Tagline: They shared her terrible secret— but could they get away with murder?
Back tagline: Nightmare Island
Summary: “Nothing bad will happen,” Della O’Connor assures her friends in the Outdoors Club. So what if their advisor can’t go on the overnight to Fear Island—Won’t it be more fun with no adults around?
But it’s no fun at all when Della gets lost in the woods, and the dangerous stranger appears, whispering threats, driving her to a violent act.
Suddenly all of her friends are involved, prisoners in a conspiracy of silence, trying to conceal the terrible truth. But someone saw what Della did. And he’s threatening them all, forcing them back to Fear Island to find the evidence they forgot to bury…
First impressions: I have waited a long time to get my hands on the book and I’m glad to finally be able to read it! It sounds like a similar setup to Class Trip, one of my favourite recaps so far, but with a blackmail/stalker main plot, which sounds fun! So many of the books I’ve recapped feature a character or two from this one, so it’ll be nice to actually see what they’re like. It’s also great to see the frequently mentioned Shadyside bike, Suki Thomas, on the cover! She looks very out of place, almost like she’s some kind of fantasy/sci-fi character and not a Shadyside teen. Will she be as great as I expect her to be? Only one way to find out! Let’s read!
Recap
Roll call:
Della – Our heroine who’s obsessed with her ex, Gary.
Gary – Della’s ex who’s not got a thing with Suki.
Maia – Della’s bestie who’s quite childlike.
Pete – The preppy guy who has a crush on Della.
Suki – The baddest bitch in Shadyside who’s getting cosy with Gary.
Ricky – The annoying jokester of the group.
The book begins with our heroine, Della O’Connor, at her locker, groaning inside of her locker door. ‘Someone had scratched the heart, and the words DELLA and GARY inside it,’ last September, which seems to imply that neither Della or Gary did it themselves [Who else would have done it though? That’s a very weird and specific thing for someone else to do?]. The heart is just a reminder of how she angrily broke up with Gary three weeks ago [We don’t know why yet… I bet it’s something totally dumb though. Note from future: We never find out 😡 ], ‘never dreaming that he would take her seriously, that they wouldn’t make up in time for the spring prom.’ [Oh, so you were just playing a little game and it backfired? Serves you right]
Prom has come and gone, though, and Della hasn’t heard from Gary Brandt since their big fight. He passes right by her at school without giving her a chance to talk, but I feel like if she really wanted him back, she wouldn’t let him ignore her, or she’d visit him at home, or even call him, or do something that requires a little effort on her behalf. At this stage, she doesn’t deserve him back. The Outdoors Club’s overnight is happening on Saturday, so Della’s planning on apologising to him then […………..Do it sooner, girl?]. She thinks it’ll be super romantic, even though the other members of the Outdoors Club will be there, including Suki Thomas, ‘who had obviously joined just to be close to Gary.’
[Maybe Suki isn’t entitled enough to expect someone to beg for her back if she breaks up with them after a fight?] Della’s confident she can win Gary back if she has the chance –she’s model-thin and very pretty, after all [The ideal foundation of every relationship, right?]. Della’s best friend Maia Franklin appears [ But in Haunted, Della is Melissa Dryden’s bestie? No mention of Maia at all in that one! I think she’s the only main character in this book who hasn’t been mentioned in any of the other Fear Streets I’ve recapped so far. I wonder if she appears in any of the other earlier books though?], and with her red super-curly hair, glasses and short, boyish figure, ‘she reminded Della of Orphan Annie.’ [Wow, Della hates her best friend]
The girls head to the Outdoors Club meeting where Gary, Suki and Pete are already waiting. Wavy blonde-haired Gary looks up for a split second but quickly returns to his conversation with Suki once he sees that it’s Della who’s just arrived, which must hurt [Good]. As you may or may not know already, Suki’s ‘very punky looking,’ with spiky platinum hair and four earrings in each ear, and it’s clear Della doesn’t like how she’s stolen all Gary’s attention:
Look at Gary making goo-goo eyes at Suki, pretending he doesn’t see me, Della told herself. What do boys see in her anyway? She didn’t have to ask that question. Everyone in school knew the answer. Suki had quite a reputation.
[Not slut-shaming already! Della’s not off to a good start] The preppy, serious-looking Pete Goodwin is also there, and it seems like Pete is crushing on Della [Are we gonna have a love square between Della, Pete, Gary and Suki?]. The final member of the Outdoors Club, Ricky Schorr, arrives now, wearing a shirt that reads ‘NOTHING TO SAY’, which ‘pretty much summed up Ricky’s sense of humour.’ Ricky’s chubby and unkempt and tries way too hard to be funny 24/7, but that’s the only funny thing about him [OK, so it’s clear who’s who on the cover out of the girls, but the guys are much harder to figure out… Gary’s description makes me thing he’s in the middle with Della, but it could also be Pete, and Gary’s the one wrapped around Suki? Which means Maia’s with Ricky, but none of these cover guys are chubby, so I’m not sure].
