Tagline: There is going to be an uninvited guest at this Halloween party on Fear Street…
Back tagline: Invitation To Terror
Summary: The invitation arrived in a black-bordered envelope. Inside, the card showed a coffin with the inscription “Reserved For You.” It was perfectly fitting for an all-night Halloween party on Fear Street. But Terry and his girlfriend Niki wondered why they had been invited. They barely knew Justine Cameron, the beautiful and mysterious transfer student who was throwing the party.
The party was well under way when the lights went out. That’s to be expected at a spooky Halloween party. But when the lights came back on, here was that boy on the floor with the knife in his back. Just a Halloween prank? Maybe. Maybe not.
For Terry and Niki the trick-or-treating has turned to terror. To their horror, they realize that someone at the costume party is dressed to kill!
First impressions: Halloween isn’t as big in Australia as it is in the US, which sucks for me because anything ooky spooky is right up my alley, so I’m excited to read this! I can’t believe how long the blurbs for the early Fear Streets are, and the later books have like five words on the back! The tagline is way too wordy and long, too. What about the classic ‘Halloween can be murder…’ or even something like ‘Dressed to kill…’ Oh well.
I like the cover, but I’m confused – is the blurb a lie and this book is actually about floating jack-o’-lanterns terrorising Shadyside? I really hope this scene is in the book! At first glance, the tombstone’s inscription looks like gibberish, but if you look closely you can make out the name Catherine, a date of death, March 15, and that she died at the ripe old age of 40 years and 11 months. Unfortunately the book’s title makes it impossible to see a last name or the year of death, but I wonder if it’ll have any relevance anyway [Note from future: It does not]. Let’s find out!
Recap
Terry – Our hero who stole his best friend’s girlfriend before the events of the book.
Niki – Terry’s girlfriend, affectionally knows as Funny Face, of all things, and Alex’s ex.
Justine – A new student and the titular party’s hostess.
Alex – Terry’s ex-best friend and Niki’s ex-boyfriend.
Trisha, Ricky, Angela, Murphy, David, and Les – The other attendees of the party.
Bobby and Marty – Violent bullies obsessed with attending the party despite not being invited.
Philip – Justine’s uncle/guardian.
The book begins with our protagonist, Terry Ryan [It’s not often we see a male protagonist! I think this is only the second one I’ve covered so far, after Cat. I guess Chain Letter and its sequel count too, but those had multiple protagonists], walking through the Fear Street Cemetery with his girlfriend Niki Meyer, on their way to the Cameron mansion for Justine Cameron’s exclusive Halloween party [Apparently all the guests have been instructed to park there cars in the cul-de-sac at the end of Fear Street and take this route for extra spookiness]. While Terry doesn’t get much pleasure from walking through a graveyard at night, Niki’s an adventurous gal who’s fascinated by the tombstones, and I think she might be the first disabled character ever mentioned in Shadyside:
Niki had been nearly deaf since an accident in second grade. But she spoke so clearly and read lips so well, most people didn’t even realise she had a handicap.
Niki herself never acted as if she was different from other kids. She never wanted special treatment at all.
[Niki walked so Paulette could run xx. Although Paulette didn’t stop banging on about her disability, so Niki seems much better] Niki looks ‘like a medieval princess’ in her red gown and black cape [But her cape is blue on the cover!], but we don’t yet learn what Terry’s wearing for the party. As they walk, ‘a figure from a nightmare’ wearing tattered black clothes jumps out in front of them, it’s face and hands rotting away [!!!!]. Terry genuinely believes that it’s a zombie for a few moments [Terry, please] until the figure yanks the mask off, revealing another partygoer, Murphy, underneath.
We then jump back to two weeks earlier, where Terry’s grabbing his lunch from his locker. Trisha McCormick, ‘a short brunette with wiry hair and a bit of a weight problem. She was also the most friendly and enthusiastic person Terry knew,’ [Hmm, are we fat-shaming, Terry? We know Stine tends to describe appearances first, but if he wants us to like Terry, surely it’d be better to imply he doesn’t care about appearances and focus on her personality first? Seems like Terry’s almost saying “She may be short and fat, but her personality makes up for it!!”] notices a piece of paper flutter to the floor as he closes his locker. It’s an invitation to Justine Cameron’s all-night Halloween costume party [Shadysiders really love their all-night parties!], which Trisha has also received. As they walk to the cafeteria, Terry and Trisha wonder why they were invited, since neither of them even really knows Justine:
She was the most beautiful girl at Shadyside High—maybe even the whole town. Even the girls thought so. She was tall and slim, and looked more like a model than a student, with her long shiny blond hair and eyes as green as jade. Justine was a transfer student, new to Shadyside High, and so far, hardly anyone had gotten to know her—though most of the boys had tried.
[I guess all we need to know about Justine is that she’s hot] Spotting Niki in the lunch room, Terry quickly excuses himself from Trisha [Why not invite her to sit with you guys? Are you not friends?], and slides into the seat across from his girlfriend so she can read his lips as he says ‘”Hi, Funny Face,”‘ his special pet name for her [I don’t even know what to say to that… it’s a terrible pet name].
Although Niki ‘wasn’t the prettiest girl at Shadyside, or the smartest,’ [Wow, you seem like a real catch, Terry], Terry reckons she’s the most special and he can’t believe how lucky he is to to have been going out with her for the past six moths [Me either, you sound like a flog]. Niki brightens up any room she walks in and her smile ‘was like the sun coming up,’ so at least he’s got more nice things to say about her than bad, unlike poor Trisha.
Anyway, Niki also got an invitation to Justine’s Halloween party, and they soon realise only certain people have been invited – Niki’s the only one in her homeroom that got one, and her friends Deena and Jade haven’t been invited either. Just like Trisha and Terry, Niki’s barely spoken to Justine, although they’re in the same gym class.
Terry wonders if maybe they should just skip the party, but Niki doesn’t want to turn down a party on ooky spooky Fear Street, and besides, she’d like to get to know Justine better anyway. She also wonders who Justine’s going to ask to the party as her date, as if that’s something every girl needs for a party [Was this a thing in the 90s?].
