Tagline: It began as a prank… and ended in murder!
Back tagline: “Please come quickly…you’re my only hope!”
Summary: It begins as an innocent prank, when Deena Martinson and her best friend Jade Smith make sexy phone calls to the boys from school. But Dana’s half-brother Chuck catches them in the act and threatens to tell their parents, unless the girls let him in on the fun. Chuck begins making random calls, threatening anyone who answers. It’s dangerous and exciting. They’re even enjoying the publicity, and the uproar they’ve caused. Until Chuck calls a number on Fear Street.
To his horror, Chuck realizes he has called THE WRONG NUMBER. The jokes are over when murder is on the line. The murderer knows who they are and where they live, and they have nowhere to call for help.
First impressions: I’ve been meaning to read this one for a while because Deena has popped up in sooooooo many books, much like Cory, Lisa and David. The blurb isn’t giving away too much, but like most of the earlier Fear Streets it seems to have a unique plot and is probably darker in tone than some of the later books.
There’s not much to say about this cover. It’s not the most interesting one we’ve seen, but it’s simple and effective and reminds me of the artwork for The House On Sorority Row. Let’s read!
Recap
Meet the cast:
Deena – Our introverted heroine.
Jade – The outgoing best friend who’s keen on Chuck.
Chuck – Deena’s bad boy half-brother.
Rob – Deena’s crush.
Mr. and Mrs. Farberson – The victims of a burglary/murder.
The book begins with a very brief prologue where we learn someone, referred to only as ‘he’ but presumably our bad guy, [Or maybe Chuck?] is very good at scheming. He’s messed up in the past but this time, he won’t let anyone get in the way of his perfect plan. He’d learned from an early age, beginning with his parents, that he’d have to take care of himself, and now all he has to do is wait patiently until it’s time to act and give someone ‘a deadly surprise.’
Time for the main story now, and a subheading below the chapter number reveals it’s the first week of September. I have no idea why this is important, but it’s probably worth mentioning. Heroine Deena Martinson and her best friend Jade Smith are in Deena’s room, bored on a Saturday night. I always pictured Deena as the one in front on the cover, but apparently that’s Jade and Deena’s the short-haired blonde.
Anyway, school starts back up on Monday, and Deena’s not sure what to expect of the school year since her half-brother Chuck is coming to live with her and her parents. Beautiful, boy-crazy Jade’s never heard of Chuck before but is all ears as Deena explains he was born from her father’s first marriage and she’s only met him a few times. He’s coming to Shadyside to repeat his senior year after being expelled from Central City. Deena warns Jade that he’s nothing but trouble and has been since he was little, [Maybe Chuck was our mysterious ‘he’ from the prologue] but Jade is undeterred.
Jade notices the bright blue phone on Deena’s nightstand [But it’s red on the cover!] and Deena explains that her family got all the latest stuff when her dad was promoted to vice-president of the phone company. It’s state-of-the-art technology for its time with speed dial, hold and speaker-phone technology. [Fancy!] Jade’s number three on the speed dial, and she decides to call her home to prank her little sister Cathy, informing her in a nasally voice that she’s been selected as Division Street Mall’s worst-dressed shopper of the month and has won a dozen wilted daisies. Cathy isn’t fooled and tells Jade to ‘”pick on someone as stupid as you are!”‘ [Oooh, feisty]
Jade then calls nerdy Henry Raven and in a seductive voice pretends to be his secret admirer. Henry knows it’s just someone playing a joke and hangs up because he doesn’t have time for this. The girls think it’s absolutely hilarious and Jade encourages Deena to call her crush, Rob Morell. Deena protests at first because she can barely speak to people in person, but the more outgoing Jade insists Rob won’t have a clue who’s calling if Deena whispers sexily like she had.
So Deena calls Rob and is surprised at how easy it is to be seductive, and Rob quickly asks her out after she lies about looking like Kim Basinger. Deena tells him she’ll call back another night before hanging up and the girls collapse with laughter once again.
Deena’s parents will be home soon so the prank calls stop, but Jade’s keen to pick it up again tomorrow night. Unfortunately Deena’s going with her father to get Chuck from the airport tomorrow night, and Jade asks her to tell him hello from her because he doesn’t know her now, but she has a feeling he will soon. [Calm down, Jade, you don’t even know what he looks like]
Cut to Deena and her father meeting Chuck at the airport. Chuck is tall and muscly with thick, sandy hair and blue eyes, and Deena just knows Jade will be all over him. Chuck’s kind of hard to read, though; he’s got a scowl on his face that changes in an in instant to a goofy, lopsided smile that makes him look like a completely different person.
On the way back home, Deena’s father does all the talking while Chuck just grunts his answers, but eventually they come to a stop because of a crash up ahead. Deena follows Chuck to the front of the line of cars to investigate, finding a red Plymouth is crumpled against the concrete divider. Flames begin licking up from the bottom of the car as a little boy starts screaming that his dog is still inside. Chuck decides to play hero and runs towards the burning vehicle, disappearing into the thick smoke, and Deena watches in horror as the car explodes into ‘a blazing fireball of red and orange flames.’ Chuck soon appears from the smoke and flames with the dog, both uninjured. He’s hailed a hero by the onlookers, and Deena wonders if he’s really brave or just plain crazy.