Anyway, because Ricky is sooooo0000O0OOOOO0OO0Oooooo00000oo hilarious, he rubs poison ivy leaves all over Gary’s pretty face. Gary’s wrestles him to the floor and rubs the leaves in Ricky’s face now, but Mr. Abner, the teacher in charge of the club, arrives and upon inspection, explains that it’s grape ivy, not the poisonous plant [Ricky is lame]. With everything settled down, Mr. Abner sadly reveals that the overnight will no longer be going ahead this weekend due to a personal emergency back in Nashville, but he promises to reschedule when he’s back.
Mr. Abner leaves after dismissing the meeting, and Suki gets the bright idea to go on the overnight anyway, but by themselves, much to Maia’s horror. Maia’s parents are super strict and were barely wanting to let her go with a chaperone, let alone without any adult supervision. Ricky, on the other hand, likes Suki’s plan:
“Neat idea! We’ll go by ourselves. It’ll be terrific. No one to bother us or tell us what to do.” He stared at Suki. “Who wants to share my tent?”
“Get real, Schorr,” Suki said, rolling her eyes. “You won’t get mosquitoes to share your tent!”
Everyone else laughed. Ricky looked really hurt.
[Hahahahaha Suki is great. Does Ricky have a little crush on her? That’s cute] Suki insists their parents don’t need to know that Mr. Abner won’t be there, and Pete, Della and Gary all agree that it will be fun and they really don’t need the teacher anyway. Maia’s still not sure, terrified at what her parents will do if they ever find out, but Della promises her it’ll be completely fine and “Nothing bad will happen”‘ [Famous last words lol].
On Saturday morning, Pete kindly gives Della a lift to Fear Lake, and in the car she realises he probably likes her. He might be too perfect by her standards, though – straight teeth, a straight nose, smooth hair, ‘and he dressed better than anyone else.’ [Sounds like a catch. What’s the issue, Della?] She’s too busy thinking about making up with Gary to listen to whatever Pete’s saying until he actually brings Gary up himself, asking if they broke up. Della explains they haven’t settled things so she’s not exactly sure [You broke up with him, that seems pretty clear-cut to me!], and clearly dismayed, Pete changes the subject and asks if she’s scared to stay on Fear Island.
Everyone’s heard the stories about Fear Island – how dangerous, mutated animals roam the woods, or that the island was used as an Indian burial ground and spirits walk the island at night, seeking revenge. Della reckons the stories were made up by campers to keep Fear Island as devoid of other campers as possible, so she’s not scared one bit.
Pete and Della are last to arrive at the lake, and of course Suki is practically glued to Gary’s side. Maia had managed to successfully trick her parents, but she’s still concerned that they’ll find out the truth, despite Della’s insistence that she’s just being silly. The gang quickly sets off for the island in canoes, forced to endure several awful jokes from Ricky before they reach their destination because he just can’t take the hint that he’s not funny.
The jokes don’t stop on the island either, as he immediately asks if they can order pizza, and then instantly gets his feelings hurt when Suki suggests he go get it while everyone else waits here [I wonder if the constant jokes are his way of trying to impress Suki? Poor guy needs to buy a vowel]. The group sets off in search of a place to camp [And notice two blue jays chirping away in a tree on the way, which is a very big surprise to me because so many other books state there’s no animals in the Fear Street Woods. Della also saw some ducks on the lake earlier, so maybe even though the lake and island are within the Fear Street Woods, they don’t count as the woods themselves. Or maybe the no animals thing is just a retcon], and quickly find a suitable clearing to set up all their stuff.
There’s one tent for the boys and one for the girls, so I guess there’ll be no hanky-panky tonight [Where there’s a Suki, there’s a way!], and after getting everything ready, they all head off in different directions looking for firewood. Pete clearly wants to search with Della, but she doesn’t want to encourage him and hurries off before she can reach him, heading in the direction Gary went in. She’s can’t wait to apologise and be with him again, and wonders how she could be so stupid as to break up with him; she doesn’t even remember what their fight was about [Which means we’ll never know either 😡 ]. Della’s excitement is short-lived, however, when she spots Gary and Suki having a make-out sesh through the trees.
A few hours later, Ricky pulls out some ZAP guns from his bag [Which were a real toy in the ’80s!] so they can all have a ZAP war, shooting washable paint at each other [It’s like a stream of paint, so similar to paintball, but a lot messier]. Della’s been quietly fuming after seeing Suki and Gary earlier and, ever the spiteful cow, she’s all for a ZAP war when Suki expresses disinterest. Suki changes her mind when she realises she’ll get to shoot the annoying Ricky, since it’s boys vs girls for this war, plus she’s turned on by the ‘”hunting and being hunted”‘ aspect of the war game [Hubba hubba!]
