Tagline: All dressed up…to die!
Back tagline: Jennifer Fear has just one wish.
Summary: She wants a date for the prom. Then she meets Duke. He’s smart, cool, and really hot. Totally perfect!
But Duke isn’t as perfect as Jennifer thinks. And now her dream date is turning into a nightmare.
First impressions: Sounds like the same kind of plot as many other Fear Streets and Point Horrors, so hopefully there’s some kind of twist to make it more interesting. I don’t like that we’re going back to a character who’s already had their own book instead of one of the other seniors who have only been side characters so far, but I like Jennifer so I won’t complain too much.
On the cover we have what I believe is shards of glass slicing open the page to reveal Jennifer, Will Reynolds, Clarissa Turner and what looks like Gary Fresno hanging out at the prom. As far as we know, Clarissa and Will are still dating, but Jennifer and Gary seems like an odd pair considering he’s still with Trisha. Trisha was seeing Ty behind Jennifer’s back a little while ago, so maybe she’s returning the favour!
There’s still way too many seniors still alive, so this book better kill some off! Let’s find out!
Recap
Here’s our updated yearbook photos, with poor Marla Newman now marked as deceased, as well as additional characters:
Duke – Jennifer’s dream prom date.
The book begins with Trisha Conrad having a nightmare about the spirits of her Fear ancestors rising from their graves, urging her to use her powers and insisting she can’t hide that she’s a Fear. Eventually they grab her head and pull, stretching her neck until her head comes off, and Trisha finally wakes up as the spirits dash into her dismembered head. As she tries to calm herself, her bedroom door slowly opens and a ghostly figure drifts in.
It’s just the Conrads’ maid, Celia, who apologises for frightening her and draws the curtains to let in the early morning light. It’s 5:45am, way too early to get up for school, but Trisha remembers her parents are heading off to Europe this morning. Celia heads off to do other maid duties and soon Mrs. Conrad comes in to kiss Trisha goodbye. She’s looking forward to the trip, but Trisha’s father will be in meetings most of the time; he built the Division Street Mall and other malls around the country, and he’s planning to expand his business into major European cities. Mum gifts Trisha a tiny wishing well charm made of brown glass, explaining it’s a good luck charm that’s been in the family for ages. Trisha wonders if her mother means the Conrad side or the Fear side, remembering how a few months ago, Jennifer Fear found out that she wasn’t a Fear at all, and Trisha was! The girls agreed to keep it a secret, but Trisha’s curious if her mother knows that she married into the Fear family. Before she can ask her, Mum realises with horror that she’s forgotten to pack her make-up case for the trip! [Oh no!!]
She scurries off to finish packing, and Mr. Conrad comes to say goodbye to Trisha too. After her parents leave, Trisha wonders if the tiny glass wishing well belonged to the Fears, and if so, ‘what kind of luck could it possibly bring?’
Later, during lunch at school, Trisha’s sitting at the outside tables with Jennifer and tells her about her latest nightmare. Her constant nightmares aren’t as awful as her visions at least, and she thinks back to the vision she had before school started of the senior class in their graves. Eight seniors have died since then, [Well, 10 if you count John and Anita, who were new to the school this year. Also I really want to know the aftermath of Marla’s death. Did Kenny see her get dragged into the ground, or was that part only real to Marla, and anyone watching on she just sort of dropped dead? It makes more sense that he saw it, but how would he have explained that to anyone? I need answers, Stine!] and good friend Jennifer assures her it’s not her fault. Trisha feels guilty anyway, and wishes she could get rid of her visions, which are obviously Fear powers.
