Tagline: It’s not joke… it’s murder.
Back tagline: You can fool some of the people some of the time….
Summary: On the night of April 1st, Belinda, Frank and Hildy are driving home from a party when they get involved in a gruesome car accident. The people in the other car never could have survived the wreck, so Frank insists they take off. After all, what happened wasn’t really their fault.
Two weeks later, Belinda is the only one who still feels guilty about the accident. Then the “pranks” begin. Someone sends her a bloody doll’s head. A car nearly runs her off the road.
Obviously someone witnessed… or survived that car accident. And they’re going to make her pay…slowly…for what happened.
April Fools’ Day is over. But these jokes are for real.
First impressions: If you’re a long-time lurker here you’re probably aware I’m in the 1% of people who hated RTC’s Trick or Treat, which scarred me so badly I waited almost two years before picking up another of her books. Luckily for me it was The Mall, which I loved, but I’ve been nervous about reading a third RTC book because surely it will determine which one of those previous books was the fluke. Hopefully Trick or Treat is the outlier, but April Fools was her next book after Trick or Treat, though, so maybe that’s wishful thinking…
The cover is pretty boring and if it weren’t for the title’s font and the tagline you’d have no idea this was a horror-themed book, so I can’t say it really appeals that much to me. This plot sounds like it’ll be similar to Dead End, which came out five years later, but hopefully RTC doesn’t ruin the story in the last few pages like Stine did. Let’s find out!
Recap
Roll call:
Belinda – Our guilt-ridden heroine who can’t move on from the accident.
Hildy – Belinda’s incredibly shitty best friend.
Frank – The King of Fools and Hildy’s boyfriend.
Adam — A teenage recluse who Belinda begins to tutor.
Noel — Adam’s charming stepbrother and Belinda’s love interest.
Cobbs — The Thorne family’s Niles-like butler.
Mrs. Thorne — Noel’s mother who’s married to Adam’s father and really doesn’t like her stepson.
The book begins with a prologue as our heroine, Belinda Swanson, regretfully remembers the fatal car accident two weeks ago on April Fools’ Day. Belinda and her two friends, Frank Scaleri and Hildy Crane, had gone to a college party out of town and Frank, who never takes anything seriously, had had too many beers and proclaimed himself the King of Fools. When the girls had finally convinced him to leave, Hildy had to fight him for his keys and then he kept grabbing the wheel and steering them all over the road. [God knows why they’d put him in the front seat and not the back seat where he can’t be a danger] They took a shortcut down a narrow, little-used road and soon another car pulled up behind them, honking and trying to pass. [Rude. Could their own road rage be the cause of their demise?] The King of Fools refused to be disrespected like that and decided to give them a scare, so as the car passed he grabbed the steering wheel again and hit the gas, [Even though Hildy’s driving???] sending them right into the other car’s fender. Hildy, and eventually Belinda, struggled to Frank him away from the wheel, but the dickhead told them to lighten up, hellbent on teaching the other driver some respect.
And then, as they were hot on its tail amid the pouring rain, [Oh, so it’s raining too? Frank’s a fucking pleb] the other car disappeared before their very eyes, followed seconds later by the sound of crunching metal and panicky screams. Belinda forced her friends to stop and scrambled out to help the people in the other car, locating the wreckage at the bottom of a gorge. There was a small burst of flames as Belinda urgently slid down the muddy hill, and when she glanced back to make sure her friends are following, she noticed a man watching from the top of the hill, [Oop] caught in the blur of the headlights, so she can’t make out any features. Belinda screamed out for help but the man didn’t move, so she continued on to the burning car. Frank tackled her before she could reach it, insisting that they needed to haul ass before the car exploded.
Poor, sweet Belinda will never forget the screams of pain and terror that came from inside the car, or the outline of a person trapped upside down inside as the vehicle continued to burn. She struggled against Frank and Hildy as they dragged her up the hill, even trying to turn around when they heard the explosion, but Frank had shoved her so hard she fell to the ground in front of the headlights of their own car, right in the mushy ground ‘where two footprints were filling up with water…’ She had mentioned the man to the others, but they didn’t believe her, and as if in a daze, Belinda had reached out for a muddy rag on the ground, and she remembers ‘the warm taste of blood in her mouth and on her lips as she’d pressed the cold, wet rag against her aching face.’ [This kind of reads as if the rag already had blood on it, but it’s confirmed later it’s her own blood lol] Her friends finally bundled her into the back of the car while Frank mumbled over and over that it was just a joke…
The main story picks up two weeks later in the cafeteria at school as Hildy’s telling Belinda she needs to snap out of her little depression. The accident is over with and they made a pact they can’t break, so Belinda needs to get over it — ‘”You’re really being dramatic about this.”‘ [OK, so Hildy’s awful lol] Belinda admits she still sees the man being burned alive in the car and feels guilty about their involvement, but Hildy denies responsibility because ‘”those people should have been watching where they were going!”‘ The accident apparently happened a two-hour drive from their hometown, which is why it hasn’t been on the local news or anything, and car accidents happen every day, so Belinda needs to stop ‘”acting like this is some huge tragedy”‘. [I can’t with this girl] Belinda rightfully insists it was a tragedy, and she can’t help but feel like someone will pay them back for what they did. Hildy vehemently denies any wrongdoing, reminding Belinda that it’s not their fault that the gas station they stopped at was closed and had a broken payphone, and going to the police wasn’t an option:
“You know Frank was drunk — he wasn’t even supposed to be at that party! If Coach Jarvis found out Frank was there instead of at that special swim practice … I mean, Frank called in sick and lied to him! He could be thrown off the team! And I was grounded — I shouldn’t have been there, either. You, either. If you remember, we were supposed to be housesitting while my parents were out of town.” The anger melted, replaced by a quiet pleading that Belinda could never resist. “Do you know how much trouble we’d have been in if we’d gone to the cops? I don’t even want to think about what they’d have done to Frank in his condition — and if my parents found out about any of it, they’d never let me date Frank again. Look … we did all we could.”
[An infatuated girl potentially throwing away her life to protect her wanker boyfriend?!?! What a shock! Also, they most certainly did not do everything you could, lol. Find another payphone and call the accident in anonymously? That’s literally the bare minimum you could have done, and you gave up after one payphone was broken. I hope Hildy and Frank both die] Belinda’s adamant she saw someone up on the hill watching them, despite Hildy denying it over and over again, and even if there was a guy, why didn’t he stop to help? And if he had left to call an ambulance, then Belinda has nothing to worry about! Hildy’s certain they’re in the clear because of this mysterious figure did see them chasing the car and got their license plate, they would have been questioned by now. She thinks the footprints Belinda saw were their own, then calms herself down because she knows how much strain Belinda is under, studying and tutoring almost half the school for exams.
