****************TRIGGER WARNING****************
Just a heads up that this book/recap features a physically abusive boyfriend and violence against women, so don’t read if these things might trigger you!
Tagline: ‘Tis the season…to die.
Back tagline: Has Reva been a good girl this year?
Summary: Rich, snobby Reva Dalby wants a little fame for Christmas. And since her daddy owns Dalby’s Department Store, she can have whatever she wants. Someone else will always pay.
Except this year Reva goes too far. Now someone is watching her. When she’s sleeping, and when she’s awake…until she’s dead.
First impressions: This is the best Reva’s looked, probably because it’s more photo-realistic than the other covers, and I love these ooky spooky Christmas mannequins. It reminds me of a scene in The Mall. This scene is probably part of a dream sequence though, and there’s no killer mannequins at Dalby’s, although that would be a cool plot!
Also something I’ve just noticed, in the first Silent Night it’s called Dalby Department Stores, plural, but in book 2 and this one, it’s Dalby’s Department Store, possessive and singular. Where’s the consistency, Stine?
I’ve also only realised now that as this is the third Christmas book I’ve covered, which means it’s the third year of the blog! I’ve missed the actual anniversary by a few months though, oops; my first recap was published August 12, 2020. Oh well, maybe I’ll remember in time next year.
Anyway, I’m very excited to see what mischief Reva gets wrapped up in this year! I’m sure she’s as bitchy as ever and hasn’t learned a single thing, but maybe this is her year to really be taught a lesson. Let’s find out!
Recap
Roll call:
Reva – Our bitchy protagonist who’s up to her old tricks again.
Pam – Reva’s poor cousin who’s after some extra cash this Christmas.
Grace – Reva’s college roommate who’s staying with the Dalby’s for the holidays.
Rory – Grace’s abusive ex-boyfriend who won’t leave her alone.
Willow – Pam’s work friend who understandably hates Reva.
Traci, Liza and Ellie – Models that work for Dalby’s.
Daniel – Reva’s college fling who makes the mistake of thinking she cares about him.
Grant – Liza’s boyfriend that Reva’s looking to steal.
Part One
We open with Reva Dalby arriving home, happy to be back in Shadyside after 12 weeks inside that prison cell Smith College calls a dorm room. Reva was kind enough to invite her college roommate, Grace Morton, to celebrate the holidays with her family, but don’t go thinking that Reva’s gone soft; she doesn’t tip the cab driver because he said a display of Santa and his reindeer would look great on the roof of her house. Grace is shocked by Reva’s behaviour, [Why? You’ve been living with her for 12 weeks] ?especially because it’s Christmas, but Reva dismisses the subject and leads her inside, stopping her from bringing in her luggage herself because ‘”That’s what maids are for.”‘ [Ugh, imagine being Reva Dalby’s maid]
As the girls enter the foyer, Reva’s eight-year-old brother Michael leaps down the stairs and pretends to kick poor Grace in the face, declaring himself The Evil Avenger, the most powerful ninja in the world, because apparently he’s very into pretend violence now. Reva scolds him for scaring Grace, and as he scurries back upstairs, she explains that his new passion might stem from Reva’s kidnapping last Christmas.
Daddy Dalby comes through the front door, assisting a maid in carrying the girls’ luggage, and Reva brushes past the maid to wrap her dad in a hug. Daddy welcomes Grace to their home and asks about college, but Reva just complains that the classes are boring and the girls are tacky and immature. He suggests she invite them to Dalby’s for a makeover, which is a perfect segue into asking her if she’d like to work at the store this Christmas. He could really use the help, but Reva declines because she won’t be able to stop herself from laughing in the faces of all the tacky women who are bursting out of their stretch pants.
Reva takes Grace up to the guestroom, which has its own private bath with a jacuzzi [I need one of these baths], and then heads to her own bedroom to freshen up. A maid is in there putting her college clothes away, but instead of a hello from Reva she gets yelled at for not noticing a stain on the blouse she’s about to hang up. Reva brushes her hair while smiling at her reflection, but a frown returns when she notices the maid’s straw-like grey hair and bad posture. ‘”Ever heard of conditioner?”‘ she mutters under her breath, before the maid heads downstairs to help with dinner. [Wouldn’t it be cool if the help all bands together to terrorise Reva this year?]