The conversation is cut short when Dana Palmer and Stacy Malcolm drop down at the other end of the lunch table and start talking about the upcoming prom, which is being held at a big hotel this year. Trisha’s glad Dana has the prom to focus on, since her twin Deirdre died a few weeks ago. Gary then pops by to scab some food before heading off to do some makeup laps in biology so he doesn’t fail the class. Gary’s sooooOoOo00Oo0O hot, and Trisha tells Jennifer she’s glad her parents won’t be around to give her crap about going to the prom with him. She’d forced him to let her pay for the tuxedo he’d loaned, and she can’t wait to see him in it! [Or out of it! 😉] Jennifer doesn’t want to talk about the prom, mad that she doesn’t have a date. Trisha’s sure someone will ask her, and even suggests she could ask someone herself, but the only person Jennifer can think of to ask is her cousin from Springfield, and he’s a dweeb. Jennifer’s also worried that the prom will be a disaster, considering all the bad things that have happened this year.
As Jennifer waffles on, Trisha has one of her trademark visions! Through a dark tunnel she sees a large bundle of crumpled-up paper. As she touches it, her hands become red, and she unwraps the bundle, which actually turns out to be the bloodied body of Gary Fresno. She screams and returns to reality, lying to the others at the table that she’d be startled by the fat caterpillar near her Snapple. As Trisha and Jennifer head back into the school building, Jennifer knows Trisha’s scream was because of a vision. Trisha admits what she saw and is super worried it’s going to come true, given that the seniors are dying, as foretold by her vision before the school year. Jennifer tries to stay positive, reminding Trisha that not all of her visions come true.
During her next class, Trisha can’t stop worrying about her vision; she’d had a vision of a dead boy back in February but wasn’t sure if it was Ty Sullivan or Gary. She warned both boys, but neither took her seriously and Ty ended up dead. She’s not sure Gary will take her seriously this time either, but she has to warn him! When the bell rings, she races to the bio labs and tells Gary about the vision, begging him to watch out Gary because she doesn’t want to lose him. He assures her he’ll be fine but agrees to be super careful.
After school at Trisha’s house, Trisha’s still anxious about her vision and Jennifer suggests maybe there’s some kind of Fear thing she can do to stop her visions. Then Jennifer notices Trisha’s beautiful red prom dress hanging on the back of the door, and her bad mood returns when Trisha reveals it’s one of two options she’d bought — the other one is shorter. Jennifer also notices the tiny wishing well, and Trisha explains her mum gave it to her this morning. It’s supposed to be a good luck charm and has been in the family for generations, but Trisha still isn’t sure which family. Jennifer loves it, and Trisha offers to let her borrow it — ‘”Maybe it will get you a date for the prom.”‘ It’s just a light-hearted joke, but Jennifer shoots her a dirty look. Her frown disappears as she stares at the charm again, and she wonders if it really works…
After school the next day, Josie Maxwell runs up to Jennifer and tells her she was asked to prom by Matty Winger. And if that’s not embarrassing enough, she said yes! As usual, Jennifer’s in a bad mood about the prom, and while they take the bus back to Jennifer’s place, she complains that she’ll have to get her loser cousin to take her to prom. Josie tells her to do it, then the girls will have each other for company at least. In Jennifer’s room, Josie asks ‘”if you could dream up the perfect guy to take you to the prom, what would he be like?”‘ Josie’s man would be a green-eyed, dark blonde with a great build, ‘”but not any big gross muscles or anything.”‘ With her hand fondling the glass wishing well in her pocket, Jennifer says her perfect date would be effortlessly cool, the kind of guy who fits in anywhere and can talk to anyone. He’s smart, but not nerdy, with dark hair and blue eyes, long lashes and high cheekbones. He can dance, and he’s got a smooth, sexy voice. The phone rings now, and Josie declares it’s Jennifer’s dream guy! ‘”I wish,”‘ replies Jennifer, crossing her fingers as she picks up the phone, but it’s only her neighbour, Laura Quinn, wanting to speak to Jennifer’s mother, who’s not home.
