Tagline: The line is dead.
Back tagline: Clarissa Turner is NOT Crazy!
Summary: Her dead sister, Justine, really did contact her through a psychic hotline—and Clarissa discovers her sister’s death was not an accident—it was murder.
Now Clarissa realizes that another Shadyside senior is about to die.
And it could be her!
First impressions: With three books down so far, we’re still yet to see any of our characters that feature in the yearbook photos killed off after Josie Maxwell did her little reversal spell. Will this be the book to kick it all off? We haven’t seen Clarissa since the first book, so it’ll be good to see her fleshed out a bit more. There’s not much to go off via the blurb, but it sounds like an interesting little mystery.
On this cover we get a tombstone, presumably Justine’s, and if it continues the running trend, we’ll never see it in the book, but at least it’s relevant to the story. On the inside cover we have Stacy Malcolm and a blonde girl [I can’t tell if it’s one of the Palmer twins, Trisha Conrad or Debra Lake, but maybe we’ll find out in the book] comforting a sad-looking Clarissa. Is Clarissa crazy, or is Justine really contacting her from the grave? Let’s find out!
Recap
Our usual yearbook photos, as well as some other characters:
Mira – Clarissa’s slutty best friend who we love.
Justine – Clarissa’s older sister who recently died.
Aaron – Clarissa’s adopted brother.
The book begins with a prologue as Clarissa Turner and her parents visit the grave of her sister, Justine, inside the Shadyside Memorial Cemetery. [So there’s two cemeteries in Shadyside? Did we know that already? I can’t remember] Around two months ago, Justine had tripped and fallen down the stairs while talking on her cordless phone, breaking her neck. Clarissa was apparently the one who found Justine, but she can’t remember a thing from that night and has spent weeks and weeks in a clinic run by Dr. Sayles, trying to accept and come to terms with the death of her beloved older sister. [I guess that explains why we haven’t seen her since the first book] This is Clarissa’s first day out of the clinic, and according to Dr. Sayles and her parents, visiting Justine’s grave is the next step in her recovery.
Cut to Clarissa’s first day back at school, six weeks into the semester, where Debra Lake wraps her in a big hug and assures her no-one thinks she’s nuts for being in the clinic, and everyone is actually ecstatic she’s back. As they head to their lockers, they pass several other seniors, including Justin Thompson, who’d just had his head dunked in a toilet by Ty Sullivan, who Clarissa comments is cute. The girls are also approached by Josh Maxwell, Mickey Myers and Matty Winger so they can say hi to Clarissa. Debra tries to avoid them, but classic annoying Matty makes things awkward between her and Josh. The boys soon leave, and Clarissa suspects Debra wants Josh back after cheating on him with Clark Dickson, but Debra quickly sets her straight; ‘”Uh, no way. I mean, all he wants to do is control me.”‘ [Which is not at all the case, so Debra can die as far as I’m concerned. As we know, Debra was projecting her guilt and gaslighting Josh as he tried to figure out if she was cheating]
Next, the girls run into Mira Block, [Who’s not in the yearbook, but we did see her briefly in The Thirst. Maybe she’ll die in this book] who Debra can’t stand — ‘Debra was always saying that you couldn’t trust someone who’s been behind the bleachers with practically every guy in the school.’ [Gee, you’re one to talk, Debra! I fkn hate her hahaha. Also, Debra was spotted walking with Mira in The Thirst, so did they only recently stop being friends?] Clarissa, on the other hand, admires Mira’s confidence and how she can get any boy she wants. Mira informs Clarissa how excited Will Reynolds is to see her, having emailed her before school this morning. Clarissa had met Will not long after Justine’s funeral while she was sitting by Silver Pond, [What’s that? I don’t think I’ve heard of it before!] thinking about her sister. Will came along and said all the right things to make her feel better, and although he sadly never visited her in the clinic, they did spend hours on the phone together. Debra doesn’t bother to hide her disdain that Will would email Mira, and once the alleged trollop leaves, Clarissa assures her that Will and Mira have been friends for years. If Mira wanted Will, she would have gone after him a long time ago — ‘”Besides, Mira would never do that to me.”‘ [The fact that Mira is listed as one of the things Clarissa hates in the yearbook has me thinking otherwise…]
Debra hurries off to her first class, and soon Clarissa is grabbed from behind, a pair of hands wrapping tightly around her neck. It’s just Will Reynolds, using that classic Shadyside tactic of pretending to attack your crush. So hilarious! Clarissa is happy to see him, but also shocked because he’s swapped his long brown dreadlocks for a shaved head. His band, Violent Argument, needed to change their look because ‘”Grunge is so dead,”‘ and they have a show next week. Will’s the guitar player and the band is quite successful locally, which is nice. Will is very gropey, which Clarissa seems to like, but insists they need to get to class because she doesn’t want to get in trouble on her first day back. [Are they a couple? Or just seeing each other? Why didn’t he visit her in the clinic if they’re together?] Bad boy Will doesn’t care about getting in trouble but heads off anyway, and Clarissa continues on to the principal’s office feeling like it’s going to be a great year.
