Tagline: She was drop-dead beautiful….
Back tagline: Dance of death…
Summary: A spring night…soft moonlight…five beautiful Prom Queen candidates…dancing couples at the Shadyside High prom—these should be the ingredients for romance.
But stir in one brutal murder—then another, and another—and the recipe quickly turns to horror.
Lizzie McVay realizes that someone is murdering the five Prom Queen candidates one by one—and that she may be next on the list! Can she stop the murderer before the dance is over—for good?
First Impressions: My first impression of this summary is goddamn, Stine loves an em dash. I mean, as fans of the series we’re well aware of that, but there’s one in every single sentence here. I do really like this blurb, though, it’s not too spoilery but also not super generic either. The promise of three murders has me very excited, too, so it better not be a lie!
I really enjoy this cover, but I have no idea what’s going on. I guess she’s looking into a mirror, but the quality of her reflection isn’t great. I love the skull face and it’s missing teeth, though! Ooky spooky.
This is a book that took me a while to track down for a decent price, so I’m glad to finally have it in my collection and I have high hopes. Are my expectations too much? Let’s find out!
Recap
Meet the crew:
Lizzy – Our heroine who doesn’t seem to like her friends.
Dawn – The super-competitive best friend.
Rachel – The financially challenged bestie.
Elana – The rich girl who gets everything she wants.
Simone – The self-centred actress.
Justin – Simone’s whore boyfriend.
Gideon – Rachel’s boyfriend.
Robbie – The director of the school play.
The book begins in the locker room after gym class where brown-haired protagonist Elizabeth ‘Lizzy’ McVay [The blurb spelled it ‘Lizzie’, but I guess that’s a typo] is discussing the recent murder of a 16-year-old Waynesbridge girl, Stacy Alsop, with her best friends, tan and blonde Dawn Rodgers and redhead Rachel West. [It’s literally impossibly for Shadyside girls to be best friends with someone with the same hair colour] Poor Stacy’s corpse was found in the Fear Street woods yesterday, stabbed 16 times. Everyone is super nervous about the murder and sort of treat it like a joke, particularly Dawn, who makes bitter quips about the murder like ‘”At least the girl won’t have to worry about finding a date for the prom,”‘ [She didn’t even go to Shadyside High so I don’t know why she’d be worried about that anyway] and ‘”Well, she’s not smiling anymore.”‘ Dawn’s pretty good at hiding her emotions, so Lizzy suspects this is her way of dealing with it. [It’s pretty disrespectful, though. Get better friends, Lizzy]
Rachel doesn’t find it as humorous as Dawn because she lives on Fear Street, and Stacy was found not far from her house – ‘”I keep thinking it could have been me.”‘ Rachel’s cousin in Waynesbridge had been besties with Stacy, another reason she’s taking it so hard. Dawn ‘”wouldn’t be caught dead in the Fear Street woods,”‘ [OK, that made me chuckle] and Lizzy reports what she heard on the news this morning; the cops think the murderer staked out Stacy’s house and waited until she was alone before murdering her in her bedroom. Dawn’s always hated being alone in her house, then jokingly lets out a shriek, earning a chorus of laughter from everyone in the locker room.
Shari Paulsen [Never heard of her] then starts running around pretending to stab people, making the classic Psycho sound, which gets more laughter. Lizzy recognises that it’s not really funny, but has no idea how people should react to a murder so close to home; ‘Maybe kidding around like that helps. I don’t know.’ She also has more to report from the news, telling her friends that the police think Stacy’s murder is linked to the death of Tina Wales in Durham, a town about an hour away, last week, which means there’s a good chance we have a serial killer on our hands. [Woo! I hope so] Rachel’s even more uneasy now, since her family is too poor to have an alarm system.
As the girls head over to the special assembly to announce the five prom queen candidates, they discuss prom dates; Dawn’s waiting for four popular boys to ask her before making a decision [Maybe she’s delusional], while Lizzy’s boyfriend, Kevin McCormack, doesn’t have permission to return to Shadyside for the occasion. His father’s an army major who got transferred to Alabama and uprooted his whole family at the beginning of the year, so the relationship has been long distance. They’re practically pen pals, though, since Mr. McVay wasn’t happy with the phone bill when Kevin first moved. The girls reach the auditorium before we can find out if Rachel’s got a love interest, and Lizzy’s super excited to learn the prom queen candidates. Only seniors can vote, and she’d voted for Rachel, who’s main personality trait is being poor based on the way Lizzy feels about her:
Rachel wasn’t the most popular girl in the class or anything, but that was mainly because she was so shy. Well, I guess it was also because she had a bitter streak in her, about being poor and all. But once you got to know her, she was really sweet and a good friend. Maybe being elected prom queen would help her out of her shell.
Not much chance of her winning, though.