With a 10-minute limit before they can start shooting, the boys head south while the girls go west. Della’s disappointed that she’s not on Gary’s team and is stuck with dirty old Suki instead, but she knows she’s not necessarily being fair – ‘she had broken up with Gary after all. Sort of.’ [What do you mean “sort of?” You literally broke up with him?]
Soon the girls split up so they can circle in on the boys, and Maia nervously heads off first. Alone with Della, Suki suddenly says ‘”Gary’s really nice,”‘ and seeks confirmation that Della had broken up with him, but then sets off without waiting for an answer, leaving Della staring after her, dumbfounded:
What was she trying to prove, anyway? Was she trying to excuse her moving in on Gary so quickly? Was Suki challenging her? Was she trying to be friendly? Was she making fun of her?
[I’d say she was just trying to be nice, making sure Gary wasn’t cheating on Della. But then why didn’t she wait for an answer? Funny bugger] After a brief shootout with Ricky where she shoots him but he misses her, Della scampers off and realises she has no idea what direction she’s heading. No-one answers when she calls out to her friends, so she hopes for the best and keeps on walking until ‘a man she had never seen before’ steps out from behind a tree a few feet ahead and moves quickly towards her [Terrifying].
He looks to be about 21-22 and stops just in front of her, and in true Shadyside fashion, Della’s first thought is how handsome he is. She starts up a conversation with him, but he’s very mysterious with his answers, not giving her much to work with. Still, he’s the most handsome guy she’s ever seen, what with his straight, white teeth and dimples [Why are this guy’s straight, white teeth sexy but Pete’s are too perfect?], and it’s not long before she’s flirting with him.
He eventually reveals he’s here to study the trees for a college paper on tree reproduction, but it’s pretty obvious he’s thinking on his feet simply because Della won’t stop being so nosy. The stupid girl is oblivious to his obvious lies and isn’t even a tad concerned about anything until he starts incoherently rambling about communication. She tries to excuse herself from the situation but he grabs her hair instead, pulling her in nice and close to examine her gold earrings. He doesn’t care that he’s hurting her either, and starts dragging her up a nearby slope that looks down into a ravine [This escalated very quickly].
He starts rambling again, this time about how he’s been waiting too long and doesn’t ask for a lot, but decided to just take something:
“That’s what I told the old man. But he wouldn’t listen. I couldn’t communicate, see. That’s what we’re talking about. Communication. I found a way to communicate with him okay. I found a way. But it didn’t do him any good. I mean, you don’t learn a lesson if you’re dead. Know where I’m coming from?”
[What old man? Is this guy admitting to murder?] Della backs away as he loosens his grip a little, and she notices the silver chain around his neck with ‘three silver skulls hanging from it.’ [I’m sure it’ll be relevant later] Della suddenly remembers the ZAP gun in her back pocket and quickly whips it out, sending a stream of paint onto his forehead. She takes off back down the hill now, but he catches up to her super quickly and drags her all the way back to the top of the ravine, where he angrily shakes her by the shoulders.
Della just shoves him away with all her might, and the man goes tumbling ‘down the side of the steep ravine,’ much to her surprise. She hears him ‘scrape against the ground’ a few times [Ouch] before landing with a thud at the bottom and falling silent. Della takes a peek down the ravine, which isn’t as steep or as deep as she’d thought, and spots the man all twisted at the bottom, his head in such a weird position that it looks like ‘it had come off and been carelessly replaced by someone who didn’t know which way a head was supposed to fit.’
Hoping she hasn’t just accidentally murdered someone, Della makes her way down to check for a pulse, but all she can feel is her own. Even though it was self-defence, she’s convinced her life is ruined, and so are her friends’ lives because now all of their parents will know they came out here unsupervised [This girl really thinks their parents finding out they lied about a chaperone is the end of the world lol].
But ‘why ruin her life for this … this creep?’ Why ruin her friends’ lives for this creep? She quickly decides not to tell anyone, since there’s no actual reason to tell anyone, especially because he simply could have slipped and fallen down the ravine of his own accord. She silently praises herself for being so smart [Questionable] and gets to work covering the man’s body with the dry leaves on the ground, ‘dead leaves from the winter just passed.’ [Why is she trying to hide him if she wants it to look like he fell all by himself lol??? That would be the only thing to make it look suspicious? Just leave (😏 ) it as is, you idiot!] She’s determined to act like this whole thing never happened, but unfortunately for Della, the gang is watching her from the top of the ravine [Hahahah rip].
Della pleads her case as she scrambles back up the ravine, and luckily for her they all believe the truth. Maia’s actually even more upset than Della, crying as she thinks about what her parents will do when they find out. Della doesn’t like this, because ‘how can she have the nerve to cry’ when Della’s the one who just murdered someone? [How can you have the nerve to be angry, when it’s your actions that got her this upset in the first place? Della is a bad friend] After Gary heads down and confirms that there’s no pulse, the group agrees to pretend this whole thing never happened and he and Pete cover the rest of the body up with leaves.