Reva showers and heads back to Grace’s room, where her friend is pale with terror and holding the telephone. Covering the mouthpiece, Grace explains shakily that Rory knows she’s here! She’s super scared and has no idea how he found her because she didn’t tell anyone, [Is he dangerous or just someone she doesn’t want to date anymore?] but Reva thinks she probably slipped up at some point. While Grace returns her attention to the phone and begs Rory to leave her alone and not come to Shadyside, Reva flashes back to when she first heard of Rory Givens.
She’d been studying in their dorm when an out-of-breath Grace suddenly burst into the room, thinking she saw Rory outside the library, but she can’t be completely sure. She’d broken up with Rory sometime before starting college because of his jealous and possessive behaviour, but things only got worse from there. He’d told her he would never let her go, and a few weeks after the break-up Grace bumped into his brother, Terry, at the mall, and he gave her a ride home from the mall. Grace was then confronted by Rory, who’d been waiting for her on the porch, and he promised to pay her back if it was the last thing he did, accusing her of ruining his life. He ended up throwing her to the ground and pounding her with his fists until she was covered in cuts and bruises, and Grace still has nightmares about it. Rory was arrested but somehow managed to avoid jail time, and the harassment continued via phone calls, threatening notes and following her home. Grace had hoped the nightmare would end when she came to Smith College, but even if it wasn’t him she saw outside the library, she knew it was only a matter of time before he showed up, because he was already calling and sending threatening notes.
Back to the present, Reva thinks there’s no way Rory’s gonna leave Grace alone when she sounds so weak and whiny. [Not Reva victim blaming, 😡 ] She’d only invited Grace to spend the holidays with the Dalby’s because Grace was too scared of Rory to go back home, but Reva’s regretting the invitation now; ‘Maybe I’ll get a Humanitarian Award for this.’ [Don’t hold your breath, darl] Hanging up the phone, Grace is super scared and frets that Rory seemed worse than ever, but an unfazed Reva tries to come up with some kind of an excuse ‘to get Grace and her problem out of here’ because she really doesn’t want to deal with all this. [Classic unsupportive Reva] The phone rings again but Grace begs Reva not to answer it because it’s probably Rory again…
Meanwhile, on Fear Street, Reva’s impoverished cousin Pam Dalby has the phone to her ear, hoping Reva will pick up. Pam’s friend, Willow Sorenson, wonders why a servant doesn’t answer, so Pam informs her that when Reva’s home, only she’s allowed to answer. [Why would Reva want that? That’s like the one thing I’d definitely make a servant do] It’s almost as if Reva knows it’s Pam calling and is ignoring her purposely, so she decides to just let it ring and ring until she picks up. [Petty Pam, love it!] As she waits, Pam wishes her side of the family were the rich ones; the poor girl had been accepted to several colleges, but her grades weren’t good enough to get a scholarship so she’d taken a job typing and filing at an insurance company to save up for a tuition. That’s where she met Willow, who’s got short, brassy hair, a gold nose ring and an orange lightning bolt tattooed above her right collarbone. [Oooh, Edgy girl!]
Reva finally answers the phone and complains about college when Pam asks how it’s going, insisting Pam’s lucky she’s in the real world. Pam’s bitter because it’s not like she had a choice and manages not to snap at her cousin; Reva knows how much Pam wanted to attend college, but ‘she always enjoyed sticking a knife in someone’s sore spot.’ [Honestly, I don’t think Reva’s trying to be malicious here, I think she’s just too self-centred to be aware of other people’s feelings] Pam gets to the real reason she’s calling; she’d taken a crafts course with Willow and they’ve been making some stuff and are wondering if Reva’s father would put them in his stores. [Well, go and talk to him, not Reva. Also, what, two people are going to make make enough stock for multiple stores? Lower your ambitions here, Pam] Reva agrees to let them come over so she can see their work, which is super exciting for the girls
As they pack up the scarves they’ve been making [Ohhhh, I was wondering why Stine kept mentioning how lovely the scarf Pam’s wearing is. She made it herself!] and head over to North Hills, Pam reminds Willow that Reva’s their best chance because her dad will do anything she says, so they just have to hope she’ll like their products. If the scarves are a hit, they can create more designs and even one day start their own design company!