Justine’s party is the talk of the school all day, and gossip queen Lisa Blume [From The New Girl] is trying to work out why only some people are invited and informs Terry of the Cameron mansion’s violent history [Is the Cameron mansion ever mentioned outside of this book? You’d think it’d be at the Fear mansion… Maybe Stine hadn’t conjured up the Fier/Fear family this early in the series, though?]:
“Don’t you know?” said Lisa. “The last owners of the Cameron mansion were killed in some kind of accident years ago. The story is that no one could ever live there again because their spirits haunt the place.”
[Are the Camerons a prototype of the Fears?] Justine is a distant cousin of the original owners and she know lives there with her uncle, who’d inherited the mansion and wants to fix it up. Lisa’s not sure exactly what happened to Justine’s parents, but she and her uncle have supposedly lived ‘”all over the country and even in Europe.”‘ [Justine’s a real jet-setter! How fancy].
In biology, Terry’s surprised to learn that Ricky Schorr [From The Overnight], an obnoxious practical joker that many consider ‘the biggest dweeb in the whole school,’ is also invited to the party. Although Terry can’t imagine why he and Niki are invited, it’s even more incomprehensible that Ricky and Trisha are invited, since ‘none of them hung out together’ [Oh, so Trisha’s not Terry’s friend, then?]. Ricky briefly talks about his biology project on metamorphosis, showing Terry a live frog and a jar of tadpoles that are now dead because he forgot to poke air holes in the lid [I feel like this will be relevant later but I can’t imagine how].
After school, a crowd is gathering on the front steps where Lisa Blume is reading out a list of the nine people invited to Justine’s party – along with Terry, Niki, Trisha, Ricky, there’s Murphy Carter, a party boy and linebacker on the football team; Angela Martiner, a pretty redhead ‘with a fast reputation’ [What does that mean? Is Terry saying she’s a slut?]; David Sommers, another sports star; Les Whittle, a science whiz who keeps to himself; and lastly Alex Beale, who’d been Terry’s best friend for years. Unfortunately, Niki dumped Alex for Terry last year, and ‘Alex had never gotten over his feelings for Niki—and sometimes Terry wondered if Niki was over her feelings for Alex.’ [I’m really not liking Terry so far. He doesn’t seem to like anyone and it also doesn’t seem like he takes responsibility for his shitty behaviour – imagine thinking Alex is in the wrong here?].
Besides loved-up Terry and Niki and footy players Murphy and David, none of these nine guests have anything to do with each other, so no-one can quite figure out what the go is. Justine comes by and explains she simply invited people she wants to get to know better, but meathead Murphy has his own thoughts on the matter – “Everyone invited is either a jock or a wimp, or someone’s girlfriend.’
Justine hopes she can count on everyone to come so she can show off her ‘”really rad sound system”‘ and excellent dance CDs, and Murphy and David are just eating it up. School bullies Bobby McCorey and Marty Danforth appear and wonder if Justine forgot their invites, but with a knowing smile on her face she assures them she didn’t forget [Hahahaha I love her]. Bobby warns that she’d better change her mind because he and Marty don’t like being left out, and then they roar off down the street on their motorcycles [Tell me you’re a bad boy in the ’90s without telling me you’re a bad boy in the ’90s!].
Murphy wants to bring his girlfriend, but Justine advises ‘”It’s not a party for dates,”‘ which Murphy then whines about because he’s been dating his girlfriend for two years, as if that has any relevance at all [Murphy must be the kind of person that has to bring their partner to everything. Gross]. Alex and his huge, muscular frame appear from the front door of the school to flirt with Justine, who’s happy he plans on attending the party.
As everyone starts to leave, Terry and Niki are stopped by Murphy who, after explaining his jock and wimp theory to Alex, demands to know if wimpy Terry can last all night at the party. It becomes clear that Murphy, David and Alex consider themselves the jocks while Terry, Ricky, Les and Trisha are the wimps [And I assume Niki is a wimp by proxy, and Angela and her fast reputation are more on the jock side?], and Murphy decides that the party is now a contest between the groups [What the fuck]. Niki’s not impressed by the dick measuring competition [That only the self-appointed jocks seem interested in anyway?], and Terry tells the boys to find someone else to play their stupid games:
“In other words,” said Alex, “you’re too chicken to go. In that case, Niki, maybe you’d better join our team. Sounds like Terry’s not sure he can protect you.”
“I can take care of Niki—obviously better than you!” Terry shouted, losing his temper and immediately feeling embarrassed about it.
“Will you both stop acting like children!” Niki shouted. “I can take care of myself! And for your information I’m not on any so-called team! That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard!”
[I’m with Niki, here – this competition is fkn pathetic hahaha. Good on her for standing up for herself, too!] Alex stalks off after menacingly suggesting Niki think twice about her stance, and Terry’s now all for this stupid competition, wanting to prove who the real wimps are. Niki’s upset that he let himself get sucked in because it doesn’t seem like a game to Alex ‘”He’s serious about this! Deadly serious.”‘ [And what a stupid thing to be so serious about].
‘Every day at school was like April Fool’s Day’ leading up to the party as the wimps and jocks play tricks on each other, going from harmless fun like shaving cream in the jocks’ basketball shoes to more ugly pranks like a plucked chicken head in Terry’s locker [Gross].
On the Thursday before the party, Terry’s on his way to the school library when he spots Alex talking to Niki in the hall. Alex notices Terry too, then deliberately refocuses his attention towards Niki to try make him jealous. He succeeds, and as soon as Niki’s by herself again, Terry approaches and casually asks what she was talking to Alex about. Niki sees right through his farce and is super defensive, scoffing that she can talk to whoever he wants [I’m all for Terry being told off but you can’t really blame him for being jealous about you talking to your ex].
Niki’s still concerned about this stupid little contest – even Justine’s really into it now, and Niki’s heard from Angela that ‘”the jocks are cooking up some tricks for the party that could be really dangerous.”‘ Niki wishes Alex and Terry could just lighten up, and when Terry argues that Alex is trying to get between them, Niki angrily points out that the competition is purely because ‘”you’re as jealous of Alex as he is of you!”‘ [Axe them both, Niki] and storms off.