Everyone’s eager to head straight home when they return to camp, but Della points out that their parents will suspect something fishy if they go home sooner than tomorrow. Maia completely freaks out, prompting sassy Suki to threaten to cover her with leaves too [Hahahahahhaha I love her]. They quickly build a fire and settle down for a hot dog dinner, but no-one’s very chatty tonight.
Afterwards, Gary leads them in an oath of secrecy, making everyone touch hands over the fire because ‘”A ceremony makes it official.”‘ [OK] The wind blows the fire out as soon as the oath is done and they’re all even more shaken after that [I would be too, that’s super ooky spooky!], but that’s as far as this book goes supernaturally. After relighting the fire, they decide to go to bed because the sooner they wake up, the sooner they can leave, and as she retires to the girls’ tent with Maia, Della spots Suki and Gary heading into the woods, ‘their arms wrapped around each other’s waists.’ [You had your chance, Della, it’s time to move on]
Della manages to fall asleep after an eternity of trying not to think about the dead guy or Gary’s blossoming relationship with Suki [Della, shut the fuck up], but she’s woken a few hours later by what sounds like footsteps outside the tent.
She wakes Suki and Maia up, but neither of them are brave enough to go investigate with her, so she takes a flashlight and steps out into the night [This is how people get killed in horror movies, Della!]. She continues to hear footsteps but doesn’t find any culprit, and after realising how silly it is to be out here right now, she decides it was just an animal. As she’s returning to the tent, she notices that everyone’s backpacks are now scattered over the ground when she knows they were piled neatly by the fire when everyone went to bed [This would be so fkn scary]. None of the bags are open, so Della decides a racoon must have been searching for food and she’d heard it heading back into the woods [Sounds like wishful thinking to me. I’d be waking everybody up!].
Everyone’s basically silent as they pack up their camp the next morning, and soon they’re heading back to the shoreline. For some reason, Ricky doesn’t realise he’d left his backpack at the campsite until they reach the lake, and he takes off at full speed back through the woods to retrieve it [How do you just forget your backpack? How did none of the other five people realise a backpack was still at the site when they were leaving? Idiots]. The others head towards where they left the canoes to wait, but surprise, surprise, the canoes are missing [!!!!].
Gary tells everyone not to panic, but Maia doesn’t know how to follow instructions and does the exact opposite, still concerned that her parents are going to kill her [Her parents must be fkn awful if she’s this scared of them]. Gary’s positive this is where they left the canoes because the tracks in the sand are still here [So wouldn’t there also be tracks in the sand to where the canoes are now?? Follow them?], and then Ricky returns and reveals he moved them yesterday during the ZAP war as a little prank [This guy is painfully unfunny]. He leads them to the canoes and the gang is soon on their way, and Della can’t help but realise how they’re all different people after one day – ‘we all have a nightmare that we share, that we must hide.’ [I mean, it wasn’t that big of a deal until they covered up the body because Della only pushed the guy in self-defence. I think their main concern is their parents finding out there was no chaperone on this trip though, rather than the dead body they’ve left behind hahaha].
When Della arrives home, she’s bombarded with questions about the trip by her mother, so I guess Della’s nosiness is hereditary. Della pours herself some orange juice, hoping that will help prevent her from spilling the beans about everything like she wants to, but then she tips it down the sink after only drinking half [Orange juice is gross but still, why pour so much if you’re not gonna drink it? I’d be pissed if I was her mother]. Still, Della’s about to burst out the secret [Della, you haven’t even tried to keep it to yourself at this point], but luckily Mum’s heading out the door to church before Della can spit it out.
Della sleeps all day and by the time she’s sitting down to dinner, she’s a lot more calm about the situation and no longer has the urge to tell her mother everything. She’s even able to concentrate on her homework… until Maia calls and asks her to come over, sure that her parents suspect something. Despite the irritation brought on by Maia’s lack of composure, Della’s well aware Maia wouldn’t even be in this mess if Della hadn’t insisted she come to the overnight [Exactly, cut her some slack and be a better friend]:
I’ve got to stop thinking about her so harshly, Della decided. I’ll go over there and give her a pep talk, make her feel better. That’s what friends are for, after all.
Friends.
Were her friends going to come through for her? Were they going to keep the secret as they had vowed?
They had to, she decided. They had to.
[Ohhhh, so she’s going over to Maia’s for selfish reasons, not because she’s worried about Maia] Della slips into some clean clothes and then searches her room for her wallet. She remembers taking it on the overnight, but she hasn’t unpacked her backpack yet, so she dumps the contents onto her bed… but there’s no wallet [Oooh, so she really did hear a person walking around outside the tent? And someone was going through their bags?].
She leaves without it and heads over to Maia’s house. She tries to soothe Maia, who thinks her parents suspect something because ‘”My mom looked at me funny.” All she’s told them about the overnight is that she had fun and ‘”it wasn’t the wild orgy they imagined it would be'” [‘They’ being her parents, btw. Also, that word’s a bit raunchy for a Fear Street, isn’t it?! Maybe Stine had to censor them more as the series went on].
