Tagline: Party till you drop…dead
Back tagline: The night time is the right time—for murder.
Summary: Gretchen Davies and her friends know Fear Island is an awesome place to have a party.
You can dance all night, share secrets with your best friends, fall in love….
Or die. Because there’s a madman loose on the island. A killer who plans to spoil the party.
The birthday girl gets to go first, of course.
Who’s next?
First impressions: I remember this being one of the first Fear Street books I read, although it was the reprinted version with this cover, and I was super excited because I thought it was going to be about a bunch of people being picked off one by one at a raging party on Fear Island. Unfortunately, I was slightly disappointed because it was basically just a small group of friends barely even having a party, and if memory serves correctly, there’s only one death. Oh well. I don’t remember anything from the plot besides Cindy being murdered, so I’m practically going in blind.
The cover is interesting… that boy looks super intense lol. Are we gonna have a love triangle with two toxic guys who think they own a girl? And that blonde girl at the back looks like she’s about to cry. Is this a scene from the book? Let’s find out!
Recap
Roll call:
Gretchen – Our heroine who’s relatively new to Shadyside.
Cindy – The self-centred friend who always gets what she wants.
Hannah – Gretchen’s best friend and Gil’s girlfriend.
Gil – Hannah’s boyfriend and also Cindy’s ex.
Patrick – The loveable jokester.
Jackson – The creepy friend that’s always staring at Gretchen.
Marco – Gretchen’s boyfriend who can’t take a hint.
We begin with our protagonist, Gretchen Davies, who only moved to Shadyside six months ago, driving her blue minivan to her friend Cindy’s house [Do teenagers drive minivans?]. Along for the ride is best friend Hannah, Hannah’s boyfriend Gil, and their other friends Jackson and Patrick. It’s Cindy’s birthday, and they suspect she’s feeling sorry for herself because they each told her they’re too busy to hang out tonight, and her parents are away on business. Little does she know, however, Gretchen and co. are about to kidnap her ‘”for an all-night party on Fear Island”‘ [I’ve seen ‘Jawbreaker’, so I know nothing good comes from kidnapping a friend on their birthday], where Gil’s grandfather has given them permission to use his cabin for the night, and they’re all super excited to party [It’d be more exciting if there was gonna be alcohol, but these are Shadyside teens, so that’s unlikely].
Arriving at Cindy’s street, Gretchen parks a few houses down before everyone confirms they know their role in the kidnapping. Gretchen locks eyes with Jackson at one point, and we learn that she doesn’t know him too well despite hanging out with him since she moved to Shadyside. He’s kind of strange and is always staring at her, which she finds super creepy [Agreed, very creepy. Will they be a couple by the end of the book, do we think?].
We also learn that Gretchen’s been getting prank calls the last two weeks. They’re always late at night and always on the private line in her bedroom, and the line goes dead as soon as she answers. Only her friends have that number, so she figures one of them is behind the calls, and Jackson’s her number one suspect since he’s such a stare bear [Note from future: These calls are never addressed again in the book lol].
Anyway, Gretchen ignores the bad feeling she suddenly has [Big mistake, girl] as the they pile out of the minivan and sneak into the backyard, where Hannah uses the spare key from under a potted plant to open the door. Gretchen catches Jackson staring at her again and offers a warm smile, hoping he’ll return the favour, but he just looks down, frowning:
I don’t get it, Gretchen thought. I try to be friendly to him. But Jackson acts as if he doesn’t want anything to do with me.
Okay, Jackson. Play it your way. But I’m done trying to be nice to you. You are one strange dude.
[‘You are one strange dude’ is so 90s hahaha] Inside the house, the gang sneaks upstairs and bursts into Cindy’s bedroom, where Gil and Jackson grab her while Gretchen and Hannah wrap a blindfold around her eyes. Cindy’s super confused, but Gretchen assures her they’ll explain later [This kidnapping seems super pointless. They didn’t even try to disguise themselves or anything?]. With the blindfold in place, Gretchen turns to Patrick and gasps in horror because he’s pressing a pistol into Cindy’s side [!!!!!].
Patrick laughs it off and returns the gun to his pocket, explaining it’s not loaded and he just thought ‘”it would make our kidnapping more realistic.”‘ Cindy demands to know what the hell is going on in here on this day, and Gretchen explains they’re kidnapping her for an all-night party, but the location is a surprise so she needs to stay blindfolded.
Back in the minivan, Cindy complains that she can’t see anything through the blindfold [That’s the point, hun], which irritates Hannah. Apparently Hannah and Cindy’s friendship is more of a rivalry, always competing for grades, attention, boys and whatever else girls compete over. Boys love to take care of petite, blue-eyed, white-blonde-haired Cindy, including Gil, who’d been her boyfriend until the end of last summer [So did Hannah steal him from Cindy, or did this new relationship blossom naturally? Either way, dating your friends’ ex is a huge no-no, right? Also, how much time has passed since they broke up?], whereas Hannah is a tall, athletic, curly-haired redhead who can take care of herself [Does the girl on the cover have red hair or brown? I can’t tell. I guess it makes more sense that it’d be brown-haired Gretchen, but which boys are squashing her?].
As they head through the woods to Fear Lake, Gretchen questions why Patrick had a gun in the first place, and he reluctantly reveals that his police officer father told him an escaped prisoner had been spotted in the Fear Street Woods [Lol that’s convenient]. He confesses that the gun wasn’t for the kidnapping, but for protection ‘”Just in case we run into the prisoner on Fear Island”‘ [Or is this all a lie and you brought it to murder everyone?!].
Hannah scolds Patrick for revealing the party’s location, but Cindy’s not fussed, asking for more information about the prisoner as she removes the blindfold. Again Patrick is reluctant to tell them anything, but reveals the prisoner murdered three teenage girls, although he’s not sure of the exact methods used. Arriving at Fear Lake, Gretchen complains that Patrick should have told them sooner so they could make new plans, and Patrick is all down on himself:
“I promised my dad I wouldn’t,” Patrick explained. He sighed again. “I wish I hadn’t taken the gun out when we were kidnapping Cindy! Then you wouldn’t have known. And we all could have had a good time. Now I’ve ruined the party for everyone.”