[Does Stine think poor people sit around all day being mad about their lack of finances???? What is this? I want to assume Lizzy has good intentions but this reads very much as “Rachel’s a good friend for a pauper xx”] Anyway, Mr. Sewall, the principal who they’ve nicknamed the Muppet because he looks like a Sesame Street character, steps up to the microphone. He refers to Stacy’s death to encourage all the girls to be specially careful for a while, then announces the prom queen candidates, who join him on stage one by one– Lizzy; Dawn, who gets the most applause and is a star tennis player for Shadyside; Rachel, the shy pauper; Simone Perry, who tends to forget she’s not the centre of the universe; and Elana Potter, another very popular gal who’s extremely rich.
With the prom only five weeks away, the Muppet announces a special treat – he’s been able to rent the newly refurbished Halsey Manor House for the occasion! [Never heard of it] He expects applause and excitement, but there’s absolutely none because Halsey Manor House is in the middle of the Fear Street woods, which is creepy AF. As the Muppet continues his speech, Lizzy glances at her fellow candidates and guesses what they’re probably thinking, a game she likes to play. Star actress Simone, who’s obsessed with her star baseballer boyfriend, Justin Stiles, and is staring hard at him right now, is probably wondering why he’s talking to a someone else and not paying attention to her. Pretty, delicate Elana cruises easily through life and is probably thinking she’ll be nominated for President of the United States one day. Beautiful, competitive Dawn is probably thinking she’s going to win.
The Muppet announces that the prom queen will also receive a special $3,000 scholarship, courtesy Gary Brandt‘s father at Brandt Chevrolet. Lizzy happens to be looking at Rachel just then and sees her eyes light up, ‘like in a cartoon when dollar signs appear in somebody’s eyes.’ [I don’t like the way Lizzy thinks about Rachel] In case you forgot because it hasn’t been mentioned in the last two sentences, Rachel is poor, and the money would mean a lot to her; Rachel’s the only teen Lizzy knows who has to work after school! It frustrates Rachel because it means less time for her schoolwork. Her grades are suffering as a result and she’d previously admitted she may not even be able to go to college. [I wonder if Rachel’s gonna be our killer? She may not have killed Stacy and Tina, but maybe she’ll kill the candidates so she’ll become prom queen, and their murders can be blamed on the serial killer? This sounds like a set-up for a red herring, though] Lizzy often wonders if Rachel’s so shy because she doesn’t feel good enough and doesn’t even know how pretty she is.
The assembly/school wraps up and Dawn obnoxiously boasts to Lizzy that she’s going to win while Simone barges past them [Rude] to confront Justin for his lack of attention. Rachel can’t believe she was nominated, but Lizzy tells her she deserves it, [OK, so she does like Rachel?] and then Elana suggests they all go to Pete’s Pizza to celebrate. [Is this the first appearance of Pete’s Pizza?! The New Girl had the Pizza Oven, and The Knife, which was the predecessor to this one, had Patsy’s Pizzeria] Rachel flashes a broad smile because as Lizzy puts it, ‘she always got a thrill at being included in any group outing.’ Elana’s also congratulated by Brad Coleman, another character I’ve never heard of who I’m sure will never pop up again. Simone approaches and we learn that she’s pissed because she saw Justin coming on to Meg Dalton [From The Surprise Party!] during the assembly, and declares she’ll kill him if he goes out with Meg behind her back – ‘It’s funny. That silly threat was the first thing that flashed through my mind two days later when we learned that Simone had disappeared.’ [Oop!]
As the five girls head over to the mall in Elana’s Mercedes, Simone tries to learn her lines for the upcoming play, The Sound of Music, where she’ll be starring as Maria ‘even though she didn’t make a very convincing nun.’ [Lizzy really doesn’t seem to like her friends] Elana instructs the girls to lock up as they arrive at their destination, and Rachel bitterly quips to Lizzy that they wouldn’t want the car to be stolen because it’d take at least a day before daddy can buy her a new one. [OK, maybe I was too harsh on Lizzy and Rachel’s personality is all about being poor lol]
Inside Pete’s, the girls briefly discuss the serial killer before Rachel’s boyfriend, Gideon Miller, comes over to say a quick hi. He’s keen for Rachel to be prom queen so she can share the money with him, but Rachel has no intention of splitting the scholarship, and Gideon quickly heads off to rejoin his friends. Dawn starts boasting that she’s going to win prom queen again, and Elana wonders if anyone’s thought about what they’ll say in the two-minute speeches they’ll each have to give to the entire school. [Is that a common thing? We don’t have proms in Australia so I don’t really know how they work besides what I’ve seen in movies and shows] This gives Lizzy an idea, a variation on her little ‘guess what people are thinking’ game, and she suggests they pretend to do each other’s speeches. [This is sure to start some drama!]
Simone goes first and does a perfect imitation of obnoxious Dawn, who pretends to enjoy it, but Lizzy can tell she’s seething. Dawn then does an impression of Simone, playing up her selfishness, and Simone also struggles to hide how offended she is. Lizzy’s starting to regret the game now but is unable to stop it before Elana does Rachel, emphasising her shyness and financial struggles – ‘”I—I, uh, wanted to prepare a speech, but I couldn’t afford it!”‘ Rachel isn’t impressed and quickly impersonates Elana, declaring that daddy will send her to Europe to cheer her up if she loses, and also offering to buy people’s votes to ensure her win.