Della reassures Maia that the guy’s death was just an accident – he attacked Della first, so it’s not like he was some innocent person in the wrong place at the wrong time. Still, Maia’s sure that everyone’s going to find out about the body and that they were unchaperoned on the island. Della is adamant, however, that it’ll probably be weeks or months before the body is discovered, if at all, and ‘”There won’t be anything to tie us to it.”‘ [Wait, could Della’s wallet have been in her pocket during the altercation, and it fell out near the body? 😱 On second thought, probably not because why would she be walking around a desolate island with her wallet?]
Della spends the next to hours consoling Maia, and at first she’s mad that Maia is so much more upset than she is herself; but after looking around at the lacy white curtains and stuffed animals and dolls everywhere, and also remembering how overbearing Maia’s parents are, Della becomes more understanding:
Maia didn’t have much of an opportunity to act like a grown-up. Her parents were doing everything they could to keep her a child.
[Now that is deep! And great character development. We don’t see that very often in Shadyside, at least not in many of the book I’ve covered so far. Also, ‘grown-up’ seems like such a juvenile word. Like, surely teenagers just say adult, even in 1989 when this was published] When Della arrives home later, she’s surprised to find an envelope at the front door. There’s no writing on the outside, ‘just a black smudge, probably a fingerprint, in the lower right corner.’ There’s something bumpy inside, so Della opens the envelope and lets it drop into her hand – a tiny silver skull, just like the one on the dead man’s necklace! Also inside the envelops is a note that reads ‘I SAW WHAT YOU DID.’
[How very ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’!] Tuesday after dinner, the gang’s at Della’s house while her mother is out [Her parents are divorced which, in these books, usually means the other parent is barely in the picture] to discuss the note and skull, minus Pete who’s running late. Gary pulls out a second skull, this one left in his own letterbox yesterday, and they determine that only he and Della received any special gifts. The group learns that both Gary’s and Della’s wallets have been missing since the overnight, the other night, and Della realises there really was a person she’d heard outside the tent [!!!!], and this must be how whoever it is knows the pair’s addresses.
Maia refuses to go to the police because ‘”Our parents will never trust us again,”‘ [Imagine being more scared of your parents than facing repercussions of an actual crime], and Suki mentions that if the bad guy was planning on turning them in or reporting the body, he would have done so already. She reckons he’s just trying to frighten them and suggests they ignore the note and the skulls, while Della, on the other hand, argues that he’s probably planning on blackmailing them – if he saw them bury the body in leaves, uncover it later and steal the necklace to taunt them, then he could be capable of anything and they’re all probably in danger!
Suki argues that he’s he’s already had ample time to hurt them if he wanted to, but the discussion stops there because there’s a knock at the door. Assuming it’s Pete, Della opens up, only to find the porch empty. Maia’s worried that the bad guy has come back for them, so Della hurries around the house to make sure all the doors are locked, but as soon as she returns to the living room, there’s another knock at the door.
After no-one answers their “who’s there?” calls, Gary opens the door and steps out to investigate, but of course, there’s no-one there again. Even Suki seems worried now, although that doesn’t stop her getting several digs in at Ricky [She really is great hahaha]. Gary heads upstairs, returning with Della’s Polaroid camera, and plans for Della to open the door as soon as they hear a knock so he can take a picture of the culprit before they can run off [What do you need the camera for though? You could just open the door and all see him anyway?].
Della thinks it’s a dumb plan [The camera part is] but agrees to it anyway, and when someone knocks on the door again, she flings it open. The flash of the camera illuminates the porch, revealing ‘a face, a blur of hair, dark clothes’ as a man scurries off the side of the porch and into the bushes. The group is too shocked to give chase [Seriously, what was the point of this if you’re not going to actually do anything?], so they just stand there and wait for the photo to develop. Unfortunately, the camera didn’t actually capture the guy somehow, so it’s back to the drawing board.
Pete finally arrives and he’s brought something with him for show and tell! It’s a newspaper clipping about a robbery gone wrong, resulting in a fatal shooting of an eccentric millionaire rumoured to have a stash of cash somewhere in his home. Neighbours had spotted two burglars breaking into the millionaire’s house, followed by some gunshots before the two men fled the house empty-handed. Police believe the millionaire was killed after refusing to hand over any money, and finding the criminals is their number one priority.
Accompanying the article is sketch of the man from Fear Island, and Della remembers how he started banging on senselessly about teaching an old man a lesson. His partner was probably hiding nearby and must have seen Della’s altercation with his partner [Why wouldn’t he have come out of hiding to help his mate kidnap Della, or whatever the hell he was gonna do with her? Why stay hidden?]. Discussion returns to what their tormentor actually wants with them, and Pete suggests he’s planning to extort cash from their parents by threatening to go to the police about the Fear Island murder. The partner can’t actually go into the police station himself on account of being a wanted killer, though, but he could easily phone in a tip-off about the teens.