At Reva’s house, a maid answers the door and informs them Reva actually left with Grace five minutes ago, but she’ll be sure to tell her they stopped by. [I wonder if she is actually home and just told the maid to lie. Poor Pam] Pam’s fuming as they head back to the car because that’s so Reva, probably wanting to put Pam in her place, and Willow glances back at the mansion with narrowed eyes and tells her not to worry – ‘”We’ll find a way to pay her back.”‘ [Please do!]
That night, Reva has an horrifying nightmare about being trapped at Dalby’s with a bunch of mannequins who have come to life and are closing in on her. [So the cover art is just a pesky nightmare again! Lame] She awakens to find Michael in her room, wanting her to check on Grace because he can hear her talking from his room and she sounds terrified. Reva reluctantly takes Michael back to his room and goes to check on Grace, growing alarmed as she hears her frightened murmuring behind the door.
We shift to Grace inside the room, who’s on the phone to Rory and pleading with him to just leave her alone and not come to Shadyside. She hangs up as soon as Reva burst in and apologises for the noise, explain Rory the phone call. Reva takes Grace down to the kitchen for some tea and and reminds Grace that she’s perfectly safe here; after Reva’s kidnapping last year, Daddy Dalby installed the best security system in the world, hired two security guards, and added two more guard dogs for a total of three. Grace still isn’t convinced because Rory was so wild on the phone, and when he’s like that, nothing can stop him. He’d also promised to finish what he started when he arrives, so Grace is sure he plans to kill her. Before Reva can respond, there’s a knock at the kitchen door and Grace is convinced it’s Rory.
Reva tells her to get a grip because does she really think Rory would knock if he came to kill her? She opens the door to find one of the guards standing there, and he apologises for disturbing her but saw the kitchen light on and wanted to check something with her. A young man drove up about 10 minutes ago claiming to know Reva and is very insistent on seeing her. It’s not Rory, like Grace thinks, but Daniel Powell, a tall, sandy-haired boy that Reva went on a few dates with at Smith. He’s nice enough but isn’t very exciting, so when he pokes his head around the guard’s arm, Reva’s unpleasantly surprised.
Daniel explains he’ll be staying with a friend in Shadyside for the whole Christmas vacation, so the good news is they’ll be able to see a lot of each other! He was so excited that he hopped in the car and didn’t stop driving until he got here. Reva just stares at him until the guard asks if they know each other or if he should call the police, [Why would you call the police? He’s not trespassing or anything?] and Reva lies that she’s never seen this guy before in her life, ordering the guard to take him away, ignoring Daniel’s protests.
Reva locks the door and bursts out laughing, but Grace is shocked that she would do that to Daniel. [And I’m shocked that Grace is shocked] Reva chortles that it was worth it for the look on his face, and she really couldn’t care less that he’d driven through the night to see her. [OK, but why was he visiting at 2:30 in the morning lol. What would he have done if she wasn’t awake?] There’s a loud pounding on the door now and Grace is absolutely, positively, 100% sure it really is Rory this time, but it’s the guard again, wanting to inform Reva that his coworker has the boy and the police will be dealing with him. The guard apologises for allowing him to get to the door, and Reva realises with glee he’s worried she’ll tell her father and get him fired. It sounds super fun, but she might save that for another time and demands he not not let it happen again instead. Reva heads back to bed now, wishing she didn’t invite Grace and annoyed that she’s worried her ex will kill her; if Reva wanted a soap opera, she would have turned on the TV! [Far be it from Reva to have some compassion]
The next afternoon, Reva’s driving home from the tennis club, pissed that Grace lost them the match. Grace apologises from the passenger seat, but she couldn’t concentrate with Rory there. She’s absolutely sure he came at the start of their final game and hung back in the shadows, watching her. Of course, she couldn’t really make out any details of the guy, but she got a horrible chill when she looked at him so she’s certain it was Rory. Reva is sceptical, especially because the guy was gone when she Grace finally mentioned what had been bothering her. Knowing Grace wants to continue talking about Rory, Reva turns on the cassette player and cranks up the volume [Lol brutal] until they arrive home to find a beat-up VW parked in the driveway. Grace thinks Rory rented it and urges Reva not to stop, [OK, I feel bad for Grace but she’s really starting to annoy me too] but Reva once again tells her to get a grip.