[Is it just me, or does it sound like he’s acting, and doing a bad job at it? Like, “aww shucks, now look what I’ve done :(” I’m not buying it!]. Although Hannah, backed by Patrick, thinks they should go somewhere else just to be safe, Gil and Jackson aren’t scared, and besides, all their stuff is on Fear Island already, so they’ve have to go get it anyway. Cindy also chimes in, suggesting the prisoner is probably in another state by now, wanting to distance himself from the police as much as possible [And I’d love to live through a horror movie situation, so I’m with Gil, Jackson and Cindy on this one, although I don’t believe there’s an escaped murderer on the loose. Someone’s gonna get murdered tonight though, hehe]. With that, Hannah, Gil, Cindy and Patrick exit the van, leaving Gretchen all alone with creepy Jackson, who asks if she’s scared:
She forced herself to stare into the depths of Jackson’s dark eyes.
His words had sounded taunting. As if he were hoping she might be afraid. As if he were trying to frighten her.
Gretchen argues that a killer hiding on Fear Island makes no sense, but Jackson just flashes a chilling smile and says ‘”Don’t say I didn’t warn you”‘ [You really are one strange dude, Jackson!] and Gretchen wonders if it’s a threat or not [Isn’t this how Shadyside boys flirt?].
The gang boards a little rowboat and heads toward the island, Jackson and Patrick controlling the oars. Gil offers Cindy his jacket since she’s not really dressed for the cold evening, and Gretchen rolls her eyes when he admits knowing an even better way to warm her up with a devilish grin. Gretchen has no idea how Hannah puts up with him [Yeah, it is a bit weird to flirt with your ex-girlfriend right in front of your current one. But it’s also in bad taste to date your friend’s ex-boyfriend, so suck it up, Hannah].
Apparently Cindy’s even worse – ‘She loves to wrap guys around her finger, to get them to do whatever she wanted,’ and Gretchen can’t stand to see Gil and every other boy turn into a drooling puppy around her. Hannah’s barely keeping her own anger under control, and Gretchen admits to herself ‘it had to be hard having your boyfriend still be friends with his ex-girlfriend’ [It also has to be hard when one of your closest friends immediately starts dating you ex-boyfriend, too. We’re obviously supposed to like Hannah more than Cindy, but neither of them seem like an angel].
Out on the lake, Cindy wonders why Gretchen’s super-cute boyfriend Marco isn’t with them, and Gretchen explains she’s hoping he’ll get the hint when he finds out he wasn’t invited before giving Cindy her blessing if she wants to take him off Gretchen’s hands [What an incestuous friend group!]:
Marco was totally different from the guys Gretchen usually went out with. There was something dangerous about him, and Gretchen had been instantly attracted.
With his long, black hair and silver hoop hearing, not to mention the motorcycle he rode, Marco was a rebel. And they really had fun.
At first.
But as the weeks went by, she realised he was too wild. He didn’t care about rules. He didn’t care about schoolwork or grades or other people.
And he had a terrible temper.
Everything had to be done his way. Or else. The littlest things could send Marco into a rage.
[You’ve only been in Shadyside six months, darl, give it time and you’ll be frothing at the mouth over this bad boy]. She hates to admit it, but Gretchen’s a little bit afraid of Marco. She’s been trying to break up with him for weeks, even suggesting they see other people, but he’s just not getting the message [Well, have you tried actually telling him you want to break up? In those words? That might help].
They reach the island and as they head down the path to the cabin, Gretchen scurries ahead to light all the candles they’d set up inside earlier that afternoon, declining creepy Jackson’s offer to come with her [Good girl, stand your ground].
Gretchen arrives at the cabin just as it starts to rain, letting herself in to find that the light switch isn’t working, despite it being fine earlier when they’d set everything up. She tries to find a candle to light in the darkness, which is when she hears footsteps moving towards her, and a ‘tall figure jumped out of the shadows behind her,’ wrapping their arms around her and covering her mouth as she tries to scream [Let me guess, Marco?].
Naturally, it’s Marco, and Gretchen is not at all happy, since she’d been looking forward to a night away from him. He teases her about being so scared, and she angrily tells him about the escaped murderer, which he knew nothing about [Probably because it’s not true, aye, Patrick?]. Despite her anger, Gretchen can’t help but notice Marco’s great body – how his white T-shirt hugs his muscles or the way ‘his blue jeans were molded to his legs.’ She knows some Shadyside girls would kill to be in her place, but she’s just not interested in being his girlfriend anymore [So. Tell. Him.]. He explains Gretchen’s mother told him the gang’s plans for the night, so he came here on his own boat to surprise everyone [I guess he really can’t take a hint, lol. I wouldn’t rock up somewhere uninvited, how awkward], boasting ‘”You can’t get away from me so easily, Gretchen.”‘ [Is that a threat?].
The rest of the group soon arrives and Cindy practically orgasms when she sees Marco, racing into his arms for a hug [Which seems like a weird way to greet your friend’s boyfriend. Are they hooking up on the side? Not that Gretchen would care anyway, but still a dick move from Cindy]. Gretchen lights all the candles, and everyone marvels about how great their set-up is [So no-one’s going to try get the lights working?]. Cindy is in awe that her friends went to so much trouble for her, promising to remember this birthday for as long as she lives [Which won’t be much longer, hehe].
As everyone moves into the kitchen to bring out the food, Gretchen notices Jackson lagging behind, just staring at everyone with ‘a serious, almost angry expression on his face.’ He explains he’s gonna get the fire started, so Gretchen heads for the kitchen and helps Hannah unpack the fridge. Once they’re alone, Gretchen explains to Hannah how Marco knew she was here and that she plans on keeping her distance from him tonight.
