Fear Street Nights #1: Moonlight Secrets by R.L. Stine

Tagline: They only come out at night…

Back tagline: When you can’t sleep, there’s always Nights./Things go bump in the Night…

Summary: It all started with Lewis and Jamie. They were sneaking out late at night to be together. Then their friends started joining in. First at the old burned-down Fear Mansion. Later at the local bar Nights.
They called themselves the Night People. And they carefully protected their secret world. No parents, no work, no stress. Just chilling with friends in their own private after-hours club.
But then the nights turned dark. Unexplainable accidents, evil pranks… and then, later, the killings. The Night People know they have to stop the horror all by themselves, or else they risk exposure—not to mention their lives.

First impressions: I don’t really know what to think about this one… the covers of the Fear Street Nights books almost seem more mature than the OGs, but it’s probably more just a reflection of the times. I’d assume this type of cover was more modern and alluring to the teens of 2005 when the trilogy was released, since the simplicity and holographicness is similar to the reissues of some of the original series. In saying that, it’s a pretty boring cover. Also, Nights?! Where’s the most popular teen dance club in America, Red Heat?!?!
The blurb doesn’t immediately suck me in either, if I’m honest. These kids sound lame –  surely there’s more to the Night People than literally just hanging out at night? I’m praying I’m presently surprised like with the Fear Street Saga [Please let this trilogy be good 🙏🏻🥺 ]. Only one way to find out! [And don’t forget to check out the Dustin Can Read podcast, where me and Dustin discussed this trilogy!]

Recap

Meet the crew:
Lewis – One of the first Night People and Jamie’s horny boyfriend.
Jamie – Lewis’ girlfriend who believes in the spirit world.
Nate – Our protagonist who cops the brunt of a lot of the evil shenanigans.
Shark – Nate’s lame best friend and Candy’s main tormentor.
Candy – Shark’s ex-girlfriend and the victim of constant bullying.
Ada – The often-mentioned but barely seen friend who randomly becomes somewhat of a love interest for Nate.
Nikki – Shark’s love interest who’s also one of the Night People despite being from Waynesbridge.

Part 1

The book begins with our [Very brief] protagonist, Lewis Baransky, filling us in on how the Night People came to be and explaining that ‘the horror started because of a kiss’ [How did it end up like this? It was only a kiss. It was only a kiss]. Well, that and because he and his girlfriend, Jamie, were somewhere they weren’t supposed to be [Trespassers?!]. This happy couple were the first Night People, ‘although we didn’t call ourselves that until much later’ [You need a better name], when other kids found out about their night-time adventures and started tagging along.

Lewis and Jamie originally started sneaking out because they were barely spending time together, what with the pressures of homework and senior year. A little after midnight one night, they met up at a construction site on Fear Street, which is there because the old Fear Mansion is being torn down [What?!?!?], along with all the other houses, to make room for Fear Street Acres, a brand-new shopping centre designed to replace the fear and trepidation of the street with fun and entertainment [I do not support this].

As we all know, the Fear Mansion is just a decrepit shell of what it used to be thanks to the terrible fire over 100 years ago, rumoured to be cursed thanks to the evil magic of the Fear family. That first night, Lewis and Jamie slipped into an abandoned Fear Street house and made out on a ratty old couch. Wondering what Jamie’s lips tasted like? Orangy, thanks to her lipstick. She also ‘had her eyes shut tight as we kissed’ which means Lewis had his eyes open, which is horrifying.

They started sneaking out every night, usually to the Fear Mansion, and often stayed there until 4-5am before heading home to catch some shuteye before school [Every night? I am exhausted just reading that. Wouldn’t it be nice to be a spritely teenager again?]. Some nights they explored the mansion, and we learn that part of the ballroom had withstood the fire, its crystal chandelier still hanging form the roof. Jamie in particular is intrigued by the possibility of ghosts on Fear Street, having become a devout believer after her cousin Cindy succumbed to ‘some kind of horrible blood disease’ last year. Before she passed, Cindy promised to send her a sign from the other side, and Jamie’s been obsessed with the supernatural world ever since.

Jamie and Lewis’ respective best friends started joining them, but don’t worry about their names because they’re not relevant, then a bunch of juniors, including Nate and his friend ‘Bart Sharkman—the guy everyone calls Shark,’ [Great last name, great nickname, I hope he’s great] and Shark’s girlfriend at the time, Candy. They’d all meet at the Fear Mansion before splitting up to do their own things, and this was all before Nights, a bar, opened.

Sometimes, some of the Night People would walk around town and pull little pranks, like spraying silly string into letterboxes and over windows and doors, or move dog houses into other yards, and one time, they even found a dead raccoon on the road and hung it on someone’s clothes line – ‘Dumb, huh? But kinda funny’ [Very dumb, not funny, kinda gross].

They never did any real damage because they ‘didn’t want to risk this perfect, secret world we had’ [Omg relax! You’d think they’ve discovered some incredible, unknown world or something! All they’re doing is walking around at night?????], and one night, a particularly large group of Night People showed up at the Fear Mansion. Hanging out in the ballroom, two of Lewis’ besties got drunk off Budweiser [And none of the other teens seem fazed?!? By alcohol consumption?! This is new territory for Fear Street!] and had a shoving match before Justin fell into a stone wall, which crumbled beneath his weight and revealed a hidden room inside:

 I saw shelves going up to the ceiling, stacked high with all kinds of weird stuff.
Stacks of black candles. Jars of colored powders. Incense sticks. Animal bones. Old books and piles and piles of papers and magazines and journals. Glittery jewelry. Silver trophies and medals. A black cloak and hooded coats and long dresses hung in an alcove beside the shelves.