We learn that things are tough at the Swanson’s single-parent household, with her mother working double shifts at the hospital and Belinda needing to tutor as much as possible because they need the money. [It sucks when kids have to help support the family like this] Belinda has advertisements plastered all over school and around town and has gained a long list of clients already, so that’s good. Hildy reveals that the local librarian had mentioned some guy asking about Belinda the other day. He’d seen her card and wanted to know something about her, so the librarian showed him Belinda’s picture in the yearbook and raved about how qualified she is. She didn’t know who the guy was, but Hildy thinks Mr. Right is about to walk into Belinda’s life. Belinda’s not so sure, nervous about a strange fellow enquiring about her, but she doesn’t want to set Hildy off again so she keeps her lips locked. Hildy heads off to class now, leaving her friend with a final warning: ‘”You’d better get your act together. You’re getting to be a real bore with all this.”‘ [I genuinely cannot believe the blatant insensitivity and lack of remorse from this bitch. Also, why are they even talking about the incident in public like this? Someone could overhear and dob?????]
Belinda gave a vague nod and watched her go, Hildy’s miniskirted figure sashaying through the crowded cafeteria and drawing the usual stairs. “If it was some problem with cheerleading, you be panic-stricken,” Belinda grumbled, then stopped herself, ashamed. She and Hildy were best friends, after all. Hildy had never been one to dwell over problems; Hildy hated little annoyances upsetting her busy social life. Belinda had always been the worrier. While Hildy was going out on all the dates, Belinda sat home, worrying about studying, about making money for college, about how she was going to help Hildy pass her next big test. But that was okay, wasn’t it? Best friends accepted each other unconditionally, didn’t they?
[Sounds like a very one-sided friendship, darl] Belinda’s called to the principal’s office on her way to gym and worries that she’s been caught, but instead she’s introduced to a tall, stern-looking woman, Mrs. Gloria Thorne, who’s got cold eyes and bruises on her cheeks that her make-up isn’t successfully hiding. Mrs. Thorne is looking to hire a tutor for her stepson, who she pretty much only refers to as ‘the boy’, but is actually named Adam. Adam’s been ill and can’t physically attend school at the moment, and his mother doesn’t want him falling behind on his studies. Mr. Fred Thorne is in currently in the hospital and can’t be disturbed, and his business takes up all of Mrs. Thorne’s time, so she has to travel a lot. Having Adam is clearly a huge inconvenience to her as he’s been particularly difficult lately, which is why his mother sent him here for a change of scenery. She’s hoping to find a tutor who can come by a few days a week to help him stay on top of the assignments his school planned out for him, and she’s willing to pay very generously for it.
The principal assures Mrs. Thorne that Belinda has a knack ‘”for always squeaking the really terrible students by,”‘ which makes her think of Hildy. [Lol drag her] Belinda would like to meet him first, wanting to make sure that Adam will actually want her around if he’s going through such a hard time, but Mrs. Thorne tartly declares that he doesn’t know what he wants or what he needs, and takes down Belinda’s address to pick her up to meet Adam this afternoon. Considering the way Mrs. Thorne’s speaking about him, Belinda has assumed he’s a kid, but it turns out they’re around the same age:
“He just turned eighteen. In spite of the accident.”
The woman’s tone of voice chilled Belinda, and she stared at Mrs Thorne, as if from a long way off.
“Adam… was in an accident?” She asked weakly.
“You’re a very polite girl, but you must have noticed my injuries. It’s a miracle I lived through it at all. It’s a miracle any of us did.” They came out into the daylight and Mrs Thorne adjusted her black veil with trembling fingers. “My husband isn’t going to make it, Belinda.” Her voice sank to a bitter whisper. “And now I’m stuck with Adam. All because of that car accident two weeks ago.”
After school, Frank and Hildy question Belinda about her meeting with the principal, and she tells them she believes the crash the Thornes had two weeks ago is the one they caused. Hildy actually laughs at her and even though Belinda doesn’t want to take the job, her friends convince her it wasn’t the same crash and that it’s in everyone’s best interest if she tutors Adam. If she turns it down, the principal will want to know why and start asking questions. Belinda used to have a big crush on Frank [Gross] before he started dating Hildy, which he seems to be aware of and uses it to his advantage, and Belinda actually ends up apologising to them for being such a worry wart! [What a doormat] Upon learning that Belinda will be meeting Adam this afternoon, Hildy starts whining because Belinda was supposed to help her study for a math test. The meeting shouldn’t take too long, so Hildy can just come after, but that’ll cut into her time with Frank, so he’ll be coming too. [Ew]
Belinda finds two policemen waiting on her doorstep when she arrives home — someone called the police alleging she’d had some kind of accident. Belinda’s shitting bricks but gives them proof of her identity and address and after checking out the house, they determine the call was just a prank. A short time later, Belinda’s mother calls from the hospital to check in, and we find out another nurse had answered a call from someone named Thorne earlier that day, who’d been asking about a Miss Swanson. The nurse wasn’t sure if they’d meant Belinda or her mother, since Belinda volunteers there regularly, and Belinda realises it must have been Mrs. Thorne. She tells her mother she’s not sure if she wants to tutor Adam, given his injuries, but Mum thinks it’s a great idea, especially since Belinda wants to be a nurse one day.
Mrs. Thorne arrives to pick her up and the car ride is awkward at first since Mrs. Thorne isn’t very chatty, but she eventually warns Belinda that Adam probably won’t want her there, so she should be prepared. He’s apparently quite hostile and neither of them are very fond of each other, and she has no qualms about declaring that Adam should be laying in the hospital dying right now instead of his father. [Maybe she planned/caused the accident to try murder Adam and his father because she’s money-hungry?] She’s looking forward to never seeing him again once his father dies. [Brutal lol] They arrive at the Thornes’ mansion, which although breathtakingly beautiful, seems to be lacking warmth and personality, and Belinda notices box-shaped objects draped with cloths on every table and countertop. Mrs. Thorne leads her upstairs before Belinda can ask about the boxes, and soon she’s ushered into Adam’s dimly lit bedroom to fend for herself.