That night, Jennifer and Josie head to the school gym for the prom committee meeting, and Jennifer’s still in a bad mood. [Calm the fuck down, Jennifer] Phoebe Yamura’s the head of the committee, and as Jennifer watches her she thinks of Marla Newman. Marla would definitely have been head of the committee if things were normal, but things aren’t normal, and Marla’s dead. [No mention of how she died, though, which is what I really want to know. What does everything everyone think happened to her?] Afterwards, Josie talks Jennifer into getting pizza with the group after the meeting, and Jennifer’s mood only worsens as she’s subjected to more prom talk.
As she finally arrives home that night, Jennifer tries to get over her bad mood, but she can’t get rid of the negative feelings. In her bedroom, her attempts to relax are interrupted by a phone call. It’s a boy named Duke Carpenter, who says he goes to St. Ignatius in Waynesbridge and explains they met last year and had a really fun time together. He says he never forgot her, and always wanted to see her again but never acted on it until now; he’d seen a notice in the paper about all the school proms coming up and thought he’d see if she had a date to Shadyside’s prom already. Jennifer can’t recall this boy but doesn’t tell him that, assuming that maybe they’d met at an away game while she was on the basketball team last year, and agrees to go with him to the prom. She wants to meet him before that, though, and they agree to meet at the Corner tomorrow at 1pm. After the call, Jennifer immediately calls Josie to tell her about her prom date, admitting she can’t remember who he is. Josie’s excited for her and suggests they go shopping for prom dresses after her meeting with Duke so she can tell her all about it, and Jennifer agrees to meet her at the mall around 3pm. Jennifer’s optimistic about the prom now, hoping that maybe all the horrible stuff is over! [Don’t hold your breath, girl!]
That night, Jennifer has a nightmare where she’s dancing with her partner at the prom, but still can’t see his face. One of the big glass globes drops from the ceiling, shattering and showering everyone with glass, and her poor date takes the brunt of the force, which kills him…
As Jennifer enters the Corner the next day, Dana Palmer and Stacy Malcolm are on their way out, and Jennifer explains she’s here to meet Duke Carpenter, who may be taking her to the prom. She asks the girls if they’ve heard of the St. Ignatius student, but neither have, and they offer to wait with her so they can give their opinions, but Jennifer doesn’t want an audience so they head off. There’s no guys waiting alone in there already, so Jennifer plops down in a booth and orders a coke, waiting patiently for Duke to arrive. He still hasn’t shown up by 1:45pm, and so Jennifer heads home crying tears of embarrassment and frustration. Was someone playing a joke on her? If there was a real issue, why hadn’t Duke called the Corner? At home, she slams her bedroom door and screams in frustration, since her parents aren’t home to question it.
In her room, Jennifer remembers she’s supposed to meet Josie at the mall in an hour, but decides to just not show up; Josie will call to find out why she didn’t show up, and Jennifer will wait until then to explain everything. [Oh so you’re upset that Duke has no call, no showed but you’re gonna do it to Josie now? Woooooow] Duke calls, super happy that Jennifer’s home; it turns out he’d left his place at noon so he’d have plenty of time to get there, but he ran out of gas! He finally walked to a gas station and he’d been calling Jennifer’s house since 1pm, and then finally had the bright idea to call the Corner, but she’d already left by then. [You planned to meet her at 1pm… why would you call her home at that time? Dumbass. This is suss] He seems genuine, so Jennifer forgives him and writes down his number before he reveals he booked a white limo for the prom already. It’s an eight-seater, so she can invite her friends if she wants! Jennifer, still wanting to meet this guy first before going to the prom with him, suggests they get something to eat tonight, but apparently gas wasn’t the only issue with Duke’s car; the battery’s shot, too, and he can’t get a new one until Monday! [Why doesn’t she offer to come to Waynesbridge?] He promises to call her next week so they can discuss their prom plans further, though, and after the call, Jennifer can’t help but wonder why he can’t get a battery until Monday, when they’re not that hard to get. She thinks the whole thing sounds like an excuse not to meet her… [OK, so tell him you won’t be going to the prom without meeting him first. That’s what I’d do. He’s way too suss]
She debates calling him back and demanding answers, but throws that out the window because he’ll probably cancel their prom plans if he knows she thinks he’s lying. Maybe he needs a specific type of battery, and it won’t arrive until Monday! She tells herself to stop being so suspicious, and decides to meet Josie at the mall after all. Jennifer fills Josie in on the Duke situation and the girls purchase prom dresses, with Jennifer picking a dark blue one while Josie opts for a pale peach dress. Back at home later, Jennifer calls the number Duke had given her, wanting to let him know the colour of her dress so he could get a matching corsage, but the number is disconnected. She finds a Waynesbridge phonebook in the house and looks up his last name, but there’s no Carpenters listed at all, [Really? Seems like a common last name] and she’s starting to get suspicious again…
By Monday, Jennifer still hasn’t been able to get in contact with Duke and expresses her concerns about him to Josie as they leave school. Jennifer had called every Carpenter that lived near Waynesbridge hoping to find Duke, but none of them were right, and she’s pretty sure he’d been lying about everything.