There didn’t seem to be any doors or windows [So how did the Fears get into the room themselves back in the day??] but now that the wall is down, the teens loot the place [Oop, bad idea], with Lewis taking a coin collection and some sheet music from a century ago that he’s sure he can make a profit off on eBay [eBay! So modern, Stine!]. It’s definitely not stealing, though, since no-one’s lived in the mansion for at least 100 years, so ‘it was finders keepers, big-time.’ [Hmm, I guess]

Jamie, who’d found some old journals about witchcraft and the supernatural, suspects the room was Angelica Fear’s private chamber and was clearly frightened – after all, she believed in the Fear Street curse and was sure the Fears’ evil lived on. Not Lewis, though, no sir! He didn’t believe in any of that supernatural stuff… until the horrors started [So when he said the horror started with a kiss earlier, he was talking about the make-out session he and Jamie had the first night they snuck out? I would say the horrors started when you looted the mansion…].

With all that exposition out of the way, we jump to the main story now, where Lewis and Jamie are out front of where the Fear Mansion used to stand, but was recently knocked down. Jamie has a hunch that tonight’s the night she’ll be contacted by Cindy, and Fear Mansion is the perfect place to be since all the spirits that inhabited will have been disturbed from the destruction of their resting place [But it’s not like it was Cindy’s resting place, so I’m not sure how logical her plan is].

They’re the only Night People out and about tonight, probably because of how freezing cold it is, and Jamie explains the story we first heard in Party Summer about Simon Fear’s daughters being found in the woods with no bones, but we know from The Burning they suffered another fate [I originally suspected the truth just got lost over time with each retelling, but maybe Simon and Angelica started this rumour themselves to deflect any blame?]. The evil history of the Fears is just another reason why Jamie thinks Fear Mansion is the most likely location to receive a message from Cindy – ‘”The spirit energy is so high here, Lewis. I can feel it.”‘

Lewis is more dubious about the the supernatural world, but even he has to admit sitting there in the cold darkness with no sound but the whirring of the tape recorder Jamie’s brought along, he’s kind of creeped out. He also feels that because he’s being such a good sport about all this, ‘Jamie was going to owe me—big-time.’ [I guess the 2000s Shadyside boys feel just as entitled to women’s bodies as their 90s counterparts].

Jamie starts to sense something and calls out to her dead cousin, but there’s no response and soon, the recorder reaches the end of its tape. It’s 3:30am by this point, so they head back to Jamie’s house to listen for some other-worldly message the tape may have picked up, careful not to wake her parents as they sneak up to her room [They’re apparently heavy sleepers, so I don’t know why she sneaks out to meet Lewis instead of him sneaking in to meet her all the time?].

As soon as they’re in Jamie’s room, which is ‘all pale yellow and white’ [Like…an egg? Yuck], Lewis tries to get frisky, but Jamie quickly puts a stop to that because she’s eager to listen to the recording [Lewis has tried to kiss her like four times in this chapter and she literally turned away each time, lol. Read the room, bud]. On the tape, they hear mainly their own conversations as well as the wind until eventually they hear a third voice belonging to a female [!!!].

They rewind and listen again just to be sure, and although faint, a distant voice rises over the wind – ‘”Mine…Did you take mine?”‘ [Sounds like Angelica Fear wants her treasures back, kids!]. The replay that part of the tape a few more times, listening closely, and hear more of the woman’s voice, this time saying, ‘”…pay. If you took what is mine, you will pay.”‘ [Get those little thieves, Angelica!].

As the tape continues, they realise the g-g-g-g-ghost came right before Jamie started to sense another presence and called out for Cindy, and Lewis wonders what the voice is talking about [The stuff you took from the hidden room, obviously?]. Jamie suspects the angry voice belongs to a member of the Fear family and thinks they should return to the site because someone was clearly trying to contact them.

Unfortunately, they don’t get a chance to sneak back to the grounds of Fear Mansion until the following Friday night due to Jamie getting the flu and Lewis visiting family out of town for a few days. To Lewis’ surprise, a lot of work’s been done on the property in the past week, so there’s a mountain of dirt beside a giant hole for the foundation of the soon-to-be-built building [If sneaking out at night is such a popular thing to do, why are they all alone again?].

We learn that Jamie hasn’t had the chance to play the tape for anyone, although she did tell her best friends about it, while Lewis hasn’t told anyone about the the ghostly voice [I’d be telling everyone!]. Jamie suddenly spots something in the dirt at the bottom of the hole – it’s some sort of jewel with a blue glow emanating from it. It looks like some sort of pendant or pin, and she’s just about to slide down for a closer look when Lewis notices something else in the hole:

And I saw bones…
…a lot of bones—ribs, maybe. Two sets, side by side. And a long arm bone poking up from under the ground. And beside the ribs, two skeletal hands, curled tightly as if gripping the dirt.

They’re the human bones of not one skeleton, but two [!!!], which Jamie suspects belong to members of the Fear family, buried beneath the house for some reason – maybe even the bones of Simon and Angelica themselves [Didn’t they perish in the fire that tore through the mansion? Also, if the workmen discovered these bones, shouldn’t this be, like, a crime scene or something?].

Lewis is super fearful now, although he doesn’t want to admit it to Jamie, who ‘thinks I’m some kind of macho guy because I like to climb mountains with my family and hike out in the woods for days and stuff.’ [Ah yes, climbing mountains and hiking in the woods – the epitome of manliness]. Still, he tells her they should go, but Jamie’s too captivated by the jewelled pendant in the hole and slides down to retrieve it, toppling over at the bottom and landing on a skeleton.