Adam, who’s only been here for a week, [I’m confused about this crash… The Thornes were in the same crash that happened two weeks ago, but Adam’s only been with them for a week? Does that mean they crashed, then he went home to his mother who sent him here a week later?] is hiding in the corner of the room amongst the shadows and immediately tells Belinda she’s wasting both of their times because he doesn’t need help. He refuses to turn the lights on, insisting Belinda would prefer it. He eventually steps out of the shadows and Belinda notices that he uses a cane due to one of his legs dragging uselessly. She suddenly gets really hot and momentarily passes out before getting her first real glimpse at Adam:
In the eerie half-light she saw part of his face, the eyes so dark they seemed like holes in a death mask. There were huge gashes — black, crooked lines crisscrossing his cheeks and forehead like jagged tracks, and as her eyes widened in horror, he suddenly released her and drew back into the cover of darkness.
She encourages him to come back out, insisting she’d only collapsed because she hasn’t eaten anything today, and she got a fright because she didn’t realise where she was at first. He wants her to leave, so she apologises for upsetting him and promises to be back tomorrow. Belinda returns to the living room and while waiting for Mrs. Thorne to appear to take her home, she decides to investigate one of the cloth-covered boxes. As she’s about to peak under the cloth, a voice warns her not to do that and a hand clamps down on her wrist.
The man is Cobbs, the Thornes’ butler, who lifts the cloth himself, revealing a thick brown snake at the bottom of the closed box, and warns that some of the snakes are dangerous and not safe to touch . Mr Thorne’s a bit of a collector, it seems! Cobbs takes her into the kitchen for some tea and toast, noticing she seems a bit anxious. Cobbs’ personality is very similar to Niles from The Nanny, with a deadpan, sarcastic way of saying things, and he’s quite surprised when Belinda insists he join her at the table for some tea, so I guess he’s treated poorly by the Thornes. Belinda asks questions about himself, and we learn that Cobbs is originally from England and his father worked for Fred Thorne’s grandfather, so their families go way back. We also learn that Fred is in a coma, his body crushed and burned, so it’s just a matter of time before he passes away. Belinda notices photos on a windowsill of two young boys, who Cobbs explains are Fred’s son, Adam, from his first marriage, and Noel, Mrs. Thorne’s son from a previous relationship. Adam is ruggedly handsome and unsmiling in the photo, looking both beautiful and evil at the same time, and because she feels sorry for him, Belinda decides she’ll take the job after all. [I thought she already decided that when she told Adam she’d see him tomorrow, but okeh]
Later that night, Belinda struggles with her homework because she can’t stop thinking about Adam and how she’s going to help him out of his darkness. Frank and Hildy arrive and Frank wants to get the study session over with ASAP so he can take Hildy up to Suicide Drop for some sweet, sweet lovin’, thusly named because of the many lives the deceptive hill just out of town has claimed. ‘Its narrow dirt road descended almost straight down, then cut sharply between a jagged slope on one side, and a sheer drop to rocks below on the other’ and most people don’t realise how fast they’re going until it’s too late to make the curve. The road’s been closed for months, but the isolation is what appeals to Frank. Hildy has no interest in heading up there and delays the study session by asking about the Thornes.
Belinda tells them about Adam and doesn’t want to believe that they could have caused his injuries, and there’s some back and forth again as Frank tries to convince her otherwise. Regardless, Belinda finds Adam creepy nonetheless because of how he talked as if he knew her, [I didn’t get that from the brief conversation, but okeh] and Frank gets fed up with the convo and goes to fetch the paper from outside, which Belinda forgot to bring in today. Belinda tells Hildy she’ll never forgive herself if they did cause the accident, and explains that she’s taking the job so she can find out for sure and help Adam. [I mentioned in other RTC recaps how fond she in of italics and ellipses, but we can also add em dashes to that list. On these two pages alone we’ve got 17, mostly in dialogue where a comma or full stop would make more sense] The conversation’s cut short when Frank returns with a small package he found on the doorstep with her name on it. Belinda makes Frank open it, and there’s just a piece of paper inside. It’s the April page from a calendar, with April Fools’ Day circled by what looks like dried blood. Despite his denial, Hildy believes Frank’s behind it and seems a bit shaken for the first time.
As Belinda makes her way to the Thorne house the next day, she finds a rag in her pocket and realises she wore this jacket the night of the accident. She’d washed her muddy clothes that same night, and the rag had gone through the cycle balled up in the pocket. Upon closer inspection, it’s actually a handkerchief embroidered with an A… At the Thornes’, she finds the lady of the manor getting ready to fly to New York for a business trip, and she’s got some great life advice for Belinda — “… think twice before you marry for money — or convenience. It gets harder and harder to keep up appearances, and someone’s always waiting for you to slip up … make a stupid mistake.”
She basically rejects any responsibility for Adam, since she didn’t ask him to come here, and believes if Adam was wanted at the house ‘”his father would have had him come while he was alive enough to enjoy him.”‘ [Brutal lol] Belinda can’t believe how heartless she is, especially since there’s no doubt Adam would have heard every word, and ventures up to his room. Belinda suggests they can just talk today instead of studying, and Adam agrees but only if they talk about her deepest, darkest secrets. She tries to change the subject, but Adam brings up Gloria’s rant a minute ago, but he doesn’t want Belinda’s pity and ends up mocking her when she suggests everyone’s just trying to help him.
Belinda senses that he’s toying with her and leaves, even more worried that he’s the victim of her crash. As she’s dashing out the front door, she runs straight into the arms of gorgeous blonde boy. Cobbs appears behind her and welcomes Noel Ashby, Gloria’s son who was in the other photo Belinda noticed the other day, into the house. He’s the complete opposite of his awful mother — warm, polite and friendly to the staff, even offering to drive his mother to the airport so Cobbs can have the rest of the day off. [What a dreamboat. I bet he’s our bad guy] But first he insists on taking Belinda home, telling his mother he’ll be right back. Noel’s big dog, Sasha, also comes along for the ride, which is nice because Belinda loves dogs! [Well, that explains the friendship with Hildy!]