Gary suggests they go to the police, and once again Maia protests that it’s a horrible idea, causing Della to blow up and accuse Maia of only being worried about her parents finding out there was no chaperone rather than what happens to her friends [She speaks the truth, but at the same time all Della cares about is what happens to herself, so…]. Pete defends Maia, because she does have a point:
“What are the police going to do to protect you—to protect any of us—from this creep? Nothing. Are they going to put a full-time guard around your house? Or escort you to school and back? No way.”
[But…….. the police could do both of those things to help them??? Like, the group knows they’re being stalked by a killer, so it makes a lot of sense to get a secret police guard to stake out Della’s and Gary’s homes until he returns, does it not?. Personally, I’d go to the police and tell them they witnessed a murder on Fear Island and pin the death on the killer who’s still alive, claiming that he’s now blackmailing us to keep that death a secret. He’s a wanted killer already anyway, so I doubt the police would believe his protests of innocence, right? Two birds with one stone!]
There’s another knock at the door now, but this time it’s just Della’s mother returning home, knocking because she forgot her key [And because we needed another cliffhanger chapter ending!]. The Outdoors Club members are quickly dismissed and head home, but not before Pete privately asks Della out on a date for Friday night [How cute!]. She agrees, wondering if Pete’s just what she needs to get over Gary [Pete’s too lovely to just be a rebound, Della!]
Friday night comes around, and Pete and Della are having a boogie at The Mill which, cleverly, is an old, collapsed mill on the outskirts of town resurrected and repurposed as a teen dance club [What about Red Heat? I’ve never heard of The Mill before]. Della’s surprised by how much fun she’s having and can’t believe how wrong her impression of Pete had been, so she gives him a little smooch in the parking lot before they head home.
As they’re heading back to the main part of Shadyside, Pete notices a Taurus tailing his car with their brights on. When he slows to let it pass, the car slows too. When Pete pulls over, the car does the same. Pete eventually starts speeding down the winding road, and the Taurus speeds up enough to bump into his car a few times. Proving he’s the inspiration behind the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise, Pete slams on the breaks while spinning his car around [This is so dangerous lol], miraculously keeping control the whole time, and the other car ends up leaving the road and crashing into the trees. When Della and Pete go to check on the driver, the car is empty [!!!!].
There’s an Outdoors Club meeting after school on Monday where Mr. Abner, back from his family emergency and wearing cowboy boots, apologises again for having to reschedule the overnight. He’s been able to reschedule it for this Saturday, though, so the kids needn’t worried[Woo! 🥳 ]. He’s surprised by everyone’s unenthusiastic reactions as the group gives some excuses about having plans already, but so as not to appear too suspicious considering how excited they’d been about it originally, they agree to meet up on Wednesday afternoon to let him know if they’ll be able to make it or not.
After the meeting, the group discuss what to do – none of them want to go back to Fear Island, but it’s not like they can all pretend to be too busy every weekend to avoid going. Gary even suggests they tell Mr. Abner about their unchaperoned trip, because surely he won’t tell the police what happened [Why wouldn’t he? What is this logic?], but everyone else chucks that idea straight in the bin where it belongs.
Ricky suddenly remembers that Della had never returned the ZAP gun she’d used to him [It’s been like, a week, Ricky, why are you only remembering this now?], and she realises in horror that it’s still on Fear Island, since the man had grabbed it off her before he’d fallen [And none of them realised the gun was next to the body when they were covering it up? And Ricky didn’t realise he was missing a gun before they all returned home?]. Ricky is mortified because ‘”all the police have to do is ask any kid at Shadyside who has ZAP guns,”‘ and they’ll be sent his way, since I guess he’s the only person into ZAP wars [Probably not much of a surprise; I don’t know anyone over the age of 10 who’d enjoy their clothes being splattered with paint].
Knowing she’s to blame for the gun being left behind, Della insists on returning to the island to get it back, but Pete kindly offers to go with her. Gary suggests they all go on the overnight this weekend after all, so Della can slip away briefly to retrieve the gun. As expected, Maia isn’t keen on the idea, worried that the man’s partner will be there:
“I hope he is,” Gary said, his face hardening with anger. “I’m fed up with all this stupid partner business. I’d like to pound the guy. I really would.”
Della looked doubtful. She hated it when Gary started talking tough.
[But I love unintentionally gay innuendo] Gary insists that they’re all in this together and Maia reluctantly agrees, theorising that ‘”It couldn’t be any worse than the last overnight”‘ [Well, now you’re just asking for it, Maia].
It’s terrible weather for an overnight on Saturday, with grey skies and some rainfall, and as they canoe to the island, Della realises how much she’s starting to like Pete – it didn’t even bother her when she saw Gary rock up with Suki [Finally!]. After an hours-long hike across and around the island, the group return to their starting point and set up camp in a clearing just beyond the tree line, not far from their original campsite [Wait, weren’t any of their parents suss that they’re going on another overnight so soon? Especially Maia’s? How’d they get around that?].