Clarissa’s good mood is ruined at dinner that night when her parents inform her that Aaron’s arriving in two days. Clarissa didn’t realise the family was still going ahead with the adoption, because evidently it hasn’t been discussed with her since before Justine died. Clarissa assures her parents her problem isn’t with the five-year-old Aaron, since they got along fine the times they met, but with Justine gone it seems like Aaron is a replacement. [Even though this was all planned out and decided months before Justine died? Clarissa, please] This makes Mum sad because of course Aaron isn’t a replacement, and no-one can replace Justine. Clarissa apologises, explaining that it’s hard to move on with her life when Justine hasn’t even been gone a year, [Got a long way to go before it’s been a year] and everything just seems to be happening so fast now. Mum breaks down as she mentions how hard it’s been trying to clean out Justine’s room because she just can’t bring herself to do it:
Clarissa felt a lump grow in her throat. What’s going on? I thought Mom was the strong one in the family.
Clarissa’s father put an arm around her mother. “This is nuts. Aaron needs parents. And maybe we need him.” He gazed at Clarissa. “You know, he need a big sister, too.”
He’s not the only one, Clarissa thought. But deep down, she knew she was being a little selfish. Aaron did need a home.
Clarissa offers to clean out Justine’s room, since she’ll be moving in there anyway, suggesting it’ll be good for her to go through Justine’s things. Mum and Dad are worried that taking Justine’s room might be a bit much for Clarissa so soon after leaving the clinic, but Clarissa is determined to have the room as it’s very important to her. [So where was Aaron going to be sleeping before Justine died? Were the girls going to be sharing a room?] Mum and Dad finally agree, and Clarissa hits them with a line I often use myself, albeit paraphrased; ‘”You know, you guys are okay, no matter what everyone says about you.”‘ [Love it]
Clarissa agrees to have all her stuff moved into Justine’s room before Wednesday, [Which isn’t a lot of time, especially with school as well] and she heads upstairs to get started right away. Everything’s exactly the same as Clarissa remembers, and she thinks of all the memories she shared with Justine while hanging out in here. Crossing to the desk, she picks up the photo of the two girls holding hands outside the house when Clarissa was five and Justine was six, before a flash of movement in the hallway catches her eye. A glowing figure steps out of the darkness — Justine!
Justine’s form hovers at the end of the hall, her neck tilted sharply to one side, bulging ‘with lumps where the bones poked out.’ She’s wearing the same outfit she wore the night she died and is gazing sadly down the stairs. Suddenly, images of the night Justine died flash into Clarissa’s mind; she’d gotten home on a Friday night and heard Justine on the phone with her ex-boyfriend, Eddie Robbins, seemingly arguing. Then there’d been a horrifying scream, and Clarissa rushed into the kitchen to find Justine on her stomach, ‘her head twisted around so far that she gazed at the ceiling.’ [So the stairs lead to the kitchen? That’s weird, right?]
Clarissa wonders if she’s having another nervous breakdown as she attempts to talk to the spirit, but Justine just floats into the bedroom and over to her desk. Closing the bedroom door, Clarissa joins Justine, who tries to open the desk drawer, but her hand goes right through it. Clarissa yanks the drawer open and Justine points to one of her old notebooks. Clarissa picks it up, and Justine’s mouth moves frantically, as if she’s trying to talk, but no sound comes out. Then they’re interrupted by Debra and Mira banging on the bedroom door, and Justine disappears.
After being let in, the girls question why the door was locked, with Mira suspecting Will’s hiding in here somewhere. Debra calls Mira disgusting and demands to know why she always has to go there, especially when something’s clearly upsetting Clarissa! Clarissa’s unable to hold it in and tells them what just happened, and the girls assure her they don’t think she’s crazy. It’s so weird, though, because as Debra puts in, ‘”Stuff like this just doesn’t happen, you know?”‘ [You live in Shadyside Debra, stuff like this happens every other day] Debra wonders if maybe she’d imagined Justine, but Mira doesn’t doubt her friend and wonders what Justine could have wanted.
They look through the English notebook Justine had been pointing at and discover that she drew caricatures of her friends and teachers in the margins, complete with speech bubbles and funny comments, as well as a nickname for each person. There’s a cartoon of Eddie, who Justine called Hammerhead, and on another page there’s a drawing of a goofy-looking girl nicknamed Moon Girl holding out a giant apple, with a speech bubble saying, ‘It’s so easy to please Mom and Dad. What’s your problem?’ Clarissa reveals Moon Girl was Justine’s nickname for her, which no-one else knew about, not even their parents; ‘”She said I was so shy that I must be from the moon.”‘ Justine would never believe how much Clarissa’s changed since her death, especially that she has a boyfriend. [So she is dating Will! It really wasn’t made clear until now]
Then, poking out of the back of the book, the girls find a flyer for a fortune teller named Renata. On the back of the flyer, Justine had written a note to call back on August 20 at 4:30pm, which is the day after she’d died. Clarissa decides to call the number because that’s clearly what Justine was wanting, but first Mira gets a call on her cell phone. Giggling, Mira agrees to meet whoever it is at the Fear Street Cemetery in 20 minutes, [It’s most likely Ty, as we learn in The Gift that this is where he likes to take girls to make out] and once she hangs up, Debra comments that it’s weird to meet someone at the cemetery. Mira doesn’t want to hear it, because ‘”At least the guys I go with don’t have fangs or wear black capes.”‘ [Get her, Mira!]
Clarissa interrupts the little tiff to calls Renata and after a few rings, faint static can be heard. At first, no-one responds, and then a raspy voice asks if it’s Moon Girl. Realising it’s Justine, Clarissa questions why she’s come back. Justine explains that she can’t talk long because it’s too hard and she doesn’t have enough energy, but she does reveal she was ‘”Pushed … two hands … behind me …”‘ Clarissa’s confused, because she fell down the stairs, but Justine sets the record straight; ‘”Moon girl … I was murdered.”‘ [Ooh, maybe she wasn’t on the phone?? Maybe Eddie was with her and he pushed her?]