Belinda and Noel get to know each other as they drive, and he is very aware of how insufferable his mother is. She’d married Fred three years ago, and Noel’s only really spent holidays here so he doesn’t really know Adam that well. As he drops her off, he tells Belinda to let him know if there’s anything he can do and even offers to pick her up from school for her study dates with Adam. Belinda thanks him for his kindness, but she’s an independent woman and doesn’t mind taking the bus. As he drives off, she swoons over how good their names sound together. Blindly checking the mailbox, Belinda jerks her hand back out when it makes contact with something oozing onto her fingers. There’s globs of red on her hand, but she doesn’t want to leave whatever it is in there because it smells like something dead. Slowly easing her hand back in, she feels something soft underneath the sliminess and pulls it out:
The scream she’d been holding back rose into her throat and stuck there, the awful, hideous thing in her hand looking back at her beneath a smeared coating of mashed entrails.
It was a head.
Once it had been part of a doll.
Once it had probably been beautiful.
Only now its face had been slashed repeatedly and someone had stitched it sloppily back together with thick, black thread.
It was grinning at her.
And where its eyes should have been, there were only deep, black holes.
[OK, so not the doll on the cover?] Belinda confronts Frank and Hildy the next day before class but both claim to have nothing to do with it. Fed up with her worrying, Frank promises that if anyone does find out, he’ll swear up and down that it was her driving, not Hildy. [Gross] Hildy, blinded by love, excuses his behaviour because he had a bad swim practice yesterday, [Fuck off, Hildy] and Belinda invites her over later tonight to tell her all about Noel to change the subject.
That afternoon, Adam’s knocked out from his pain medication, and Belinda wonders what she’ll do about him. She’s hoping Cobbs will have an answer for her, but he briefly gets a strange, frightening look in his eyes as he suggests she leave and never come back, as if warning her. Cobbs makes some tea and once again she insists he have some with her, and they briefly discuss his employers. Cobbs enjoys Gloria about as much as everyone else around here, and it’s clear that once Fred dies, Cobbs won’t be sticking around. Not that Mr. Thorne was particularly pleasant either, but Cobbs is sure he cares in his own way. He also doesn’t seem particularly fond of Adam, telling Belinda ‘”He wouldn’t know a friend if he stepped on one … which I’m certain he’s done many times.”‘ Belinda offers her ear if Cobbs ever wants to talk, admitting she’s grown quite fond of him, [These two are cute] and then decides to head home. She declines his offer to drive her despite the gloomy evening, explaining she’ll take the shortcut through the park to catch the bus. She assures him it’s safe since most people don’t even know about the abandoned parking lot on the east side of the park.
Belinda feels like she’s being watched as soon as she leaves the house and wonders why Cobbs had seemed so sinister earlier. The sky is darkening quickly as she’s cutting through the old parking lot, and the steady hum of a nearby car alerts her to one creeping slowly toward her with its lights off. The car stops as she starts running, and of course Belinda ends up tripping. As she’s gathering up her belongings, the headlights turn on, trapping her with their blinding glare. [Girl, just move to the left a bit?] The silence is terrifying, and even more so when the lights cut out. Under the cover of darkness, Belinda dashes back to the Thorne house, inexplicably bypassing the gated driveway that only opens when the visitor is buzzed in. [Is this a mistake, or did someone leave it open on purpose to lure her back?!]
There’s no answer at the door [Was Cobb’s driving the car?! But why?] so she makes her way around to the back, finally reaching the patio where she comes face to face with Adam in the kitchen doorway. he takes in his full appearance for the first time; his cruel eyes, the stiches all over his face, the purple and yellow bruises. but still, there’s something sensual and magnetic about him. Adam seems amused and not at all surprised to see her, instructing Belinda to take a good look so she’ll remember him in her dreams. He’s also got a snake hanging around his neck, adding to her unease, but she goes inside anyway so he can tend to her wounds and call her a cab because Cobbs has gone to the store.
While treating her scrapes, he scolds her about taking shortcuts, which Cobbs allegedly told him about. [But why would he? Like, how and why would that even come up? Was Adam worried about how she got home?] As usual, every word he says seems to be mocking, as if he knows more than he’s saying, and he even tells her he knows her mother’s on double duty at the hospital and won’t finish until 7am in the morning, which leaves Belinda all alone at home. He knows a lot about her and feels like he’s seen her before. As he’s talking, Belinda notices a set of keys by the door to the garage, increasing her suspicions that Adam had been driving the stalking car. His intimidation is eventually interrupted by Noel, who glares at Adam and offers to drive Belinda home. Adam insists she stay and talk since she’s so curious to know about the crash, which happened about two hours from here:
“What’s the matter, Belinda? I thought you wanted to hear all the gory details —”
“Please, Adam, I don’t want to know —”
“How my father screamed? I haven’t told you yet about my father screaming —”
“Stop it —”
“I was just picking them up at the airport. Dad and dear old Gloria. I live around there, you know. They wanted to see me, so I offered to drive them home. … It was raining, I think …”
“Adam, stop it!”
“Ever been sliced through your face? Ever had your legs crushed — ?”
“Don’t Adam, please! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Belinda began to cry, and Noel shoved her through the door, throwing a murderous look over his shoulder.
“Jesus, Adam, how do you live with yourself —”
“I cover the mirrors.” A slow, chilling smile crawled over his face. The snake slid over his shoulder … down his arm. “And by the way,” he murmured, shaking his head slowly … slowly … “Why do you think Belinda looks so familiar to me? Do you think I could have seen her somewhere before?”
[Oh, so that explains how he and his father were in the same crash. He’s really enjoying making her squirm, the poor girl! Also, see how much RTC loves em dashes?! She uses them more than a fkn full stop!] We cut to Noel taking Belinda home in the car as she informs him of the park incident. She wonders if Adam ever leaves the house, which is only when Cobbs take him apparently, and Noel realises she suspects Adam. She denies it to stop him asking more questions because she’s getting confused, still creeped out that Adam was both good at and really enjoyed toying with people. Noel won’t blame her if she doesn’t want to come back, suggesting Adam gets a kick out of scaring people, but Belinda decides she just won’t let Adam know he’s getting to her from now on. She promised Mrs. Thorne, after all. Noel assures her his mother couldn’t care less either way, and speaking of, he surprisingly hasn’t heard from her since she left for New York. [Hmmm, maybe Noel is the suss one, since he drove his mum to the airport… Could Noel have been in the car that night, but escaped uninjured, and that’s who Belinda saw watching from afar? Maybe something to do with an inheritance from his stepfather??] Belinda suddenly remembers that the gate was open when she’d returned to the house, [OK, so it was n’t a mistake!] and Noel guesses that Cobbs accidentally left it open on his way to the store. He wants to know why she’s so curious about the gate, and she pretends to be concerned for Adam’s welfare if someone were to break in to cover up her suspicions that he’d left it open because he knew she’d be returning.