After leaving the library later, Terry stumbles across Bobby and Marty trying to force Justine to revise her guest list, ‘sounding really tough.’ [I bet!] Terry manages to save her from the bullies, who basically imply they’ll be at the party with or without an invitation before swaggering off [Lol how embarrassingly entitled. Imagine showing up to a party that no-one clearly wants you at].
Justine flirtily thanks Terry for his bravery and one day would like to show him ‘”just how grateful I am”‘ [I wonder how Niki would feel about that], then apologises for the competition that her invitations have brought on. She insists she just wants to get to know a few special people better, and Terry turns into a real Stuttering Stanley as she lightly rests her fingertips on his arm [That’s all it takes to get you going, Terry?].
He mentions how Niki thinks the competition is stupid too [And he makes sure to specify she’s his girlfriend hahaha], and Justine reveals how glad she is that Niki’s coming to the party [She’s super happy that everyone is coming, it seems]. Justine doesn’t have any close girlfriends here, you see, and she’s got ‘”a really special feeling about Niki.”‘ [I feel like Justine definitely has some ulterior motive for her party, but I’m not sure what because as we’re being told constantly, none of these invitees have much to do with each other]
After school, Niki’s waiting for Terry at his locker and apologises for her outburst earlier. He apologises too, promising old Funny Face [I still can’t believe that’s the pet name he’s given her hahaha it’s so stupid] he’ll forget about the contest and just relax from now on. Ever the gentleman, Terry offers to carry her books for her as they walk home, but one of them drops to the floor as she passes them over, and a small scrap of paper falls out – it’s a note that reads ‘YOU’LL WISH YOU WERE BLIND TOO.’ [Omfg hahaha. I shouldn’t be laughing because it’s so fkn rude and horrible, but I just wasn’t expecting that hahaha]
Terry is absolutely livid and is sure Alex is behind it, but Niki disagrees and begs him to just forget about it so as not to give whoever’s really behind it the satisfaction. Terry reluctantly agrees, and they head to Pete’s Pizza for a nice refreshing Coke [Come on, product placement!]. At Pete’s, they spot Justine standing in a phone booth looking all serious and want to invite her to join them, but Niki notices something strange:
Terry turned to the phone booth again. Justine was still talking into the phone, with an odd, intense look. It was as if she’d changed into a different person, older, and cruel.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” Niki said. “But—I read her lips. And she said, ‘They’ll pay. ‘Every one of them will pay.'”
[Oooh, so Justine’s hatched some sort of revenge plot? What did these nine people do to her, especially if no-one really knows her?] We jump forward to Halloween night again now as Terry and Niki follow Murphy through the cemetery to the Cameron mansion. We learn that Niki’s costume is not a medieval princess as implied in the first chapter, but a carnival reveler, while Terry’s dressed as a 1950s greaser [He also has a mask for this costume, but I don’t understand why? Like, what do you need a mask for?]. They happy couple briefly stops to kiss amongst the tombstones, giving enough time for Murphy to hide on the mansion’s porch and scare them with a fake spider when Terry finally goes to knock on the door [These pranks are lame].
Inside the mansion, Justine’s living room is ‘the ultimate fantasy of the ultimate Halloween dream,’ with fake webs and spooky decorations everywhere. Coloured spotlights hang on the balcony above the living room, and there’s a huge open fireplace where a black kettle boils, sending green fumes bubbling up [Sounds awesome!]. Justine looks like a blonde Elvira in her vampire costume, and introduces Murphy, Niki and Terry to her uncle, Philip, a super skinny man dressed like a sad clown. Terry compliments them on the mansion, and Niki gushes that it’s ‘”the most incredible party I’ve ever been to,”‘ even though she’s been here for 20 seconds.
While the Camerons go mingle, Terry and Niki head for the refreshments, but neither of them can figure out why Justine and her uncle have gone to all this trouble for just nine guests. Angela appears, looking super sexy in her black leather biker costume with tattoos stencilled on her arms and neck. She also thinks it’s the greatest party she’s been to [Can it really be that good with so little people?].
Terry surveys the rest of the party, spotting David, dressed in his basketball uniform but carrying a fake skull instead of a basketball, talking to rotund Trisha, dressed as a ’50s cheerleader [Fraternising with the enemy, or is this jock-wimp divide not that big a deal to everyone who’s not Alex, Murphy or Terry?]. Ricky appears, dressed like a frog, and Angela nastily tells him it’s the real him – ‘”Sort of slimy and nerdy.”‘ [Are frogs nerdy?].
Niki, who’s been sampling the different cuisines from all over the world, wonders how Justine could have possibly lived in all these different place when she’s only a senior, but Terry would rather dance than think about any potential holes in Justine’s past. He proudly realises Niki’s the prettiest there tonight, since Justine’s costume is too ghoulish and Angela looks like a tramp [And I suppose Trisha’s too fat to be considered, because she’s not even mentioned here. And every time she is mentioned, it’s hand in hand with an adjective describing her as fat].
Alex arrives a short time later in a skintight silver bodysuit that shows off his muscles [Sxc] and everyone loves his Silver Prince costume [Sounds more like a knight in shining bodysuit to me], including Niki, much to Terry’s chagrin. Terry silently considers himself the winner here, though, since Niki wants to dance with him, not Alex [I wonder if Terry ever apologised for stealing his best friend’s girlfriend?].
Everyone continues dancing and as ‘Terry brushed Niki’s hair with his lips, inhaling her spicy fragrance’ [Hahahahaha what], a loud boom is heard and the the room starts filling with smoke [!!!]. It’s just Justine though, setting off a flash pot to get everyone’s attention. She then tells a story about how in the Middle Ages, ‘”some people were said to be taken by evil spirits when they danced”‘ dancing faster and faster until they’d danced themselves to death [Ooky spooky!] before challenging them all to dance to some really fast music.
Everyone’s up for it and Justine flicks a switch that eliminates all light in the room except a strobe light, and some loud, fast electronic music starts playing. Everyone has a lot of fun boogieing to the beat, until the lights suddenly go out and the music stops [!!!]. This isn’t another trick, though, and Uncle Philip exits the room to check the fuse box while Justine explains that the strobe must have overheated the new electric system:
At that moment the artificial candles came back on and the tape started up again.