Before anyone can ruin the mood further by imitating Lizzy, [Damn it!] Simone leaps up from the table, her face ghostly white. ‘“Oh, no,” she repeats several times before racing out of the restaurant to confront Justin, who’s at the indoor fountain with Vanessa Hartley, a tall and sexy blonde I’ve never heard of. Vanessa quickly escapes while Simone angrily confronts Justin, and the other girls remain at the table discussing how possessive Simone is, which Lizzy can understand because Justin’s ‘the best-looking, coolest, most popular guy at Shadyside High.’ Dawn drops the bomb that she actually went out with Justin last week [Omg lol] when he’d asked her out. Elana admits she’d say yes if asked, and Lizzy agrees, but only if he wasn’t seeing Simone. Rachel shyly confesses that Justin already asked her out, and she said yes! [But what about Gideon?!]
Two nights later it’s time for play rehearsals but Simone is late, as usual. The director, fellow student Robbie Barron, is growing impatient and asks Eva Clarke [Omfg, stop adding these random people we’ll never see again, Stine !] to go call her house, but there’s no answer. Lizzy, the set designer, notices that Justin, who usually watches Simone rehearse from the back row of the auditorium, also isn’t here, and volunteers to go look for Simone around the school, heading off into the darkened halls of Shadyside High. Simone sometimes hangs around the gym waiting for Justin to finish baseball practice, so Lizzy heads their first, but gets trapped in a super-dark stairwell when the door locks behind her and the gym is also locked! She panics and screams for help as she pounds on the door, then convinces herself it’s the killer on the other side of the gym when she hears footsteps approaching.
It’s just the school’s maintenance man, who confirms no-one’s down here and lets her out one of the back doors. The tennis team is practicing on the courts at the far end of the parking lot, so Lizzy decides to ask Dawn if she’s seen Simone. As Lizzy approaches, Dawn rushes through the fence’s gate and jumps into her car, barely even waving when Lizzy calls out to her, clearly in a hurry for some reason. Lizzy jogs over and asks about Simone, but Dawn hasn’t seen her since earlier at school. Lizzy then notices the scratches on Dawn’s face, as if she’d been clawed by a cat. Dawn explains that she was hitting the ball with a girl named Marcie and ended up running into the fence. She assures Lizzy it looks worse than it is and then says she has to get home ‘”because—ah—well, because I’m late,”‘ before driving off. It’s obvious she’s hiding something, but Lizzy has no idea what it could be. [I think I smell a red herring?]
Rehearsal is cancelled, so Lizzy decides to stop by Simone’s place on her way home. She’s greeted warmly by Simone’s parents, who’ve just gotten home, and they tell her Simone’s probably in her room because they saw her bedroom light was on as they drove up. Simone doesn’t answer her door so Lizzy lets herself in, only to be confronted with a room that’s been torn apart. It looks like a horrible struggle has occurred in here, and Lizzy almost faints when she spots a large puddle of blood on the floor. The smell of it invades her nostrils so she scurries to the window for some fresh air:
And that’s when I saw him.
His figure was illuminated for just an instant by the Perrys’ back porch light.
A man.
Running across the backyard into the woods. He was carrying a big gray sack in his arms.
I stared as hard as I could into the darkness. But he ran out of view.
And then I finally began to do what I thought I would have done right away.
I began to scream.
[That would be super scary. Poor Simone in that sack! I wonder if she’s already dead] The next afternoon after school, Justin, Robbie, all the prom queen candidates and some other friends of Simone’s have been gathered at Simone’s place to answer some questions by the police, who haven’t arrived yet. Lizzy can’t handle all the sad energy and heads into the kitchen to see if Mrs. Perry needs help with anything, and the poor woman is beside herself. Mr. Perry tries to assure her that the kidnapper probably just wants some money, but Lizzy isn’t so sure because of all the blood that was in Simone’s room.
Officers Jackson and Barnett arrive and quickly get down to business, asking everyone where they’d been last night. Justin sheepishly admits he’d been studying with Elana, and Lizzy silently assumes that Elana asked him, jealous that he hadn’t invited her out yet. Rachel was working at 7-Eleven, Dawn was at tennis practice, and Lizzy and Robbie had been waiting for Simone at rehearsals, so all of our major characters are accounted for. Lizzy explains her search for Simone and the discovery of her ransacked bedroom, admitting she didn’t get a good look at the fleeing man, but the sack he was carrying was big enough to fit a person.
