hurries to the library and throws the necklace across the floor. Gazing around at the huge Fear collection, she starts ranting and raving about not being one of them and hating them, and then starts throwing the priceless books around. [Calm down, Jennifer, you’re taking it a bit too far now] Then something occurs to her; she’d thought Dominique was able to take over her because they were both Fears; so why was all this happening if Jennifer wasn’t related to her? [Because you’re her chosen victim for revenge, dingus!]
Jennifer decides that destroying her father’s Fear collection isn’t going to solve things and starts cleaning up. [How kind] She grabs the necklace off the floor and notices the garnet is loose. She pries it out and discovers a secret compartment beneath containing a lock of dark hair. Dominique’s? [I’m sure it’s Dominique’s, but why would she have a lock of her own her inside her own necklace? That’s weird, right? Or did someone cut off a lock of her hair and place it inside the locket after her death for some reason?] She pops the garnet back in and leaves the library to call Trisha, wanting to deliver the great news that she’s not a Fear after all. Trisha’s not home, though, so she heads back to the library to finish cleaning the mess she made. She finds a book called ‘Spells to Cast Out Evil’ and decides to take a peek, curious if there’s a way to get rid of Dominique for good. [Even though Jennifer doesn’t believe in this stuff] There’s a loose page on top of the title page, and on it is a drawing of a mansion sitting high on a cliff. It’s a mansion Jennifer knows well, because it’s Trisha Conrad’s house! On the back is some handwriting — ‘This drawing is given to Henry and Dominique, a gift for their new home on their wedding day, May 31, 1879. From Reverend Gabriel James, Shadyside.’ Dominique’s marriage wasn’t mentioned in the Fear chronicles, [It did mention she got married, but didn’t give any details] and Jennifer wonders if Henry was a Conrad, since she knows Trisha’s mansion has been in the family for generations. And if Dominique married a Conrad, that would make Trisha a Fear!!! [How fun! Now it makes more sense why Trisha got so mad at Pete’s and was so rude at the library. Maybe Dominique has been getting stronger each time Trisha touched the necklace/had a vision, peeking through briefly until she could take over Trisha’s body whenever she wanted?]
Jennifer goes back to the Fear chronicles and discovers something she’d missed previously — ‘”The family is forever indebted to Henry Conrad. For taking Dominique Fear’s hand in marriage. To be willing to have her when no other man would. The date of their blessed alliance—May 31, 1879.”‘ Jennifer can’t believe that the past she’d thought was hers is actually Trisha’s, and theorises that the Conrads may have no idea about their lineage — ‘The ones that did know are probably dead now. And they probably kept it a secret.’ It makes total sense that Trisha’s a Fear considering her visions, and Jennifer remembers Dominique’s spirit declaring she needs a Fear to get her revenge. Does that mean it’s been Trisha doing all these things? But then why has Jennifer been sleepwalking, and what about her charred glove? Why does the evidence suggest Jennifer’s to blame? Could she still somehow be involved?
It’s all too complicated to think about right now! Jennifer needs to find a way to stop Dominique from killing again, so she continues to paw through the spell book. She eventually finds a spell to send the spirit of a dead person back to the other world. It requires a lock of hair or a fragment of nail from the dead person, [Thank god there’s a lock of hair in the necklace!] which must be burnt to ashes, then thrown into the face of the person the spirit inhabits. The spell warns that you must be truly certain the hair or nail belongs to the evil spirit, but doesn’t say what would happen if it’s not. [Maybe we’ll find out!] Although Jennifer acknowledges the lock of hair in the necklace could belong to Henry Conrad, or the son he and Dominique had, she’s got no choice but to hope it belonged to Dominique. She takes the lock of hair to the kitchen and places it inside a small jar before dropping a lit match in, letting the hair sizzle and burn. After getting no answer when she tries to call Trisha again, Jennifer decides to take her chances and heads on over the Conrad mansion.