The next morning, Deena fixes Chuck a bowl cereal with blueberries to make him feel welcome and to show how proud she is of him for his heroics last night. When he comes down to the kitchen, she offers to introduce him around at school if they arrive early enough. Chuck, who has nicknamed her ‘kid’ for some reason despite not being that much older, tells her he doesn’t need any help getting along, which really offends Deena.
Later during lunch period, Deena’s staring at Rob Morell, feeling empowered by her little prank call the other night. Jade rocks up, looking as beautiful as ever and being ogled by all the guys in the cafeteria, and she’s got some hot gossip:
“Guess who’s just become the hot couple of the month?” she said.
“Who?” said Deena.
“Bruce Kipness and Sherry Murdoch!”
“Really?” Deena said. Bruce and Sherry were the two fattest kids in the school.
[What, are relationships only for skinny people, Deena?] Jade surmises that no-one else would want to go out with either of them [You’re in the bin, Jade] and starts gossiping about a teacher, but Deena’s not really listening; she’s worried about Chuck, who she hasn’t seen since this morning. Suddenly two boys barrel into the cafeteria in a fist fight. Jade recognises Bobby McCorey [His first chronological appearance, but he was first seen on the blog in Halloween Party] fighting with some new kid, and Deena stands on her chair to get a better view. She realises it’s Chuck moments before the girl next to her cries out, ‘”The new kid’s got a knife!”‘
It’s time for another brief chapter about the mysterious he, who admits to having a little trouble keeping it together, but the plan is still working and no-one suspects a thing [I think we’re supposed to believe it’s Chuck, but he seems like more of a red herring]. He just has to wait one more week before putting the final part of his plan in motion, and then all his troubles will be over. Nothing and no-one can stop him, and ‘it would just be too bad for anyone who tried.’
It’s Saturday afternoon during the second week in September now and Deena’s washing her mother’s car in the driveway, thinking about how awful school will be this year: her classes are harder than she expected and her friendship with Jade will once again be the only reason she’s invited to anything. Chuck is another huge problem; it had taken three teachers to break up his fight with Bobby and the only reason he wasn’t expelled is because Mr. Martinson had guaranteed the school there’d be no more trouble.
Deena had later overheard Chuck getting the scolding of a lifetime from their father, who threatened to kick him out if there’s another misstep. Chuck was grounded indefinitely and now spends most of the time in his room instead of trying to bond with his family, only emerging to silently eat his dinner. It’s almost like he isn’t even there, except the whole atmosphere of the house has changed, with Deena’s father becoming short-tempered and snappy and her mother being more tense and jumpy than usual.
Jade rocks up to hang out after Mike Kamiskey [I wonder if Stine planned to use all these names as future protagonists, but then forgot about them?] cancelled their date due to a cold, and second option Deena is happy for the company since her parents are out for the night. Jade wonders if Chuck will join them for pizza and some movies, [A hidden agenda there, Jade?] and while Deena tells her to forget about Mr. Antisocial. Jade reckons she can change him into a more social guy.
Later that night, the girls are chowing down on pizza in Deena’s room as it pours with rain outside, which is very annoying because she’d spent the afternoon washing the car. Jade suggests they give Rob Morell another call and Deena’s more confident this time, but poor Rob is stumbling over his words. He asks the mystery caller out for ‘”a cuff of coppee,”‘ and while Deena would like that, she tells him she has to be sure of him first. There’s suddenly a click on the line and, thinking there’s trouble with the phone, [Surely Chuck was eavesdropping on the phone downstairs] Deena hangs up, promising to call another night.
Jade’s about to call Mike Kamiskey to find out if he’s really sick, but Chuck enters the room, so she forgets that plan and introduces herself with a honey-dripping smile. Chuck reveals he heard Deena’s little phone call and advises her to at least have some imagination if she’s gonna play around on the phone. Deena knows whatever he’s thinking spells trouble, but lusty Jade’s keen to hear what ideas he’s got.
Chuck calls Shadyside Lanes, the bowling alley, and in a gravelly voice tells the worker on the other end that there’s a bomb planted on the premises that’ll go off at 10pm, then hangs up. Jade finds it funny but Deena’s mortified because Chuck just committed a crime! Jade quickly realises the depth of what Chuck’s just done and reminds him they just want to call people from school and not get into any trouble.
Chuck brings up Fear Street and the girls tell him of all the rumours, with a deadly serious Jade warning Chuck not to fool around about it. Chuck’s not afraid and dials Bobby McCorey’s number from the phone book, introducing himself as the Phantom of Fear Street. [Ooky spooky!] The phantom’s got his evil eye on Bobby and warns him to make sure all his windows and doors are locked every night before hanging up. Deena can’t believe he just did that, but Chuck accuses her of being afraid of the Phantom of Fear Street:
He laughed, then ran to the window and raised it. Outside it was raining harder than ever, and the sky rippled with lightning.
“Spirits of Fear Street!” Chuck yelled at the top of his voice. “Do you hear me? I’m waiting for you! Right here! Come and get me!”
He’s crazy, Deena thought. He gets that wild look on his face, and his whole personality changes. It’s like he’s two people, and the side of him that loves danger can take over in an instant.
There’s a sudden flash of lightning and clap of thunder followed by the lights going out, and in the darkness there’s a bloodcurdling scream. The lights flicker on and the girls notice Chuck’s limp body curled up on the floor by the window. It’s just a prank, of course, and pissed off Deena warns Chuck not to ‘”go messing around with things you don’t understand!”‘ The rain starts to let up so Jade decides to walk home, escorted by Chuck who warns there are strange things out there in the night.