At home later, Jennifer studies to keep her mind off Duke, but she’s interrupted by the doorbell. Her parents aren’t home so she’s forced to answer it, and she’s shocked to find a boy standing on the porch — ‘The boy was almost the exact image of the perfect date she had wished for. Tall, with dark hair and high cheekbones. Deep blue eyes and incredibly thick lashes.’ She asks if he’s Duke, and he says no. But that was just a joke; he is Duke Carpenter, and even whips out his ID to prove it! He explains that he still felt bad about Saturday so looked up her address and drove down to see her instead of calling. Jennifer tells him she’d tried to call to let him know the colour of her dress, but the number was disconnected. He asks what number she called so she shows him the paper she’d written it down on, and he points out that she’d gotten the last two numbers mixed up. The number is unlisted since his dad’s a lawyer and doesn’t want clients calling the house, which is why Jennifer couldn’t find his number in the phone book. Duke then starts banging on about how wild and great their night together last year was, and how he wishes he hadn’t waited so long to call. Jennifer’s dying to know what night he’s referring to and what they did, because she still has no clue who he is, but she’s too embarrasses to ask, although he does look a little familiar.
It’s Friday now, the day before the prom, and Gary’s driving Trisha home from school. She’s still stressed about her most recent vision coming true. Gary tells her not to worry because nothing’s going to happen to him, and Trisha’s determined to keep the vision from happening.
Trisha’s also been plagued by the recurring nightmare about the Fear ghosts ripping her head off and floating into it, and during tonight’s nightmare, she’s hopeful that if she can prevent the ghosts from getting into her head, the visions will stop. She manages to keep her head on by literally holding onto it it, and the ghosts actually disappear. She wakes up the next morning to a phone cal from Gary, who tells her he’s got his tux ready for tonight and will be over at 7pm to escort her to the prom in her father’s Lincoln town car, which Trisha has had freshly washed. Trisha can’t wait, in a very good mood now that she thinks she’s beaten the visions, [You really think it was that easy, Trisha? Were you not having these visions long before the nightmares?] and is expecting the prom to be wonderful.
Later that night, Duke picks Jennifer up in a white limo before they head to Clarissa’s house to pick up her, Will, Josie and Matty, with Duke giving her a kiss on the way. Everyone gets along with Duke on the ride to the prom, and Duke even compliments Will’s modern tux. Duke’s gone for the vintage look, and Will jokingly asks if he got his tux at a garage sale. Jennifer’s worried Duke might not realise Will is joking, but Duke jokes back that it’s his dad’s wedding tuxedo. [King of banter!]