Big mistake, because the skeleton starts to move [!!!!], reaching up and wrapping both hands around her throat. Lewis leaps into the hole to save her, but the bony hands are latched onto the poor girl’s neck so tightly that he’s unable to pry them off. And then the second skeleton rises beside Lewis [!!!!] and starts strangling him too [Omfg this is crazy, and I love it]. As the helpless teens struggle to breathe, dirt starts to fly into the hole from above, and they hear that ghostly woman’s voice saying, ‘”You’ll pay…you’ll ALL pay now…”‘ [You tell them, ghost!]:

The two skulls grinned. The hard, bony hands tightened and squeezed.
And the dirt rained down.
My last thought: Jamie and I…no one will find us.
No one will ever know where we are.
We are being strangled—and buried alive!

[What a terrifying way to go, ugh. Good work here, Stine! I wonder if the hole actually was dug up by construction workers, or if the ghost did it as a little trap for Jamie and Lewis?
On another note, Stine’s seems to be back into his super jarring short sentences that could easily join together with a comma… I haven’t really noticed it being this terrible since The Confession, but maybe this style of writing mainly occurs in his first-person books.]

Part 2 – One Year Later

Nate Garvin is our protagonist now, presumably because Lewis and Jamie never managed to escape their premature graves. It’s just before 2am and Nate’s arriving at Nights, a bar built where the Fear Mansion once stood. As a tribute to the late Simon and Angelica Fear, a brass plaque of their faces from their younger years is hung on the wall next to the entrance. Just about everyone kisses the plaque when they enter Nights, ‘partly as a joke, and maybe some of us think it keeps bad luck away’ [Yuck, imagine all the slobber that must be on it 🤮 ]. We also learn that Fear Street Acres has really invigorated this side of town, and the old Fear Street is practically ancient history [I’m so shocked that Stine just demolished the whole iconic street. There’s already a mall in Shadyside anyway, what happened to that?].

Nate is handed a beer by the bartender, Ryland, who’s super hip and doesn’t care about underage drinking as long as the teens flash their fake IDs and don’t start any trouble [Wow, the 2000s Shadyside teens are whole new breed! I can’t believe they’re all so casual about underage drinking]. And besides, the Night People are the only ones who give him a reason to be open all night [Really? There’s no adults there after midnight? God, Shadyside is boring for everyone who’s not a high schooler].

One of the prettiest girls at Shadyside High arrives now – Jamie [!!!!], ‘who still walks with a slight limp from her accident last year.’ Lewis also survived, but neither of them have any memory of what happened that night, so it’s suspected they just fell into the hole, which then started a landslide of dirt. Luckily there were some off-duty cops walking by at the right time who were able to pull them out [But they didn’t notice that dirt was being flung down at them, rather than collapsing in on them?]:

They both had broken bones and things busted inside them. And psychological issues, I guess. They were both in the hospital a long time, and they didn’t get to graduate with the rest of their class.

[I really thought they’d died! Maybe that scene wasn’t as impressive as I thought] Lucky for Jamie and Lewis, they get to relive senior year all over again [Gross]! Despite not being able to put their near-death experience behind them, Jamie and Lewis both seem to be doing OK and have recently starting sneaking out with the Night People again. Lewis isn’t coming tonight, though, because he’s messed up at the moment thanks to some creepy nightmares he’s been having [Poor Lewis :(].

Nate and Jamie head to the back booth, where a drunk Shark is getting cosy with Nikki, a total babe from Waynesbridge High that Jamie recalls is friends with Ada, a Shadyside girl. We learn that Candy dumped Shark sometime after Jamie’s and Lewis’ accident when Shark caught her cheating one night. It really messed Shark up and sometimes he goes a bit wild after getting complete sloshed at Nights, like pulling up mailboxes and smashing windows, and stealing a car to drive all night then returning it before the owners wake up. Don’t worry, though, because Nate assures us he’s a good guy nonetheless.

Even though Candy was the one to end the relationship [So she cheated and she ended it with him? Or was cheating her way of ending it?], she wants him back, and Shark can’t wait to brag about what he did to her earlier tonight! Apparently last night, Candy came in and cornered him in a booth while he waited for Nikki to arrive. She was all over him, trying to make out and telling him how much she misses him and stuff. He told her he felt the same way and asked her to meet him at the Cineplex at 9pm tonight for a movie, but then didn’t show up because ‘”No way I’d go out with that slut.”‘ [Alcohol and bad language?!? 🤯 ].

Shark thinks his little joke is hilarious because Candy would’ve been looking forward to it all day, just to have her night ruined. And better yet, he ignored his cellphone when she tried to call him so she’d get an earful of his new voicemail – ‘”Have a nice day, Candy, you slut.”‘ [Oof]. Jamie isn’t impressed by his antics and even Nate is taken aback by his friend’s mean streak, realising Candy’s betrayal last year must have hurt Shark a lot more than he let on.

Speaking of Candy Shutt, here she is now,  ‘”And no joke—she looks like she could murder someone!”‘ [Some of the dialogue in this book seems sort of out of place. Like, Stine’s updated his vocabulary for the modern audiences at the time which is good, but it seems kind of forced or something, rather than natural?]. Candy doesn’t bother to kiss the brass plaque and comes ‘roaring down the bar like a charging elephant,’ [She was described as ‘kinda chubby’ earlier, so I guess it’s no surprise she’s likened to an elephant], barrels straight into Jamie, who’s attempting to flee the booth to avoid the confrontation. Jamie is captivated by the pendant Candy’s wearing though, and feels like she’s seen it before [I wonder if it’s the pendant from the Saga?]. Candy brusquely explains she found it in the jewellery store across from Nights, and Jamie heads home after saying her goodbyes.