The car belongs to either Pam or her friend, who are waiting for her in the living room, much to her annoyance. Reva fakes a smile as Pam introduces her to Willow, completely unimpressed by the girl’s punky aesthetic. Reva gushes that Pam looks great [Hahaha such a cow] and demands to know all about her job, then immediately tells her not to because she’ll die of jealousy:
Willow snorted.
“It’s not that exciting,” Pam said, twisting her ponytail around her finger. “It’s really kind of boring.”
“I don’t believe it,” Reva declared. Actually, she did believe it. She go nuts working in a dump like Acme Insurance. But that’s what happened when you didn’t have any money. “Talk about boring—you should try going to Smith.”
“Maybe we should trade places,” Pam suggested.
Dream on. “I’d do it in a second.” Reva sighed. “But Daddy wouldn’t let me.” Thank goodness, she added to herself.
Pam mentions how Reva disappeared yesterday when she knew Pam was on her way over, and Reva lies that she’d suddenly remembered she had some errands to run before dinner and had left a message with the maid. Pam explains that they bought the stuff they’ve been making over for Reva to check out, and Reva decides to spend five minutes pretending to like whatever they’ve crafted before ‘she’d get rid of these losers.’
Expecting the worst, Reva gasps in shock when Pam pulls out one of the most beautiful scarves she’s ever seen. Grace and Reva both try one on as Pam briefly explains how they make them and Reva truthfully tells her how gorgeous the products are. She can’t fathom how these two created something like this, though; maybe Willow is talented, but Reva knows ‘Pam couldn’t design a scarf for a dog to wear.’ [Evidently, she can]
Pam asks if Reva will show them to her father so maybe he’ll put them in the store, and Reva already knows the the scarves would fly off the shelves if Dalby’s stocked them She feels a bit jealous; she’s the fashionable one, not slobby old Pam who’s got no sense of style and her punky loser friend. Reva agrees to go upstairs right now to show them to her father, and glances back at them as she leaves the room. It’s clear how excited they are, and Reva’s keen to see what she can do about it. [Which I’m taking to mean she’s keen to see how she can ruin it for them]
We jump forward 15 minutes as Reva returns downstairs with bad news; Daddy didn’t like them…he loved them! Pam and Willow are ecstatic as they learn he wants to put them in five of his stores, but their joy quickly fades when Reva declares that in just a few days, Reva Wear Scarves will be everywhere. Reva explains that Daddy wouldn’t have been interested if he knew that Pam designed them, so she did them a favour and took credit for them. Dalby’s will also hold three fashion shows a day to promote the scarves, and Reva gets to be in charge of it all! Willow doesn’t hide her dismay, but Reva reiterates the reason for her betrayal and reminds the girls that they’ll get a nice percent of the profit. Pam shoots Willow a glance, silently begging her not to argue; if she crosses Reva, that’ll be the end of the deal. Pam also notices that Grace seems shocked, and she realises Grace must be seeing a new side to Reva. [I doubt that, she’s probably just didn’t expect Reva to treat her family like shit too]
Reva tells the girls she’ll get her plans to get Daddy to talk to the girls’ boss so they can take time off work to focus on the scarves, and she’ll set up a workroom at the store for them. Pam and Willow head off after confirming they’ll be start tomorrow morning, and Willow expresses her concerns, knowing Reva is bad news. Pam reminds her that at least they’ll be making money, [Probably not much, if Reva has anything to do with it. Seriously, why not go to Mr Dalby themselves?] but Willow promises that she won’t let Reva get away with this.