Chuck apologises to Deena the next day and offers to help her with her math homework, and once again Deena notes how he seems to be two different people; the goofy-grinned one who’s kind, brave and funny, and the other one who’s mean and immature. Deena really likes the first Chuck and wants to encourage that side of him.
On Monday, she bumps into Rob Morell who gives her a friendly smile and asks how she is. She remembers back to how empowered she’d felt during her first call with him, but Chuck’s prank calls this past Saturday have tainted the calling game and she plans on convincing Jade and Chuck to stop. She’s about to tell Jade her thoughts at lunch, but Jade wants to show her the front page of the Shadyside Morning Press first. [I’m assuming this is the local newspaper, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it before] The top story is about the bowling alley bomb threat, featuring a quote from Cory Brooks, who’d been there that night. The police are taking the threat very seriously and aren’t ruling out terrorism, although are aware it may have been a crank call.
Deena feels sick and ashamed and while Jade admits Chuck shouldn’t mess around with Fear Street on the calls, she enjoys the pranks and believes Deena does too. Deena agrees it was fun at the beginning, but she doesn’t trust Chuck and they all need to stop. Jade thinks she and Chuck should have a say since there’s three of them involved, then gets snippy when Deena points out that it’s her phone:
“Well, then,” said Jade, “maybe I ought to tell Rob Morell who’s been calling him on her phone.” She stopped and smiled nastily at Deena’s sudden look of horror. “Or,” Jade went on, “we can wait for Saturday night, and the three of us can discuss it together.”
[Not sure how I feel about Jade, tbh] Deena and Chuck get along quite well over the next week and by Saturday, Deena’s determined to put a stop to any more prank calls. With her parents out for the night, she has a backyard barbecue with Jade and Chuck. Deena tells them she thinks they should stop making prank calls, and to her surprise they both agree; apparently the two of them had talked it over already and Jade had convinced Chuck it’s stupid to be taking such risks, especially when their dad works for the phone company. Deena’s glad when she spots the two of them holding hands at one point because they’ll be a good influence on each other.
A bat suddenly appears and the girls go screaming into the house, followed casually by Chuck who tells them their belief that bats carry rabies is pure superstition, ‘”just like that nonsense about Fear Street.”‘ The girls continue to tell him stories about the street, like how scientists around the country haven’t been able to figure out why there’s no birds in the Fear Street woods, and how people disappear and houses have mysteriously burned down. Upon learning that people actually live on Fear Street, Chuck grabs the phone book and promises to change the girls’ lives forever by showing them that the Fear Street residents are ordinary people. He dials the first number he finds listed on Fear Street, which rings and rings and rings:
On the sixteenth ring there was a click, followed immediately by a breathless gasp. Then the shrillest, most frightened-sounding voice Deena had ever heard cried out: “Please! Please come quickly! He’s going to kill me!”
“Please,” the woman begged. “Whoever you are, you’re my only hope. Any minute now he’ll—” But her voice was cut off by a man’s bellow of rage. While the three teens listened, horrified, the speaker phone amplified terror-stricken screams and then the sound of shattering glass.
“Hello? Hello?” Chuck said into the phone.
And then the woman was back. “Please come!” she begged again. “Please help me! You’re my only—” There was the sound of a slap and then a new, gruff voice came on the line.
“Who is this?” the voice growled.
“What’s going on there?” countered Chuck.
“It’s none of your business,” growled the man. “You’ve got the wrong number, do you understand?”
[Terrifying] Deena wants to call the police but Chuck doesn’t want to have to explain how they came to call the house in case it links them back to the bomb threat somehow. [Just say you’re a neighbour and you heard a commotion? Like, you’re literally going to let someone died because you’re scared of the consequences of your own actions? Come on, Chuck] Deena’s determined to tell someone, since the woman said the man was going to kill her, but big brave Chuck searches the phone book for the address and decides to head on over to find out what’s going on – ‘”You heard her. I’m her only hope.”‘ [I’m sure she meant for you call the damn police, Chuck, not play hero]
The girls tag along to 884 Fear Street where, according to the phone book, the Farbersons live. Naturally, the two-storey house is right on the edge of the cemetery and set apart from the neighbouring homes, and it looks like it’s been deserted for years. Chuck’s determined to check it out anyway, grabbing a flashlight from the boot and heading up to the house.
The girls don’t feel comfortable waiting in the car and hurry up the driveway to meet Chuck on the porch, his ear pressed to the door. No-one answered when he knocked and rang the doorbell, so they head for the back door, which is slightly ajar with the glass window in the top half of the door smashed in. Shining the flashlight through the broken window, it’s clear the kitchen has been ransacked, and Chuck decides to let himself in to investigate. Deena and Jade are shitting bricks but follow him anyway, almost walking into him when he stops suddenly:
Just beyond the door to the living room, illuminated by his circle of light, lay an outstretched arm. Next to its hand was a telephone receiver. Splattered over both were bright drops of red blood, running and collecting into a dark, spreading pool on the carpet.
The woman has been stabbed, and Chuck wants to call an ambulance before they leave because there might not be time to save the woman if they wait to call from somewhere else. [Oh, she’s not already dead?] He turns on the light and Deena notices the living room is just as ransacked as the kitchen was, and there’s a large, blood-covered carving knife next to the woman. Chuck dials the police but before he can get a full sentence out, a man in a green jacket and a ski mask comes bounding down the staircase with a tyre iron. [!!!!!]