But no one felt like dancing anymore because the light showed a horrifying sight.
In front of the fireplace, half on and half off the rug, lay a limp body.
Blood trickled down its sides from the huge carving knife sticking out of its back.
Unsure if it’s a joke or not, nobody knows what to do, reluctant to move towards the body dressed in a skeleton costume. Finally Alex reaches out to touch it, and the skeleton jumps up, laughing – it’s just Les! He and Justine had cooked up the idea this morning, and he’d used a fake knife and artificial blood to make it look realistic. It’s a point for the wimps, although Murphy pretends he wasn’t scared because ‘”that’s just the sort of wimpy trick a wimp would pull.”‘ [Stine’s really loving ‘wimp’ in this one. I haven’t seen a word used this much since prosperous!]
Exhausted from dancing, the guests sit down, talking and eating, and soon Alex approaches to compliment Niki’s costume. Terry can’t help but get jealous – ‘After all, Niki was sitting next to him, holding his hand, so why did he feel so jealous of Alex? Why did he want to punch him in the face?’ [You’re both fkn annoying and need a punch in the face, tbh]. When Alex teases that Niki should join the jock team, Niki storms off, fed up with the stupid games and reminding everyone she’s not on either side. As they watch her dance with Ricky, Alex scoffs at Terry’s failure to get Niki on board for the competition:
“Niki makes her own decisions.” Terry stood up. “I don’t own her.”
“Wow. Heavy talk, Ryan. Back off, okay?” Alex leaned away from Terry and put up his hands as if shielding himself. “You and I used to be friends, remember?”
Used to be, Terry thought. Those are the key words.
He realized that Alex was reaching out to him. Alex was deliberately reminding him of what good buddies they had been until very recently.
Terry doesn’t even attempt to grab the olive branch because he has a bad feeling about Alex and ‘couldn’t pretend to want him as a friend again’ [How the fuck do you steal your best friend’s girlfriend and have the audacity to shut him down like this as if you’re a victim here? What the fuck is wrong with Terry? Can we switch protagonists?]. Disappointed, Alex walks off and is soon dancing with Niki, and before Terry can go interrupt them, he’s proffered a dance by Justine. They get nice and close as they hit the dance floor, and soon Terry’s forgotten everything else in the world.
Terry eventually notices guiltily that Niki’s watching, and although she doesn’t look jealous or angry, there’s a ‘strange, unreadable expression on her face.’ As she starts to walk over, someone thumps on the front door as a roaring sound is heard outside. Ricky pulls open the door, and the deafening roar grows louder as ‘two gleaming motorcycles bombarded right into the living room!’ [Ugh, not these two bozos. What an entrance, though! But very disrespectful].
Everyone just stares in shock as Bobby and Marty pull off their helmets and compliment the place. Justine orders them to leave and Terry notices that she doesn’t sound scared, just super angry. Uncle Philip threatens to call the police, but Bobby just pushes him to the ground. Ignoring everyone’s demands for them to leave, Marty unhooks a chain from one of his belt lops and swings it at some of the decorations, making them fall to the floor in tatters [Oooh, tough guy].
Terry finally decides to do something and steps towards them, but he’s quickly knocked to the floor with a punch to the face as Bobby and Marty laugh – ‘Whatever they’d been drinking or smoking had made them think they were hilarious.’ [Drinking and smoking illicit substances?! In Shadyside?! Oh, the horror!]
Justine finally seems frightened now and promises to have a special party just for Bobby and Marty next week if they’d just go, but they have no intention of leaving and start ransacking the cupboards for alcohol, eventually finding a bottle of red wine to share [Seeing alcohol consumed so openly by their peers is probably the most terrifying part of the night for these other teens!]. Across the room, David catches Terry’s eye and nods toward the motorbikes, and Bobby and Marty are so busy drinking that they don’t notice Terry and David until they start revving the bikes’ engines.
The bullies head menacingly for them, but David manages to get Bobby to the floor, pounding into his face [;)] while Terry manages to yank the chain from Marty’s grip. As Marty corners him, David jumps onto his bike and guns it out the door, jumping off at the last minute. Marty goes chasing after it as Bobby jumps on his own bike, promising that both Terry and David are dead meat.
To everyone’s surprise, Justine refuses to get the police involved, insisting Bobby and Marty are ‘”all swagger and no substance”‘ and wouldn’t dare come back after what Terry and David did to them. ‘”What’s important is that no one was really hurt,” says Justine, apparently forgetting that her uncle had been shoved to the ground and Terry and David got into fisticuffs.
She decides to keep the party going as if nothing had happened, and everyone starts having fun again while Justine brings out some more food. Angela accidentally sets off one of many trapdoors around the house, which is probably foreshadowing something later [Note from future: It isn’t], and Ricky brings out a dark metal box, claiming there’s a human brain inside that he borrowed from his uncle’s medical supply house. Angela and Murphy fall for it after putting their hands inside, but David quickly proves it’s just some cold spaghetti [Again, these pranks are lame].
Soon it’s time for the next activity – a treasure hunt! There’s treasures in every room all over the house, and whichever team finds the most by midnight wins a special prize. Justine hands a list to each guest [What’s to stop them from just marking off the list without actually finding anything though? You’re really gonna trust Murphy and Alex to be truthful?] and the hunt begins as everyone scurries all over the place looking for exotic items. Terry bumps into David in the kitchen and after a brief chat, realises that David’s actually a pretty good guy, unlike Murphy and Alex [David does seem pretty nice! Hopefully he won’t die].
We then randomly jump to Niki, who reckons the treasure hunt is ‘the perfect chance to explore the mansion freely’ because she still wants to figure out the point of this whole party. She’s decided that the conversation she’d lipread at Pete’s Pizza didn’t have anything to do with the party, since Justine’s focus seems to be on everyone having a good time, which Niki thinks is sweet. Still, there’s something intriguing about the party’s host, and she wants to get to the bottom of it!