A short time later, Hildy’s over and hearing all about Belinda’s night. Upon learning that Adam knew Belinda would be taking the shortcut, [So did Cobbs 👀 ] there were keys near the garage door, [That could just be where they keep the car keys] Cobbs was gone, [So we know he was out of the house and driving a car 👀 ] Hidy agrees that it does seem like someone knows about their accident and is trying to scare Belinda. Hildy chides her for going back to the house instead of calling her to pick her up, but Belinda retorts with a scathing reminder that she hasn’t believed a word she’s said until this very moment. Hildy takes some time out to go order some pizza for them and returns with her tail between her legs, wanting to know if Belinda really thinks Adam knows it was them that night. Even though she can’t make sense of it, Belinda believes Adam knows that at least she was at the scene because there’s nowhere else he could have seen her before. He could have been lying injured nearby, and none of them noticed. [Then he’d know she wanted to help, but her friends prevented it. Hildy and Frank should be the prey!] Belinda also insists their crash was on the same road that Adam referred to his accident being on, which can’t be a coincidence, although realistically all he said was that the accident happened about two hours out of town. [I’ll give her a break on that one though, since literally everything else he’s said matches up with him being there]
Hildy doesn’t want to talk about it anymore, so lucky for her the doorbell rings. It’s not the pizza, though, it’s Noel, and Belinda invites him into the living room while Hildy remains at the door staring outside because ‘”There’s someone out there.”‘ Instantly alert, Belinda creeps to the window and peeks out from the curtains, ordering Belinda to shut the door and turn off the lights. Belinda doesn’t see anything, but Hildy’s certain there was a man standing on the sidewalk, staring at the house. He briefly appears again, and Belinda gets a good look at him – Cobbs!
Noel thinks she’s just seeing things because why would Cobbs be lurking around the house? [Why indeed? 👀 ] Hildy decides to wait on the porch for the pizza to give them some alone time, [Even though a strange man was staring at the house???] and Noel suspects there’s more going on than he knows about, but Belinda lies that they were scaring themselves with ghost stories right before he came. He then reveals why he returned — he’d been driving around thinking about Adam after dropping her off and has decided there’s things she needs to know about him. He’s no gossip and doesn’t like to repeat vicious rumours, but he wants her to know the things he’s heard from his mum and stepfather about Adam. Apparently Adam has a history of imagining things; he either just makes things up or thinks things happen that really don’t, and according to his father, he’s a compulsive liar. Noel supposes he hurts others before they can hurt him to protect himself, and Belinda feels even more sorry for Adam now.
According to Noel, Adam’s having some delusion that the crash was caused by someone trying to run him off the road, but it’s so obvious to everyone he just missed the curve. Of course, Gloria has no memory of the accident because she dopes herself up with pills when she has to fly, so she can’t confirm or deny his story. Noel apologetically tells her that if Adam seems more weird than usual and seems to be focussing on her, it might be because she’s the only one willing to listen to his feelings — ‘”None of the rest of us can stand to be around him.”‘
Hildy walks in with Frank now, who she’s found outside and invited in because he paid for the pizza, and introductions are made before Noel attempts to leave. Hildy and Frank have other plans, though, and are as subtle as a punch in the face when they bait him into asking a mortified Belinda to the school’s upcoming senior picnic, which she naturally accepts. Once he’s gone, Belinda tells Hildy what he’d said about Adam and his delusions, which is a relief to Hildy because that means they really do have nothing to worry about. Belinda can’t be bothered with Hildy’s dismissals and leaves her and Frank to it, heading up to bed instead. She can’t get Adam off of her mind, feeling awful about his struggles, and as she stares out the open window in the darkness, a hulking figure suddenly appears! She can’t see the person’s face in the darkness but knows it’s absolutely real, as real as his voice when he whispers ‘”Murderer,”‘ and disappears back into the night. [Ooky spooky!]
We cut to the next day after school as Hildy’s trying to convince Belinda that she’d dreamed the night visitor. [OK, so either Hildy prefers to ignore problems until they go away, or she’s a huge gaslighter] Hildy had helped her check for footprints last night but they’d found nothing, and now she’s mad because Belinda’s questioning what time Frank left. Hildy points out that just because Frank left before her doesn’t mean he’s a peeping Tom and suggests it was Cobbs instead. [Right?! But now that there’s some suspicion on him, I need a new main suspect. Could Frank and Hildy be gaslighting her until she goes completely off the deep end in hopes of keeping their secret, or to scare her into staying quiet? Although scaring her like this probably just makes her more likely to tell someone, right? Or maybe it’s Noel, although I can’t think of a motive other than inheritance money] Belinda defends Cobbs, and is quickly saved from the conversation when Noel pulls up to take her to his house. In the car, he confesses his delight about the picnic because he was trying to work up the nerve to ask her out anyway. [He’s very keen on her it seems. Maybe too keen 👀 ] He drops her at the mansion and heads off to do some errands, and Belinda mentions to Cobbs that she thought she saw him outside her house last night. He denies it, but Belinda notices that he seemed to stiffen for a split second when she asked.
Up in Adam’s room a few minutes later, Belinda decides not to take his bullshit anymore, clicking on the lamp and opening the curtains. She masks her nerves well this time and is set on getting some work done for once, [Tbh I forgot she was supposed to be tutoring him because there’s been absolutely none of it] but Adam’s up to his usual bullshit. He somehow knows about the picnic but won’t reveal how, but states it wasn’t Noel because they don’t even talk at all. Adam then opens up about a girlfriend he’d had once that cheated on him. She’d had a freak accident and now nobody goes out with her, and Belinda can tell he’s trying to scare her once again. He basically forces her to express pity for his girlfriend and his scarred face, but she doesn’t seem sorry, so he locks his arm around her neck and tells her you never know when an accident might happen. Belinda pulls free and grabs her jacket from the desk to leave, but A-embroidered hanky falls out. Adam asks what it is and where she got it, but she quickly snatches it up and insists she found it, it belongs to her and she keeps it on her person because of nosebleeds. [Can I just say, handkerchiefs are one of the most disgusting things ever. Like, you’re gonna wipe your boogers and snot in it and then put it back in your pocket? Fkn gross]
She then flees the bedroom and asks Cobbs to take her home, but the car apparently isn’t working properly so she’ll have to call a cab. As she picks up the receiver, she overhears a conversation between a nurse and Adam. He’s asking about his father’s condition and wants them to hurry things along and put his father out of his misery, [Oop, he wants that inheritance!] but the nurse uncomfortably informs him, clearly not for the first time, that it’s just a matter of waiting because there’s no hope for his father and. The nurse hangs up, and Belinda hears Adam whisper that there’ll be no more waiting — ‘”We’ve waited long enough.”‘ [OK so Adam is definitely our bad guy, but he has to be working with someone else. That’ll be the big twist. It has to be either Cobbs or Noel! Also, why is he even making it so obvious he wants his father dead? Does he want people to be suspicious?]