The man tells Chuck to drop the phone and advances towards him, but Chuck snatches up the carving knife and throws it at the man before following the girls out the front door. They dash to the car and quickly speed off, but the man jumps into the old sedan parked in the driveway of the house and gives chase. The teens try to lose the man by making several turns and eventually he disappears. Instead of doing something smart like driving to the police, the teens head back to Deena’s house and sit in the car, catching their breath. [Idiots!] Then they hear a car roaring up the hill towards the house and realise they didn’t lose the man after all.
Our heroes scramble out of the car and up onto the porch as the other car roars towards them. Instead of stopping, the car continues around the circular driveway and heads back towards town. Relieved, the teens head inside and Chuck immediately calls 911, instructing them to send an ambulance to the house on Fear Street because someone’s been stabbed. Instead of giving them his name, he tells them he’s the Phantom of Fear Street [Chuck, plz] and hangs up, explaining to the girls that he’s in enough trouble already and reiterates that he doesn’t want to explain why they were at the house in the first place. [Who cares about justice for the poor stabbed woman when Chuck could get into trouble?!? There’s seriously so many lies they could come up with, like being a concerned neighbour, or they just dialled the wrong number by accident]
Deena argues that they should report the man, but Chuck protests that they never saw his face so they can’t exactly identify him. [You saw his car; that’ll help!] He also points that the man knows where they live [Which is all the more reason to report him?!?] and they’ll just have to hope the police catch him. [With fuck all clues except a mystery phone call that alerted them to the stabbing? Use your brain, Chuck, tell the police what you know!] Chuck also thinks the ordeal is over, although I have no idea why he’d think that.
Deena struggles to sleep that night and is horrified when there’s a knock at the door around 2am. She’s worried it’s the man from Fear Street, but her father opens the door to Detective Frazier [Not to be confused with Lieutenant Frazer] and Detective Monroe, who ask if three teens, two girls and a boy, live here. Mr. Martinson corrects them, and the detectives insist it’s important they speak to the teens.
In the kitchen a short time later, the detectives ask where Deena and Chuck were between 9:30-11pm tonight. Chuck instantly lies that they were hanging out at home all night, and Deena gives him a questioning look before realising why he’s lying; ‘If her father found out what they’d been doing, Chuck would be in big trouble.’ [Not as much trouble as you’ll both be in when your lies are found out!] Deena stupidly backs up his story and both teens lie that it was just them at home at the time. [For god’s sake]
Next, Deena and Chuck are asked if they know, have ever spoken on the phone to, or have ever visited the home of Mr. and Mrs. Farberson of 884 Fear Street, and Chuck ends up exploding at them. Mr. Martinson is getting annoyed now and tells the cops to get to the point, and Monroe informs them that Mr. Stanley Farberson saw these two and another girl break into his home, burglarise the place and murder his wife when she came home unexpectedly. [OK, so Mr. Farberson clearly killed his wife and staged it as a burglary gone wrong. But according to his statement, he saw them break in, burglarise the place and murder his wife and did absolutely nothing to stop them? You wanna fact check that, detectives?]
Chuck denies that they were ever on Fear Street and points out they have no reason to steal or murder, but Frazier reiterates that Mr. Farberson saw them and gave the police their license plate. Mr. Martinson asks Deena if she did these things, and of course she says no, but when she tries to explain what really happened, he cuts her off and asks Chuck the same thing. [Wow, Mr. Martinson] Chuck obviously denies it as well, and Mr. Martinson tells the officers his kids wouldn’t lie to him and they won’t say another word without a lawyer present.
Frazier reveals they have enough evidence to take the teens in for further questioning – they’d checked the bumper of the car out front and found the bumper and tyres clotted with ‘”green sandy clay that’s only found at the end of Fear Street, where the Farbersons live.”‘ It’s still damp, so they know the car was there recently. He tells the family to come down to the station voluntarily, otherwise he’ll have to return with warrants for their arrests. [They should be coming clean right now, lol. They’re just making things worse for themselves]
Another brief chapter about our bad guy, whose plan is going better than he’d hoped, and now there’s nothing left to do but wait another week – ‘unless someone tried to get in his way.’ If that happens, he’s fine committing one more murder… it’ll probably be easier than the first one. [OK this is definitely Stanley Farberson]
It’s Sunday on the third week of September now, [I’m not used to the timeline of Point Horror/Fear Street being so clear!] which is also the day after where we left off, and Deena reminisces about her trip to the police station with Chuck. Chuck had ordered her not to say anything to avoid making things worse [I think not saying anything is making things worse, champ] and Deena didn’t want to get Jade into trouble, so she remained tight-lipped as the police questioned her in a private room. Eventually she was allowed to go free, but poor Chuck got arrested; last year in Center City he’d been caught joyriding in a stolen car with his friends, so there’s a record of his fingerprints, and it just so happens that they match the fingerprints on the knife used to murder Mrs. Farberson. [Again, it’s time to start telling the truth, guys]
Driving home with her parents, Deena couldn’t hold it in any longer and insisted that although Chuck’s fingerprints are definitely on the knife, Mrs. Farberson was already dead at the time. Her parents wanted to talk about it when they’re home, but Deena couldn’t do it alone and enlisted Jade to help her explain things despite the early hour of the morning:
“Do you mean to say that this whole thing began with a prank phone call?” Mr. Martinson said at last.