With that distraction over, Candy turns her attention back to Shark, launching over the table at him. Unlike Nikki and Nate, Shark’s got a big shit-eating grin on his face… until Candy pulls him in for a kiss, keeping him there for a long time as she grinds her mouth into his. Finally she pulls away from the kiss with an horrible grin as Shark opens his mouth to scream:

Bright red blood poured down his chin. His lips—they were open. Cut open and gushing blood.
Candy tossed back her head and laughed. And I saw Shark’s blood on her teeth and lips, running down her chin.
“BIT me…” Shark groaned. His lips were totally ripped open and swelling up. The blood rolled down his chin onto the front of his T-shirt. “She bit me…”

[Wow, Candy is a fkn psycho hahaha] Jamie saw the whole thing from the front of the bar and comes rushing back, eager to get Shark to a hospital. As Candy turns to leave, Nikki leaps up and grabs her by the shoulders, screaming ‘”How could you do that?”‘ but Candy’s got a warning for her – ‘”Let go of me, slut. I’ll tear you to pieces. I mean it. I’ll tear you apart.”‘ [Stine loves the word ‘slut’ in this one, doesn’t he? I wonder if it’ll be as prevalent as ‘prosperous’].

Candy stomps out of the bar, leaving Shark standing there more angry than Nate’s ever seen him before. They chase after her, and Shark hurls an empty beer bottle at Candy’s red BMW as she drives away. He misses, but without thinking, Nate throws his own bottle, surprising himself because he’s usually the calm one! Nate’s bottle smashes the BMW’s back window, and Candy recklessly reverses the car towards the group, forcing them to jump out of the way. She angrily shouts that they’ll all pay [That’s what the ghost told Lewis and Jamie, too!] before speeding off again, her words sending a chill down Nate’s spine.

Part 3

A week later, Nate and Shark are in Nate’s room playing ‘Grand Theft Auto—the original one—on my PlayStation.’ [Does Nate not have Vice City? Or a PlayStation 2?! The OG GTA had 4 sequels already by the time this book came out] Shark’s had to get stitches in his lips and they’re still swollen, black and scabby, but they’re healing OK. Shark has also floated the idea of filing a report about the assault, but that would ruin the secret world of the Night People. He’s still super angry about it and wants to get her back somehow, and we learn how scared Nate is of his best friend’s temper – not so much for himself, but for the trouble Shark would get into ‘if he ever really lost it.’

Nate and Shark move to the computer and jump onto their favourite site, meetup-place.com [I’m sure the pedophiles love that one!], ‘a big chat room with guys and girls meeting up and coming onto each other. And mainly telling lies.’ [Oh yeah, there’s definitely some groomers in there]. Nate flirts with some random for a bit [And the conversation is kind of awkward, because they use text talk, like ‘lol” and stuff, but this girl also says things like ‘”Hey, that’s neat,”‘ which I think teenagers stopped saying long before 2005… Or maybe it’s a predator!?] before Shark signs in and gets a message from Candy.

She’d told her dad the car window got busted at the mall, and she wants Shark to pay the $320 to fix it [She thinks he threw the second bottle too] or else she’ll tell her father all about the Night People. She has no qualms about ruining it for everyone else because her family doesn’t care what she does:

Your parents will be thrilled when they find out. And how about our good school principal? Wow. You could all be suspended. What a shame that would be, huh? All those seniors suspended.

[Umm, what? Surely they can’t be punished at school for stuff they do outside of school, outside of school hours? They’re still turning up to school each day? Is this an American thing?] Nate and Shark are both so angry they could kill Candy, but to stop her from ruining their lives [Yes, they take the Night People that seriously lol] they each round up half of the money and hand it over.

A few days after that, Nate and Shark are messing around on Nate’s computer again when Shark implements his plan to get Candy back. He’s somehow figured out how to hack into the school website for the senior class, where the faculty can share important news and post homework assignments and stuff. Shark creates a new post in the Class News Bulletin section and uploads a photo of a prize-winning hog from the Shadyside Fair, which he’s Photoshopped Candy’s face onto [Omg hahahaha poor Candy]. His bitter vengeance doesn’t end there, though – he changes the H in her last name to an L, and captions the image ‘Candy Slutt may miss second semester because she’s expecting a litter of baby hogs.’

[Hahahaha omfg, I shouldn’t laugh] Shark then posts it to the news section of the senior news page, and it looks super legit!! Although he finds it hilarious, Nate warns Shark to take it down so he won’t get in trouble, because even though the school won’t know who’s responsible, Candy will. ‘”So what if Candy knows?”‘ says Shark, because what could happen? I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough, pal!

I guess it was posted sometime over the weekend, because on Monday morning at school, everyone’s oinking and calling out Slutt when Candy walks by. The poor girl has to deal with that shit relentlessly all day, and she eventually corners Nate in the hall and backs him up against the wall. She demands to know if Shark was responsible, and Nate almost bursts out laughing because her breath smells like bacon [Hahahaha poor Candy, this is not her day :(]. Nate feigns ignorance about who did it, and Candy’s voice breaks as she asks ‘”Why does he hate me so much?”‘ [I mean, you did practically bite his lip off… but what he’s done to Candy is arguably worse], and although Nate suggests maybe she really hurt Shark when she dumped him, Candy reckons ‘”he’s just a vicious jerk”‘ and scampers off.