Elana reveals she saw Robbie and Simone having an argument yesterday at school about her always showing up late to rehearsals. Robbie angrily admits it, but states ‘”Who didn’t argue with her! She was impossible!”‘ He blushes and apologises at his use of the past tense before the questioning continues for the next hour. Afterwards, as Lizzy and Elana walk to their cars, Lizzy wishes there was something they could do, but Elana brusquely interrupts her, fed up with the whole situation and insisting she can’t talk about it anymore. Lizzy’s surprised at the outburst and watches as Elana drives off, eventually realising Elana’s way of controlling her fear is to pretend bad things don’t happen. [How healthy]
As Lizzy’s opening her own car door, she hears a voice behind her shouting, ‘”I killed her! I killed her!”‘ It’s just Lucas Brown, who coincidentally has brown hair and brown eyes, but takes it even further by always wearing brown. He’s stocky and looks cross-eyed due to his eyes being a little too close together, and Lizzy thinks he’s super weird; he once told her keeps a list of gruesome deaths he heard about on TV! Those kind of stories admittedly cheer him up, which apparently is something he always needs – ‘He was almost always in a black depression. And why not? The guy had zero friends. None that I knew of, anyway.’ [Maybe instead of being awful you could be nice to him?]
Anyway, Lucas thinks his little joke is hilarious, but Lizzy angrily puts him in his place, questioning why he doesn’t seem to feel even a little bit bad since used to go out with Simone. [Based on his description I have a hard time believing Simone would date Lucas] Lucas basically orders Lizzy to come get a coke with him because he wants to talk to her, but Lizzy isn’t interested, so he suggests they go back to his place and make out instead. [Ew, OK, bully him all you want, Lizzy. I hope this guy dies] Lizzy quickly gets into her car and drives off, watching through the rear-view mirror as he stares after her.
Lizzy doesn’t know what Simone ever saw in the creep, then remembers that Lucas is a pitcher on the baseball team. When she’d dumped him, Lucas told everyone she used him to get to Justin. Most people agreed with that sentiment, unable to believe Simone was really interested in a guy like Lucas. [Fair call, tbh] She showed up at every baseball practice and wore sexy outfits to every game, so it wasn’t long before Justin asked Simone out and she dropped Lucas. Lizzy used to defend Simone when people would say things behind her back, but it does make perfect sense that she used Lucas to get to Justin.
A news report comes on over the radio, revealing there’s no breaks in Simone’s case, but police are insisting there’s no reason to link her disappearance with the deaths of Stacy and Tina. [I wonder if that means the police just couldn’t find a link… you’d think that’d be the first point of investigation] Lizzy thinks the same psycho is responsible for everything, and all her thoughts about the boys and baseball spark a sudden memory about the man she saw running through Simone’s backyard.
Instead of finding out what she remembers we jump forward to a Wednesday night two weeks later [Damn it, Stine!] and unfortunately Simone still hasn’t turned up, dead or alive, despite the police combing the Fear Street woods. [I feel like this doesn’t fit the pattern of Stacy and Tina’s murders; their bodies seemed to be found pretty quickly! Maybe Simone’s still alive somewhere?]
Lizzy’s driving to the mall with Dawn and Rachel and reveals Lucas Brown called and asked her to prom last night, [Grosssssssssss] and his exact words were, ‘”Guess who you’re going to the prom with? Me!”‘ [Even grosserrrrrrrrrrrrrr] Lizzy obviously turned him down, not just because he’s a creep but because of the whole jacket thing – what she’d remembered while leaving Simone’s place was that the man running away was wearing a maroon satin jacket, which is what the baseball players wear! [Seems like a pretty hard detail to forget, Lizzy…] Dawn correctly points out that anyone can wear a maroon jacket, but Lizzy theorises that Lucas killed Simone as revenge for being dumped. Part of her evidence for this is that Lucas almost never wears the maroon jacket, a logic that I really don’t understand, and then Rachel has her own reasons to suspect Lucas of murder:
‘”Lucas isn’t just anybody,” I reminded her. “He’s a first-class lunatic.”
“And his eyes are a little crossed,” Rachel added.
[Rachel, wtf] Dawn argues that eye problems don’t make him a murderer, [Never thought I’d agree with Dawn!] but Rachel has more evidence to support he could be the killer; Gideon, who Lizzy now remembers is on the baseball team as well, told her that when Lucas’ parents decided to put their dog down, Lucas hung it from a tree in his backyard.
Dawn insists that whoever took Simone is obviously the same person who killed Stacy and Tina, and why would Lucas kill those two?
Lizzy decides to make a quick pitstop as Simone’s place to see if there’s any news, and they learn from her dishevelled father that the police now believe they’re dealing with the same person involved in the deaths of the other girls. Back in the car, Rachel and Lizzy lament the loss of their friend, which prompts some barfing noises from Dawn in the backseat. Lizzy demands to know why she’s being so insensitive, and while Dawn agrees it’s a tragedy and she’s as sorry as they are, Simone wasn’t a best friend to any of them – ‘”She was incredibly self-centred. I mean, can you name one single thing she ever did for either of you?”‘ [Can they name one single thing Dawn’s ever done for either of them?]