She soon finds herself in Justine’s bedroom, but unlike Niki’s own room, this one isn’t a reflection of its occupant – there’s nothing personal at all in here, ‘except for a picture of a smiling man and woman from the fifties in an ornate frame on the vanity.’ [How does she know they’re from the 50s? Why is Stine obsessed with the 50s in this book?]. The chest of drawers are practically empty and so, too, is the closet!
Niki finds a square-shaped crack at the back of the closet and, realising it must be one of the house’s alleged trapdoors, she presses on it, but nothing happens. Feeling around, she finds a doorknob and opens the secret door to reveal a larger closet filled with new clothes from expensive designers and famous department stores all over the world [Justine probably doesn’t want anyone stealing her good shit!]. In one of the drawers inside this large closet is a carefully wrapped package:
She opened it, not even considering that someone might catch her snooping, and was shocked to see a framed photo of Justine and a man with their arms around each other, gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes. But the man was much older—from the streaks of gray in his hair, at least forty.
Was Justine having an affair with an older man? Was that why she never went out with the boys from school or never went to any of the games?
[Is this Justine’s dad, maybe? But the way Niki describes the photo makes it seem romantic] Niki carefully puts everything back the way she found it and is about to leave Justine’s room when she notices the bathroom door and decides to snoop in there too. Inside the medicine cabinet are three prescription bottles made out to Enid Cameron, and Niki can’t help but wonder if Justine is somehow leading a double life [Oooh, that’s an interesting plot! I wonder]. Realising she might just be letting her imagination run wild, Niki decides to find Terry so he can help her solve this puzzle.
Speaking of Terry, he’s having a lot of fun on the hunt and is pretty chuffed with his collection of three items from the list [Ohhhh, they’ve got to carry the found items with them! Isn’t that impractical? How are they supposed to carry it all if one person finds a lot of items?]. He heads up to the attic, which is full of boxes and trunks collecting dust, and opens a closet door, expecting to find more items from the list:
The room went white. Terry’s breath caught in his throat.
He gripped the closet door to hold himself up and started into the shadowy cubicle.
“Alex? Alex?” he cried.
Hanging from a rope was the limp body of the Silver Prince, his neck bent at an impossible angle. Sticky red blood was splattered over the front of his beautiful costume. It puddled onto the closet floor.
Drip, drip, drip…
[If this is another prank I’m gonna be mad] David walks in and is just as horrified, and the boys head downstairs to alert Justine and Uncle Philip, collecting Trisha, Ricky, and Les on the way. Justine is hesitant to call the police so Terry leads the way back up to the attic to prove they’re telling the truth. When he opens the closet door again, though, it’s completely empty – no body, no blood [Ugh]. Niki appears and is quickly caught up to speed, and when everyone realises Alex hasn’t been seen in a while, they decide to go find him to make sure he’s OK.
While Justine and Uncle Philip head back downstairs, Terry, Niki, Les, Trisha, Ricky and David search the second floor and find the Silver Prince on Justine’s bed [!!!!], but soon realise it’s not actually Alex:
The object lying on the bed was Alex’s silver costume, stuffed full of rags. The “blood” Terry and David had seen was streamers of red cellophane that had moved slightly to resemble dripping. In that light it was hard for Terry to believe he had been fooled so badly.
It had been so real that he even imagined the sound of the blood dripping onto the floor. What an idiot he had been!
[What an idiot indeed! You couldn’t tell from the dummy’s face that it wasn’t Alex? You really mistook rustling red cellophane for blood dripping on the floor?]
Alex pops out of the bathroom and gleefully reveals it was all a ruse so the wimps would waste time looking for him while the rest of the jocks finished the treasure hunt, and David was in on it the whole time [I guess he’s not so nice after all!], which breaks Terry’s heart.
As everyone heads back downstairs, Terry realises he must still care for Alex, or else he would have been able think more clearly when he discovered the dummy in the costume [I think it’s less about not thinking clearly and more about not using your damn eyes, Terry!]. In the living room, Niki privately tells Terry about what she did and didn’t find in Justine’s bedroom as well as her double life theory, and Terry encourages her to simply ask Justine about it all [That’s no fun! Keep snooping, Niki].
Justine appears at the balcony above the living room and invites someone from the winning team to come up and accept the prize, a box of special chocolates from Paris. As Alex heads up to claim the prize, Justine staggers slightly, catching herself on the bannister. As she goes to hand Alex the prize, ‘the railing suddenly gave way—and with a bloodcurdling scream, Justine fell forward and plunged to the floor below!’ [Is this gonna be another damn prank and the guests just can’t see her parachute or the cables she’s connected to or something convoluted like that?].
Justine conveniently lands on a crushed-velvet sofa, safe and sound albeit a little dazed and with a potentially sprained wrist. Upon inspection, Uncle Philip finds that the banister has been cleanly sawn through! A blame game ensues, with Ricky reminding everyone how the jocks were planning some dangerous tricks for tonight, but Murphy reckons the wimps are behind it because they can’t stand to lose [Yeah, they hate losing so much that they planned to kill whichever random person leaned on the bannister as revenge. Make it make sense, Murphy].
Alex reckons someone is trying to make the jocks look bad, looking accusingly at Terry as he points out how something bad happened directly after the wimps lost the treasure hunt [So you really think the wimps set up this potentially fatal trick, not knowing who would lean on the bannister? It makes more sense that Justine set it up, which she probably did! But why?!]. Terry argues that since the jocks had to cheat to win, trying to kill someone isn’t that big a leap to make, but Niki quickly breaks the fight up before anything exciting can happen [Lame].
Justine feels bad that the party is spoiled, but everyone quickly assures her they’re all having a great time and the party is awesome. Justine suggests they all relax for a bit before getting the party going again, and heads upstairs to get herself together [Or set up some other trick?!]. Alex and Justine are pretty cosy before she heads upstairs, and Terry seems a little jealous [Are you fucking kidding me, Terry?!?].