It’s the next day now and the seniors are on their way to the park for the picnic. Belinda hitches a ride with Frank and Hildy, and as usual there’s tension between her and Frank while Hildy seems determined for everyone to forget about the whole thing. [Yeah, she’s definitely just trying to ignore the issue until it goes away. I can relate to that! I still don’t like her though lol] Belinda gets some alone time with Noel at the park and they discuss Adam scaring her again last night and how sorry they feel that no-one wants him around. Noel opens up about his family — his father died when he was 13, and while Frank has been good to him and Gloria, Noel comes third in his mother’s life after herself and money. He explains that when you’ve never had money and then you get it, it becomes an addiction, and you can’t imagine being without it again. He says this explains his mother, but I reckon he’s describing himself and this is his motive for wanting everyone out of the picture.
When the picnic wraps up that evening, Belinda and Noel strut around the park for a bit and eventually kiss. Then they go get some Mexican food but she can’t focus on her meal because he’s watching her closely. She looks nice in the light, he explains, and afterwards he doesn’t want to say goodbye to this perfect day. As they’re heading to her house, they’re hit from behind and run off the road by a car with its headlights off, ending up in a ditch. [Hmm maybe Noel isn’t in on whatever’s going on] They’re both OK, but Noel gets impatient when she speculates that Adam was the other driver because it’s like she’s obsessed with him. He can barely walk, so how does she think he’s able to drive?! Noel’s damaged car is still in working condition, and as he backs it out of the ditch, Belinda agrees to tell Noel exactly what’s going on. But first he wants to take her back to the Thorne house for the night so she won’t have to spend the night alone at her place. Belinda’s reluctant because Adam will be there, but Noel assures her Adam isn’t home; it’s Cobbs’s night off, so he and Adam have gone out somewhere together. Noel gives Belinda one of his mother’s sexy nightgowns to wear and shows her to a spare room she can sleep in. At her insistence, he checks the house for Adam while she changes and when he returns, he tells her to keep the nightgown because it looks better on her. [I feel like the girl he’s interested in wearing is mother’s pyjamas should be a turn off, not a turn on…]
Belinda finally tells him everything that happened on April Fools’ Day and the weird goings-on since, and how Adam seems to be toying with her with knowledge of the accident. Noel’s still unconvinced, given Adam’s difficulties getting around, but then wonders if maybe Adam was who she’d seen up on the hill — ‘”What if he jumped out — or was thrown clear — and that’s how he injured himself?”‘ Belinda realises Adam must be after her because she saw the accident, and him, and he had been trying to kill his father and stepmother. Noel doesn’t want to believe that Adam could do something like that, so Belinda tells him about the handkerchief as further proof. Noel looks scared after learning of this evidence, which further suggests to me that he’s involved in the conspiracy, and he decides they’re jumping to way too many conclusions now. [See? Suspicious!]
He promises that nothing will happen to her in here and heads to his own room, locking her door on his way out, and Belinda restlessly sleeps with nightmares about being trapped in the burning car. She dreams of people trying to pull her out of the wreckage using a rope around her neck. She wakes up at this point because there really is some kind of moving pressure on her neck! She whips the covers back and leaps from the bed, screaming, and soon hears Noel pounding on the door, telling her to unlock it. Belinda’s too terrified to cross to the door, afraid of stepping on something alive, but I guess she does anyway because suddenly Noel bursts into the room and she’s rushing into his arms. They turn on the lights, revealing a four-foot snake at the foot of the bed. Cobbs appears in the doorway, revealing he discovered that particular snake’s empty cage at 11pm this evening…
The next morning, Belinda questions Cobbs about Adam’s whereabouts last night and we find out that although they went to the movies, they watched different films. [You’re both suspicious] She asks if he thinks Adam’s crazy, and since she’s so upset Cobbs opens up about Adam’s childhood. Adam has always been an intense and sensitive boy and by the time he was 10, his parents were always fighting. Adam adored his father but Fred Thorne’s business always came first, and during the messy divorce Adam was sent to live with a distant aunt and uncle he didn’t know. He tried to run away several times, claiming they were abusive, but the relatives insisted Adam was argumentative, disobedient and would threaten them. Adam was the last thing on his parents’ minds during the divorce, so Adam was forced to stay until the first accident. [Oooooh]
One a raining night, driving down a steep road, their car lost control, plunged down an embankment and caught fire. His uncle was killed instantly, his aunt died later that night in hospital, and Adam had been miraculously thrown clear, albeit with a severe head injury that left him bedridden for a while. Adam’s recent behaviour is starting to make more sense to Belinda now; the second accident must be bringing back all the trauma. The mood changes began shortly after, and his mother agreed to take custody of Adam in exchange for large child support payments, but she’s spent the last eight years being afraid of him due to the constant lying and belligerence — ‘”Like any miserable creature who’s been consistently mistreated, he senses people’s fears and weaknesses and uses them to his own advantage.”‘ Furthermore, before she died that night, Adam’s aunt was trying to communicate something about Adam and the steering wheel to the doctors, but they dismissed it as delirium and nothing was ever proven. [I wonder if this is all true, or if Cobbs is lying to make her more suspicious of Adam? But Adam’s a dick so I don’t care if he gets the blame] But Adam had called the morning of the crash and cried to Cobbs about how unhappy he was, and he mentioned he’d do something desperate if he was forced to stay a single day longer.