Justine’s voice disappears and gives way to an older woman, Renata, who claims she’s never had a spirit actually speak through her like that. Justine must need Clarissa’s help real bad, but Debra isn’t buying it, accusing Renata of having a whole database on Justine and messing with Clarissa’s head. [Fuck off, Debra] To prove she’s the real deal, Renata asks Clarissa to take her off speaker phone, and claims to know something that no-one else knows; that Clarissa has had a crush on a boy named Josh for a long time. [Josh Maxwell? Debra’s ex? She seems to really like Will at the moment, though] Clarissa’s sold, because not even Justine knew that, and agrees to call back around this time tomorrow night. Renata wants her friends there too, suspecting the extra energy is why Justine’s connection was so strong.
After school the following day, Clarissa meets Will, who she’s decided not to tell about Justine’s sprit just yet, at Pete’s Pizza, and spots Mira with Ty Sullivan at the takeout counter. [The bad boy and the alleged school slut? Love it. Move over, Suki Thomas, there’s a new bike in town] As she kisses Will hello, Clarissa wonders if maybe things are moving too quickly; she likes being close to him, but it almost seems too good. [Because you like Josh?] Josie Maxwell comes to take their order before Clarissa spots Trisha Conrad sitting by herself, reading a magazine. They’re not good friends, but Clarissa wants to ask her something and waves her over. Will doesn’t seem happy about it, and when Clarissa says Trisha’s nice, he pointedly says ‘”It’s easy to be nice when your dad owns the planet.”‘ [I’d argue it’s easier to be awful when your dad owns the planet, because most people would probably have a sense of entitlement! We like Trisha]
Clarissa mentions being told by Debra that Trisha has visions, and Trisha is immediately like ‘”Why would she say that?”‘ which is weird to me because so far in the series it seems to be universal knowledge that Trisha has visions. Clarissa assures her she’s not making fun of her, but that doesn’t stop Will, who asks her if she still thinks the senior class is doomed and everyone will die. Trisha regrets saying anything because everyone thinks she’s crazy, but Clarissa admits to wondering if it’s true — ‘”I mean, we’ve had so many weird deaths already this year. They’re even talking about putting up a memorial wall in the auditorium.”‘ [Have we missed some deaths? By my count, we’ve only had four deaths, and they all took place in The Thirst. As far as Fear Street goes, that’s not many in one year. I’m surprised the school is only thinking about putting up a memorial wall now] Will insists they were just coincidences, and as Clarissa gazes at him, his face contorts into a terrifying grimace, with two veins popping out on his forehead as he stares into the distance, his body shuddering.
Then a piercing scream fills the room and Clarissa whirls around to see that Josie’s accidentally dumped a whole tray of drinks onto a woman. Will bursts out laughing, unable to hold it in anymore, [OK, that was dramatic] and Trisha reveals that that’s twice today — Josie had already spilled a whole meal on Jade Feldman before Will and Clarissa had arrived. [Poor Josie] Clarissa immediately changes the subject back and asks if Trisha believes psychics can channel the dead. Trisha isn’t sure, but tells Clarissa to call her later if she wants, then hurries off to greet Gary Fresno, who’s just walked in. [Has he broken up with Mary O’Connor yet?] Josie drops off their pizza and cokes without spilling anything and Clarissa and Will eat without discussing Clarissa’s sudden interest in the supernatural. On the way home, though, Will asks about it. Clarissa reluctantly explains her encounter with Justine’s spirit and Renata, and Will is super rude about not believing her. [He can die too]
Later, Mira arrives at Clarissa’s place and quickly starts bitching about Debra:
“She makes me so angry sometimes.” Mira scowled. “She’s always in my face about going out with so many guys.” Mira flopped down next to Clarissa. “But, I mean, she’s the one who cheated on her boyfriend. What a hypocrite!”
“Maybe she says that stuff to make herself feel better,” Clarissa offered. “I think she feels guilty about dumping Josh.”
“She should.” Mira said. “At least my guys know they’re not the only ones.”
Clarissa sighed. She hated conversations like this. She had them with both Mira and Debra. One was always talking about the other. Clarissa knew that Mira and Debra were friends with Clarissa, and not with each other.
[Team Mira, she’s way better than Debra] Clarissa admits to telling Will about Renata to change the subject, but Mira already knows about it because Will had emailed her; he’s worried about Clarissa and wanted Mira to talk her out of it. Mira told him she’s in on it too, and he’d said they were headcases. Mira can tell Clarissa’s uneasy about her emails with Will, and reassures her that they’ve been friends for a very long time and there’s nothing going on.
Debra finally arrives and the girls call Renata, who begins softly chanting while the girls hold hands and picture Justine in their minds. Justine comes forth, talking in short broken sentences like last time, and reveals she didn’t see who pushed her, but that’s not important because she needs to warn Clarissa and her friends; the killer won’t stop, and one of them will die. [How the hell does Justine know this if she has no idea who the killer is?] Mira’s wondering the same thing I am once Justine’s spirit leaves, and Debra, having done some reading at Clark’s place last night, explains that spirits can see things people can’t — ‘”Random events. Kind of like snapshots. The past, present, and future all mixed together.” Renata confirms this but, weakened by channelling Justine’s spirit, needs to rest, suggesting that maybe tomorrow they’ll learn more. [Imagine if this is all just a scam somehow and Renata’s just keeping the girls calling back to make money. She seems legit, though] In the meantime, the girls should be very, very careful.