Niki reckons whatever relationship Alex and Justine have is doomed because Justine is definitely suss, and Terry ark’s up, accusing her of being jealous because Alex is paying more attention to Justine than to her [Oop]. Niki retorts that if Terry wasn’t wrapped around Justine’s finger himself [Lol true], he’d be able to see what Niki’s talking about. Niki doesn’t necessarily believe Justine cut through the bannister, [If it wasn’t her it was Uncle Philip, as part of a joint plan. I just can’t figure out a motive. Something to do with her parents probably?], but Justine’s clearly ‘”playing some kind of game with all of us, and especially Alex,”‘ and then she storms off, determined to get to the bottom of it.
Terry decides to stay in the living room and let Niki cool off, but soon ‘a deafening thunderclap rattled the house’ and the electricity cuts out once again. It’s due to the storm brewing outside this time, and with the only light source coming from the fire face, Justine thinks the mood is set perfectly for the next game, where they’ll take in turns saying the worst thing they’ve ever done while the others vote on whether you’re lying or not. Ricky goes first and hints towards whatever happened in The Overnight without giving any details, because it wouldn’t be right to the other people involved [Lame].
Angela reveals she stole her sister’s boyfriend last summer [Lol what a cow], but soon regretted it because ‘”He turned out to be a real dweeb.”‘ Murphy pipes up about cheating on a maths test so he could keep him sports eligibility, and Terry soon loses interest and decides to pull Niki aside to make amends for their argument. She’s not in the living room with everyone else, though, or on the ground floor at all, and everyone soon realises Les is missing too.
Terry leaves them behind to play their game and heads up to the second floor, taking a flashlight with him. He has no luck there either, so moves up to the attic and with a feeling of dread, opens up the closet again:
There, crumpled in a half-sitting position, was a body.
It had the handle of a large carving knife sticking out of its chest.
But this was no dummy, as the Silver Prince had been.
In the flashlight’s beam there was no mistaking the staring, lifeless blue eyes behind the thick, black-rimmed glasses.
It was Les White.
[I forgot he existed, tbh]. At first Terry thinks it’s just another prank, but alas, Les’ unblinking eyes ‘stare out of his pale, pale face like the eyes of a department-store mannequin.’ [The Muffin Man? Is that you?!?!] On his way back downstairs to get help, Terry bumps into David coming out of the bathroom and tells him about Les. David suspects Terry’s just trying to get him back or the Silver Prince prank earlier, so Terry leads him up to the attic, but Les’ body is no longer in the closet! There is, however, a pool of blood at the bottom of the closet, with a trail of droplets leading across the attic to an open window. Peering out, they find Les’ crumpled body ‘on the peaked roof of a second-story dormer,’ the knife still sticking out of his chest.
Instead of going downstairs to call the police, the boys decide to contaminate the crime scene and using a coil of rope found on the floor, Terry abseils down to retrieve Les’ body. And for some reason, it takes until Terry’s halfway down for him to realise that someone at the party murdered Les [What, you thought up until now he just plunged a knife into his own chest, sat in the closet til you found him, then crawled over to the window and flung himself out?].
David and Terry manage to get the corpse inside and cover it in an old blanket, deciding to keep it a secret from the other guests since one of them could be the murderer. David suggests they at least tell Uncle Philip because ‘”it might be better if he makes the call,”‘ but I have no idea why he thinks that. Terry agrees nonetheless, and they head back to the living room where everyone’s still playing games. Philip’s missing from the group, however, so Terry and David try the kitchen where they find one of the windows open. Terry attempts to use the phone [OK, so you’re not waiting to find Philip first then?], but they quickly discover the line’s been cut.
Bobby and Marty are their main suspects because ‘”who else could it be?”‘ [Let me think… most likely Justine and/or Uncle Philip, or possibly anyone else at the party?], theorising that they snuck inside through the window. They decide the best course of action is to find Philip before one of them goes to get help, but Terry has no plans to leave until he’s found Niki anyway.
As they continue searching the ground floor, Terry notices Marty’s wrecked motorbike across the yard through a window [Oh, it’s actually wrecked? Surely he could have ridden it home lol], and something else catches his eye as a flash of lightning lights up the yard. Dashing outside to investigate, the boys discover the jacket to Philip’s clown costume crumpled beneath the front wheel, and ‘one whole arm was stained with blood.’ [Obviously that’s planted evidence lol. How else would it have gotten under the wheel when Philip was wearing the jacket after the bike crashed? Uncle Philip is definitely in on whatever nefarious plot is going on, and surely Justine has orchestrated it].
Back to the living room now, and Terry and David have just finished telling everyone what they’ve discovered in the last hour. Angela becomes hysterical and tries to flee the house, not even caring that Bobby and Marty could still be outside waiting for another victim [I don’t understand why people do that in movies. Like on the one hand it seems better because you’re not just lying around like a sitting duck, but safety in numbers, you know?]. In true horror fashion, the poor girl sprains her ankle when she trips and is carried back to the couch to rest. Some of the others still want to leave, but Justine begs them to stay until morning, too scared to be left alone [Or is it just another one of her pesky Halloween tricks!?].
David bravely takes one for the team, deciding he’ll cut through the graveyard to his car and drive to the payphone at the other end of Fear Street, promising to be back soon [My hero! *swoons*]. While everyone else sticks together in the living room, Terry and Alex look set to form a temporary truce as they plan to search the house for the missing Niki [And fuck Philip, right?].
David now has a brief stint as our protagonist as he cautiously picks his way through the tombstones to Fear Street. Luckily for him, it doesn’t look like Bobby or Marty have stuck around [Hopefully Philip or Justine’s already whacked them off!], but unluckily for him, it doesn’t look like his car’s going anywhere as he reaches the guests’ vehicles:
He reached into his pocket and took out his keys as he approached his red Corolla.
And stopped, holding them in his hand.
The Corolla was sitting at an odd angle. Every one of its tires had been slashed. Every tire on every car belonging to the guests had been slashed.
[I wonder if this was Justine/Philip or those losers Bobby and Marty? Also it’s like 4am or so in the morning by this point but surely you’d just bang on someone’s door to use their phone, right?] David has the same idea which surprises me, and barely concerned ‘that half of the houses were abandoned and the other ones were supposed to be haunted,’ he sets off for the closest one… until Bobby and Marty come roaring up on one bike directly in his path from behind the cemetery [As if they haven’t fkn cut their losses and gone to bed hours ago ahahah these boys are pathetic].