Dawn wants them to forget about Simone for a few hours and go shopping for sexy prom dresses before catching a movie, just like they planned. Conversation turns to prom dates; Dawn’s got her choice of three boys who’ve asked her, and Rachel grumbles that no-one’s asked her. Lizzy points out that everyone knows she’ll be going with her boyfriend and tells her to break up with Gideon if she wants offers. Lizzy, on the other hand, plans to go solo if Kevin can’t make it to Shadyside, but she’s not very happy about it. For continuity purposes, Dawn has also learned through Lisa Blume that they’ve hired a great band to play at the dance.
A short time later, Lizzy’s in front of a mirror in a tight pink prom dress. Dawn thinks she’s ‘”just being helpful”‘ when she tells Lizzy it’s not very flattering, adding that she doesn’t have to be assisting her when they’re competing with each other anyway. Lizzy’s a bit angry about it and goes back to searching through the rack. Rachel wants her opinion on a red sheath dress, but it’s ugly so Lizzy politely steers her away from it – ‘I wasn’t going to be like Dawn!’ Dawn continues to push buttons, obnoxiously insisting she’s going to win so it doesn’t matter what Lizzy wears anyway.
Lizzy spots the perfect dress, black with spaghetti straps and a plunging neckline, and pulls it off the rack excitedly. Dawn snatches it off her, telling Lizzy not to be stupid; ‘”It would look so much better on me, and you know it. You’re not tall enough for a dress like this.”‘ [Ugh, Dawn is awful and needs to die] She scampers off to the dressing rooms, leaving an angry Lizzy to wonder why she bothers being friends with Dawn. [I’m thinking the exact same thing] She also scolds herself for never speaking up when she’s angry, because she feels silly bringing it up later. She thinks about how Simone wouldn’t hold back, screaming at Dawn before imitating her competitiveness, and Lizzy’s anger quickly fades into sadness for her missing friend.
Dawn ends up purchasing the black dress and then they head for the cinema. Dawn and Rachel head inside to get seats while Lizzy lines up for the snacks. In front of her in line is the town bike, Suki Thomas, who’s popularity with the boys isn’t ‘because she could help them with her homework!’ [Shut up, Lizzy! This is a Suki Thomas stan blog 😡] Suki’s got her arms wrapped around the neck of her date, who’s none other than Justin Stiles, Simone’s boyfriend. Lizzy can’t believe it and feels like she’s the only person who cares that a classmate has been killed.
Dawn gets up to buy a drink during the movie, but she’s still not back after 10 minutes. Rachel heads off to find her, returning shortly after to fetch Lizzy because something terrible has happened to Dawn! [Good] Lizzy follows her out to the lobby where Dawn’s sprawled out on the ground, unconscious. Rachel had found her at the back of the theatre and the workers had carried her out here. Dawn starts coming to but is quite foggy, muttering about a killer and asking for help. Lizzy notices a bump forming on her head as Dawn explains some guy whacked her as she entered the theatre. The cops arrive and take her statement, assuring Dawn it was probably some random jerk who hit her for the fun of it and not the killer.
It’s starting to storm as Lizzy drops the girls home and returns to her own place, where her mother hands her a letter from Kevin. Lizzy reads it up in her room, and unfortunately Kevin’s still not allowed to come back for prom, but assures Lizzy that he loves her madly, which is cute.
Later, Lizzy gets a call from Rachel, who sobs into the phone and begs Lizzy to come over and help her before the line goes dead. Fearing the worst, because who wouldn’t, Rachel frantically braves the heavy rain and jumps into the car, hurrying over to Fear Street. Terrifying pictures flash into her mind of Simone being murdered the whole time, and as she’s passing the Fear Street cemetery, Lizzy sees a shadow dart onto the road. She slams on the breaks but isn’t quick enough, and feels the bump as her tyres roll over something. Upon investigation, the victim is a raccoon, it’s belly now ‘a mass of raw meat.’ [😢 ]
At Rachel’s place, Mrs. West answers and tells her Rachel’s up in her room, and without explaining the urgency, Lizzy runs upstairs and bursts through the closed door, worried about what she’ll find. Rachel’s perfectly fine, though, and tearfully explains that Gideon is breaking up with her to go out with Elana; they’d gotten to know each other after working together on a social studies project. [I am loving all this drama hahaha] Rachel’s bitter about Elana getting everything she wants and continues to cry into her pillow. Lizzy tries to be supportive, suggesting Rachel can get revenge by beating Elana for prom queen, but Rachel doesn’t care about that; Gideon was the only good thing in her life, and besides, she doesn’t even have a date for prom now! [Rachel, you literally went out with Justin while dating Gideon, you have no right to be this upset]
Arriving home a little while later, Lizzy learns from her father that the police have caught the man who killed Stacy and Tina; apparently it was some guy who escaped from the state prison. There’s still no word on Simone, though, so her disappearance is definitely unrelated.