The next morning, Reva’s at the store working on the logistics of her scarf show, then heads down to meet the potential models. The shows start tomorrow, and she’s still got so much to do! She passes an open door to the storeroom where Pam and Willow are working on scarves. Reva shudders when she notices Willow has a tattoo on her shoulder, [Tattoos are cool, Reva!] and Pam asks to talk about putting a business contract in place. Reva’s in a hurry and agrees to talk to Daddy’s lawyer later, then continues on down the hall. [She’s never gonna talk to that lawyer lol]
Before she can reach the models, Reva’s interrupted by her father, who explains she’ll only be able to choose two models for the shows; the third one will have to be Traci Meecham, who’s already under contract to model for the store. Reva isn’t happy about that because she and Traci had a big blow-up over a guy last year and really don’t like each other, but Daddy informs her that you’ve got to be professional regardless if you like someone or not.
Reva then heads off to talk to beautiful blonde Traci in the makeup department, and Traci is just as unhappy about the situation as Reva is. They agree to do their jobs and stay out of each other’s way, and then Reva heads back towards the other potential models are waiting for her. There’s another interruption, this time by Daniel, [Is Reva ever going to reach the models?] who’s furious about the other night because was arrested and treated like a criminal until his friend came down and explained who he was! Reva fakes an apology and agrees to put the whole thing behind them, especially because she’s not planning to see him ever again, but the bad news for her is he’s gotten a holiday job in the stockrooms at the store. He asks if they can go out tonight to celebrate, but Reva cruelly tells him she’s not allowed to date boys who’ve been arrested. [Hahahahahahaha I hate and love her]
Next, she bumps into Grace, [Oh my god, this journey is never-ending] who confesses she’s always wanted to be a model and asks to be in the show. Reva bluntly tells her the only model quality she’s got is her thinness; she’s too short and she hunches around like she’s scared of her own shadow. Grace is clearly upset, so Reva twists it as if she’s doing her a favour by being honest and offers to let Grace be her assistant. Grace accepts and hunches off, and Reva once again wishes she’d never invited her. Reva’s surrounded by losers, and she can’t wait for Reva Wear to take off so she can leave them all behind! [Who’s gonna do all the work for you, idiot?]
30 minutes later, Reva’s chosen long-legged, dark-haired Liza Grogan and sophisticated-looking redhead Ellie Stern as her models, the latter looking strikingly similar to Reva. [Which is clearly why she was chosen. I bet at some point, Ellie’s going to be attacked/killed because the bad guy thinks she’s Reva] The girls gush over how great the scarves are and are surprised that Reva’s never gone to design school. [So what does her dad think Pam and Willow are doing if he thinks Reva’s the designer? Has he just assumed she delegated the scarves’ creation to them? Or does he not even know Reva’s got them down here] Traci arrives, and it’s clear that her and Liza don’t like each other either, although we don’t know why yet. The girls head to the showroom, where workmen have set up a revolving glass door on the stage that opens up to a fake sidewalk which will feature mannequins dressed as shoppers.
Reva explains the routine they’ll follow for the show and as the girls practice, a broad-shouldered curly-haired guy rocks up. He’s a hunk so Reva gets her flirt on, unbothered when he explains he’s looking for Liza, his girlfriend. He introduces himself as Grant Nichols and seems disappointed when Reva informs him that Liza got the job; apparently she’s really serious about modelling and he barely sees her when she gets work because she goes to bed at 9pm. Reva sees an opportunity and declares herself a night owl, which Grant is clearly pleased by, but before she can set up a date, the showroom door slams open and Grace stumbles in with a swollen eye and blood pouring from her bottom lip, begging for help.
Reva screams in horror as Grace collapses to the floor [Oh, so Reva does care!] and soon Grant, Reva and the models are surrounding her as she comes to. She declines an ambulance, and Reva sends everyone else off so she can take care of Grace. Inside the bathroom, Grace explains that Rory attacked her; she didn’t see him, but while out for a walk, she was dragged into one of the loading bays behind Dalby’s, and he hit her. Reva insists on calling the police, but Grace is sure Rory won’t bother her again; ‘”He wanted revenge and he got it. He’ll go away now.”‘ [Hmm, her attitude here is kind of making me think Grace attacked herself or something. Is she just trying to frame Rory? Or is it an elaborate plot to somehow punish Reva for something? Now that I think about it, Reva’s never actually seen Rory, only heard of his existence through Grace… Maybe he doesn’t exist? Or he did, but now she’s unhinged from the trauma] Selfish Reva is totally fine with letting Grace handle her own problems and turns to a mirror to check herself out. At that same moment, Willow enters the bathroom and her eyes meet Reva’s in a cold stare; ‘If looks could kill, I’d be dead, Reva thought in amusement.’