Next, as the squad eats in the living room, Marco plants himself next to Gretchen, still unable to take the hint, so she jumps up to get a soda. Meanwhile, Gil continues to flirt with Cindy right in front of Hannah, and soon both girls are competing over who knows more about Gil – Cindy thinks he likes mustard on his hotdog, while Hannah is adamant he prefers ketchup. Gil’s no help, eating it plain instead, but the contest continues when Hannah hands him a Coke:
Cindy shook her head. “Gil doesn’t like Coke. He likes ginger ale.”
“He does not.”
“I should know, Hannah,” Cindy replied smugly. “Gil and I went out for six months and you’ve only been going with him for one.”
[Oh snap hahaha. Also, who doesn’t like Coke?!]. Hannah storms into the kitchen, followed closely by Gretchen who tries to comfort her. Hannah bitterly explains that sometimes she really hates Cindy, who thinks she can get whatever she wants because she’s pretty and blonde [Yeah, Cindy definitely seems like that kind of girl. I’m #TeamHannah I guess]. There’s more to it than just Gil, though, as Hannah reveals Cindy won the college scholarship Hannah had been relying on. The real slap in the face is that Cindy, who’s family is loaded and ‘”can afford to send her to any college she wants”‘, wasn’t even interested in the scholarship until she learned Hannah was applying for it [Ugh, I hate Cindy]. The dynamic of their friendship has been like this ever since they were kids, and Hannah’s sick of Cindy’s entitlement, admitting that sometimes she wishes Cindy was dead [Red herring alert!].
It’s time to open Cindy’s presents now, and she receives a pair of earrings from Gretchen, a bottle of perfume she loves but unfortunately makes her break out, from Hannah [I wonder if Hannah knew that perfume made her break out? >:)]; and tickets to a rock concert from Gil and Jackson. Although she says thanks, Cindy doesn’t act too grateful, tossing each opened gift aside so she can start unwrapping the next one:
Cindy is so self-centered and spoiled, Gretchen thought as she watched Cindy tear open her gifts. Everyone put a lot of time and thought into her presents, and she doesn’t even appreciate it.
[Sounds like classic Cindy to me!] Patrick apparently forgot to wrap Cindy’s present, but promises to give it to her later [Is it a bullet to the brain from that snazzy pistol, Patrick?], so Cindy moves onto the final present, a large white box from Marco. Cindy’s absolutely disgusted when she peeks inside and a bunch of slasher movies. She doesn’t know how ‘”any normal person can watch that stuff”‘ [Fuck you, Cindy. Slashers are the best] and gives them to Patrick for his collection, while Gretchen can’t believe how rude she’s being [Same, what a bitch. Why is no-one calling her out?].
With everyone’s spirits sort of down now, Gretchen tries to lighten the mood by chucking on some rock-and-roll music. Hannah and Gil start dancing, and although Gretchen pretends to be tired to avoid dancing with Marco, he won’t take no for an answer because ‘”This is an all-night party!”‘ [I love how they specify that it’s all-night every single time], and she eventually gives in. As she boogies, Gretchen notices Cindy’s eyes locked onto Gil and Hannah and wonders if Cindy regrets ending their relationship:
It happened because Gil got into serious trouble. Some guys he used to hang out with decided to steal a car.
Cindy’s parents went ballistic when they found out. A few days later, Cindy broke up with Gil.
After that, Gil and Hannah started going out.
[I guess Cindy’s parents made her end the relationship, but jeez, Hannah didn’t waste any time, did she? But it wouldn’t surprise me if Cindy only started dating Gil in the first place because she knew Hannah liked him] Gretchen thinks Gil’s cute enough, but he’s not that much of a prize – ‘Who wanted a boyfriend who was constantly coming on to his ex-girlfriend?’ [Amen, Gretchen!].
As Gretchen gazes around the room, she spots Jackson staring at her again. Between Marco and Jackson, she’s starting to feel trapped in the cabin and decides to go outside for some more firewood. Marco offers to help, but Gretchen knows he just wants to find somewhere private to make out, and the thought of that ‘made her stomach knot’ [Seriously, has she actually told him she wants to break up, or is she just expecting him to realise from her behaviour? I know she said she suggested they see other people, but it sounds more like she’s just been dancing around a break-up rather than actually telling him straight up?].
Hannah and Gil decide to walk Gretchen out, explaining they want to go down to the dock and look at the stars, but they’re not fooling anyone [;)]. It’s decided they’ll do the cake when everyone’s back, and Cindy makes it very obvious she’s going to wish for Gil when she blows out her candles [Cheeky girl].
After grabbing some wood from the shed, Gretchen’s heading back to the cabin when she hears loud voices coming from the kitchen and can’t resist eavesdropping [Lol same]. The window is too high up so she can’t see inside, but she recognises Cindy’s voice, then decides the male voice is Jackson. She can’t make out what they’re saying, despite hearing the voices clearly only a few sentences before, but the pair is definitely arguing angrily. Gretchen has no idea what they could be arguing about since they’re ‘only casual friends’, whatever that means, but then she hears ‘a sharp sound that made her gasp in surprise’ and realises it was a slap, followed by a cry from Cindy.
Gretchen debates heading inside to see what happened, but decides Patrick or Marco will intervene if things get out of control [Hun, you think you just heard Jackson slap Cindy, it sounds like it’s reached that point to me]. She heads into the woods for a leisurely stroll [Lol who cares if one of your best friends got assaulted, right?], wanting more time away from everyone. But soon her flashlight dies, and she starts hearing a scraping sound that stops pretty quickly. As she starts making her way back to the cabin, scared, she hears someone breathing heavily nearby and assumes it’s the escaped prisoner [!!!!]. Just as she’s about to make a run for it, a figure jumps out and grabs her.