“And it ended in a murder,” Jade said sadly, her voice a whisper.
[Not quite the tagline, but it’ll do] It seems like her parents would rather believe Chuck’s a murderer than the truth, and Deena’s hopes that the police will believe her quickly fade. That doesn’t stop her and Jade from explaining everything to Detectives Frazier and Monroe late Sunday afternoon, though, but they just think she’s trying to protect her brother and only believe ‘the parts that seemed the worst of Chuck.’ What I can’t get my head around is that fact that neither Deena, Jade or Chuck are questioning how Mr. Farberson allegedly saw them at the scene… is it not obvious that he was the masked man and took the convenient opportunity to frame them? Frazier and Monroe are also awful cops, talking down to the girls by referring to the masked man as mythical and asking teenage girls questions they themselves, as detectives, should be finding the answers for:
Then Monroe started in again. “Can either of you explain to me why a burglar—let alone a murderer—would hang around when he heard three people enter the house?”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” added Frazier. “Why would he let you see him? Why wouldn’t he hide somewhere till you left? Or try to escape without being seen?”
“Why would he want to chase you?” said Monroe. “If he’d done the things you say, girls, he wouldn’t be too interested in chasing after three teenagers in his car and then just driving away.”
[Go find the answers to these questions yourselves! God, no wonder there’s so many unsolved mysteries in Shadyside] Also highlighting how dumb these two are, they know Chuck called 911 to send an ambulance to the Farbersons’ place, but they don’t question why he would do that if he’s the murderer? Do they think he wanted to get caught? And just to add a final layer of condescension, the cops commend the girls’ loyalty to Chuck but warn that their crazy story won’t do him any good, with Frazier insisting they ‘”think carefully, and then tell us what really happened.”‘ [Fuck offfffffffffffff]
Meeting up in the parking lot before school the next morning, Jade shows Deena this morning’s paper where the top story is Chuck’s murder charge over Edna Farberston’s death. According to the article, Stanley came home early that night from the restaurant he owns because his wife wasn’t answering the phone, then saw the suspects fleeing as he arrived and managed to get a good look at their faces and car. The article also links Chuck and two teenage girls to prank phone calls over the last few weeks, including the bomb threat and ‘anonymous suggestive calls to local boys.’ [Omg lol, awkwarddddd]
Deena and Jade are dreading the school day because it’s so easy to figure out they’re the ones involved, but to their surprise they get a lot of sympathy and many people think Chuck’s innocent, including Kathy Narida [Another name I’ve never seen before] and stickybeak Lisa Blume, who’d love to do a feature in the school newspaper about the incident. Deena explains she’s not allowed to talk about any of it but promises to give Lisa an exclusive when the situation is resolved.
On her way to lunch, Deena is confronted by Bobby McCorey and his two friends, Eddie Mixon and Ralph Terry, [Why so many characters we’ll never see again, Stine?!], who want her to pass on a message to the Phantom of Fear Street – ‘”if he ever gets out of jail, his troubles aren’t over.”‘ [Oooh, tough guy] In the cafeteria, Jade informs Deena that Rob Morell [His full name is used basically every time he’s mentioned in the book, so I’m doing it too xoxo] had asked her about the sexy phone calls, warning that he’ll probably want to discuss it with Deena because she’d denied being responsible for calls to him.
Speak of the devil, here comes Rob Morell now, so Jade scurries off to allegedly return a library book. Rob apologises for what she’s going through with Chuck right now and reveals he’s been interested in talking to her ever since they shared geometry last year. He wants to call her sometime and Deena, who’s struggle to talk to boys definitely comes off as disinterest if this conversation, tells him that’s fine before he hits her with ‘”Somehow I have an idea I’ll like talking to you on the phone!”‘ [Cuuuuuute]
As she gets ready for bed that night, Deena gets a call from Jade who urgently tells her to turn on the news. Deena obeys the order and watches as a reporter interviews a big man with a broken nose. There’s something familiar about the man and his voice, but Deena can’t quite put her finger on it until the reporter refers to him by name; Mr. Farberson:
Deena stared at the television.
Mr. Farberson?
Now she knew where she had seen him before.
She recognized his voice.
Mr Farberson was the man in the mask!
[Knew it! Thank god this isn’t the big reveal at the end of the book] Jade is just as sure as Deena that Stanley Farberson and the masked man are one and the same, and Deena speculates that he staged the break-in to shift the blame onto a mythical burglar as part of his plot to kill his wife. [Was anything even stolen? That seems like something the police should have chased up, and the fact that no valuables missing would surely incriminate Stanley Farberson, at least a little bit, right?] She’s determined to explain the new developments to the police tomorrow, but of course Detective Frazier doesn’t believe her when she calls the next morning, instead accusing her of telling lies [No papa!] because ‘”Mr. Farberson is a respected businessman in this town.”‘ [That means absolutely nothing, Frazier, do your damn job] Hanging up the phone, Deena realises it’s going to be up to her and Jane to prove Mr. Farberson’s a murderer.
Luckily Jade has a plan, and after school the girls don wigs from her mother’s beauty shop and plaster on some makeup to head over to Alberga III, Farberson’s restaurant. He apparently works nights, so Jade reckons they’ll have time to poke around and see if they can find out anything about him before he arrives. The girls go with the hostess’s suggestion they were sent over from the job agency and are lead over to Mr. Farberson’s office to fill out an application to be his assistant, but they’re surprised to find Mr. Farberson here already. [I mean he works nights, so it makes sense that he starts in the afternoon?]