Worried, Debra suggests they see if any of Justine’s old friends might be able to help them work out who the killer is, but Clarissa says they’re all away at college, except for Justine’s old boyfriend, Eddie Robbins, who Debra plans to talk to. Mira and Debra soon leave, and Clarissa snoops around Justine’s room, hoping to find some kind of clue. She finds a loose floorboard in the closet which is hiding not only a fake ID, naming Justine as 21-year-old Tania Adams, but also a hunting knife with a black sheath, the word ‘SLASH’ printed on the leather. She then finds a black book under the floorboard — Justine’s diary! Plopping herself on the bed, Clarissa begins to read and, judging by the dates, Justine had started the diary less than a year before her death.
There’s several entries between September 10 and March 8, basically revealing that Justine was fed up with school and had started ditching classes and sneaking out at night to meet a guy she calls Slash, who’s beautiful and made her feel real. Hammerhead [Eddie] freaked when Justine had told him she wanted to see other people, and she started going to Zodiac, a nightclub in Central City. The first night she went, Slash gifted her the knife, a token of his protection, and when questioned why he gave her a knife, he’d told her ‘”Because flowers die.”‘ [How… romantic?] By November 8, Moon Girl [Clarissa] was covering for Justine because she’s a good sister, but Justine refused to tell her anything. December 3rd’s entry details how Slash had been hassling Justine about Hammerhead/Eddie, because apparently she’d still been dating him this whole time. Justine confirmed that she and Slash were only friends, no matter what he thinks, and they’d agreed to keep going to clubs at night. A few days later, Slash had rented a recording studio in Center City, [Is it Center City or Central City? She’s called it different things in different entries] and Justine’s excited to cut a demo — ‘Pretty soon I’LL be the one up on the stage.’ On December 16 she auditions for the band, [Which makes me wonder if Slash is Will Reynolds, or someone in his band maybe] seemingly as a guitarist but it’s not super clear.
On December 21, she skipped school and went to the frozen Fear Lake with Slash, who gifted her a very expensive, beautiful necklace. Justine refused to accept it and told him to give it to a girl who’s good to him, but he freaked out, insisted there’s no other girls and threw the necklace into the lake. Justine starts doubting his mental stability even more. On January 22nd, Slash found out Justine went on a date with Strummer, a bass player she’d met at Zodiac, and went nuts again, shoving her. Justine stood her ground and kicked him as hard as she could before taking off, deciding things are done for good with Slash. On February 12th, Justine wrote about Slash not leaving her alone. He’d call at 3am to make sure she’s home, forcing her to turn the ringer off on her phone. Then Slash started hanging out across the street, watching her through her window. [Did she not close the curtains?] On February 14, she’s delivered a package containing a dead bird. Happy Valentine’s Day! On March 8, Justine had an audition that went really well, and is hopeful she’ll be successful so she can drop out of school and leave everything behind — ‘No more family, no more Slash, no nothing. That’s what I need. Maybe I’ll even be happy.’
Clarissa’s flabbers are gasted, particularly by this last part, as she realises she really didn’t know Justine at all; the only time she ever spoke about leaving home was when she filled out college applications, and she’d even said she’d really miss Shadyside and her little sister. Now, it’s clear Justine was lying. On March 16th, Justine wrote about being fed up with men, Slash and Hammerhead/Eddie included, but a thud outside the window interrupts Clarissa’s reading before she can get too far. Scared, Clarissa shuts off the light and watches the window, and eventually a dark shape is silhouetted by the streetlight. As a pair of gloved hands start to slide the window open, Clarissa snatches up the knife and verbally threatens the intruder as he steps into the room.
It’s just Will, [Suss! Very suss!! Why’s he wearing gloves? Is he Slash, and he was planning on doing some snooping for any incriminating evidence that could link him to Justine and her murder?!] who apologises for being a jerk today and thought sneaking through the window would be fun. He wants to know where the knife came from, [Why, Will? Do you recognise it? Are you Slash?] so Clarissa shows him Justine’s diary and explains some of the things she’s learned about her sister. Once again, Will is unsupportive and reiterates his lack of faith in Renata’s psychic abilities, and Clarissa gets her own little dig in — ‘”Don’t you even care?” Clarissa cried. “Maybe you will when one of us dies.” She leaped to her feet. “What if it’s Mira? Then who will you send your e-mails to?” [Hahahaha I love her] He finally gives her a smidgen of support by telling her he believes that she believes it, and promises to ask around at his next gig, as he’s play at some of the clubs Justine frequented. [Surely he’s Slash] Then he has to hide in the closet because Dad knocks on the locked door, thinking he’d heard voices. Clarissa lets him in and tells him it was probably just the music she’d been playing that he’d heard. [Good save] He then tells her not to have the girls over tomorrow night, because they’ll be home with Aaron around dinnertime and want a family-only night.
Dad leaves and Clarissa kicks Will back out the window before returning to Justine’s diary. She skips over the March 16 entry she had been reading and goes to the last entry, dated May 20th. Justine had been receiving prank calls every night for weeks and knew someone had been watching her, so she was starting to get really scared. The rest of the diary is blank, and Clarissa is determined to find out the truth about what happened to Justine.
That same night, Clarissa, Mira and Debra use fake IDs to get into Zodiac, hoping to find Slash. [How did they get fake IDs so quickly???] As a band sets up on stage, Clarissa heads to the bathroom, but is intercepted by a tough-looking bald guy with each eyebrow pierced, the jewellery resembling daggers. Uneasy, she can’t help but wonder if this is Slash, and he’s very creepy as she tries to pass. Luckily, Will appears and intimidates the bald guy into leaving, before explaining he’s here with his band, pointing them out at one of the tables. He then tells Clarissa to get the girls and go home, warning that it could be dangerous here.