Of course it’s just Marco, who finds joy in her fear. She scolds him and eventually blurts out that she didn’t invite him on purpose because she doesn’t want him here. She finally tells him outright that she doesn’t want to see him anymore [About fkn time] and in response, an angry-looking Marco pulls out a switchblade from his pocket and moves menacingly toward her:
“I’ve used this knife before, and I’m going to use it again,” he whispered. “Tonight.”
Tonight?
“Marco—no!” Gretchen shrieked.
Marco swung his hand up high.
And plunged the knife into Gretchen’s chest.
But guess what? He didn’t plunge the knife into her chest, and plunged it into the tree behind her instead [Ugh, Stine and his stupid fake-outs]. Stabbing away at the tree, Marco demands to know why she’s done this to him, and Gretchen doesn’t know what else to say but sorry. Then without a word, Marco slips the blade back into his pocket and heads back to the cabin. She hurries after him, wanting to apologise again, but he cuts her off since she already got her message across, ‘”Loud and clear”‘ [Finally! See Gretchen, all you had to do was just tell him].
They reach the cabin in silence where Gretchen is surprised to find it empty. Marco suggests everyone went for a walk, and since it’s starting to rain again, Gretchen heads to the kitchen to get the cake ready because everyone will surely be back soon. The kitchen is a total mess, though, the canister of flour that was on the counter now spilled all over the floor:
But what were those stains in the flour?
Dark red stains.
Gretchen’s eyes followed the dark trail.
“No!” She uttered a sharp cry when she saw Cindy.
On the floor.
On her back in the flour.
An angry red slash in her side.
Blood leaked out, over her clothes, forming a dark puddle in the white flour.
Cindy.
In the flour.
White and red. Dark, dark red.
Cindy.
A lifeless, blank stare on her face.
Her mouth locked open in a scream of horror and pain.
[I didn’t quite catch that, is Cindy dead on the floor amongst the flour? And was the blood dark red? Also, is this what Gretchen heard outside the window? Cindy being murdered?! Bet you regret not going inside now, huh Gretchen?].
After a cheeky vomit, Gretchen runs from the room and straight into Marco, who wants to know what’s wrong, but she can’t get out the words, in disbelief that someone she knows has been murdered. Then Patrick comes out of the downstairs bathroom [Where he was washing the blood off his hands, maybe?], and he also wants to know what’s happening. Gretchen starts to pull the boys to the kitchen, but stops short when she notices that Patrick’s shirt is covered in blood [Hmmm, maybe he’s not the bad guy, this might be too obvious…].
Patrick holds up a bandaged hand and explains he cut himself trying to open the bedroom window upstairs [Hmmm, that’s convenient. Ask to see the cut, Gretchen!]. Gretchen isn’t quite sure whether to believe him and just mentions the kitchen instead, prompting Marco to dash in there. Patrick stays behind with Gretchen, which continues to make her suss, wondering if he’s staying put because he already knows what’s in there. Patrick tries to get Gretchen to take a seat to help calm her down, but she pulls away from him, still staring at the blood stain on his shirt:
“The escaped prisoner,” Patrick whispered, his eyes widening in fear. “How did he get in? Why did he kill Cindy?”
[OK, Patrick’s definitely our bad guy. Gretchen hasn’t actually told him Cindy’s dead, she’s only said ‘”she’s in there”‘ so how could he possibly know already unless he killed her? Not to mention he’s the one who told them about the escaped prisoner, planting the seeds for his cover story. You can’t fool me, Patrick. Although Gretchen hasn’t realised he already knows Cindy’s dead without being told, which is weird since she’s so suspicious of him already…maybe this is just an editing fail?].
Hannah and Gil arrive now, and Gretchen quickly breaks the news about the dead birthday girl, much to their shock [Wait, where the hell is Jackson? And why’s Marco been in the kitchen for so long?]. Gretchen wants to call the police, but Patrick insists they can’t and just grabs her when she asks why not, looking all intense [!!!].
He then soothingly tells her to calm down, explaining they can’t call the police because there’s no no phones on Fear Island. Gretchen suggests they row back to Shadyside for help, but according to Hannah, the storm outside is too strong for that. Patrick reckons they’re safer all together in the cabin anyway with the gun, since the escaped prisoner is probably waiting outside. The gun’s not loaded, but Patrick did bring bullets [But wouldn’t they also be safe all together in a boat heading back to Shadyside, also with the gun?].
Jackson suddenly enters from outside, carrying an armful of wood for the fire [But he knew Gretchen was outside getting wood already? That’s suss… But she could have been taking too long, I guess]. He doesn’t react at all when the others tell him Cindy’s dead, thinking it’s a joke, so they all head into the kitchen where Marco’s standing over the body [So he’s just been standing there, staring at it the whole time?].
Even though her earlier wish has come true, Hannah’s super distraught about Cindy’s death and wants to get help, but Patrick reckons it’s too risky, wanting to stay put until their parents send police to look for them when they fail to return in the morning [Patrick is way too determined to keep everyone in the cabin. Does he wanna kill the rest of them, too?]. Gretchen eventually sides with Patrick, agreeing that it’s too dangerous to go outside with the escaped prisoner likely out there, but then Hannah has a thought – what if the prisoner is inside?
Hannah proposes that the killer is hiding somewhere in the cabin, watching their every move. Gil wants Patrick to get his gun, but Jackson disagrees because they’re just jumping to conclusions [So? Either way, the gun can protect them?]. They decide to search the cabin for a potential intruder, with the boys taking the top floor while Hannah and Gretchen check downstairs [Why are we splitting up? Search every room together!].
After checking everywhere else downstairs, the only room left is the kitchen, which Hannah refuses to enter again. She also doesn’t want to be left alone, preventing Gretchen from checking herself, so they wait for the boys to return so they can get one of them to check. In the meantime, Gretchen checks all the locks on the window, which are thankfully already secure, but as the drapes fall back into place, she spots something moving on the porch outside [!!!!].