At the prom, Jennifer and Duke are dancing up a storm with her classmates. After a few songs, Duke goes to fetch a drink while Trisha runs up to Jennifer to get all the details about her hunky date. Before Jennifer can answer, though, Trisha suddenly grabs her arm and screams, ‘”It’s going to fall!”‘ She’s pointing at big glass ball that’s decorating the roof, which breaks free from it’s chain and drops towards the floor: ‘Glittering and spinning crazily, it plummeted straight down onto Duke Carpenter’s head!’ Horrified that the senior curse has struck again, [I don’t know why she’s not more alarmed that she had a dream about this exact thing happening] Jennifer rushes over to the punch table to find that Duke is actually perfectly fine. He’d managed to push the falling globe out of the way, preventing it from harming him or Josie, who was also in its path. Jennifer’s grateful no-one was hurt and hopes that the prom will be perfect from now on.
The glass is cleaned up and everyone goes back to dancing, with Dana Palmer and Mickey Myers coming over to talk to Jennifer and Duke. Dana actually flirts with Duke, which Mickey isn’t happy about, and asks if they’re coming to the lake after prom. Jennifer explains to Duke that it’s a tradition to go to Fear Lake after prom, and Dana says that it gets real quiet after a while, ‘”If you know what I mean.”‘ Duke’s keen to go if Jennifer is because it sounds like fun, ‘”Especially when things get quiet.”‘ [Horny boy!]
At the end of the prom, Jennifer and Duke are heading back to the limo when they spot Clarissa and Will walking ahead of them. Duke quickens his pace, saying he wants to ask Will about something, and when they finally catch up, Duke starts throwing punches at poor Will!! Jennifer tries to pull Duke off him, but he easily shakes her off. She finally manages to get Duke off of Will, who’s curled up on the ground by this point, before Duke opens the limo and throws Jennifer in. He climbs in after her and orders the driver to go, and Josie and Matty, who were waiting in the limo for everyone and apparently didn’t see or hear the commotion outside, are confused about what’s going on. Jennifer explains Duke bashed Will and demands to know why, and Duke says it’s because of what Will said about his tux. Jennifer points out that Duke had laughed at Will’s joke, but Duke boasts that he’s a good actor. He’d wanted to hit Will right then and there, but decided to wait so he didn’t ruin Jennifer’s prom. [That’s what you’re doing now, though] Realising he’s crazy, Jennifer asks him to take them all home, but Duke tells her to shut up because everything’s fine and they’re going to go party!
Duke orders the driver to pull into the parking lot of a liquor store and jumps out to get drinks for everyone. While he’s gone, Jennifer, Josie and Matty try to leave, but the doors are locked, and the driver completely ignores their cries for help, sitting motionless and staring straight ahead. The limo’s phone is dead, so they’re effectively trapped. They decide that they’ll rush Duke and flee when he opens the door to get back in the car, and as they wait for him to come back, a black Lincoln town car pulls up and Gary Fresno jumps out.
The trio tries to call out to him, but he doesn’t hear them and heads into the store. Soon, they hear shouting and glass smashing and wonder if there’s a fight going on inside. [So they can hear what’s going on inside the store, but Gary couldn’t hear them screaming for help when he wasn’t that far away from the car? Okeh] The alarm goes off inside and Trisha hops out of the town car looking frightened. Duke then exits the store, two bottles cradled in one arm while the other one holds a knife. Gary races out of the store after him, and when Duke appears to stumble, he lunges for him. But Duke was just faking, wheeling around at the last second and plunging the knife into Gary’s chest. Gary crumples to the ground as Duke pulls the knife out, blood spurting out everywhere. Duke dashes to the limo and jumps inside, and Jennifer, Josie and Matty are too shocked to rush him as they’d hoped to. As Trisha runs to Gary’s side, Jennifer realises Trisha’s vision about Gary has come true. [Surely he isn’t dead? It seems so sudden, with no build-up or anything]
Duke barks at the driver to get going, and Jennifer wonders where Duke is taking them as the buildings pass by, certain it’s not to party like he said. She starts beating on the partition behind the driver, screaming for help, and soon the others join in, since Duke doesn’t seem to notice what they’re doing. The car actually slows to a stop, and the driver’s head starts to turn:
“Nooo!” Josie shrieked. “Oh, no, it’s him!”