The next night, the Turners arrives home with Aaron, and Clarissa gives the nervous boy a hug, assuring him they’re family now and he doesn’t need to be afraid. We learn that Aaron has some emotional problems on account of witnessing the murder of his parents, who ran a restaurant along the Conononka River, where the father was the cook and the mother was the waitress. They were robbed one night at closing time by two men, who then tied up Aaron’s parents and threw them into the river. [Ugh, what an awful way to go. I wonder why they let Aaron alive if they didn’t want witnesses?] Aaron’s been deathly afraid of the water ever since, and he’s prone to nightmares and tantrums.
Clarissa shows Aaron to his room, and then shows him her own room. He seems nervous to enter, but eventually comes in and admirers the phone, computer, stereo and TV. He picks up the phone and holds it to his ear before his body jerks. Aaron lets out a soft moan as his eyes roll to the back of his head and he drops the phone. Clarissa shouts for her dad as Aaron makes rasping sounds before finally speaking; ‘”Be careful … Moon … Girl.”‘ The Justine-possessed Aaron reveals it’s too late because another murder is about to happen before Aaron collapses to the ground. Dad finally arrives and manages to wake Aaron up, explaining to Clarissa that he’s hypoglycaemic and must have low blood sugar, so they go downstairs for some food.
Clarissa’s not hungry, so hurries to the phone in her father’s study to call Debra, and is relieved when she answers. She fills Debra in on what happened with Aaron and plans to call Mira straight away. Before she does that, though, Debra reveals she found Eddie Robbins at the mall today after school, who’d told her how close he and Justine were before she did a complete 180 a few months before her death, and had no more time for him or her old friends:
“And then he told me something weird. He said …”
“What?” Clarissa pleaded. “Tell me!”
“Hold on a sec,” Debra replied. “I think I hear something.”
A few moments passed. “Deb? Are you there?” Clarissa asked into the phone.
A door slammed on the other end of the line. “You!” she heard Debra whisper harshly. “I had a feeling …”
“Deb?” Clarissa asked again.
“No!” She heard Debra cry. “Get away from me!”
A sharp bang made Clarissa jump. It sounded like Debra’s phone hitting the floor.
Clarissa heard a sharp scream. The scream cut off abruptly.
“Deb? Deb?” Clarissa shrieked into the phone.
Silence.
Then Clarissa heard a click.
Someone hung up the phone.
[Have my prayers been answered? Has Debra been killed? Is she the first main senior character to get the axe?!] Hoping Debra’s playing some kind of joke, Clarissa tries calling again, but it just rings out. Debra doesn’t live far, so she sprints over there, and of course there’s no answer at the door. She quickly finds the spare key she’s seen Debra use countless times and lets herself in to find Debra at the bottom of the stairs, her left ankle twisted in the wooden spokes of the bannister. One eye is rolled to the back of her head, the other staring out at nothing has blood drips down to her face, into her open mouth. [I could not be happier that she’s our first main character death. Very grateful there won’t be a book with her as our main protagonist]
Clarissa spends all of Thursday at the police station giving her statement and arguing that Debra was murdered. The police apparently didn’t find anything suspicious about her death, deciding she fell down the stairs while on the phone to Clarissa. Detective Larson suspects that due to the similarities between Justine’s and Debra’s deaths, the shock is causing Clarissa to link them together, but there’s just no evidence of foul play. Clarissa argues that someone had to have hung up the phone before she got there and she heard Debra tell someone to get away from her, but Larson points out Clarissa had said she hung up the phone herself after calling the police, and suggests she’d imagined Debra’s words. Finally, Clarissa asks him to call Renata, explaining she’s a psychic who knows for sure Justine and Debra were murdered. She recites the number and the detective calls, but it’s bad news for Clarissa — ‘”She claims she’s never heard of you or your sister.”‘
Clarissa is shocked but decides to stop arguing, especially when the detective insinuates she may still be fragile from her stay in the clinic. Back at home a short time later, she heads up to her room to call Eddie, knowing his number will be on the inside of the closet door. Justine scribbled everyone’s numbers there, arguing it was cooler than keeping numbers in a little black book. Slash’s name and number doesn’t seem to be on the list, but Hammerheads is, so she quickly dials his number. He’s already heard about Debra lake from Jason Klein, Kenny Klein’s older brother, and can’t believe she’d died only hours after he saw her at the mall. Clarissa explains she was on the phone to Debra when she died, and after a moment or two, Eddie says he knows how that feels. [So I guess Justine really was on the phone to him when she died. He’s no longer on my suspect list] Clarissa explains she’s calling because Debra had been about to tell her something really important Eddie had told her at the mall when she died, and Clarissa needs to know what it was. Eddie’s reluctant to tell her, claiming Debra had been really freaked out and had said she wasn’t sure if she would tell Clarissa. Clarissa insists, and Eddie explains how he and Justine had broken up because she was seeing another guy, and that guy was none other than… Will fkn Reynolds. [I knew it! And he’s probably dating Clarissa as a replacement, or maybe just trying to get closer to her so he can find and dispose of any incriminating evidence Justine may have had about him, especially if he’s the killer]
Clarissa is understandably floored and asks if Eddie thinks Will could be Slash, but Eddie’s never heard the name Slash so he’s not sure. The call ends, and Clarissa is left with similar questions to me — is Will only dating her because she reminds him of Justine? Why had he never told Clarissa they’d dated? She decides to call Mira, who heads right over after hearing what Eddie had told her. Clarissa’s sure that Will’s the killer, but Mira doesn’t believe it; Will may have a temper, but she’s never seen him so much as hurt a fly. [Oooh, what if Mira, obsessed with Will, killed Justine out of jealousy? And then killed Debra just because Debra’s awful? Or maybe Eddie had told Debra something else? Or maybe Mira was hoping that killing Debra would keep Clarissa from learning Will dated Justine?!] They seek answers from Renata, who apologises for not backing her up when the detective called, but most cops don’t believe in psychics and she can’t afford to get involved with the police. [Renata, people are dying] Renata wearily informs the girls she can’t help them today, needing to rest from a previous call, and quickly hangs up. [Why has Justine stopped appearing as a ghost? Surely that’ll be somewhat helpful instead of relying on Renata]
Clarissa still thinks Will’s the murderer, but Mira asserts that just because he lied about dating Justine doesn’t make him a killer. She offers to talk to Will to see if he’s got an alibi for last night, but Clarissa thinks it’s too dangerous. Mira can just email him though, and she quickly accesses her account on Clarissa’s computer and shoots off a message: ‘WILL, I SAW DAVE AND FREDERICK FROM YOUR BAND LAST NIGHT IN CENTER CITY. WHERE WERE YOU?’ Mira heads home, promising to call her if she hears back from Will, and Clarissa soon falls asleep.