Candy’s humiliation reaches a whole new level the next morning during assembly, where Candy’s set to introduce a guest speaker who’ll be talking about saving the rest of the Fear Street Woods that wasn’t torn down to make way for Fear Street Acres. As Candy steps up to the microphone, Nate’s and Shark’s friend Galen starts oinking. More and more students join in with their own pig noises, and someone even hurls a stuffed toy pig onto the stage. Poor Candy lets out a furious cry and runs sobbing from the auditorium, and Nate thinks that they’ve gone too far and Candy will definitely get them back. Shark thinks it’s a total riot, labelling the event Oinkapalooza [Shark sucks. I can’t believe someone with that great a name is this horrible a person].

The next day, Nate’s pulled into the principal’s office where he’s confronted by the headmaster, Candy, her parents, and the family’s attorney because they’ve traced the hog post to Nate’s computer [Good]. Although Candy believes Shark put Nate up to it, Nate feels compelled to cover for his best friend, feeling responsible because ‘I let him do it on my computer.’ [Ugh, Nate is an idiot] To Nate’s surprise, Candy’s parents don’t want to turn this into a big deal [Wow, do they hate Candy?] and all will be forgiven as long as he offers a public apology to their daughter, much to Candy’s disappointment and anger [I’m with Candy, there should be an actual punishment for this. I guess she’ll have to come up with it herself!]. Candy’s toying with the pendant around her neck in this scene, so I’m sure that’ll have some relevance later [OK I’m just gonna assume it’s the one from the Saga].

At Nights later, Nate gloats about practically getting off the hook to Jamie and Lewis [Gross, I hate him] before joining Shark, Nikki and Galen at their usual booth. Candy enters at one point and storms right up to their table, completely silent but glaring angrily at Nate. He offers an insincere apology [Are we going to get any decent male characters in this trilogy?], but she just turns around and makes herself comfortable in a nearby booth so she can glare at them from afar.

Despite the stare bear, the group is determined to have fun, although Nate can’t help noticing Candy’s eyes locked onto him every time he glances over at her. She also seems to be muttering to herself, ‘like she was putting a hex on me or something.’ [I think you’re right on the money there, Nate] As Nate starts gobbling down some beer nuts from the table, he notices something funny about one of them. He pulls it from his mouth to inspect, only to find out that it’s a cockroach [A cockroach for a cockroach xx]. There’s no cockroaches in the nut bowl, however, and it quickly becomes clear the insects are coming from inside his mouth:

I pulled another cockroach off my tongue. Then another one. I tossed them to the floor. My tongue itched and throbbed. I could feel more insects crawling in my mouth—on the roof of my mouth, under my tongue, poking out through my lips.

[Are they just appearing from thin air into his mouth? How fun] Confused an alarmed, Nate heads for the exit as more and more cockroaches pour from his mouth. He glances back as he reaches the door, and that’s when he spots Candy, ‘one hand on that jeweled pendant’ and a huge smile on her face [Has Candy made some sort of deal with Angelica’s spirit, or has she just figured out the power of the pendant herself?]. The cockroaches stop appearing as soon as he laves the bar, but Nate can’t stop thinking about Candy’s strange grin, ‘as if she was really enjoying seeing me suffer.’ [Wow, how dare Candy enjoy Nate’s suffering after he took so much pleasure in the bullying she was getting?! The audacity. Who does Candy think she is? Nate’s a fkn idiot]

 The next day, Nate and Shark ditch their last class, and as they walk past the soccer oval to get to the parking lot, Nate spots Candy being a stare bear once again. Shark seems a little off today, and after a bit of prodding from Nate, he briefly opens up about how everything is getting to him lately – his parents’ constant fighting; his dad’s alcoholism; his sucky grades this term; and Nikki acting like they’re a couple when he doesn’t want a relationship [Well have you told her that??????]. Nate suggests he should take a break from sneaking out to Nights every night, but Shark refuses because that’s the only quiet time he gets.

The boys are soon joined by Jamie and Ada, who’s been mentioned but never seen until now, and Nate drives them along ‘the Onononka River’ [Which must be a typo because I’m sure it’s called the Conononka River in other books?] before parking in a clearing not far from the shore. It’s much too cold for a dip in deep waters of the river, so they sit down on the grass and enjoy the sunshine. The cockroaches incident is brought up and when Nate mentions Candy’s creepy smile, Jamie speculates that she’s a witch, which she insists are real. Shark completely disagrees, presenting his own theory that a cockroach laid eggs inside Nate’s mouth while he was sleeping, and they simply hatched last night [Jamie’s makes more sense to me, especially on Fear Street. But rather than being a witch, I think she’s either tapped into the pendant’s powers or the ghost of Angelica Fear is aiding her].

Shark and Jamie decide to go for a walk, leaving Nate all alone with Ada who pounces on Nate for a cheeky pash [Ada, know you’re worth. We barely know who she is, but I’m sure she’s out of Nate’s league lol. And if she’s a love interest for Nate, why are we just meeting her now? Super weird]. Nate is stunned since she’s never expressed interest in him before [I doubt anyone has], but that doesn’t stop him from kissing her back! She eventually pulls away, her face red as if she’s embarrassed [Yeah, shame on you!], and Nate just stares at her in shock until she starts laughing, although he’s not sure if he’s laughing at him or because she likes him [Probably the former xx]. Shark and Jamie return from their stroll before he can ask Ada what the hell is up, so they both just act like it never even happened, although Ada’s face is still red ‘and she had a strange smile frozen there.’ [Is she under some sort of spell, maybe?].