Around midnight, the McVays are woken by someone at the door. It’s a police officer, who wants to talk to Lizzy because she was the last person to see Rachel alive. [Oooooh, wasn’t expecting Rachel to die! At least, not so early] As it turns out, Mr. West had insisted on taking the whole family out for ice cream, despite the terrible weather, but Rachel had refused to go, too upset about Gideon. She’s just as stubborn as her father and ended up telling him she’d ‘”rather die than go,”‘ and that’s exactly what she did! When the Wests returned home later, they found poor Rachel stabbed to death on her bedroom floor. [See, this fits the M.O. of the guy who killed Tina and Stacy. Where the hell is Simone? Is she even dead?]
It’s Thursday night on the following week now, and Lizzy’s in the prop room above the stage, making sure she’s got everything for tonight’s rehearsal. Dawn enters, regretting taking over Simone’s role in the play because she might stick out too much if her suspicion that someone’s killing 0ff the prom queen candidates is true. Lizzy’s been thinking the same thing over the last few days but won’t admit it, suggesting it’s just a coincidence, but Dawn quickly shuts that down – the criminal who was caught was already in custody when Rachel was killed, and he won’t confess to killing Simone either, so someone else has to be after them.
Dawn still doesn’t think it’s Lucas because he has no reason to kill Rachel, and Lizzy theorises that whoever’s behind the murders is after the $3,000 scholarship the prom queen will receive – ‘”Maybe some guy wants to make sure that his girl wins so he can collect.”‘ Dawn doesn’t think someone would kill four girls over $3,000, proposing instead that some girl who didn’t get nominated is feeling bitter. By this point, Robbie’s calling for Dawn onstage, so she hurries down there to start the rehearsal.
Lizzy settles down on the catwalk to watch and spots Lucas sitting far back in the auditorium. Their eyes meet, and he makes a kissing motion with his lips, sending shivers down Lizzy’s spine because ‘the boy is a psychopath.’ Lucas wouldn’t need a motive for the murders; he’s crazy enough to kill the girls for the fun of it! She looks away and by the time she glances back, he’s gone.
On stage, Dawn’s smiling from ear to ear and certainly doesn’t seem as terrified as earlier as Robbie and the other actors give her a round of applause for how well she’s been doing, and Lizzy has a scary thought – ‘Dawn had a clear motive for the killings!’ Everyone knows Dawn’s crazy about winning, so maybe she got some guy to kill off the other candidates? And what about Elana, could she have a motive? Lizzy can’t believe she’s even suspecting her friends of murder, and then another name pops into her mind; Gideon. That day at Pete’s Pizza when he’d mentioned the scholarship money, Rachel told him he wouldn’t get a cent of it – ‘Maybe he decided it was time to switch horses….’ [Oooh, maybe]
The cast begins rehearsing again, and Lizzy heads down to the wings so she can lower the next drop set into place. She gets the rope unwound and lets it go just in time, but quickly realises it’s not just the set that’s dropping into place! A big, heavy sandbag plummets to the stage with it, landing with a sickening thud as Dawn screams.
Lizzy rushes out to the stage to find that Dawn managed to avoid the sandbag. She gives Lizzy an accusing stare but Lizzy denies any wrongdoing and grows suspicious of Robbie when he keeps insisting it was an accident. When he refuses to believe someone’s after the prom queen candidates, Lizzy ends up storming out to her car.
As she’s driving off, a hand grabs her from the backseat and she almost crashes in the rain. [!!!!!] It’s just that pig Lucas, who refuses to get out when she pulls over He insists it was just a joke and he didn’t mean to scare her, [What did you think would happen then, dickhead?] then gets upset when she tells him to keep his filthy hands off her. He explains that he’s here to apologise for being such a creep, claiming she wouldn’t talk to him any other way after she points out ‘”you picked a pretty bad way to go about it,”‘ [Amen, sister] and the serious, soulful look he’s giving her is very scary because of his close-set eyes.
Lucas just wants to get to know her better because he really likes her, but Lizzy’s heard enough and heads back to school to drop him off. Lucas then puts his arms around her shoulders, and that’s when she notices he’s wearing his maroon baseball jacket. [You didn’t notice when you were looking directly at him just before this?] She wiggles out of his grasp and when they reach the school, she has to threaten to get him in as much trouble as she possibly can with the principal and police before he finally exits the car, and she quickly drives off.