Clarissa wakes up a few hours later from an awful nightmare where she’d suffered the same fate as Justine and Debra and is horrified to find Will in her room. He apologies for scaring her but didn’t want to deal with her parents, and came through the window again. He heard about Debra and thought she might like some company. Clarissa quickly rips into him about not telling her he’d dated Justine, and accuses him of killing her for breaking up with him and killing Debra so Clarissa wouldn’t find out they’d been together. Will admits to stalking Justine after she’d ended things but denies killing her, and insists he’d been in Center City last night, so he couldn’t have killed Debra. Clarissa thinks he’s lying, and he confesses that that when he saw her at Justine’s funeral, he knew he had to meet her. Clarissa was so different from Justine, and he enjoyed hanging out with her so much that he couldn’t bring himself to tell her he’d dated her sister. Clarissa isn’t sure what to think, because he’s proven he’s a good liar, but ultimately chooses not to believe him. She starts to mention Renata but Will interrupts, declaring that she’d filled Clarissa’s head with garbage and no-one will believe her dead sister told her he’s a murderer. Clarissa tells him to get out and stay away from her and Mira, and Will can’t believe that she’s dumping him, just like Justine. He tells her to go back to the clinic where she belongs [Hey! Fuck you, Will] and she just screams at him to get out. They can hear her parents coming down the hall, and before fleeing out the window, Will assures Clarissa that she’ll regret this until the day she dies.
Seconds later Mum and Dad burst in, and Clarissa tells them Will snuck in while she was sleeping. She also reveals how Justine had been sneaking out with Will before she died, and that’s what Debra had been about to tell her before she was pushed. Dad corrects that Debra wasn’t pushed, and Clarissa argues back; ‘”I heard it! Justine warned us about it! She said one of us was going to die! And she was right!”‘ Clarissa’s parents share a look that says Clarissa’s still confused, and Dad reveals that Detective Larson had told them she’d mentioned a psychic. Clarissa confirms she’d spoken to Justine through Renata several times, right on this phone in her room. This confuses her parents, who drop a bombshell: ‘”You couldn’t have spoken to anyone on that phone. It’s been disconnected since Justine’s funeral. The line is dead.”‘ [Huh? Hadn’t she called both Eddie and Mira from it earlier? It never said what phone Clarissa used, but I assumed it was her bedroom phone because that makes the most sense, and it didn’t mention her being anywhere else in the house. And Debra and Mira had been there when Renata was called, too, so what’s with that? I’m as confused as Clarissa right now]
Clarissa insists she’d used the phone earlier tonight, and Dad puts the receiver to his ear before handing it to Clarissa; there’s no dial tone. Dad pulls the cord from the wall jack and packs the phone up, promising to get her a session with Dr. Sayles so they can discuss the last few days. A distraught Clarissa insists she’s not crazy, and Mum assures her no-one thinks that: ‘”You’re a little confused. But everything will sort itself out.”‘ Dad promises to deal with Will and Mum promises everything will be fine, and Clarissa doesn’t bother to tell them she’s positive Will’s going to come back to kill her.
Clarissa ditches school the next day, not wanting to bump into Will, and meets Mira at Pete’s Pizza afterwards. As they walk home, Clarissa fills her in on Will’s visit, and Mira seems to believe now that Will’s the murderer. Deciding they’ll be OK if they stick together, the girls decide to have a sleepover at Clarissa’s tonight, with Mira suggesting they call Renata. Clarissa explains her parents took the phone away after she told them about Renata, but even weirder, they’d said the phone line was disconnected. Mira’s just confused as the rest of us by that last part, and suggests they call from the payphone up ahead. After some heavy breathing and loud chanting from Renata, the psychic declares it’s no use, she’s unable to locate her; ‘”Justine is … gone!”‘ Renata asks if they’re calling from a different place, and Clarissa explains they’re using a payphone this time because her parents took Justine’s old phone away, saying it was disconnected anyway. Renata theorises that since Justine was talking on that phone when she died, ‘”part of her essence might have bonded to it”‘, and her spirit uses it as a link to contact the real world. [So Justine’s spirit is able to bring a disconnected phone line to life???? Wtf hahahaha]It’s crucial that Clarissa get the phone back, and Clarissa agrees to try.