Mr. Abner instructs everyone to collect firewood while he and Maia unpack supplies for dinner [It’s been raining for hours and everything is wet lol, they really should have set up camp and got wood before their long ass hike], and Della and Pete decide now is as good a time as any to head to the ravine for the gun., but they’ve barely left the campsite before Maia’s screaming for help.
Everyone rushes back to camp to find Mr. Abner on his back, eyes closed, mouth open, ‘a rivulet of blood trickling down from his scalp.’ Maia’s cradling his head in her arms and explains he was hit over the head by some man who then ran off into the trees [Or did Maia do it herself, and she’s a secret bad guy, separate from the two burglars? Maybe she just wants to get off the island asap and thought attacking Abner would be the best way? That would be a nice twist]. She didn’t get a good look at the guy, but she’s pretty sure he was wearing a black jacket. Maia quickly takes charge of the situation, insisting they need to get help for Mr. Abner:
Della was surprised at how well Maia reacted in an emergency. She’s stronger than anyone gives her credit for, Della thought.
[This makes Maia sooooooooo suss. Kind of weird how she’s been hysterical for most of the book but now is super calm. I doubt she’s a bad guy though] The group realise it must be the dead man’s partner, back to get his revenge on them, but none of them really seem that concerned about it. With Mr. Abner still losing blood, Gary, Ricky and Suki decide to take a canoe back to town and seek help while the others stay behind.
Della and Pete decide to go get the ZAP gun [And leave poor Maia all alone with a killer on the loose? Great friends], but after Maia understandably makes a fuss about being by herself, Pete decides to stay behind with her. Della has a whistle around her neck and promises to blow on it if she gets into any trouble, and Pete gives her a heavy flashlight to take with her because it’ll be dark soon [And it will also double as a weapon if she needs it to!].
As Della heads through the woods alone, she thinks about how ‘Maia’s such a baby,’ but she realises they’ve all got a good reason to be scared [Della is fkn horrible to Maia lol]. Della’s barely even paying attention to where she’s going because she’s so focused on her own fear, but she soon recognises a steep incline and knows she’s not far from the ravine. To her right, she sees a flash of light through the trees. She turns her flashlight off just in case it’s the bad guy, but then wonders if maybe Pete calmed Maia down and had come after her. She’s briefly torn between the two choices, and then stupidly calls out to Pete three times before realising it’s not him when she hears the person cough… ‘a man’s cough.’ [Seriously, if it was Pete, don’t you think he would have been calling out to you?]
Della scolds the stupidity of leading the killer right to her and takes off running up the hill through the darkness. Before she realises it, she’s right over the edge and goes hurtling towards the ominous pile of leaves at the bottom of the ravine. The poor girl lands right on top it and quickly scrambles to her feet to avoid the corpse, but she soon realises there’s no body beneath the leaves [Oooh, was he alive?]. Pushing the dead guy from her mind, she starts searching for the ZAP gun but finds the flashlight instead. The light refuses to come on, so she’s just about to toss it aside when she hears a cough behind her and spins around [Why is this guy always coughing?]:
Someone was standing above her in the darkness. First she saw his black, mud-splattered boots. Then she saw his straight-legged jeans.
Here eyes went up to the leather bomber jacket.
“NO! IT CAN’T BE!” she screamed in a voice she didn’t recognize. “YOU WERE DEAD! I KNOW YOU WERE DEAD!”
With a growl more animal than human, he leaped off the side of the ravine, hurtling himself at her and grabbing her throat with both hands.
[That whistle would have come in handy several minutes ago, Della] She manages to slip out of his grasp and whack him over the head with the flashlight, and he crumples to the ground. The blow also made the light turn on, and Della realises it’s not the guy she killed on the OG overnight, and must be his partner.
Not caring about the ZAP gun anymore, Della climbs up the ravine and heads back through the woods, wanting to get the others and just leave the island. She reckons the others will be back with help by now, even though I doubt more than half an hour has passed, if that. Eventually, she hears footsteps behind her and once again assumes it’s Pete [God knows why she wouldn’t automatically suspect the guy she’d just hit recovered and is after her again, especially when the footsteps are behind her], so she stops and blows the whistle, but no sound comes out – ‘the whistle had no little ball inside.’ [I don’t really understand while she wants to blow it anyone. To lead ‘Pete’ to her I guess, but like, if he’s already following you, he probably doesn’t need to hear the whistle?].
Throwing it aside, she cries out to Pete and runs towards the footsteps, only for a foot to kick out from behind a tree and send her sprawling into the mud. Turning back to see who’s now laughing at her, Della recognises the dead man from the first overnight, and this time it’s actually him! Her reaction is severely lacking compared to when she thought the other guy was this guy [It’s annoying that they’re both unnamed lol], and the man reveals how he was able to trick the teens into thinking he was dead:
“I’m a medical freak,” he said softly, calmly. “No lie. I have a very faint pulse point. Even doctors have trouble finding it.”