Racing home to what seems like an empty house, Lizzy finds Justin sitting in her kitchen. He explains her parents let him in before they left to pick up Lizzy’s aunt up from the airport, and Lizzy can’t help but think how handsome he is. [Well, he’s technically not with Simone anymore, so I guess you can take a whack at him] He’s here to ask Lizzy not to tell anyone he was with Suki the other night; he doesn’t want to go out with her again, and he doesn’t want it to get around that he went out with her and dropped her – ‘”She’s got a bad enough rep as it is.”‘ [Wooooooooow]
Justin then laments how lonely he’s been without Simone and gently cups Lizzy’s cheek before moving his hand down and rubbing her neck, saying he can tell she’s into him. Lizzy just pulls away and scoffs that he’s the biggest egomaniac in Shadyside, and it’s clear that he’s hurt by his first ever rejection. Lizzy lays into him about dating Simone’s friends while still going steady with her, which pisses him off enough to storm out of the house because he doesn’t want to talk about it, ‘”And if I were you, I wouldn’t talk about it either.”‘
At lunch the next day, Lucas is as annoying as ever before Lizzy and Elana go for a walk outside. Elana feels awful about stealing Gideon from Rachel, insisting Gideon kept hounding her to date him. Lizzy comforts her before the conversation turns to prom, which is now eight days away. Tracey Simon [Stine had written over 15 Fear Street books by this point, why doesn’t he just mention characters we know instead of brand-new names?!] apparently dropped out of the decorating committee because she’s too scared to go into the Fear Street woods, and Elana’s going to prom with Bruce Chadwin. [Lol why isn’t she going with Gideon, her boyfriend?] Lizzy thinks Dawn’s gonna be mad about that, because I guess she likes him. Meanwhile, Kevin still isn’t allowed to return for the prom, so at this stage Lizzy will be going with her Seth, her cousin from Waynesbridge.
Later that day, the remaining candidates each give their speeches about why they should be elected prom queen, and they all get a standing ovation afterwards. Later at play rehearsal, Lizzy arrives early to sort out a drop set that keeps getting stuck while being lowered. For some reason the heavy curtains in the auditorium are all shut, so it’s pitch-black when she Lizzy arrives. She makes her way up to the stage to the lighting board and pulls down all the handles, only to find Elana’s corpse sprawled out facedown on the stage, ‘her left arm bent beneath her in a way an arm does not bend.’
The authorities and an ambulance are called and when a medic turns Elana over to check her pulse, they see that her face is smashed and bloody. It appears that she’d fallen from the catwalk above the stage, and Lizzy tells them she may have been up there looking for her in the prop room. Lizzy tells an officer she knows that Elana didn’t fall, but when questioned how she knows that, she stupidly doesn’t explain that someone’s killing off the prom queen candidates and reiterates that she just knows it. [I have no idea why she isn’t speaking up? Like, there’s a clear connection here, the police would take it seriously] As Elana’s body is taken away, Lizzy notices a small swatch of maroon satin clutched in her hand…
Later that night at Lizzy’s place, she and Dawn are questioned by Officers Jackson and Barnett about Elana and explain their theory that someone’s killing the candidates off. Lizzy insists Lucas is responsible and is assured that he’ll be questioned. After the cops leave, Dawn comments that it’s just her and Lizzy left to duke it out for prom queen. Lizzy’s over Dawn’s competitiveness by this point and declares she’ll be resigning tomorrow so Dawn can win, then storms up to her room, regretting her outburst as she watches Dawn drive away through the window.
Justin calls around 11pm because he’s got something important to talk to Lizzy about, but it has to be in person. Lizzy reluctantly agrees to let him come over and 20 minutes later they’re in the den. Justin paces back and forth holding a letter opener from Lizzy’s dad’s desk as he asks what Lizzy told the police, and Lizzy suddenly remembers that Justin is also on the baseball team, which means he’s got one of those maroon jackets too! Lizzy tries to keep her distance but because he’s a red herring, Justin walks slowly towards her, still holding the letter opener. Dad suddenly enters to see what’s going on and Justin quickly leaves, and Lizzy’s confused what exactly he wanted to talk to her about because he didn’t ask anything except what she told the police, which she didn’t even really answer anyway. Lizzy returns to bed, suddenly exhausted, and gives us a fun fact; ‘When you think you’re about to get stabbed to death, it tends to make you wide awake.’ [Thanks for that, Lizzy!]
Dawn calls the next day, Saturday, having heard that Justin was at Lizzy’s place last night from some kids who saw his car there, and Lizzy explains she has no idea what he wanted. [I just had a thought… Simone’s body still hasn’t been found, so what if she faked her death and is now getting revenge on the girls she thinks Justin has dated behind her back, and it’s just a coincidence that it’s the candidates? Rachel and Elana both went out with him, and Dawn did too, but maybe Simone didn’t know that. Maybe Lizzy will be the next target because of Justin visiting her? But then again, Suki doesn’t seem to be on the hit list. Maybe Simone isn’t aware of that either? Or maybe the twist is something completely different and Simone is a red herring? It’s just super suspicious that we don’t have confirmation she’s dead. Ooh, maybe Dawn’s competitiveness has gotten the best of her and she’s axing the girls in order to win? I think that would be too obvious though…]
Lizzy avoids Justin at school on Monday and receives word from Kevin that he can come to the prom after all, which is exciting. After the dress rehearsal for the play on Tuesday evening, Justin corners Lizzy in the prop room and we finally learn what was so important he had to come over at 11pm on Friday night – he wants her to go to prom with him. Lizzy is relieved that that’s all he wants and they head back down to the stage before she breaks the news that Kevin will be here for the Prom after all. Justin quickly heads off , followed by another actor, Roger Brownmiller, [Another random character? Come on, Stine] leaving just Dawn and Lizzy left in the auditorium. Lizzy continues to pack up, but Dawn’s bloodcurdling scream brings her running back to the stage.