Late that evening, the girls sneak into Clarissa’s father’s study, the last place they have left to search for the phone. They find it on top of a cabinet and scamper to Clarissa’s room and try to phone Renata, but it just rings out, so they decide to go to sleep. The girls wake up a short time later to noises outside; someone’s climbing up the trellis! Assuming it’s Will, Clarissa tells Mira they’re safe because the window is locked, but Mira stupidly opened it earlier for some fresh air. Clarissa scurries to the window with Slash’s knife just as Will appears, and he quickly grabs her arm in a vice-like grip. He says he wants to talk, but Clarissa and Mira manage to fight him off, and he ends up falling to the ground, screaming the whole way.
We then jump forward to Sunday, with Clarissa back at the clinic. Saturday had been spent fielding questions from her parents and the police, and now she’s back here having a session with Dr. Sayles. They’re not even going to let her out for Debra’s funeral! [That’s horrible] She asks how Will is, and Dr. Sayles informs her that he’s got a broken femur and a shattered wrist, and will be in hospital for a while. The police are questioning him too, but Dr. Sayles doesn’t want Clarissa to get her hopes up because Will’s maintaining his innocence. Dr. Sayles bangs on about how Clarissa was imagining the connection between Justine’s and Debra’s deaths, and Clarissa just goes along with it, knowing that’ll be the quickest way out of here. Dr. Sayles also makes her call Will’s hospital room and apologise as part of her therapy, and Clarissa does exactly that. Will is understanding and thinks Mira scared her into it. Will believes Clarissa about Justine and Debra being murdered now, and wants to tell her something about Mira, something he should have brought up a long time ago:
“Mira likes me. She’s been after me since before I met Justine. I didn’t want to say anything because the two of you are friends. I thought Mira would get the hint. But she didn’t.”
Will cleared his throat.
“And the more I think about it … she made hints. She said things about Justine’s death. I never put it together before. Maybe … maybe I’d better talk to the police about Mira.”
Clarissa refuses to believe these allegations about her best friend [They’re probably true, though. If Will’s not the killer, Mira is my only suspect. She obviously killed Justine out of jealousy, but I want to know why she killed Debra. Was it because she’s an ass, or is there more to it?] and hangs up. Dr. Sayles thinks that’s enough for one day, and he sends her off to her room. Later, Clarissa’s parents visit with Aaron and Mira, who’d offered to watch Aaron for them while they do some shopping later. After a while, they head off to do their shopping, leaving Mira and Aaron with Clarissa. Mira tells her that she tried to convince the police Clarissa was telling the truth, but they didn’t believe her. Soon, there’s a phone ringing from Mira’s backpack, and Aaron excitedly rifles through her bag, wanting to answer it. Instead of a cell phone, though, he pulls out Justine’s phone! It’s not connected to anything but continues to ring, and Aaron answers it before anyone can stop him. Immediately his body lurches and he stares at Clarissa with glassy eyes before a tiny whisper escapes his mouth; ‘”Believe … it.”‘ [Believe what? Will about Mira?] Aaron collapses in Clarissa’s lap while Mira grabs the phone, but there’s no-one there.
Aaron quickly recovers and heads to the bathroom as Clarissa tells Mira that Justine had just communicated through Aaron, which she also did right before Debra’s death. Clarissa asks why Mira has the phone in the first place, and Mira explains she thought it best to keep the phone at her house so Clarissa’s parents couldn’t take it again, and she had the chance to snatch it up today. Clarissa thinks that’s a good idea, and then Aaron returns and begs Mira to go get ice cream like she’d promised. Clarissa has a weird feeling but can’t put her finger on it and lets them leave, thanking Mira for taking care of Aaron.
Back in her room minutes later, Clarissa tries to work out what Justine wants her to believe. She considers that maybe Will was right about Mira, but then why did Mira help push him out the window if she likes him so much? [Maybe she knew it would get Clarissa sent to the clinic again?] And if Mira is the killer, did she only grab the phone so she could destroy it, being the only link to Justine? But then Mira had just seen Justine communicate through Aaron, too. Is Aaron in danger now? Frantic, Clarissa decides to escape the clinic, and slides down the drain pipe outside her second story window, and is quickly free. [What? It’s that easy?]