Arming herself with a heavy log of wood, Gretchen bolts to the door as Hannah protests that it’s too dangerous, wanting to wait for the boys. Gretchen argues that whoever it is could be gone by the time the boys get downstairs and throws open the door [Where’d this bravery come from? She was terrified of the woods earlier when she was by herself, but now that there’s definitely a killer around, she’s willing to go outside on her own and check?].
On the porch, Gretchen watches for any movement, wondering if she was just imagining things. Then Jackson suddenly appears behind her, scolding Gretchen for not waiting for one of the guys to come with her [Maybe she’s an independent woman who doesn’t need a man to take care of her, thank you very much, Jackson!]. She heads back inside with him, wondering if she should ask him about the argument she’d heard him having with Cindy [I think you should, because it’s entirely possible you just want to think it’s Jackson because he’s so creepy].
Having not found anyone upstairs, the rest of the boys return before Marco and Jackson head into the kitchen to search there. They take way too long, which worries the others, so Gretchen presses her ear to the door and listens for any noise. There’s only silence on the other side, so Gretchen does the sensible thing and shrieks that the killer is in there and has ‘”killed Jackson and Marco!”‘ [I thought we weren’t jumping to conclusions, guys?].
Almost instantly, Jackson and Marco walk back in through the door, explaining they were in the walk-in pantry [See? Calm down, Gretchen]. Marco is suspicious of Patrick, and asks again about the blood on his shirt. Patrick repeats that he cut his hand opening an upstairs window, but Marco is suss because there was no blood on the windowsill:
“There isn’t any blood on the windowsill because I cleaned it up.” Patrick held up his bandaged hand.
“And if you still don’t believe me, you can take a look at the cut on my palm. Or check out the garbage in the kitchen. It’s filled with pieces of broken glass.”
[But wouldn’t a broken window upstairs imply that he’s telling the truth, regardless of blood on the windowsill or not? No-one’s mentioning seeing a smashed window, so I guess we’re just supposed to accept that he’s telling the truth? If I was there, I would definitely be taking off that bandage for a peek and checking for glass in the bin, just in case].
Gretchen begs for them to stop attacking each other as Hannah starts crying again, remembering an argument she’d had with Cindy yesterday about the scholarship. Gretchen studies her best friend, remembering how earlier tonight she’d mentioned wishing Cindy was dead and how angry she’d been about the scholarship – could Hannah have murdered Cindy? With Cindy dead, the scholarship might go to Hannah after all, while also ensuring Cindy can’t steal Gil back [True, but I still think Patrick did it].
Gretchen then wonders about Jackson, always staring at her – ‘Could he have been watching Cindy the way he watched her?’ Gretchen announces that she heard Jackson arguing with Cindy earlier, but Jackson denies it, completely losing his cool when Gretchen insists it was his voice that she’d heard [Yeah, I’m definitely thinking that’s just wishful thinking based on his creepiness]. Jackson suggests it was Patrick or Marco she’d heard, but Gretchen reckons he’s lying and wonders if he would have killed her out on the porch if he’d known she’d overheard the argument.
Patrick pipes up, insisting he wasn’t even inside the cabin and went outside for fresh air [So were you outside or were you upstairs opening a window? See, he’s super suss]. Gretchen’s pretty sure Jackson’s lying, since Gil was with Hannah, Patrick had been so stuffed from eating that he wasn’t planning on budging from the couch after dinner [Use your brain, Gretchen, Patrick’s already admitted to getting off the couch with two potentially conflicting stories? He’s clearly lying to cover his back, right?], and Marco had been outside with her [But Gretchen didn’t see Marco outside until after the argument, so she’s an idiot to rule him out too].
Meanwhile, Hannah’s constant sobbing is starting to drive Gil up the wall. The unhappy couple quickly begin to argue, Hannah mad that Gil encouraged Cindy’s flirting and insisting Cindy didn’t actually want him; she just wanted to steal him from Hannah:
“She didn’t have to steal me away from you!” Gil screamed. “I was going to break up with you!”
“I hate you,” Hannah sobbed, tears streaming down her face. “I wish you were dead!”
“Like Cindy?” Gil taunted. “With a killer on the loose, maybe your wish will come true. Maybe I’ll be dead by tomorrow morning. Or maybe I’ll get lucky and you’ll be dead!”
[Don’t be throwing wishes around like that, Hannah, one’s already come true tonight]. As Gretchen attempts to calm them down, the front door slams open [!!!]. It was only because of the wind though, not the escaped prisoner, much to Gretchen’s relief. They again decide that the best thing to do is to stick together while they wait for help to come, and as Gretchen gazes around at her friends, she contemplates again if one of them could have killed Cindy [Yes]. She eventually convinces herself that it had to be the prisoner who killed Cindy, unable to bear the thought of one of her besties being responsible.
The group heads back into the kitchen to search Cindy’s body for clues, and Gretchen notices that Cindy’s holding a baseball cap. Patrick immediately admits the cap is his, and everyone quickly turns on him, assuming he’s the killer [Hmm, the bad guy is never this blatantly obvious though… but then his obvious lies that no-one has noticed makes me certain he’s guilty]. Patrick insists he hung the cap on the coat rack when they’d first arrived and has no idea why Cindy’s holding it, suggesting maybe she’d decided to wear it.
There might be some truth to this scenario, since Cindy’s also wearing a lumber jacket from the hall closet, so Gretchen proposes that maybe Cindy was going outside for some air and grabbed the cap to protect her hair from the rain. But that doesn’t explain why she’s holding the cap so tightly after being stabbed, and Marco suggests she was trying to leave a clue as to who killed her and ‘”pulled it off his head while he was stabbing her.”‘ [I guess they’re both possibilities!].