That night, Reva’s making out with Grant at Pete’s Pizza after he phoned her that afternoon to ask her out. He can’t believe he’s doing this to his girlfriend, and explains why Traci and Liza hate each other; Liza was chosen for two modelling jobs over Traci, [That’s it?] Oh, and Grant used to date Traci, so she thinks Liza stole him from her too. [Makes more sense!] He warns Reva to be careful of them both, but she couldn’t care less because their issues are not her problem, [Until they ruin your show lol] and she shuts him up with some more kissing.
The next morning, Reva arrives at the showroom early, happy to see that mannequins have already been set up and dressed along the fake sidewalk. One of them has its back to her looks out of place, so Reva marches on up to it to see what damage the pesky workmen have done. The head lolls to one side as she spins it around, revealing part of a red scarf wrapped tightly around its neck. It’s definitely one of the Reva Wear scarves, [Stine capitalised the S in scarves when Reva first mentioned Reva Wear, but now he’s stopped stopped for some reason?] now ruined because of how tightly it’s been twisted:
Her gaze traveled up to the mannequin face.
A blond curl drooped over its forehead.
Its mouth hung open in a silent scream.
Reva snatched her hand away and stumbled backward.
No! Oh—no!
Not a mannequin!
Traci!
Ohh, no!
Traci Meecham!
Reva stared in horror at the bulging eyes, at the red scarf, knotted, knotted so tightly around Traci’s throat. At the open mouth, gaping open, open forever in a silent scream of agony.
Part Two
A horrified Reva also notices she’s standing in the blood pooling around Traci’s feet, but can’t work out where it’s coming from until she notices the support pole used to hold up a mannequin jammed through Traci’s back. [Poor Traci!]
Later that afternoon, Reva’s stuck in the showroom with Liza and Ellie, waiting to be questioned for the 2490586th time. Ellie’s surprised when Liza wants to know if the shows are still going to happen, but Reva can’t really think about that right now, unsure if her father will cancel the whole thing. Liza admits that even though she didn’t like Traci, she feels bad about what happened to her and wishes Grant were here. Reva also wishes Grant were here [Hahahahaha], and finally Detective Blake returns to get Reva’s story one last time, shooing the other two off. Reva contemplates telling him that Grant had warned her of Traci and Liza’s rivalry, but decides against it because surely Grant wasn’t suggesting Liza would murder Traci. And besides, she needs Liza for the fashion show! [Classic Reva] If Liza is involved, it’s the cops’ job to figure it out.
Later, Reva arrives home to find the beat-up VW sitting in her drive again, and is in no mood to talk to Pam and Willow. As soon as she’s through the front door she’s attacked by Michael with a retractable knife, and is thankful that his violent acts are just fantasies and not real. A maid tells Reva she has guests in the living room, and Reva orders her not to let anyone inside to wait for her again before going upstairs; she’ll go down and tend to Pam and Willow when she’s good and ready!
A short while later in the living room, Willow’s complaining that Reva’s taking her sweet ass time to come down. Pam’s more understanding on account of Reva finding a dead body this morning, but also knows ther joy Reva get from keeping her waiting. They’re determined to outwait her because they really want a business contract sorted, and when Reva finally makes an appearance, she blows up at them for being so insensitive. [As if Reva even cares lol. She just wants to keep Pam as miserable as possible] Daddy Dalby enters and comforts his daughter, having heard of Traci’s murder on the news, and Reva asks if he’ll be cancelling the fashion show:
Robert Dalby frowned. “No,” he said thoughtfully. “I don’t see any real reason to.”