Dawn’s off in the shadows to the right and appears to be wrestling with a knife-wielding man who’s wearing a maroon jacket and baseball cap. Dawn’s initially holding her own but the man ultimately gets the upper hand, and Lizzy’s no use because she trips over a cable and smacks her head on the ground when she rushes over to help. [Hahaha Lizzy, please] Lizzy’s trip enables the attacker to bury the knife in Dawn’s chest, and Lizzy’s last remaining friend collapses to the floor in an unmoving heap. Lizzy climbs dizzily to her feet as the attacker steps out of the shadows onto the brightly lit stage, revealing themselves to be not a man at all, but Simone. [!!!]
Yes, it’s Simone, who staged her disappearance ‘”Because nobody cares about me. Nobody!”‘ Just like I suspected, she’s not killing off girls to become prom queen, but getting revenge on those who betrayed her by sneaking around with Justin. Instead of just straight up killing him as well, she’s punishing him by making him feel the pain she feels. [OK, but why haven’t you targeted Suki yet? She must have seen her with Justin at the movies when she attacked Dawn, right? Or maybe she doesn’t see it as a betrayal because she’s not really friends with Suki?] Simone’s been hiding in the prop room this whole time, keeping well-fed thanks to the cafeteria, but she’ll be returning to her normal life soon, planning to make up a story about being kidnapped – ‘”You know what a good actress I am, Lizzy. Everyone will believe me.”‘ [OK but like, how would the murders of Rachel, Dawn and Lizzy going to be explained? Tina’s and Stacy’s killer was caught before Rachel died, so he can’t be blamed. Would Simone claim her kidnapper murdered them? I feel like it wouldn’t take much to poke holes in her story. Also, did she really need to fake her own death to do all this?]
Lizzy truthfully protests that she never went out with Justin, but Simone isn’t buying it, having heard him ask her to prom, but because Lizzy gave her answer outside the prop room, Simone didn’t hear her rejection. With the bad guy explanation over, it’s time for Lizzy to die, and she backs all the way up against a wall at the side of the stage as Simone moves menacingly towards her. The ropes for the drop sets are right next to Lizzy, and she tugs one, which sends a sandbag plummeting down in front of her. Simone charges for Lizzy at the same time and ends up getting her foot crushed by the heavy sandbag.
Simone manages to free her broken foot but blacks out from the pain, and Lizzy retrieves the knife just in case. She approaches Dawn, who thankfully isn’t dead, and is suddenly attacked by Simone, who’s crawled over to wrap her hands around Lizzy’s neck. Dawn ends up stabbing Simone in the leg, which loosens her grip, and Lizzy and Simone wrestle for the knife, which ends up skidding out onto the stage. Simone hobbles over to grab it, but Lizzy tackles her to the ground and pins her there, screaming for help. The maintenance man rushes into the auditorium and then heads off to call for help, and a short time later the police and paramedics have arrived.
We cut to the prom now as Lizzy dances with Kevin. The whole prom queen thing was abandoned and the money for the college scholarship had been donated in Rachel and Elana’s honour instead. Lucas is dancing with Shari Paulsen, which is a perfect match because ‘she was as weird as he was,’ and Dawn’s flirting with several cuties. A short while later, Dawn approaches, admiring Lizzy’s dress – Dawn had insisted Lizzy wear the sexy black one they’d fought over at the store, and the book ends with one last cheeky comment from one of the most obnoxious girls in Shadyside:
“You know what?” she said, leaning close. “It looks better on you.”
“You’re just saying that to be nice, right?” I asked skeptically.
“Right,” she replied. And quickly danced away.
[Unfortunately Dawn’s near-death experience hasn’t humbled her]
Final thoughts
Plot-wise, this was a pretty enjoyable read. It’s been quite a while since I’ve recapped a slasher-type book, so this satisfied that craving, but a few more deaths would have been nice. I loved the drama that came with Justin being a whore and how pretty much everyone was a suspect, but I also thought the characters were awful people; I still can’t figure out if I like Lizzy or not, lol. She rarely had a nice thought about her friends and really came across like she thinks she’s above everyone, but every now and again she’d switch it up and was more likeable. I feel like I found Dawn the most relatable in terms of cynicism and humour, but she was way too overbearing and obnoxious for my liking. Everyone else was basically a walking stereotype that cheated on their partner and/or betrayed their friend, lol.
The big twist of Simone being the bad guy was clever but predictable since there was never confirmation of her death, but who knows, maybe someone who hasn’t read as much of these books as I have would never have suspected it? If I read this as a kid, I think I would have been shocked. Her motive was pretty weak, though. Justin was the root problem in in Simone’s issues and should have been her first victim, but instead she took it out on her fellow women. Don’t get me wrong, the girls had it coming because they’re terrible friends, but no-one deserved death more than Justin.
Despite how much I liked it, I don’t think The Prom Queen will stick in my memory for very long and there’s definitely better Fear Streets out there, so 121 named characters who we’ll never see again out of 162!