The gang still agrees that the blood on his shirt and Cindy holding his cap makes Patrick look very guilty, but he continues to maintain his innocence, reminding them of his gun and declaring he’d shoot Cindy if he wanted to kill her, not ‘”stab her with a bread knife!” This is just more evidence of his guilt to Gretchen, who asks how he knows what type of knife she was murdered with [Good point!]. Patrick directs them towards the knife block on the counter where the bread knife is missing, so Gretchen apologises to him, admitting they’re all just freaked out [I still think Patrick’s the bad guy. Usually I’d insist he’s just a red herring, but there’s too much evidence against him and until we see an escaped prisoner, I have to assume that was him just planting the seeds of his cover story].
As they head back to the living room to simmer down, Gretchen notices a bootprint in the spilled flour all over the kitchen floor and calls everyone back over. They realise the killer must have stepped in it after murdering Cindy, and there should still be flour on the bottom of the killer’s boot [They’re not supposed to wear shoes inside, so the killer has been extra naughty! Also, would there actually still be flour left on the shoe, if the killer went walking around after murdering Cindy?]. Since they all suspect Patrick, Gil and Jackson restrain him while Gretchen hurries to the front door where everyone’s hiking boots are, and surprise, surprise, Patrick’s right boot has ‘a thin coating of white flour on the heel and sole.’ [Try explain yourself out of that one, Patty!].
Gretchen doesn’t want to believe that funny, loveable Jackson could do something so evil, but what else can she think when all the evidence points to him? She takes the shoes back to the kitchen to show everyone, and classic Patrick swears he doesn’t know how it got there, but luckily Marco’s around to point out ‘”It got there when you murdered Cindy,”‘ [Hahaha snap].
Patrick insists the escaped prisoner is responsible and begs Gretchen to believe him, but as much as she wants to oblige, she can’t ignore all the evidence. The gang quickly ties Patrick to a chair and then heads into the living room to search through his bag, hoping to find more clues to cement his guilt. They empty Patrick’s backpack onto the coffee table, but there’s nothing out of the ordinary amongst his thing until Gretchen notices a folded up piece of paper and reads the note inside:
Patrick, I can’t keep our secret anymore. I’m going to tell my parents—no matter what happens. Don’t try to stop me. Cindy.
With yet another piece of incriminating evidence against Patrick, the gang wonders what secret Cindy and Patrick could have possibly shared. Could they have been secretly dating? It makes sense that Cindy would keep that from her strict parents, but why would she keep it from her best friends? Certain that it has to be something more than that, Marco urges everyone to keep looking through Patrick’s stuff for even more evidence [What more do you need?!]. Gretchen heads to the pile of sleeping bags and unrolls Patrick’s, mortified at what she finds – the blood-stained bread knife! [This is starting to remind me of ‘Truth or Dare’ now, and I guess someone could be framing Patrick. But there’s not usually this much evidence pointing to one person, right? He has blood on his shirt, flour on his boot, Cindy’s holding his cap in her cold, dead hand, the note points to a motive, and now the knife in his sleeping bag! Don’t forget, too, he also knew Cindy was dead before Gretchen had explicitly said anything. He’s gotta be our bad guy!]
They head back to the kitchen to confront Patrick with the new evidence, and as expected, he denies knowing anything about the note or the knife and pleads his case:
“If I killed Cindy, would I make it so easy for you? Would I leave so much evidence lying around?”
Patrick’s eyes darted frantically around the kitchen.
“If I was the killer, would I hide the knife in my sleeping bag?” Patrick demanded. “Would I walk around in a bloody shirt, and leave flour on my boots? Would I leave my cap in Cindy’s hand? And leave her note in my own backpack?”
[Oh God, it definitely makes sense! I don’t know what to believe now. But this could also have been part of his plan all along, although I don’t know why anyone would try to frame themselves…]. Patrick declares that one of them is framing him, and Gretchen again thinks back to Hannah’s prophetic words earlier about wishing Cindy was dead. Patrick can’t explain why anyone would be framing him though, but assures them he would hide all the evidence if he was responsible, not leave it lying around for them to find so easily [Maybe he was careless though, banking on them believing his escaped prisoner story instead of playing detective].
The gang is unsure of themselves now because Patrick makes a good point [But also, the killer would say anything to throw the suspicion elsewhere]. Patrick asks to see the note they’d found in his bag, declaring it “‘a complete phony!”‘ upon inspection. While it definitely looks like Cindy’s handwriting, there’s one problem – ‘”Cindy always dotted the ‘i’ in her name with a heart,”‘ and there’s no heart on this note’s signature [Hmmm, maybe he is being framed. Surely he wouldn’t write that note himself, right? What would be the point, especially if his whole plan was to blame an imaginary escaped prisoner? You’d think if someone went to the trouble of forging Cindy’s handwriting, they’d remember the heart].
Hannah’s absolutely positive that it’s Cindy’s writing, even if there is no heart, but Patrick argues that Cindy always used a heart. Unsure of what to think, everyone but the restrained Patrick heads back to the living room to look through Cindy’s things, hoping to find a sample of her writing to compare the note with. There’s some old history notes in her bag, and although they look more rushed than Patrick’s note, there’s no mistaking it’s a match… except for one small difference, that is – ‘”Cindy’s ‘y’s are loopy, but the ‘y’s in the note from Patrick’s backpack have squiggles”‘ [Again, why would someone go to the trouble of forging a note in Cindy’s handwriting, but then not completely match it?! I’m so confused by this plot point].
Realising that Patrick must be telling the truth, that someone is trying to frame him [But who?! I still kinda think he’s guilty tbh], they head back to the kitchen to tell him what they’ve learned. They untie him, but before they can think of a new plan, Gil realises Hannah’s not with them anymore [Really? How did none of you notice straight away?]. They search the whole cabin but there’s no sign of her[I’ll admit this does make Hannah look guilty, but at this point I refuse to believe Patrick’s not our bad guy]. Gretchen quickly notices a note left by Hannah, explaining she ‘can’t stay here one more second with a killer’. Rushing to the front door, they spot Hannah’s footprints leading down the muddy path.