Unfortunately, Trisha’s not home, and Mrs. Conrad reveals she’d gone out with Ty and probably won’t be back for a while. At first Jennifer feels jealous, wondering if Trisha has been seeing Ty behind her back, but she quickly realises Ty’s probably with Dominique, masquerading as Trisha. Mrs. Conrad isn’t sure where they went, but Jennifer has a feeling Ty’s probably taken her to the Fear Street cemetery for some alone time. Jennifer quickly drives over there, but is unable to find the lane Ty had driven down that goes into the cemetery, so she parks her car and heads in on foot. She eventually spots Ty’s car up ahead and hears a wild, savage laugh. She finds Trisha in a clearing, an unmoving body lying at her feet. Trisha raises her arm, revealing a long, sharp pair of scissors in her hand, poised directly over the body’s throat! [The scissors on the cover! Woo! I kind of want Ty to die still, but I don’t want Trisha to go down for it]
Jennifer dashes into the clearing screaming at Trisha to stop, and when Trisha turns around, Jennifer can tell by her eyes, black with fury, that Dominique has completely taken over. The body on the ground is Ty, and since there’s no blood, Jennifer’s hopeful he’s just unconscious, although she can’t tell if he’s breathing or not. Jennifer begs Trisha to fight Dominique off, but the evil spirit laughs that ‘”Trisha is no longer with us.”‘ She lurches towards Jennifer, warning her not to come any closer as she jabs the scissors into the air. Jennifer tries to reason with Dominique, arguing that Ty isn’t Nigel and killing him won’t change the past and isn’t the way to get her revenge. Dominique agrees that Ty’s death alone isn’t enough — ‘”First I had to kill the one he deserted me for. And I did that.”‘ Jennifer realises that Dominque views Ty and Greta as Nigel and his wife, and again points out that Ty’s not who she thinks, but Dominique just laughs at the fact that everyone will think Jennifer’s responsible for the murders. She admits to pulling the shelf down so the bowl would fall on Greta’s head, splintering her skull like dry wood. And when Nigel (Ty) dies, everyone will suspect Jennifer again. After all, she attacked him in his yard and set his house on fire:
“No!” Jennifer cried. “You made Trisha do it! I wasn’t even there!”
“Oh, but you were.” Trisha lowered the gleaming scissors and smiled. “Do you not remember your dreams? How you searched for him? How you lit the match?”
Jennifer shivered. “That was me? But—”
“No,” Trisha said. “That was not you. Only a true Fear can help me complete my purpose!”
Jennifer let out her breath in relief.
“You were a witness,” Trisha went on. “But the town will think you are a killer. They will think you did everything. And you left your glove behind to prove it!”
She wants me to be accused of murder! Jennifer thought. “Why?” she whispered shakily.
“So you will know what is it really like to be a Fear!” Trisha shouted. “To be wrongly accused!”
“But I’m not a Fear!” Jennifer cried out.
“I know.'” Trisha seethed. “You are a liar. Just as those who hanged me were liars. And you shall pay!”
[OK, I’m really confused. Jennifer wasn’t responsible for the attacks on Ty, but her dreams were real? Or something? And she was a witness?? Like, was she there or not? If she wasn’t, how did her glove get there?] Dominique chases Jennifer, managing to slash her palm with the scissors, before Jennifer remembers she’s got the jar of ashes. Naturally, she struggles to remove the lid because her palm is slick with blood and for whatever reason she doesn’t try to use her other hand, but eventually she manages to get the lid off and throws the ashes into Dominique’s face.
Dominique screams in pain and rubs at her eyes before collapsing to the ground, crying and trembling. Jennifer prepares to make a run for it just in case the spell hasn’t worked, but it quickly becomes clear Trisha’s back, but she’s got no memory of why she’s here, or why she was here with Ty, who’s starting to come to. Jennifer assures her everything’s fine but decides not to tell her the full story just yet because the news she’s a Fear will be quite a shock to her already fragile state. Instead, she asks if Trisha was seeing Ty behind her back, which Trisha denies, and then Jennifer promises to explain everything later. First, they need to get Ty out of here before he completely wakes up and assumes Jennifer tried to kill him again — ‘”Help me get him into his car. We’ll take him home and come up with a story later.”‘
Two days later, Jennifer’s enjoying her pepperoni and pineapple pizza while Trisha judges her for ordering it. Pete’s Pizza is pretty crowded, probably because school starts back tomorrow and everyone wants to hang out one last time, with Josh Maxwell, Mickey Meyers, [It’s spelled Myer here. Why is his last name so inconsistent in these books?] Dana Palmer, Kenny Klein, Jade Feldman and Matty Winger all here while Josie Maxwell rushes from table to table. Ty walks in and approaches the girls, apologising to Trisha for the other night. The girls had convinced him he’d taken Trisha to the cemetery, drank too much beer and passed out, with Trisha calling Jennifer for help to get him home. He doesn’t even remember drinking, but that’s no excuse and he’s sorry. He also thanks Jennifer for helping and apologises for the way he’s treated her; the police explained how Greta’s death was just an accident, and he believes them. The girls accept his apology and he heads off.