Farberson leaves them in the office to complete the form while he goes to check the wine inventory, and the girls takes the opportunity to snoop through his desk. According to a work schedule Jade finds, Mr. Farberson only works every other Saturday, which means he was off last Saturday when his wife was murdered! Deena finds it interesting, ‘”but it doesn’t really prove anything,”‘ [Except that he lied to the police about his movements that night? Are you serious, Deena? Also, did the cops seriously not fact-check his story? How hard is it to ask the other workers if he was there that night? Why are teenagers doing the work of Shadyside cops , again?] and then Jade has the bright idea to check for anything taped to the underside of his desk drawers. She finds nothing but a wad of chewing gum, [Gross] but as she’s closing the desk a sealed envelope from a travel agency catches her eye. [Oooh]
The office door starts to open, so Jade pockets the envelope and hurries back to her seat as Farberson walks in, looking pissed. He knows they’re not from the agency and demands the truth so, ever the actress, Jade puts on the Academy Award-winning performance of a lifetime. Conveniently, the hostess had earlier mentioned the name of the worker who recently quit, Linda Morrison, and Jade explains that her cousin is a friend of hers, so she knew there was an opening and wanted to apply. Farberson admirers her spunk and is tempted to try her out, but Jade has no interest in working for someone who’s so suspicious. Farberson tries to explain that he’s just taking care of himself because ‘”You’d be surprised how many people try to take advantage,”‘ but Jade leads Deena out of the building to find somewhere a little more congenial to work at. [Hahahaha I wasn’t sure about her earlier, but I love Jade]
The girls stop at a 7-Eleven to open the envelope they stole and find two one-way tickets to Argentina inside, scheduled for the upcoming Saturday. Despite their suspicions, they deem this evidence useless since the trip must be for both the husband and wife, and the police will never believe what the girls say about the respected businessman.
The next day is a teacher conference day, so the girls have the day of school. Under the guise of being survey takers gathering information about the Shadyside restaurant industry, Deena and Jade visit Linda Morrison’s house after getting her information from the phone book. Jade’s acting skills are on point once again as she explains they interviewed Stanley Farberson already and now want to discuss Linda’s time at the restaurant. She seems uncomfortable as she answers Jade’s questions about her former boss, and is confused when Jade starts asking about Mr. Farberson’s wife. [I’m confused too, these questions aren’t making sense with what Jade’s said she’s here for]
Linda apologises that she’s just a bit on edge today, and then the phone rings. She’s happy to hear from the person on the other end, who she refers to as ‘darling,’ [Omg she’s having an affair with Farberson!] but then remembers the girls are here and decides to take the call on the extension in the other room, asking Jade to hang this one up once she gets on. Jade agrees but is as nosy as me and listens in on the conversation, instantly recognising Farberson’s voice. Linda complains that she’s such a wreck and begs Stanley to ‘”come take it away.”‘ [His ski mask and bloody clothes?!] Farberson is on his way to the restaurant but agrees to make a pit stop and will be here in five minutes, so when Linda returns Jade lies about a scheduling issue and quickly leaves with Deena.
Jade explains what she overheard and the girls park down the block so they can watch what happens. Farberson soon arrives and Linda greets him at the door with a lingering kiss before they disappear inside. They’re definitely affair partners, and Jade realises the second plane ticket is probably for Linda, but still doesn’t want to go the the police because there’s no concrete evidence Farberson killed his wife. [Surely the police would be obliged to investigate their suspicions, though, right? Like, at the very least there’s proof he lied about being at work on the night of the murder, and an affair gives him a motive]
Farberson soon exits the house with a small paper bag tied with string and starts to deposit it in the trash can next to the porch, but then changes his mind and takes the package back to his car. As the girls follow behind him, Deena has a sneaking suspicion of what might be in the package – ‘”It’s the mask and the bloody shirt he wore the night he killed his wife!”‘ If they can get their hands on that package, they’ll have all the proof they need for the police to believe their story! [I have my doubts there. The cops will probably just assume the shirt is bloody because he probably held his wife’s corpse in despair after discovering the murder scene or something like that. I doubt these incompetent cops would entertain any other scenario just because the girls present them with a mask and shirt. After all, Mr. Farberson is a respected businessman!]
They follow Farberson’s car back to Alberga III and watch as he throws the package into the dumpster at the back of the restaurant. Deena and Jade try to fetch it after he goes inside, but they’re caught by the cooks and quickly make up an excuse to leave. They return later that night and fight off some rats before climbing into the dumpster. [This’d be a cute date idea] They sift through the food scraps and garbage bags and eventually find the package, then eagerly open the surprisingly heavy package in the car. Instead of evidence they find a dead cat, and realise they were mistaken about what Linda wanted out of her house so desperately. [Did Linda hate her cat? Surely it deserves a respectful burial instead of being wrapped up and thrown in a dumpster, wtf?] The girls are feeling dejected and start to doubt their theory that Farberson murdered his wife; maybe the masked man just had a similar voice? As Deena’s backing up the car, a powerful hand grabs her shoulder from the backseat: [Fuck that hahaha]
“No!” she screamed, and she slammed on the brake.