Marco, Patrick and Gil quickly rug up and head out after her while Gretchen lags behind. As she pulls on her boots by the fireplace, wondering if Hannah killed Cindy and left to avoid being found out, she notices Jackson watching her, an intense look on his face [As usual].
He starts moving towards her without saying anything [Why is he such a strange dude?!], so Gretchen inches closer to the wood bin, planning to bash him in the head with a log if she needs to [Good thinking!]. He starts to say ‘”I guess you suspect…”‘ but Gretchen’s afraid of what she might hear [We’re still like 25 pages away from the end of the book, so I think he was probably going to confess his feelings for her! Shadyside boys have a weird way of flirting, you know], so barges straight past him, hoping he can’t sense her fear and dashes outside to follow the others [What happened to the head-bashing plan?]. Jackson takes off after her though, and as he closes in, Gretchen makes her way up a steep, rocky hill at the end of the woods before slipping on the wet grass at the top and ‘bouncing down the mud-slicked hillside like a rubber ball’ [Hahahaha].
She climbs to her feet at the bottom of the hill just in time to see Jackson running down towards her, hands above his head and his mouth open in ‘a scream of attack’ [Sounds like he also lost his footing to me, though]. He barrels into her and land in the mud, where Gretchen finds herself pinned down, certain she’s about to be murdered.
Jackson scrambles off of her pretty quickly, gentleman that he is, and explains he’d simply lost his footing. Gretchen is utterly shocked that he doesn’t want to hurt her and confesses that she thought he was going to kill her, thanks in part to all his staring. And just as I suspected, he admits it’s because he has feelings for her [I’ve never constantly stared intensely at a crush in my life lol. Also, what the hell was up with him trying to intimidate her in the van earlier?], which is what he was trying to tell her back at the cabin, although he recognises it was a pretty silly time to tell her [Poor timing, poor choice of words, poor staring habit etc., the list goes on. Also, the prank calls we heard about at the start of the book still haven’t been mentioned, so do we just assume that Jackson’s been calling her over the last two weeks but chickens out when she answers?].
Apparently Jackson’s been crushing on Gretchen since she moved to Shadyside, but she was dating Marco by the time he worked up the courage to ask her out, and he wanted to come clean tonight just in case something happens to either of them. Gretchen reveals she ended things with Marco earlier and basically tells Jackson they should just get through the night before thinking about going on a date [Cuuuuute]. Gretchen thinks it’s ‘so weird’ that Jackson likes her [Weirder thank thinking he’s wanted to kill you?], but is glad to know she can at least trust one person tonight. As they make their way back up the hill, a scream of horror rips through the night – Hannah!
Gretchen somehow pinpoints the sound’s location to the cabin, Gretchen and Jackson dash back to find Hannah on the floor surrounded by the boys, ‘a hunted expression on her face, like a rabbit surrounded by snarling dogs.’ [Nice simile, Stine!] Gil reveals that while he and Hannah were down at the docks, she’d returned to the cabin briefly to fetch a sweater, and he reckons she easily could have killed Cindy then and planted the evidence to frame Patrick [He never mentioned this before because he thought the prisoner was the killer, then Patrick, so didn’t think it was relevant lol…]. Then Hannah divulges that Gil wasn’t at the dock when she’d returned with her sweater, so he could have killed Cindy too [Why did neither of them mention this earlier? You’d think after their fight they would have loved to throw each other under the bus].
Patrick jumps in, insisting Hannah wanted Cindy dead more than anyone [That’s what you want everyone to think, don’t you, Patrick?] and ran away because she wanted to escape. Then Hannah’s features harden as a cold smile crosses her face, and the chapter ends with her declaring that they’re right, she did kill Cindy [!!!], but you better believe it’s just a classic Stine fake-out, as she sarcastically elaborates at the beginning of the next chapter:
“I’ve killed at least 20 people,” Hannah declared. “Now I’m going to kill all of you. Then I’m going back to Shadyside and kill everyone there!”
[Is that last sentence grammatically correct? Sounds weird] Of course, it takes Gretchen a moment or two to realise it’s sarcasm, and Hannah starts crying again after insisting someone else in the room has to be the killer. And then we get my favourite line of the book:
Gretchen ran her tongue over her lips while listening to Hannah. Her lips felt so dry.
[It’s just so out of the blue hahahaha so funny to me] This is just an opportunity for Stine to promote Chap Stick [As a Chap Stick fiend myself, I approve of this product placement], which Gretchen searches for in her purse. Somehow the purse topples onto the floor from her lap and as she tosses everything back inside, she finds a folded up note that had fallen out. Curious, she opens it up for a gander and quickly realises who the killer is [For like the 59087865th time]:
“Patrick—why did you do it?” Gretchen asked in a hoarse whisper. “Why did you kill Cindy?”
“What are you talking about?” Patrick demanded angrily. “I thought we settled this.”
Gretchen gazed at Patrick with disbelief. He looks so innocent, but he’s not.
Patrick is a cold-blooded killer.
He planned this to the smallest detail. And he almost put it off.
Almost.
[Wow, is this like the first time where the most obvious suspect actually is the bad guy?! That’s a refreshing little twist] Gretchen explains that this note was from Patrick confirming he would bring the soda for the party, and the ‘y’s match the ones on the note they’d found earlier in his bag [So, Patrick and Cindy have the same handwriting then? They were all such handwriting experts earlier, how come they didn’t realise then?]. She accuses Patrick of framing himself ‘”to throw suspicion on someone else”‘ and, finally realising he’s been caught out, Patrick whips out the pistol and threatens to kill them all [!!!].