They want him to help them get back into the party [Omfg these guys are so lame, I can’t hahaha], and although David tries to reason with them, they’re both too drunk and clearly in the mood for some violence. Realising his only choice is to get away from them, David runs back into the cemetery, but it’s no use because my beautiful, brave David slips and hits his head on a tombstone. The bullies catch up to him as ‘everything went dim, as if someone had pulled a curtain down over his head,’ but David can still faintly hear Bobby’s and Marty’s voices:
“He looks hurt bad,” said Bobby. “What if he dies?”
“Then we don’t want to be anywhere around her,” said Marty. “Come on, let’s move him out of sight.”
David knew they were talking about him, but somehow the words didn’t make any sense. He was very sleepy. He felt himself being dragged along the ground.
The light became dimmer and dimmer and then faded out completely.
[Noooooo, not my David 🙁 This is a great scene though, so good job, Stine!] Back to Terry and the others, where Justine is offering to search upstairs in Alex’s place, since she knows the house better. She won’t take no for an answer either [Probably has to practice her bad guy monologue!], heading upstairs while Alex stays in the living room with the others. The only place downstairs that hasn’t been checked yet is the basement, so down Terry goes! He checks a cupboard down there and he finds a bundle of rags that actually turns out to be Niki, alive but dazed [Does Terry need glasses?].
Niki has no idea how she got down here and realises someone must have knocked her out, and Terry’s all like ‘”Tell me what you remember, Funny Face.”‘ [I cannot take either of them serious with that fkn pet name hahaha. I think he’s called Niki by her actual name like once in this whole book! It just sounds stupid, especially in this context]
Niki explains that after their argument earlier, she returned to Justine’s room, convinced she’d missed something the first time. She noticed a shoe box inside the secret closet, which was out of place because none of the other shoes were stored this way, so she snooped through it. Inside were old pictures and other mementos as well as a newspaper clipping that Niki now produces from her pocket and hands to Terry.
The clipping details the deaths of Edmond and Cissy Cameron, who perished when their car was hit head-on by another car, spun out of control and burst into flames in a ditch [Ooof, bad way to go :(]. The other car involved had been participating in a drag race at the time of the collision [May the best drag queen win!], although both of those drivers and their passengers escaped uninjured [Lol classic]. The Camerons were survived by their one-year-old daughter, Enid [The name on the prescription bottles Niki found!], and apparently no charges were filed ‘pending police investigation.’ [As if no-one was charged!? So many crimes were involved?]
The article, which is from 28 years ago [Wait, is Justine not a teenager?!], names but not necessarily shames the drivers and passengers of the cars that were racing, who happen to be the parents of the guests at this party [Oooh, love that! Justine is a smart villain]. Terry’s a bit slow realising things [Why is he so fkn dumb], so Niki explains that Justine is actually Enid, whipping out a driver’s license she’d found with Justine’s photo, but made out to Enid J. Cameron, which means Enid is an almost-30-year-old posing as a high school student to get revenge on those who wronged her, Freddy Krueger style! [I’ve always thought killing someone’s kids is a much better punishment than killing the person you’re targeting. Also this is an awesome twist that I don’t think anyone would have seen coming!].
Anyway, Niki was on her way to find Terry when she was knocked out, and when Terry fills her in about Les’ murder and Philip’s disappearance, she realises how lucky she is that Justine mustn’t have had time to kill her yet [Lucky girl, Funny Face!]. For some stupid reason Terry’s finding it hard to believe that sweet, innocent Justine could be a murderer [The evidence and facts were literally just spelled out for you, dumbass, what’s so hard to believe?] and Niki has to go a step further and tell him there’s only one reason Justine threw this party… ‘”For revenge!”‘ [Seriously Terry, a toddler could have figured that out just from the newspaper clipping].
The couple race back upstairs to warn the others, but Justine’s already back in the living room with everyone else, ‘a strange look of excitement on her face.’ She’s glad Niki’s been found so they can continue the party, but Terry and Niki quickly call her out for murdering Les. The other guests think it’s all just a hoax, further fuelled by Justine’s insistence that Terry’s and Niki’s acting is ‘”better than when we rehearsed it.”‘ [She’s so manipulative hahah I love her] Justine also claims Les is perfectly fine, and in face, she was just upstairs having a laugh with him about the whole thing [And no-one thinks to ask her why Les isn’t down here with them now?].
Terry suggests to Niki they just leave and let everyone else fend for themselves, but she refuses to do that and insists they just wait for David to get back [Lol bad plan]. Terry and Niki attempt to catch their hostess out in her lies, but she’s got an excuse for everything – Philip is missing because he went out to get more sodas, which is ‘the dumbest answer Terry could imagine’ [Oh so Terry does have a brain? Also Where’s Philip getting sodas from at like 5am in the morning anyway?], and Les isn’t missing at all, he’s in the dining room helping Justine prepare the final surprise!
Off to the dining room they go, where there’s gift-wrapped boxes at each place around the table. Sitting at the head of the table wearing a suspicious pair of oversized sunglasses is Les, who’s quickly surrounded by the guests so they can scold him for playing this trick on them [I assume the knife isn’t in his chest anymore, but where’s all the blood?]. Les quickly topples to the floor, the sunglasses flying off to reveal ‘his staring, and very dead, eyes’:
Someone screamed.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Trisha said.
Terry turned quickly, just in time to see Justine fart outside, slamming the door behind her.
An instant later a key turned.
Terry knew without looking. They were locked in.
The only window is covered with a heavy metal security grate, and there’s only one door leading out, so the guests are trapped in the dining room while Justine watches them through the window [Why can’t they just go back into the living room and try the front door? Am I missing something?]. Justine refuses to let them out and orders them to take their places at the table while she explains the last surprise.
The guests sit down and unwrap their presents, revealing that each one has a copy of the same photo of Edmund and Cissy ‘dressed in clothes of the sixties’ [Weren’t they in 50s clothes earlier?]. Justine then launches into a monologue, basically repeating what Terry and Niki already know from the newspaper clipping, and everyone gasps when she recites the names of all nine teenagers involved in the drag race [🎵 Start your engines 🎵]:
“None of the teenagers were even hurt,” Justine said. “None of them ever paid for what they did to my parents. So I have decided that you, their children, will pay.”