Jade turned, her eyes wide with horror, and saw the man in the mask just as he grabbed her shoulder with his other hand.
“Ouch—you’re hurting me!”
He squeezed their shoulders hard and pushed his masked face up close to them.
“Don’t ever let me see you again,” he said in a low, menacing growl. “I only give one warning.”
His breath was hot and smelled of garlic.
He shoved them both hard from behind, then lurched from the car, leaving the back door open, and disappeared into the darkness.
[Not the hot garlic breath 🤢 ] Deena’s unable to focus at school the next day thanks to the masked man’s warning and sadly has to turn down Rob Morell’s invite for a coke after school due to plans to visit Chuck in jail. She regrets not visiting sooner but just couldn’t bring herself to do it, but he’s been asking about her so it’s time to face the music and break the news that the police won’t believe a word she says, and also tell him ‘how miserably she had failed at being a detective.’ [It’s Frazier and Monroe who failed miserably at that task, darl]
During the very short visit, [Seriously, it seems like they talk for like, one minute before the guard declares they have two minutes left?], Chuck laments how badly he needs to get out of here and thanks the girls for how hard they’ve tried to clear his name. Ranting bitterly, he mentions how he’d go right to Farberson’s house and search till he found evidence that he’s guilty of murder, then instantly regrets it because Deena decides that’s what she and Jade will do. That’s definitely not what Chuck meant and he starts screaming that it’s too dangerous and he won’t let them go there, [What you gonna do about it, Chuck?] but with only one day left to clear Chuck’s name, Deena’s made up her mind.
At dinner that night, Deena has a little outburst and storms up to her room when her father says Chuck ‘”brought a lot of this on himself”‘ because of the phone calls. Mum comes to check on her a few moments later and tells her not to be too hard on her father – ‘”Don’t you know how hard this is for him? After all, Chuck is his only son.”‘ [And Deena’s his only daughter, lol, what about it? Are sons more important?] Jade calls for an update on Chuck and Deena reveals they’ll be making a trip back to Fear Street tomorrow night, a plan that hinges on assuming Farberson won’t be home [Why not go tonight and only go back tomorrow night if you don’t find anything? More time to search that way and come up with an alternate plan if needed]
After school the next day, Deena’s father calls so Deena can pass on a message to her mother that he’ll be staying late at work because the bad weather has struck a transformer, and the phone lines are down on the south side of town. Instead of doing that, Deena leaves a note for her mother to say she’s studying at Jade’s, then walks to the Division Street Mall in the heavy rain to meet Jade. Neither of them has access to a car today so they catch the bus to Fear Street, where the Farberson house looks empty. The glass in the back door is still broken, so the girls break in easily to find that Mr. Farberson hasn’t even cleaned up the ransacked house since last Saturday [Gross, but maybe a good thing because the police will be able to properly investigate the scene maybe?].
They find nothing downstairs and head to the next floor, hearing an unsettling creaking noise, but it’s just the casement window in the bedroom, swinging back and forth in the wind. The girls shut it and continue searching, eventually finding an incriminating note from Mrs. Farberson in the study:
” ‘ Dear Stan,’ ” Deena read. ” ‘There’s no use arguing anymore. I have made up my mind to leave you, and nothing will change that. I know you can’t make a go of the restaurant. When I gave you the money to buy it I believed that finally you would be successful at something. But once again you are failing.
” ‘I refuse to give you any more money. In the last five years you have gone through almost all of my inheritance. I have to save something for myself.
” ‘I’ll be by Saturday night to pick up my things. Goodbye, Edna.’ “
[An entitled man killing his wife for daring to leave him? Who’d have thought…] This is the most perfect evidence they could possibly find, but Deena’s not satisfied and wants to check the closet to see if she can find the mask [Deena, you’re an idiot]. As she searches, the girls hear a car turn into the Farbersons’ driveway. [Oop] A car door slams shut and heavy footprints approach the house, [As if they can hear his footsteps lol] then there’s the sound of a key turning in a lock before the front door creaks open. [!!!!!!]
The girls wait where they are while Farberson stomps around downstairs, but after a while everything is quiet. Jade sneaks a peek, suggesting ‘”Maybe it isn’t even Mr. Farberson down there,”‘ [Who else would it be, Jade?] and reports back that he’s snoring on the couch. After a failed attempt to sneak down the creaky stairs, [Go out the window you closed? There was a tree right outside it] the girls hurry back to the study where silly Deena accidentally knocks over a metal wastebasket, so the girls quickly hide in the closet as Farberson clomps upstairs to investigate. He notices water droplets all over his desk and crosses over to the closet, swinging the door open and immediately spotting the girls.
Jade tries to escape but he quickly overpowers her, and during their struggle she yells at Deena to get help. Deena flees downstairs but doesn’t bother leaving the house to seek help because ‘the nearby houses all seemed to be deserted.’ [So run until you find one that’s not????????????? Deena, please] Instead she tries to call the police from here, but by the time she remembers the phone lines are down on this side of town, Farberson’s right behind her – ‘This had all started with a phone call, she thought. And it might end—because she couldn’t make one!’ He reveals that Jade’s taking a nap and would love some company, but a quick-thinking Deena sprints to the kitchen and hits him with a frying pan. He eventually overpowers her and drags her upstairs by the arm, accidentally ripping her poncho and spotting Edna’s note she’d stashed in her waistband.