Patrick becomes a ‘totally different person’ before their eyes and explains that Cindy found out something he did before he moved to Shadyside from Waynesbridge, something bad [We don’t find out what he did yet, but what are the odds this is going to be a stupid fkn secret like Shane or the girls from ‘The Roommate’?]. She didn’t blackmail him with the secret though, instead opting to tease him about it constantly. She was also pretending to like him for a while, only to start dating Gil [OK, so this has been going on for a while then], and he’d finally had enough. He planned her murder as soon as they’d all decided to have this party and tells them he ‘”gave Cindy a birthday present to die for”‘ [Hahahaha so fkn cheesy], which prompts Gretchen to get deep:
Gretchen swallowed hard. I had no idea Patrick was so troubled, she thought. No idea.
I guess we never know what’s really inside people—even our good friends.
[Wise words, Gretchen] Patrick continues monologuing, revealing he followed Cindy into the kitchen when everyone left the cabin and told her he ‘”wanted to give her a kiss for her birthday”‘, which was only met with laughter and a promise that she’d never let him kiss her [You saw how she reacted to everyone else’s presents, Patrick, what made you think she’d want yours?]. He reveals that Cindy slapped him when he tried to stop her from leaving the kitchen, and Gretchen realises that it was Patrick she’d heard Cindy arguing with [But you were so00oOo0oO0ooOoo000O00 certain it was Jackson, lol]. He admits he wasn’t sure if he could actually go through with his murderous plan, but the slap was what sealed Cindy’s fate as he finally put a stop to the teasing.
With revelation time over, Patrick aims the gun straight at Gretchen and begins to pull the trigger. Instead of doing anything to try protect herself, like move out of the way or lunge at him or literally anything, Gretchen covers her face and closes her eyes [I genuinely sighed at this point]. Then she hears ‘the deafening gunshot’, which turns out to not be a deafening gunshot at all, but two officers kicking open the door [Gretchen is the queen of confusing reality with what she chooses to believe lol. Also, I wonder contrived reason we’re gonna get to explain their arrival?].
Patrick quickly turns the gun on them, and this is the moment Gretchen decides to spring into action, throwing herself at Patrick and knocking him to the floor [Really, Gretchen? You gave up when he was about to shoot you, but now you wanna be a hero?]. She smashes his hand down until he releases the gun, allowing the officers to handcuff him as Gretchen informs them of Cindy’s death, admitting they all believed it was the escaped prisoner who killed her at first. But guess what? The officers have no idea what she’s talking about, which Patrick finds hilarious, admitting he made the whole thing up:
“You were all so stupid,” Patrick murmured, shaking his head. “You believed everything I told you. You fell for all the evidence I planted. The forged note. The bootprint in the flour. The bloody knife in my sleeping bag. Even with Cindy’s blood on my shirt and my baseball cap in her hand, you believed that I didn’t do it.”
[What was the point of framing himself though? Like literally, why bother? I would have thought the blood on his shirt, baseball cap and bootprint were accidental evidence so he had to think on his feet to save himself, but apparently not. If his whole plan was to not get caught, why would he purposely plant all this evidence against himself, especially a fkn forged note? And if he really was planning to pin the whole thing on the imaginary prisoner, what did he think would happen when help finally came and the police immediately knew there was no escaped murderer? And did he really expect his friends to believe that some random guy snuck into the cabin, pulled on Patrick’s boots, murdered Cindy, hid the knife in Patrick’s sleeping bag and planted a note matching Cindy’s handwriting in his bag? I know I shouldn’t be overthinking a Fear Street book, but I’m just trying to make sense of this stupid plan hahaha].
Anyway, the cops explain they’re there because Patrick actually stole his father’s gun, and it’s revealed the big secret that Cindy had found out was that Patrick had set a fire in Waynesbridge [Really? That was worth killing Cindy over? Fkn hell this ending is dumb], which he’d gotten off free of charge with thanks to his father [Who’s a police officer himself, in case you forgot]. They drag him out of the cabin, promising to send another boat back for the others when they get to the mainland [Why? The gang got here on their own boat, can’t they just use that?], and Gretchen wonders out loud how Cindy found out about Patrick’s fire-starting talents:
“She didn’t find out,” Hannah replied. “Cindy didn’t know anything bad about Patrick. She just liked to tease him. She used to tell him he looked dangerous.”
“Dangerous? That’s all?” Marco exclaimed.
“That’s all,” Hannah said sadly. “She didn’t really know anything. Not anything at all. And do you know what I think? Do you know why Cindy teased Patrick so much? Because she liked him.”
[Hannah, how the hell would you know any of that?] Anyway, the book ends with Gretchen snuggling into Jackson as the sun begins to rise, relieved the ‘”Party’s over”‘ [What time did they even get to Fear Island? I feel like everything happened pretty quickly and wasn’t dragged out long enough for the sun to come up].
Final thoughts
This was a fun read for the most part, at least until the big reveal at the end which makes absolutely no sense to me. Seriously, what was the point? Even though I was expecting Patrick to be the bad guy pretty early because of the overwhelming evidence and inconsistencies [The whole knowing Cindy was dead already and potentially unbroken window could have just been overlooked in the editing room though, maybe], I thought it was a nice, refreshing take on the whodunnit formula to make the most obvious suspect the bad guy. I just can’t get over the absolute mess of an ending though.
I think Gretchen was a pretty meh protagonist and Marco was a bit of a useless character that had no real relevance to the story after Gretchen broke up with him. He also didn’t seem as aggressive and scary as Gretchen painted him as, but I guess Stine just needed another red herring. Jackson seemed more sinister than Marco, but I guess that was just his strange way of expressing his feelings for Gretchen?
I think this book could have used some more editing, because there was really no real reason to mention Gretchen getting prank calls before the end of the book, and the part were Gretchen thought she saw someone outside the cabin went nowhere either, although I guess that could have been to establish the feeling of paranoia. I’m also disappointed the scene on the cover never actually happened; there wasn’t even anything that remotely resembles what’s depicted there.
I can’t help to compare this book to the similarly set ‘Class Trip’, but that book was way better because it was an actual slasher, so definitely read that over this.
53 made-up escaped prisoners that killed Cindy out of 81.