Matty gave a wild shout and shoved himself away from the partition.
Jennifer stared at the driver, stunned and frozen with terror.
He had no face. No muscles or skin, except for a few rotten pieces clinging to the cracked, yellow bone. One eye was empty. The other eye, wet and glistening, had sunk deep into its socket.
“It’s him!” Josie shrieked again. “The evil came back. We’re going to die!”
The trio almost shit their pants as two snakes twist in and out of the sockets and nose holes of the skull, and Duke just laughs before telling the driver to get moving again. To Jennifer’s surprise, they go to Fear Lake, but not to where the seniors have gathered to party; instead, the limo drives to the other end of the lake, and Duke orders everyone out of the vehicle. Holding a knife to Jennifer’s throat, he warns Josie and Matty not to move or else the driver will go after them, then he forces Jennifer into the woods on the other side of the road.
Duke and Jennifer go deeper into the woods until they arrive at a clearing, where Jennifer demands to know who Duke really is. He reveals that she wished him up; he looks exactly as she’d wanted, but she had all these other feelings going on at the time, so they’re part of him too. He points out how furious she was inside — ‘”Furious because everyone thinks you’re a Fear. Jealous of other people because you weren’t as popular or smart or rich. Jealous because you didn’t have a prom date. Terrified about all the horrible things that have happened. But angry, too, because it’s spoiled your senior year.”‘ She was feeling all that when she wished him up, so now all that anger is inside him. He has no family, no past, and he only exists because of her. [I wonder how he got clothes, and money for a limo?] He moves towards her, holding the knife, insisting she can’t escape him and now they’ll be together forever. As he moves closer, she picks up a thick fallen branch and whacks him on the head, and he falls to the ground unconscious. [Or is he faking? Does he even feel pain?]
Jennifer realises she needs to kill him and starts dragging him back towards the lake. Josie and Matty appear, having come to save Jennifer, who enlists them to help murder Duke. They don’t need much convincing, and the trio carry Duke back through the woods. They’re nervous the driver might appear as they move past the limo, but no-one gets out of the vehicle, and they quickly get Duke into the lake. They place him facedown before Josie and Matty head back to shore, but Jennifer stays back to make sure Duke drowns. Once he’s been facedown for long enough, she starts heading back to shore, but there’s a splash behind her. It’s Duke, who lunges at Jennifer and wraps his hands around her throat!
As he forces her underwater, she does what I’ve always said I’d do if someone was trying to drown me; pretends to be dead! [I don’t know why more people don’t do this in movies and TV shows] It works, and Duke loosens his grip before Jennifer bursts up and makes a dash for the shore. She remembers she put the wishing well in her bag, hoping it would bring good luck to the prom, and wonders if she can wish Duke away since he was created by a wish. Before she can grab the wishing well, though, Duke catches up to her and bats the bag out of her hands, sending the contents flying into the air. Jennifer spots the wishing wall as it begins to fall and quickly rushes to catch it, but Duke beats her to it. As she wonders what to do next, her starts screaming that the wishing well is burning him, and Jennifer notices his hand glowing bright red; the charm is on fire! Duke plunges his hand into the lake, but it doesn’t stop the fire, and his skin starts to turn black before his hand bursts into flames:
He shrieked again as the flames licked up his arms and spread across his chest.
Strips of skin curled off his body and fell sizzling into the lake. Puffs of smoke rose from the water.
The fire whirled up Duke’s neck and surrounded his head. He howled in rage and pain. Flames spewed from his mouth and poured from his ears and eyes.
His entire body was burning in the water.