Pam exchanged a glanced with Willow. Willow tilted her head toward Uncle Robert and mouthed the words, Tell him now.
Pam nodded. “That’s really great, Uncle Robert. Now Willow and I can go ahead and work out our business agreement with Reva.”
Her uncle stared at her in surprise. “Why, Pam, are you involved in Reva’s scarf show, too?”
Cut to a short while later as Pam and Willow head home, and both girls are fkn fuming that Reva is taking credit for making the scarves as well as everything else. [You knew that already though? She literally told you that she took credit for them so Daddy Dalbz would put them in the store] Reva’s father was interrupted by an important business call so Pam wasn’t able to tell him the truth and Reva, still pretending to be upset over Traci, assured the girls they’ll discuss the contract another time. [Withhold the product until a deal is made, girls! Reva’s desperate for the fashion show, I doubt she’ll decide to axe it altogether. What would she tell her father?] Willow isn’t surprised by Reva’s behaviour and says Reva should die next, and a horrified Pam tells her not to talk like that ever again. Willow just smiles grimly, making Pam realise she hasn’t known her that long; could Willow be capable of murder?!
Later, Grace is on the phone, once again pleading with Rory to leave her alone. [Now that I think about it, not once has a ringing phone been mentioned, race always just seems to already be on the phone when Reva walks by, or when we jump to Grace’s perspective. Maybe Rory is real and was abusive, but since moving to college Grace has just become delusional due to the trauma? Or maybe the phone in that room has its own phone line. I don’t know, I’m feeling like Grace is our bad guy and beat herself up in the alley, whether she’s aware of it or not] Grace notices Reva standing there and quickly hangs up, lying that it was her mother on the phone. She explains that she was already on the line when her mother called, [That explains why it probably didn’t ring out this time, but I still think she’s making it up, whether she realises it or not] and she made the mistake of telling her about Traci. Reva accepts the lie because as us readers know, she couldn’t care less if it doesn’t directly affect her.
Later, Reva’s in a booth at Pete’s Pizza, not impressed that Grant is late. She decides to give him three more minutes, otherwise she’ll go home to Grace so they can ‘sit around and watch her bruise turn yellow.’ [Omfg Reva] Speaking of Reva, if it really was Grace’s mother on the phone, Reva’s surprised Grace hadn’t jump at the chance to go home, especially with Traci’s murder and Rory stalking her. [Exactly, why would she stay?! It doesn’t make sense]
Grant finally shows up and explains he was late because he was feeling bad about cheating on Liza; she’d asked to hang out tonight but he made up an excuse so he could see Reva. Reva tries out some reverse psychology and offers to forget the whole thing so he won’t have to sneak around, and just as she’d planned, he doesn’t want to do that. Reva insists she needs him much more than Liza does, and he agrees to try forget about his girlfriend as they start kissing. [Grant is trash]
Reva gets home at around 8:30pm and quickly scurries up to her room, wanting to avoid Grace. The phone in her room rings as she opens the door, and Reva answers it to hear a raspy-voiced caller tell her she deserved what Traci got. [Who could it be? Willow? Daniel? Grace? Someone else?!] Reva automatically assumes it’s the killer [But I’ve read enough Fear Streets to know it’s more likely to be a prank call by someone completely unrelated to the murder that just wants to scare the protagonist] and, thanks to caller ID, jots the number down. Reva immediately phones the police afterwards and hands over the number, saying it belongs to whoever murdered Traci. Detective Blake calls her back 20 minutes later and asks her to come down to the station to make an identification, [Why are they asking her to do the identification? She didn’t see the killer] and upon arrival Reva is shocked to see that Daniel was behind the call.
Daniel immediately denies killing Traci and admits he only called Reva to get back at her for treating him like shit. Reva and Detective Blake aren’t so convinced and repeatedly accuse him of the murder, and the detective even brings up Daniel’s arrest last year for beating up a classmate who Daniel claims had framed him for theft from the school. Blake then takes Reva to his desk to get her statement, but he’s interrupted by a phone call.