[That sounds… unsafe for him? Is this a real condition?] After Della questions why he’s doing all this, he explains that because he and his partner didn’t get a dime from the old millionaire, Della’s ‘”little burial number”‘ gave them another idea. The note, skulls, and his partner stalking her and Pete in the Taurus the other night were all just a ploy to scare the group, softening them up to ‘”make it easier to squeeze a little money from you and your kind parents.”‘
The guy then grabs Della and accosts her for not checking to see if he was breathing, accusing her of not caring enough, and then he gives her a backhand across the face when she tries to protest. He then manipulates her into saying he’s good-looking [This guy is fkn weird] and pulls out a pistol when he doesn’t think she’s saying it sincerely enough [It’s obviously the ZAP gun and not a real pistol, although I guess we can forgive Della for not realising because she’s shitting bricks right now…but she should recognise it, right?], pressing it against her temple before squeezing the trigger.
As suspected, it’s the ZAP gun, and the man cannot stop laughing at how scared Della was of it. While he’s distracted by his own hysterics, Della makes a mad dash into the woods, but she’s quickly tackled to the ground, ironically at the exact moment she’s thinking about how she’s never run so fast before. He pulls her to her feet and warns that he’s got a real gun too, and he’s not afraid to use it again, just like he used it on the old man.
He starts rambling about communication once again before insisting he himself is dead, since Della “killed” him. A bright light bursts on, blinding the man long enough for the halogen lantern-wielding Pete to pull Della to her feet so they can escape. Before she starts running, Della picks up the ZAP gun and squirts paint straight into the man’s eyes, blinding him further [Good thinking!]. Dimwit Della realises she’d been running in the wrong direction previously and glances back to see the man cautiously running after them, still unable to see properly. Finally, Della and Pete stumble into camp and collapse with exhaustion, closely followed by the man.
He’s immediately surrounded by three cops who burst into the campsite, and the man is too surprised and tired to fight back as they arrest him. Della tells a cop that the man’s partner is in the ravine, offering to lead them to him, and she’s informed that there’s a reward for capturing the guys. After a shared smiled with Pete, Della cheesily tells the cop that the best reward is that the nightmare is over [Fuck that, give me the money!].
Although abrupt, it seems like a perfect spot for the book to end, but instead we get a short chapter set a week later as Della’s getting ready for a date with Pete. Mum doesn’t want her out too late, nervous after the Outdoors Club had finally told their parents everything that had happened over the last few weeks, but Della’s determined not to think about the ordeal anymore so she can have a good night.
After Pete picks her up, Della notices a folded up tent in the backseat. He jokes that he’s taking her camping, but quickly explains he’s taking it to be patched up for his brother’s scout troop, and the book ends with this… joke? Flirtation? You can decide, but whatever it is doesn’t seem like the usual quip we’re accustomed to:
“Well, okay,” she said, laughing and settling back in the seat. “From now on, the only camping I want to do is in front of the TV set in the den!”
“That sounds good to me too,” Pete said, motioning for her to move closer to him on the seat. “But can you roast marshmallows in front of the TV?”
“We can try,” Della said, moving close. “We can try.”
[Is it supposed to be funny? Cute? Who knows!]
Final thoughts
This was surprisingly straightforward, as far as Fear Street/Point Horror goes. I guess the man actually being alive was the big twist, but most plots would have had one of protagonist’s friends being the bad guy or something. I guess the longer the series went on, the more convoluted the plots got? The real mystery of this book, though, is why did Della end things with Gary?!? That’s what I really wanna know.
I was expecting more from it, but I still enjoyed this book for what it was. Della is definitely a flawed heroine, and she really seemed to dislike Maia. It was also weird how quickly she moved on from her obsession with Gary after one date with Pete, but I’m sure we all know someone who jumps from relationship to relationship and is in love within a day or two [I keep several on Facebook and Instagram because it’s hilarious to watch].
I feel like all the side characters were written really well; they all had distinct personalities, including Della’s mother and Mr. Abner. I always enjoy it when we get a sense of who a character is by their actions and words rather than just a paragraph or two describing their personality. I didn’t touch on it as much as it came up in the book, but the dynamic between Ricky and Suki was entertaining – he seemed to have a crush on her while she really couldn’t stand him, but it was so subtly that it might not even be picked up by less analytical readers. Or maybe I’m just overanalysing?
Speaking of Suki, I love her and I want more of her. It’s a shame that outside of this book, she’s basically relegated to mentioned or seen-but-not-heard cameos, more often than not purely to be slut-shamed by other characters. She deserves to be front and centre and would have been great as a heroine in her own story! #JusticeFor Suki
Anyway, I’d recommend this if you want something simple and easy to follow, but there’s definitely more fun ones out there. 64 tiny silver skulls out of 90.