She reveals that Les had to die first since it was his father behind the wheel of the car that collided with that of her parents, but now the rest of the guests will die together, ‘”the way your parents should have all those years ago.”‘ [You gotta feel bad for Justine, poor girl]. Niki and Terry stall for time by asking how Justine managed to pull it off, and at first she’s eager to explain her success, but soon grows bored of their stupid questions and reveals her plan.
Since she can’t recreate a car crash for nine people, she’s installed four state-of-the-art speakers in the room so they can hear what a car crash sounds like – ‘”the shriek of twisting metal, the screams of pain from the terrified victims…”‘ Not only that, though – the guests will also experience the pain her parents felt and ‘”die the way they died”‘ thanks to a pile of oily rags she’s placed just outside the dining room, ready to be lit on fire.
With that, Justine switches the tape on and disappears to light the rags, and like a scene from a nightmare, the room explodes with the sounds of a car crash while smoke quickly starts to fill the room. Niki gets another stab at the protagonist role now as her deafness prevents her from hearing the eardrum-shattering tape that has her friends covering their ears and screaming in terror. Realising it’s up to her to save the day, she spots a dumbwaiter and pulls Terry and Alex over to handle the rope pulley while she climbs inside.
She’s lowered down in the dumbwaiter, which sticks at one point, and Niki realises with horror that if it doesn’t move soon ‘she would smother there inside the walls of the old house.’ [Terrifying. I’m claustrophobic just picturing it]. She gets it loose again by rocking back and forth and eventually reaches the basement. She darts up the stairs but finds the basement door scorching hot thanks to the fire on the other side, so heads for the boarded up window instead and starts prying the boards loose, ‘her fingernails all braking.’ [Oof, poor girl].
Just as she’s about to wiggle through the opening, a hand grabs her ankle [!!!!!]. It’s not Justine here to murder her, though, but Philip, who’s tied up. He begs for Niki’s help and as she unties him, she explains what Justine’s been getting up to [So Philip wasn’t in on it? Or is this another Halloween trick?]. There’s no time to dillydally, so the pair quickly escape to the outside world where Philip manages to get the metal grate off the dining room’s window with a crowbar [This is all happening so quickly now]. The trapped teens pour out into the fresh air without a second to spare, the room bursting into flames behind them. The survivors watch on as whole house is overrun by flames [What about poor Les’ body? :(] before David stumbles out of the Fear Street woods [OK, but where’s Justine?].
David explains that he woke up in a storage shed, courtesy of Bobby and Marty, and fled to the nearest house to call the police. As they hear sirens approaching, Philip has some explaining to do, revealing that the revenge plot was all his idea, but he only ever intended to frighten the guests. It also seems Justine inherited his bitterness and hatred over the death of her parents:
“Last year I became ill and decided to spend my last days at my brother’s old home. I told everyone I was a distant cousin so they would leave me alone. But when Justine found out I was here, she left her boyfriend and career and moved in with me. She convinced me that I could never die in peace until I’d avenged my brother’s death.”
While Justine enrolled in the high school, Philip traced the lineage of the teenagers involved in the crash and they soon sent out the invitations. He swears up and down that he never meant any real harm to come to the guests and only wanted to terrify them for a little while, only realising how obsessed Justine had become when he found Les’ body. He then ‘”hid his body on the roof so no-one would find it”‘ [You…threw it out the window to hide it????] and confronted Justine, never even suspecting that she’d turn on him too.
Justine suddenly appears, ‘her lovely face almost unrecognizable beneath the madness and rage,’ positively livid that her uncle has betrayed her and her parents like this. And then she runs straight at the group [!!!!]:
Just before she reached them, she suddenly veered to the left, and then, moving faster than seemed possible, she ran up the front steps and onto the burning porch.
[Hahahahaha this is hilarious! Reminds me of that scene in Get Out!]
Without realising what they’re doing, Terry and Alex give chase to stop her from entering the burning house. A brief struggle ensues at the front door causing Terry and Justine go tumbling into the house, but they’re quickly pulled to safety by Alex. As Justine sobs in defeat, Terry thanks Alex for saving him and the boys have an unspoken moment of respect and friendship [Besties again!]. Emergency services arrive now, and the firemen battle the blaze while Justine is taken away to get the help she needs, and the book ends with Stine’s trademark quip:
Behind the black smoke, the red morning sun made its first appearance.
“Hey—we made it all night. It’s morning!” Ricky cried. “It isn’t Halloween anymore!”
“I don’t know about that,” said Niki, holding on to Terry’s arm as they began to walk away. “It’s always Halloween on Fear Street.”
[It sure is, Funny Face!]
Final thoughts
I really enjoyed this one! I feel like it stands out from most Fear Streets in the same way that What Holly Heard does – the plot and its twists were actually pretty realistic as far as Fear Street goes, and the characters for the most part were pretty likeable. I wasn’t a fan of Terry and much preferred David, but Niki was a kickass heroine and I loved how her disability was simply a characteristic rather than her whole personality – in fact, her lack of hearing is essentially what saved the day! Points to Stine for inclusivity here, but it’s a real shame Paulette wasn’t this awesome 🙁
I think it would have been interesting if Niki was the main protagonist, but I guess it makes sense to have her as more of a secondary one since she’d only be privy to dialogue as long as she was looking at whoever was currently talking – she’d no doubt miss the start of a sentence as she tried to find the next speaker in a group, right?
I think Justine was a great villain, too. I’m sure it didn’t surprise anyone that she was the bad guy, but her motive was interesting and the little twist with her age is something that I don’t think anyone would have expected from a Fear Street book. I don’t agree with her actions, but I couldn’t help but sympathise with her. And she put a lot of effort into her little murder plot too, so props to her!
I’m mad about the false advertising on the cover, though – where’s the damn floating jack-o’-lantern heads terrorising people in the cemetery?!? Why would they lie to us like this? 🙁
116 30-year-olds posing as high school students as part of an elaborate revenge plot out of 140!