He shoves her in the bedroom where Jade lays crumpled by the bed, starting to come to. Farberson demands to know what they think they know and upon realising they’ve worked out the truth, admits to his crimes. This worries Deena because he wouldn’t been confessing if he didn’t plan on killing them, and sure enough he explains that although he’s grateful to them for showing up that night and buying him more time, he can’t take a chance on them thwarting his plans. He then exits the bedroom and locks them in, and Deena remembers how close that giant tree is to the window that’d been open before.
Of course the window is stuck, and the girls can hear Farberson’s footsteps returning. They quickly push the heavy chest of drawers against the door and the girls manage to get the window open as he struggles to enter the room. They climb out onto a thick branch and as Farberson appears in the window, they realise they can’t go much further – everything’s slippery and the next branch that could hold them is too far away. Farberson moves from the window and reappears beneath the tree with a chainsaw, looking wild and out of control. He quickly starts hacking into the tree and just as the tree begins to tilt, the girls notice the flashing red lights of police cars approaching in the distance. [Luckyyyyyyyy. Did a neighbour file a noise complaint about the chainsaw?]
Soon, police cars fill the area and Detective Frazier steps out of a car and fires twice at Farberson, [What, no warning first?] who falls backwards. As the yard fills with more cops, Detective Monroe comes over with a ladder and carries each girl down to safety moments before the tree topples over, and Deena quickly passes out from the stress.
Deena wakes up minutes later on the porch of the house surrounded by Jade, Monroe, Frazier, Chuck and her father. Frazier asks what the girls were doing here, and the girls explain everything they’ve learned since Chuck was arrested, including the note from Edna that Farberson now has. When asked how they came by all this information, Jade bitterly tells the detectives it’s because she and Deena looked for it:
“You took an awful chance!” said Frazier. “Don’t you think that was a job for the police?”
“Of course it was!” said Deena. “But you wouldn’t listen to anything we said. We knew Chuck was innocent, and we knew his only hope was for us to find the truth.”
To Deena’s surprise, Frazier smiled. “I guess I should tell you, Farberson has been our number-one suspect for some time,” he said. “We’ve just been waiting till we could get proof.”
[OK, first of all, love that Deena and Jade are attacking their incompetence. Second of all, I don’t know about Frazier’s response. They clearly weren’t searching for actual evidence, so were they just waiting for proof to fall into their laps? Like, Farberson was about to flee the country, what would they have done then? Are we to assume that Shadyside police aren’t as incompetent as they seem and are just waiting for proof in every book? Hahaha] Deena flips out that they’ve had Chuck in prison all week for no reason, but Mr. Martinson explains that while he’d arranged to get Chuck out on bail on Wednesday, Frazier explained that there was a better chance of arresting Farberson if he believed he wasn’t a suspect. Mr. Martinson agreed because Chuck would have gotten out Saturday anyway, and he thought it would teach Chuck a lesson.
Despite how broken Chuck had seemed in prison, he completely understands his father’s decision and Deena notices how his whole demeanour has changed since he first arrived in Shadyside – ‘his face looked older, more serious. All traces of the bitter sneer had disappeared.’ [Girl, he’s been in prison for the past week, of course he’ll be a changed man] As an ambulance arrives to take Farberson to the hospital, Chuck thanks the girls for all their hard work and explains that the police knew Deena and Jade were here because he called Frazier personally to confess to the murder; it was the only way he could be sure the detective would listen to him. Jade bursts out laughing at this, in disbelief that after everything they’ve all been through, ‘”you made another prank phone call!”‘ [Hilarious, Jade…]
Word spreads quickly at school on Monday and everyone, including Della O’Conner and Corey Brooks, wants the juicy details. Lisa Blume’s ready for the exclusive she was promised and wants to know if it’s true Chuck made a fake confession. Deena tells her to ask him herself as he comes strutting around the corner, hand-in-hand with Jade. Deena heads over to the happy couple as Chuck answers Lisa’s questions, and Rob approaches to invite Deena over to watch some tapes tonight with some of his friends. Deena would love to, and the invitation is extended to Chuck and Jade as well. Jade might have too much homework but will give Deena a call after school, and the book ends with Deena cracking, ‘”I think I’ve had it with telephones for a while. Maybe you should just send me a postcard!”‘ [Good one, Jade….]
Final thoughts
This was a really good one and I’m glad I’ve finally read it. I loved that it wasn’t a whodunnit murder mystery and instead we knew what was going on the whole time. I started out unsure about Deena and Jade but they quickly redeemed themselves and proved to be the type of strong females we love to see but don’t often get in these books. Deena’s weaknesses were balanced out nicely by Jade’s strengths and it was nice to see Deena holding her own in the final confrontation.
The brief bad guy chapters towards the beginning were pretty pointless, but I guess Stine wanted readers to have a bit of insight into Stanley Farberson’s mind. I also found it interesting that Stine laid out a clear timeline as far as when a new week began, but I’m not sure how relevant it was to this story in particular.
I also really enjoyed how suspenseful it was; I didn’t think Deena or Jade were going to die, but the final chapters were suspenseful nonetheless because they were definitely in danger.
On another note, it’s weird how many random names Stine mentioned that, as far as I know, never come up again. Were they planned to be future protagonists, and Stine couldn’t keep track? I guess we’ll never know.
Anyway, 99 incompetent detectives out of 121, and don’t forget check out my recap of Wrong Number 2!