It’s time to head back now, but when Nate tries to reverse the car out of the clearing, it starts rolling forward instead. The brakes don’t work either, so all the passengers can do is enjoy the ride as the car hurtles into the river and quickly begins sinking [This is truly terrifying to me. Why didn’t they at least try to jump out of the car before it hit the water, though? That’s what I would have done. Fuck drowning].

Because Nate and Shark are idiots, they don’t attempt to open the car’s two doors until it’s fully submerged and only manage to get them open when it hits the bottom. After swimming out, Nate turns back to see ‘Ada’s arms flailing out of the open car door.’ Realising she’s stuck behind the front seat, he helps her break free [Are you going to help Jamie too? She hasn’t been mentioned since the doors opened] and they float up to the surface to catch their breath.

Shark, Nate and Ada make their way to shore and rest against a tree [But…Jamie?], and only then do they realise Jamie’s not with them [Wow, you lot are great friends]. And then instead of jumping back in the water to see if she’s trapped down there, the three of them just stand on the shoreline yelling her name, wondering why she hasn’t come up [She was probably stuck in the back like Ada was! Although you’d think Nate would have noticed… And Ada, because she was right next to her? Also, it’s good to see Shark was too concerned with saving himself to assist his friends lol. These kids are dumb]:

Finally Nate realises they should go back down to check the car, but Shark thinks it’s too late. Nate’s not ready to give up though, so they both plunge back into the water. Almost five minutes have passed by this point [But I’m not quite sure where the five minutes started…When the car went under? When Nate, Shark and Ada escaped?], so it’s no surprise that Jamie’s lifeless body is still in the back seat. With a bit of effort they manage to pull her Jamie and get her back to the shore where Ada successfully performs CPR and resuscitates her [Woo! I like Jamie]. After vomiting up some dirty river water, Jamie assures them she’s alright, although she has no memory of what just happened and suggests all her time on the swim team ‘”must have really built up my lung power.”‘ [Lucky gal! And even more lucky that Nate was so intent on rescuing you]. She questions why Nate drove into the river [Good question! To the passengers it probably seemed like he was trying to murder them], and instead of answering, Nate just thinks back to how the car did it all on its own, and instead tells Jamie that maybe she’s right – ‘”Maybe Candy is a witch.”‘

We jump to a week later now at 2am on Thursday night, where Nate, Shark, Lewis and Galen are at Nights. Nate got his car back today [So it was pulled from the water, dried out and checked over? That’d be pretty pricey, right?] and reveals the mechanic hadn’t found anything wrong with it – everything is working fine, so whatever happened is a total mystery [Ooky spooky!]. Lewis believes that a lot of ghosts were disturbed when the Fear Mansion was torn down, revealing that last year, he and Jamie caught a ghostly woman’s voice on tape in this very spot. The boys want to hear it, but the tape’s gone – ‘”After that night Jamie and I fell in…after our accident…we couldn’t find it.”‘ Nate isn’t completely sure what Lewis is getting at, so Lewis simplifies his theories on what’s behind these strange occurrences:

“Maybe a ghost,” Lewis said. “Maybe it’s some kind of Fear Street curse. Or evil spell. Or maybe it’s Candy getting back at you, Nate. Maybe she found a spell book or something that night in the hidden room. It’s possible.”

[All of these are extremely reasonable possibilities in Shadyside, and my instincts say Candy is behind it, most likely with assistance from Angelica Fear’s spirit, or whoever the ghost really is. But they all seem to be thinking this, which makes me think question myself] Lewis’ sounds totally wacko to Nate, but he admits to himself that there’s really no other explanation. Still, it’s time for to take action:

“We can’t just sit here and wait for something else to happen,” I said. “We’ve got to find out who or what is doing this to us.”
Could we solve the mystery before the horror started again?
Actually, no.

Part 4

On Monday afternoon, Nate heads to the computer lab at school, where each of the 20 desktop computers is ‘networked to a fast DSL line’ so he can ‘Google some stuff I needed for a term paper.’ [This makes 2005 seem so much longer ago than it actually was hahaha] Besides two ninth-graders playing solitaire, the only people in there are Shark and Ada, sharing one computer, and Jamie, by herself in the back row, ‘typing away, concentrating hard on something.’ [I just had a thought – maybe Jamie is the bad guy? Maybe her and/or Lewis were possessed by the spirit after their near-death experience, and now she’s orchestrating all these weird things, and her near-drowning was to cover her tracks? She’s been present for every accident so far, so I don’t think we can rule it out] Nate joins Shark and Ada, who are downloading music from iTunes so Shark can create a playlist to go with his term paper on jazz fusion. Shark’s also using his Bose headphones for the best audio experience while he finds the right tunes [So much product placement in this book].

Candy waltzes in and marches straight up to Nate, Shark and Ada, much to the boys’ disappointment. Fingering the pendant, she reveals she wants to make amends – they’ve known each other since fifth grade, so why should they be enemies now? She extends an olive branch, inviting them to a party she’s throwing on Saturday night while her parents are away, but Shark can’t make it it because he has to ‘”stay home and take out the trash.”‘ Candy stares at Nate, still toying with the pendant, but he doesn’t even come up with an excuse, simply telling her he just can’t come [So fkn rude. Poor Candy. She may have cheated on Shark ages ago but I think this little revenge campaign going a bit far now. The boys deserve what’s coming to them, assuming something is coming]. Candy leaves all sullen, and Ada scolds Shark for being so nasty. Nate quickly changes the subject, asking to try Shark’s headphones, which Nate really enjoys until his ears start to feel wet and he realises there’s blood spurting from his them:

It felt so strange. Like my ears were open faucets. Two powerful streams of blood came pouring out. Steaming like a fountain…spraying the cubicle walls…staining the floor all around me. The sound of it roared in my ears.