Noel comes into the kitchen and while Cobbs is in the pantry, he informs Belinda that he checked the car Cobbs and Adam had taken last night after they got in and found not a single scratch, so it can’t have been Adam who hit them. Cobbs returns and reveals that Noel’s mother never checked into her hotel and had actually sent a fax telling them there’d been a change of plans. Noel isn’t concerned since she’ll be found when she wants to be, and Belinda heads upstairs to fetch her purse so he can drive her home. Hurrying back down the hall, she sees a door slightly open with the light on and decides to go turn it off, but decides to snoop when she hears drawers opening and shutting in there. The room is a study or office and Adam’s at the desk looking through papers. He seems to find what he’s looking for and shuts the pages in a drawer, locking it and hiding the key inside a book on a shelf. Then he begins to laugh horribly, cruel and without feeling, and Belinda scurries off.
Later that morning, Belinda meets Hildy at the mall and fills her in on everything that’s happened as well as her new theory that Adam is trying to kill her because she saw him on the hill, but Hildy just insists she’s crazy again. [Belinda, what exactly do you get out of this friendship?!] When she learns that Belinda broke the pact and told Noel about the crash, Hildy ends up revealing Frank’s responsible for the calendar page and the police showing up at her house because he thought it would be funny. [Yeah, real funny] She denies they had anything to do with the parking lot or the window incidents, though, or at least she had nothing to do with it. [There’s no mention of the doll’s head though, so no idea who did that. Probably Frank] Understandably upset, Belinda races over to the deserted gym pool where Frank is to confront him, Hildy trailing behind, and the girls find him floating face down in the pool. [Good]
Except it’s not Frank, just his jacket, [Lame] and Belinda accuses Hildy of playing another trick on her with him. Hildy denies it and thinks Belinda’s disappointed that Frank’s not dead, [I don’t know about Belinda, but I sure am] and takes it even further by insisting Belinda’s jealous of their relationship. After all, Frank told her Belinda’s thrown herself at him in the past. Belinda denies it, because Frank’s clearly just trying to make himself look good, but Hildy’s not having a bar of it and weirdly admits ‘”I’d like to hurt you, Belinda — really hurt you”‘ before renouncing their friendship. Belinda accurately points out that Hildy’s never been her friend, and both girls storm back to their respective homes.
Later that evening, Noel arrives and Belinda fills him in on her morning, but he can’t concentrate because the hospital had called earlier and informed the family that Fred is unlikely to make it through the night. There’s still been no word about his mother, either, but he says there’s no point going to the police because it’s not like they have proof she’s missing. He agrees to drop her off at Hildy’s on his way home so the girls can straighten things out, but they’re blocked in by another car in Belinda’s driveway. She jumps out and intercepts a man walking towards her front door, and he hands her a manila envelope, courtesy of some guy who paid him $10 to deliver it to this address. He would have had it here sooner, but he couldn’t find the street. [Did Noel organise this on his way over? ] As the man hurries off, Noel also exits the car and opens the envelope for a frightened Belinda. He turns it upside down and one of Belinda’s silvery-blonde braids falls out into his hand. [Uh-oh]
They rush over to Hildy’s house but no-one’s home, and at Frank’s, his mother tells them Frank hasn’t been here since this morning. Noel takes Belinda back to his place where she can keep calling Hildy’s house, and since Adam’s home it’ll prove to her he’s not with her missing friends. She reluctantly agrees and they find a note from Cobbs informing Noel he’s at the hospital. Adam also calls from the hospital and urges Noel to get there quick because Fred doesn’t have much time left. Alone, Belinda has no luck reaching Hildy, and soon Sasha, Noel’s dog, starts growling and walks down the hall towards the open study door. Belinda decides to poke around in there and, using the hidden key, finds Fred Thorne’s will in the locked drawer, which states that if he and his wife both die, everything is to be split equally between Adam and Noel. [Which gives Noel the motive I’ve been waiting for! He’s our bad guy for sure. But then who ran him off the road? Maybe he’s working with Cobbs, who might be upset about his exclusion from the will despite dedicating so much of his life to Mr. Thorne? Or Maybe Cobbs is working all alone for the same reason!? Or maybe one and/or both of them are working with Adam?!?!] Belinda realises she’s been right all along, and Adam has been trying to kill everyone to get 100% of the inheritance.
The phone starts ringing, but it’s not the office’s separate line, so she rushes back to the kitchen and talks to Cobbs at the hospital. She explains that she needs to speak to Noel urgently, but Cobbs informs her that neither Noel or Adam are even at the hospital. Belinda drops the receiver in shock and hears a door open somewhere in the house, as well as a foot dragging slowly down a hall. She tries to escape through the patio door but somehow that’s where Adam comes from, a look of triumph on his face. Belinda rushes to the front door with Sasha, right into Noel’s open arms. [Oooh, the stepbrothers are working together!] Belinda quickly fills him in about her discovery and insists they need to leave before Adam gets her, but Noel just dumbly repeats some of what she’s saying [A red flag she ignores] until Adam appears behind her, no longer limping or using a cane. [Deception!] Noel tells Adam he was ‘”supposed to have it done by now,”‘ which you’d think would turn on the lightbulb in Belinda’s head, but things don’t click that easily for our heroine until they elaborate on the handkerchief:
Adam came closer. He was holding an icepick, and he was smiling. “The one whose name starts with A.”
“She thinks it’s you, Adam,” Noel said.
“Well, I never did have a face that people trusted. Not like yours … Noel Ashby.”‘
And as Belinda’s heart stopped, as she looked up into Noel’s solemn brown eyes, she felt his arm pull away from her touch.
“Put her in the car,” Noel said quietly. “It’s time for a little reunion.”
Adam wants to brag a bit first, trailing the icepick over Belinda’s cheek as he explains that everything had been timed so perfectly until he came across Belinda and her friends, causing the Thornes to panic and Adam to miss the place he was supposed to jump out at, so he went down with the car. ‘”Noel couldn’t even check to see if I was all right. You wouldn’t leave. You wouldn’t leave, but you wouldn’t help.”‘ He tells her what it was like watching the car blow up as he tried to hold his sliced up face together, bitterly revealing that April 1 is his birthday and he almost didn’t live to be eighteen because of her. [Bruh, you were there, you know she tried to help and was thwarted by Fred and Hildy, go after them??]