While Trisha goes to the bathroom, Jennifer recalls hiding Dominique’s necklace in a box and stuffing it in the back of her closet. She’s positive she’d managed to banish Dominique for good, which is a relief, but the best news is that she’s not really a Fear after all! But what about Trisha? She didn’t seem to care that she’s really a Fear, but Jennifer can’t help wondering; ‘What will happen to Trisha now that she knows the truth?’
The final chapter focuses on Trisha as she returns from the bathroom. She asks if Jennifer’s talking to her father yet, and Jennifer confirms she’s not. She hasn’t even asked what their real last name is, ‘”And I’ll never respect him again, that’s for sure.”‘ Trisha’s secretly glad to hear this because it means Jennifer hasn’t told him that she’s the real Fear, and the girls reconfirm they’re keeping everything a secret. And then the book ends with an absolute bombshell:
Trisha felt a flood of relief. No one but Jennifer knows I’m a Fear.
And she won’t tell anybody.
Trisha tightened her lips. She’d better not.
“My turn,” Jennifer said. She scooted out of the booth and went to the bathroom.
Trisha gazed after her. Jen’s such a good friend, she thought. I still can’t believe I went out with Ty behind her back. Not just once or twice, either.
Dozens of times.
And at the graveyard—I was making out with him. Then … everything went black. The next thing I saw was Jennifer’s face.
She was terrified. Of me!
Trisha reached for her soda, but her hand was shaking. She grabbed a napkin instead.
She needed something to hold on to.
It was so confusing at first, she thought. But once I realized what Dominique wanted, everything was easy.
It was easy because I’m a Fear.
Trisha closed her fist over the napkin, squeezing it into a tight ball.
At the moment she felt terrified. Helpless.
But sometimes she felt an intense rage slowly burning inside her. She just couldn’t control it. The rage burned hotter and faster until she wanted to scream. To strike out.
To kill.
I have to be careful, she thought. I have to control myself. I don’t want to be like all the other Fears.
She squeezed her fist even tighter.
Dominique is dead, she reminded herself.
The evil is gone. Jennifer threw the ashes in my face.
She got rid of it!
Trisha’s knuckles turned white.
I hope.
[So Trisha’s secretly been a conniving little bitch this whole time?!?! And I’ve been giving her the benefit of the doubt despite her stealing Gary Fresno from Mary O’Connor! Now she’s stealing her best friend’s boyfriends too?!?!? I’m shocked. Really shocked. Was Trisha so mad at Ty at Pete’s because he was with Greta and not her, or was it because of Dominique’s influence? Will we ever know?!]
Final thoughts
Another decent read in the Seniors series, although for whatever reason it wasn’t as captivating as some of the previous ones. Jennifer was even more likeable as a protagonist than a side character, but I’m wondering what her main character trait will be now that she’s aware she’s not a true Fear. Although she and Trisha are keeping it a secret, so I guess nothing will change. Speaking of Trisha, I’ve spent the last five books letting her affair with Gary Fresno slide, but not anymore! I’m seriously gobsmacked she was seeing Ty behind her best friend’s back as well as Gary’s. How many more boys is there? I thought Mira Block was the new Suki Thomas, but I guess it’s actually Trisha! I wonder what else she’s hiding. We’re yet to have a book with Trisha as our protagonist, so I’m hoping there’s one coming up so we can get to know her more, and find out if Dominique really has been vanquished.
I’m still pretty confused about the whole sleepwalking thing, though. Dominique says Jennifer was at the scene of the crimes, but she wasn’t responsible for them, even though she was seemingly acting out what she was dreaming. Did Dominique have control over Jennifer’s dreams somehow? Or were the dreams just coincidences? But then why was she suddenly sleepwalking out of nowhere? I feel like the sleepwalking and dreams only make sense if Jennifer was being possessed, but everything else makes sense that it was Trisha. I’m probably overthinking it, but I genuinely cannot make sense of the situation lol.
I also can’t figure out why Dominique had a lock of her own hair in her own necklace. Like, what was the reason? And if it was put there after her death, why? By who? We’ll probably never find out.
All in all I think it was an interesting plot that could have been handled better, with things made more clear, so 48 locks of your own hair inside your necklace out of 72.