[How much blood can someone lose before it’s fatal?] Ada and Shark grab an arm each, and all three of them are dripping with blood as they make their way through horrified students to the nurse’s office. The nurse is as shocked as everyone else and quickly fills Nate’s ears with cotton pads, but just as she’s about to phone an ambulance, the blood stops. The nurse insists Nate stays put while she phones his mother and an ambulance anyway, since he’ll probably need a blood transfusion, and instructs Shark and Ada to go home and change. Candy rocks up before they can leave and seems super concerned for Nate, asking if he’s OK. Shark demands to know how she even knew he was in here [They probably walked past her, or she followed the trail of blood?], and with a strange smile she explains she saw him in the hall [Duh, Shark. I think she’s definitely a red herring now].

Two nights later, Nate’s at Nights with Shark, planning on getting totally sloshed to calm his nerves. He hasn’t been able to sleep and has no appetite, but there’s always time for a beer! He’s hoping that by getting hammered, he’ll be able to forget about the horror of the last few weeks, and maybe he won’t be so scared of every sound, movement, and even of his own body [I bet you’re regretting taking the blame for the hog photo now, huh?]! Jamie and Lewis are also here, at a separate booth, and Candy’s sitting with two Waynesbridge girls with her back to Nate for once, ‘so she couldn’t give me her usual evil eye.’

Galen, who has been around several times but has really had no relevance until now, arrives at the bar, and he reckons he’s figured out why all these weird things have been happening! He’s got to kiss the Fear plaque first, though, and he’s keeping his lips pressed against it for an awfully long time – ‘was he trying to be funny, showing off what a great kisser he was?’ [Hahaha on a statue? Would anyone be impressed with that?] Nate finally realises something’s wrong when Galen tries to pull away, but his lips stay stuck to the plaque [!!!]. Bartender Ryland, Nate and Shark rush over to help him, and it’s clear Galen’s in a lot of pain as he tries to free himself. Ryland wants to call the fire department, but Shark doesn’t want everyone’s parents to find out about the Night People. Instead, they get some butter from behind the bar and apply it to the plaque and Galen’s lips, hoping that greasing it all up will free him. With everything lubed up, Nate gently tries to pull his friend free, and with a sharp cry of pain, Galen is released:

I started to open my mouth in a cheer of victory.
But then I raised my eyes to the wall. To the plaque…
And I saw…
I saw a piece of Galen’s tongue—and both of his lips—still stuck to the plaque.

[This reminds me of this batshit Toohey’s beer ad we had in Australia in the early 2000s!] Ryland is able to get Galen to the emergency room, where he’ll be spending the next few weeks in hospital after surgery. He’s definitely busted for sneaking out, but everyone knows he won’t rat out the others, so the Night People are safe [As long as the Night People are safe to continue sneaking out, all is OK with the world]. Nate tries to call him at one point, but a nurse explains Galen had a lot of stitches and couldn’t talk very well [I need more details – did they just stitch up the wounds, or did they manage to get his lips and tongue off the plaque?]. Nate’s still haunted by the sight of ‘that red chunk of tongue stuck to the brass plaque like a piece of raw hamburger,’ [Gross] and wonders if someone was trying to prevent Galen from revealing what he found out [Yes, obviously]. If only Galen could talk! [I’m sure he can still write?]

A few weeks after Galen’s hospitalisation, he’s finally home and allowed to have visitors, so Nate and Shark go to see him. His mouth is super swollen with black stitches everywhere, but at least  he can talk, albeit with a lisp. He quickly dives into what he was about to tell Nate that night – ‘”It’s all Candy,”‘ and she did this to Galen to keep him from talking! Even though he was suspecting the same thing weeks ago, Nate isn’t convinced, so Galen hands him some print-offs from a website he found about the legends and stories from the early days of Shadyside.

One of the pages has a photo of Angelica Fear, who they’re all very aware of, and she’s wearing the exact same necklace Candy now possesses [It’s confirmed! It is the Saga pendant]! Nate remembers how Candy would often be holding the pendant with a big grin on her face, and realises what Galen’s saying is true [Jamie has basically been saying this for weeks, Nate. Why do you only believe it now that it’s coming from a guy’s mouth?]. The boys continue to read about how Angelica would use the amulet to destroy her enemies in horrible ways, and realise with horror that Candy is must be trying to kill them.

At Nights later, Nate and Shark explain to Nikki and Lewis what Galen discovered and how they need to get the amulet. Even though the party Candy invited them to on the upcoming weekend was before Galen’s accident and Stine has already established we are a few weeks past that, the party was actually tonight [We love continuity errors!], and Shark and Nate know no-one turned up because they went past her house earlier to check. Lewis asks why they didn’t get the amulet then, but Shark insists they need to take her by surprise.

Nate and Shark plan to break into Candy’s house tonight while everyone’s sleeping and steal the amulet, but Lewis isn’t keen to help, not wanting anything to do with the Fear family or their belongings after what happened to him and Jamie last year. He wishes them luck and departs the bar, kissing the plaque on his way out [I can’t believe they’re all still kissing it? I’d be too scared that what happened to Galen would happen to me! Also, I think Lewis is leaving because he’s actually the bad guy and wants to go snicker with Jamie about how clueless these dimwits are?]. Nikki, on the other hand, is willing to join the burglary, despite being really frightened [Nikki, don’t risk your life for some guy who doesn’t even want a relationship].