The fire grows hotter and brighter, and Duke lets out one final scream before falling silent, and Jennifer can no longer see him within the flames. The fire dies down, and Jennifer moves closer to where it had been. Duke has completely disappeared, leaving behind not a single trace of his existence. The wishing well is there, though, bobbing up and down. Jennifer considers giving it back to Trisha, but remembers how her wish had caused Gary’s death [Is he really dead, though?] and ultimately decides to let it sink to the bottom of the lake.
Josie and Matty come over to help Jennifer back to sure, and ask how Duke caught on fire. Jennifer doesn’t want to explain about the charm so she just says she’s not sure how it happened, but the evil is gone now. As they approach the limo, they notice the ghoulish driver has disappeared too, and they all hop in so Matty can drive the girls home. Jennifer can’t stop thinking about Duke burning to death, wondering how and why. She’d wished for him to die, so was the charm just following her wish, even though she hadn’t been holding it? And did the driver die too, or will he be back some day?
It’s the early hours of the morning by the time Jennifer’s dropped off home, and she hurries up to her room, exhausted. But she realises she’s not alone in there when she hears a voice growl, ‘”I am pure evil.”‘ It’s Trisha, still in her prom dress and some of Gary’s blood. Trisha apologises for scaring her, explaining that after Gary died, [Oh wow, so he actually did die! Rip, what a lame way to go. It feels so anticlimactic for Gary] the police came and asked questions, and Trisha didn’t want to go home and answer more questions [From who? Your parents are in Europe] so she just came here; the door wasn’t locked so she snuck in. Jennifer comforts her, but Trisha warns her not to get too close, because something bad might happen — she might even die, like Gary did! Jennifer corrects that Duke killed Gary, but he’s dead now too, and explains how she’d wished for the perfect prom date while holding the charm, and all of her bad feelings and anger came with Duke. She tells Trisha to blame her for Gary’s death, not herself, but Trisha argues that she was the one who gave Jennifer the wishing well, so it is her fault. Jennifer admits the charm is gone too, but Trisha doesn’t care; she’s mad about being a Fear, because that’s why she has these awful visions and that’s why they keep coming true. Trisha thinks all the seniors’ deaths is because she’s a Fear, which means she’s evil. Jennifer points out that if Trisha was evil then she wouldn’t care so much about all the bad things that have happened. Trisha finally agrees, but still wishes she could figure out a way to stop the vision she had last year of all the seniors rotting in their graves from coming true. The sun’s coming up by now, so the girls move to the window and watch it rise. Jennifer suggests that maybe everything will be OK now; graduation is only a week away, so senior year is almost over. The book ends as Trisha glances at her fearfully, because that’s what she’s worried about: ‘”I’m not sure if anyone will survive.”‘
Final thoughts
This one was pretty average and felt more like filler than any of the previous books. It was good to be back with Jennifer, but it was all just pretty meh. The whole Duke thing was weird because he just appeared out of nowhere because of her wish, and then he disappeared just as quickly. I get that it was because of a wish on the wishing well, but that could have been explored more. What are the wishing well’s origins? Do all wishes come true?
It sucks that Gary died too, I actually thought he’d make it to the end of senior year. He hasn’t had his own book, so I was hoping we’d learn more about him and who he is other than as a secondary character. His death was pretty lame and very sudden. I wasn’t expecting it to happen like that, so I guess that’s a good thing in a way. As always, though, I wish more people would have died. We’ve only gone one book left now, and since there’s been an average of less than one death per book, I’m not liking the chances of more than one death, if that.
It was nice to see the return of the evil skelly, although he didn’t really do anything. After the first book, I expected him to be a prominent figure in the series, or be influencing everything or something like that, but it doesn’t seem that way. Or maybe it’ll be revealed in the final book that he’s had a hand in everything that’s happened! And maybe there’ll be a big showdown between him and the seniors, or at least Josie!
As the penultimate book in the series, this didn’t really give us much, so 25 showdowns at Fear Lake out 59.