She runs all the way home, but no-one’s there, so she heads to Mira’s house. Mrs. Block answers the door and is surprised to see Clarissa, but eventually tells her she’s not sure where Mira is, but she had mentioned wanting to rent a boat to take Aaron out on Fear Lake. But Aaron’s terrified of water! [So Mira is the killer! That explains why Clarissa says she hates her in the yearbook. It’s a shame though, because I was loving Mira!] Time for some more running, and soon Clarissa’s at Fear Lake, where she finds Mira’s car in a clearing. She hurries to the shoreline and spots Mira and Aaron in a rowboat on the water. Aaron looks terrified as Mira laughs, rocking the boat back and forth. Clarissa can’t see a boathouse nearby, so with no other choice she dives into the water, swimming for the boat. Mira just watches her, backpack in her lap, as calm as can be, and soon Clarissa’s treading water at the boat. Unzipping the bag, Mira waves the phone around in the air, laughing at Clarissa, and Clarissa instantly knows that her best friend is a killer. Clarissa accuses her of setting Will up, and Mira declares that Clarissa’s finally figured it out. Then she grabs Aaron and asks which one she should dump into the water first, ‘”The phone or the little geek?”‘
Clarissa, growing tired in the water, asks Mira why she’s doing all this, and Mira explains that she and Will were meant to be together, but he only had eyes for Justine. That left her with no choice but to kill Justine, [Really? No other choice?] so she climbed the trellis and pushed her down the stairs. She thought Will would want her with Justine out of the way, but he didn’t. Instead, he went for a cheap substitute of Justine — Clarissa. She was going to kill Clarissa too, but the whole psychic thing started and Mira didn’t need to do anything to get Clarissa out of the way — ‘”You were making yourself look crazy without me having to do anything!”‘ Mira didn’t want to kill Debra, [Really? I’m shocked] but she’d stupidly admitted to her one night that she had the hots for Will, and she couldn’t give Debra a chance to figure out she’d killed Justine — ‘”Luckily, she liked to talk on the phone at the top of the stairs as much as Justine. How weird is that?”‘ [Hahahaha Mira’s a savage]
With her bad guy monologue over, Mira drops the phone into the lake, then asks Aaron if he’s ready for his swimming lesson before immediately tossing him into the water. He sinks and doesn’t come back up, so Clarissa dives down after him and pulls him to the surface. Mira whacks Clarissa with an oar, but Clarissa manages to get out of the way before she can get her again. Aaron is too heavy, though, and she’s exhausted by this point, and soon the dark water creeps over their heads. Aaron drifts out of her grasp, and Clarissa manages to surface, but at first there’s no sign of Aaron, leaving her distraught that yet another person has died. But then she hears splashing towards shore and spots a fully clothed man kicking away from her, declaring he’s got the boy.
Relieved that Aaron will be OK, Clarissa turns to meet Mira, who’s paddled over to whack her again with the oar. Before she can do that, Clarissa grabs the edge of the boat and pulls down with all her weight, sending Mira into the water. She surfaces quickly, but Clarissa forces her head down and knees her in the stomach. Then Clarissa climbs into the boat and starts paddling to shore, but Mira starts swimming her way there too. Clarissa spots her parents, Dr. Sayles, Detective Larson and some other policemen on the shore, one of the officers helping the man who saved Aaron, who doesn’t seem to be moving. Clarissa hopes everyone will believe her now, and as she’s helped out of the boat by her father and two officers, her mum thanking the heavens that Mrs. Block had called them. Mira staggers out of the water, claiming Clarissa broke out of the clinic to kill Aaron, who she’d said was a replacement for Justine. Clarissa denies it and insists Mira killed Justine and Debra, but it’s clear by the adults’ looks that no-one believes her. Aaron, stretched out on a blanket, looks deathly pale, and Mr. Turner declares him dead. [Maybe because no-one try CPR?]
Detective Larson starts to lead Clarissa to one of the police vehicles as she tries to protest. Then something catches her eye, floating in the shallow water by the shore — Justine’s phone! And then Aaron coughs to life, thankfully alive. [Is this supposed to mean that Justine saved him? Like brought him back to life somehow, to help Clarissa?] Mira rushes to Aaron’s side, pretending to be worried about him, but Aaron quickly accuses Mira of trying to kill him and Clarissa.
Cut to a week later, and Clarissa’s finishing getting ready for Stacy Malcolm’s party when the phone on her nightstand rings. It’s Will, who’s running late to pick her up, slowed down by the cast on his leg. Clarissa promises to be ready by the time he gets here, and ends the call. The couple had apologised to each other a lot in the past week and agreed to move forward. Mira’s in some hospital somewhere, getting the help she needs. Clarissa had been allowed to keep Justine’s phone, which she keeps on the dresser. She doesn’t plan on ever hooking it up, just in case Justine wanted to reach her. [I wonder if Clarissa ever contacted Renata again?] The doorbell rings, and the book ends as Clarissa hurries down to greet Will at the door. [I don’t know if I could date someone who’d been obsessed with my sister and head violent jealousy issues. Will was super unsupportive and really awful for basically the whole book, too, so I’ve got no idea what she sees in him]
Final thoughts
I really enjoyed this one, it is the best Fear Street Seniors book so far. I don’t remember the last time I enjoyed a Fear Street this much. I looked forward to picking the book up whenever I got the chance to read, and it was hard to put down. It kind of felt like a self-contained, standalone story, much like In Too Deep, but had enough connecting it to the overarching Seniors storyline, so it didn’t seem out of place. Did the whole Justine phone thing make sense? Not really, but it was fun, and the book was enjoyable enough that I was able to overlook how silly it was. I thought the adoption storyline would be a bigger problem for Clarissa in the book, but I’m glad she immediately came to her senses and accepted Aaron as her brother straight away.
I loved Clarissa as a heroine; she was strong, smart and brave, and I liked how she didn’t back down from what she believed, despite Will and the adults thinking she was crazy. Clarissa’s grief over Justine was written well, and I really felt for her as she discovered the secret life Justine had been living. I don’t really like that she still ended up with Will, who’d been pretty awful to her throughout the entire book. I kind of hope he dies at some point, but then I also don’t want Clarissa to suffer any more than she has. I guess we’ll see what happens.
I also loved Mira, and I’m sad we won’t be seeing more of her because she really was iconic. And I honestly could not be happier that Debra Lake is dead. Hopefully this marks the beginning of the yearbook seniors dying, because there’s still way too many that are alive. I wonder who’ll be next?!
Would definitely recommend this one, so 222 girls being pushed down the stairs while talking on the phone out of 253!