Our trio of thieves depart the bar and drive to Candy’s house, where the whole place is dark. Luckily for them, the house is still being repainted so there’s a ladder conveniently resting against the wall of the house. Shark is confident they’ll be able to sneak in through a second-floor window round back and make their way into Candy’s room – he’s been there before so it shouldn’t be too hard. Since Candy wears the amulet daily, he’s sure she’s left it out somewhere convenient, too [OK, but you don’t all need to go in? This is a one person job, you’re just making it unnecessarily riskier]:

“She’ll wake up tomorrow morning, and it’ll be gone. And when she comes to school, she’ll see the big grins on our faces. And she’ll know what a loser she is.”

[Ugh, I cannot stand Shark. Whoever the bad guy is, please kill him asap 🥺] They carry the ladder to the back of the house and climb up into a spare bedroom, then make their way down the hall and into Candy’s room where Shark quickly finds the amulet. Back out in the hall where there’s a bit more light, he holds it up for the others to see before suggesting they go out the front door [Why not just use the ladder again and limit your time in the house?] As they make their way to the staircase, the light flicks on, revealing Candy at her bedroom door, and boy is she mad when she sees the amulet in Shark’s hand:

Nikki and I stumbled back from the stairway as Candy took a running leap. She grabbed the amulet from Shark’s hand—
—and fell. Fell headfirst…
…headfirst down the stairs…screaming…screaming until her head smashed onto a wooden stair. I heard a horrifying crack.
Her body thudded hard against the wall. She tumbled down more steps. Did a wild somersault. I heard another loud crack as her head hit again.

The poor girl is at the bottom of the stairs, her body twisted in an unnatural angle and ‘the bone—her neck bone—poking out from her skin.’ [Candy deserves better 😡] Shark blames himself, but Nikki and Nate assure him it was just a freak accident. Nikki’s quite optimistic about the situation, actually — “At least she won’t be trying to kill us anymore.” [Nikki, plz]. Nate grabs the amulet from Candy’s cold, dead hand and the trio escape out the front door, not stopping til they’ve reached the curb, where Nate realises there’s something wrong with the amulet:

“It…cracked in half,” I finally choked out.
I held it up to them.
“It cracked in half because it’s plastic. Don’t you see? It’s just plastic. It’s a fake. Candy never had the real amulet. It’s just a cheap, plastic fake.”

[Hmmm… surely Candy wouldn’t have been wearing it all the damn time if it was really just cheap plastic? I think that Lewis left the bar earlier so he and Jamie could steal the pendant themselves and replace it with a fake, although I’m not sure where they got an exact replica from… My current theory is that Angelica and Simon took over Jamie and Lewis’ bodies (Or maybe just Angelica took over Jamie), and have either been dormant for some reason or had no memory of that night until Jamie saw Candy wearing the pendant for the first time. Certainly sounds like a Fear Street plot!]

A few nights later, Nate and Shark are at Nights once again, spilling the beans about Candy’s trip down the stairs to Jamie and Lewis, including how they closed the window they snuck through, returned the ladder to it’s original spot and didn’t call the cops [Why the fuck are you implicating yourselves like this? What is wrong with these two?!].

Jamie can see that they really had no choice, since they wouldn’t have been able to successfully explain what they were doing in Candy’s house, and Lewis agrees, justifying that their lives would be ruined if they’d called the police. The foursome is hopeful that they’ll be safe now; maybe all this weird stuff is over [I wouldn’t count on it, gang]. Unfortunately the next weird thing happens sooner than they expect, because the book ends with one final scare as Nate finds something waiting for him in bed when he gets home:

I gasped when I saw the round, dark puddle that stained the sheet.
Then I saw the pinkish ball. At first I thought it was a balloon. Or a sagging rubber ball.
Then I saw a floppy, pointed ear. Two round, black eyes staring up at me.
A hairy snout. Veins and tendons twisting like tentacles from a jagged, open throat.
And I realized I was staring at a head.
A fat, blood-smeared hog’s head.
I staggered back, choking…choking…until finally, I found my voice. And then I opened my mouth in a high wail of horror.

Final thoughts

Well, I wasn’t expecting much, but I have to admit this was pretty good! I liked how we were lead to believe Lewis was our protagonist in the beginning, which made it a bit of a shock when he and Jamie appeared to be killed off. Although it was quickly revealed they survived, it suggested that any of the characters could cark it at any moment, much like in the Scream movies.

I thought the body horror aspect was pretty cool too, with the cockroaches and blood fountains and lips and tongue ripping off, and the car in the river scene was also terrifying! I wouldn’t necessarily say Stine’s writing has improved [I feel like ‘You know.’ was written on, like, every page whether it was part of the dialogue or not], but it did have a different feel than the OG series while still feeling like a Fear Street book. I still can’t believe these Shadyside teens drink alcohol, though! Crazy. I also can’t even remember there being any of Stine’s usual cliffhanger chapter ending fake-outs in this one, which was nice.

Unfortunately I wasn’t a fan of any of the male characters – they all pretty much sucked, especially Nate and Shark. I guess it turns out Candy wasn’t our bad guy in the end, but I can’t help but wonder if all the horrible things would have still happened had they all been nicer to her? Shark took his revenge campaign way too far, and Nate was too eager to join in, despite feeling bad for Candy, so I really wish she could have taught them some kind of lesson.

I’m hoping Nate’s not our protagonist for the whole trilogy and it jumps around to different characters, which is what I was expecting when the protagonist role jumped from Lewis to Nate. The women seemed much better than the guys, so hopefully we can spend more time with Jamie, Ada and/or Nikki in the next one.

55 lips being ripped off via a kiss with a brass plaque out of 75.