In the car, Noel wishes Belinda hadn’t been there that fateful night and argues with Adam that Belinda wasn’t driving and had actually tried to help. Adam wants his revenge nonetheless and starts banging on again about how everything had been perfectly timed until it all went wrong. It’s also not the first time he’s staged an accident like this, so I guess he really did kill his aunt and uncle, not that that’s a surprise. [And I’m assuming he’s responsible for whatever happened to his girlfriend too?] Adam then brags about how easy it was to find Belinda because of the school sticker on their car, Frank and Hildy shouting her name that night, and her tutor advertisements all over town. Noel had been following Adam’s car that night to pick him up so he’d seen everything, and he’s the one that had asked about Belinda at the library. But the boys still weren’t sure how much she knew, which is why they were stalking her. Belinda insists she hasn’t told anyone about that night and wouldn’t tell anyone, but Noel quickly shuts her up by pointing out that she told him. [True, but like if you guys weren’t scaring and stalking her, she wouldn’t have brought it up out of fear? And it’s not like Noel wasn’t trying to make her admit what she knew in the first place, so like…?]
They finally reach their destination, Suicide Drop, [Oop] where Frank’s unconscious in his car behind a a large wall of rock. Adam fetches Hildy from the the trunk of the car and she explains how they’d gotten Frank at the pool and took his vehicle, and Noel had gotten her by tricking her into thinking something bad happened to Belinda on her way to Frank’s house. Adam leads the girls over to the steep incline at gunpoint while Noel brings Frank’s car around, and then they’re forced into the backseat. Noel confesses he wanted to let Belinda go, but hopes she understands why he can’t. Adam assures the girls they won’t be alone because Gloria Thorne’s body’s down there too, dumped there by Noel. It was Adam who had killed her, though, because ‘”Noel’s great at making plans, but he doesn’t have much of a stomach for carrying them out.”‘ [Why’d Noel dump her, then? And how are they staging her death anyway? Is she in a car down there too, or just her body? Are they going to put her body in this car’s wreckage? I need more information!]
As Noel’s about to climb out of the car, having positioned Frank closer to the steering wheel, Adam turns out to be a dirty double-crosser and refuses to let him leave the car, pointing the gun at him. Noel flings the door open anyway, knocking Adam off balance, and soon the boys are wrestling on the ground. Belinda can’t think too much about that, though, because the car is moving. [!!!!] Even though Adam had gloated they were only six inches from the drop, the girls somehow still have time to figure out that the back doors are locked and they’ll need to climb through the front. [Put the handbrake on???] They’re really struggling with the task, and the car gains more momentum when Noel slams Adam against the trunk. Just as they’re starting to slide, Frank disappears through the driver’s door. The back door bursts open and Hildy and Belinda are pulled free right before the car goes over the drop by… Noel!
All of a sudden the police show up with Cobbs, who tells Belinda he knew there was something fishy going on with the stepbrothers, but things only fell into place when he spoke with her on the phone earlier. He raced home and saw them forcing Belinda into an car he didn’t recognise, so he followed them and rang the police with his car phone. [Nice, Cobbs! What a hero! I’m sorry I ever doubted you] Adam and Noel are quickly arrested, and Belinda cries as her almost-boyfriend is lead away, looking resigned to his fate and very tired. [Don’t tell me you feel bad for him, Belinda! He only saved you because Adam turned on him!]
Three days later, Hildy’s over at Belinda’s house sporting a new short haircut, joking that Belinda can have Frank because he’s been dull and boring lately. He doesn’t remember much, but he’s very quiet now apparently. Hildy then shocks me by apologising for being a bad friend and not being there for Belinda when she really needed her. She was too scared of losing Frank because unlike Belinda, Hildy admittedly needs someone else to make her feel good about herself, but it turns out that almost cost her her best friend. She promises to be better from now on, so I guess she’s slightly redeemed herself. She also apologises about Noel, knowing how much Belinda likes him, and we learn that Noel and Adam are undergoing tests to see if they’re competent to stand trial and if so, they’ll both be tried as adults for their parents’ murders. [Amazing]
The doorbell rings and it’s Cobbs, who wants like to speak to Belinda’s mother. He offers to make tea since Belinda admits she’s no good at it compared to him, and he explains that Mr. Thorne has left him an abundance of money in his will. [Lucky man!] Fred’s death also means Cobbs has a lot of leisure time with no way to fill it, so he’d like to offer his services to the Swansons. Mum knows how fond Belinda and Cobbs are of each other, even through his sarcastic, emotionless way of expressing himself, so she agrees that something can be worked out, and Sasha can come along too. Mum herds Hildy into the living room to study for her math final, which is why she’s here in the first place, giving Cobbs and Belinda a moment alone. Cobbs hands her a handkerchief with an A stitched onto it and explains Noel wanted her to have it, with no bad memories attached to it. [Bruh you tried to fucking kill her because of a fkn hanky, how could she possibly not have any bad memories about it??] Cobbs also admits he had been following her from time to time, but he was only watching out for her, and explains that Noel did what he did because of a large amount of debt, echoing what Noel had said to her earlier in the book — once people get a bit of money, it’s never enough and they need more and more.
Belinda speculates that Noel had never really meant to kill her, that deep down inside he didn’t actually want to do it, [I think that’s true, but we can’t deny that he was still going to! You were seconds away from being pushed down the steep incline before Adam turned on him, dipshit] and cries in Cobb’s arms about how special Noel was to her. [Belinda, please] Cobbs assures her the pain will heal in time, and the book ends with the teen and the butler expressing their love for one another. [Cute, I love their friendship. Cobbs is much better than dirty old Hildy]
Final thoughts
I really enjoyed this one, so I guess that means Trick or Treat is the outlier and I owe RTC a big apology! The book was well-written, despite all the em dashes, italics and ellipses, and none of the situations Belinda had to deal with felt too farfetched, which is rare. RTC is pretty good at absorbing you into the world of her books and even though I may not like every singe character of hers, she really knows what she’s doing in terms of creating distinct characters. Belinda was a great character and her caring, kind nature was depicted really well through her bond with not only Cobbs but also her mother. I didn’t really touch on Belinda and her mum’s relationship because she appeared so little, but it was great to see the very rare caring and supportive parent in a Point Horror. Belinda needs better friends though, because Hildy and Frank are fkn awful and the whole dynamic of their friendship was annoying to me.
I also like that the book kept me second-guessing myself in terms of who our bad guys were, because that always keeps me more engaged and wanting to read more. I’m looking forward to whatever RTC book I pick up next and am a lot more optimistic now about her work!
45 snakes being kept inside cloth-covered boxes on every table surface in the house out of 58!