It turns out Daniel has a rock-solid alibi so he can’t be the murderer, but Reva can still press charges over him threatening her. Reva can’t be bothered and opts to just go home, and then bumps into Daniel as she’s leaving. She doesn’t want to hear his apology, so he tells her sooner or later she’ll get what’s coming to her and storms off. [I agree with him, but judging from this whole trilogy she’s not gonna learn from it]
Reva slips on some ice as she heads to her car and her keys fly out of her hand. [Clumsy ox!] As she’s searching for them in the snow, she hears footsteps approaching from behind her, but there’s no-one there when she turns around. Frightened, she starts running back to the police station, but Grace pops up between two cars. She denies sneaking up on Reva and insists it must have been Rory, who allegedly told her he’d kill Reva for hiding her, and Grace convinces her to head back to the car so they can just leave. [Grace is either Rory as a separate personality, or she’s just imagining him, or both. Why isn’t Reva question why Grace is even here right now?] They quickly find the keys and jump in the car, with Grace urging Reva to hurry up and drive off because she saw Rory! [Doubt it]
Reva quickly drives off, then realises she should have just gone to the police so Rory could be arrested. Grace begs her not to because Rory’s sneaky and will go into hiding, then pop back up to kill them both when they least expect it. Reva wonders if she’ll have to be on guard for the rest of her life ‘just because she’d been nice enough to invite Grace home for the holidays’. Reva finally asks why Grace was even at the station, and she explains that Rory called and said he was real close. She didn’t believe him at first [ For argument’s sake, lets assume he’s really out to get her. Why wouldn’t she believe him? She knows he’s in Shadyside at this point] but a few minutes later the guard dogs were barking, so she looked out the window and spotted Rory outside the gate. Grace panicked, and instead of staying in the house which has an alarm system, guard dogs and security guards, she did what any reasonable person would do – fled out the back door and kept running until she arrived downtown. [Why’d you run to the police station if you weren’t going to report him, though? She was obviously stalking Reva and trying to scare her] Reva silently thinks it’s too bad Grace didn’t keep running out of her life, [Hahahaha] and as if she can hear Reva’s thoughts, Grace apologises for causing her all this trouble.
Reva admits that Daniel is also causing her trouble and explains why she was at the police station, and then the conversation turns to Reva and Grant. Reva’s happy she met him, but Grace knows Liza wouldn’t be glad, which Reva points out is Liza’s problem. Reva needs him after everything that’s gone on; Traci’s death really messed up the fashion show! [Hahahahaha yeah, who cares about Traci] The first show is tomorrow and although Reva hasn’t had time to find a third model yet, she won’t let anything ruin it because it’s so important to her.
Arriving home, Reva’s pulled into the living room by her father, who’s got bad news, while Grace leaves them to it. Pam and Willow paid him a visit and told him the truth about the scarves, and how Reva wouldn’t talk to them about a contract, so he made them a very generous deal. Daddy Dalby’s disappointed in her, but Reva’s able to manipulate him into believing she’s just been too busy with the fashion show and stressed by Traci’s murder, so he just warns that he’ll cancel the show altogether if one more thing happens.
Reva heads upstairs, fuming that Pam went behind her back [Reva, stfu] and snaps at Grace about needing to cover her bruised eye with makeup. Grace apologises, saying she got distracted by Rory calling, and Reva heads to bed. Her phone rings again and she hesitates to answer it, but to her pleasant surprise it’s just Grant, but unfortunately he’s calling to break things off because of the guilt. Reva wants to tell him to end things with Liza instead, but she needs Liza for the fashion show and knows she’d quit if she found out why Grant was ending things. But Reva also needs Grant, so she easily manipulates him into changing his mind by telling him she really cares about him and pretending to be sad.
The next morning, Reva’s walking through Dalby’s towards the showroom, where Ellie’s showing the new model, Marla, the routine. Poking her head into Pam and Willow’s workroom as she walks past, she scolds them for having the audacity to take a tea break and demands they get back to work. She also snaps at them for going to her father, but the girls reason she gave them no choice. Continuing on her way, she walks past Daniel and reminds herself to get him fired later.
It’s time for the first show now, and Reva hits the stage to announce the Reva Wear line to the throngs of chattering shoppers. She introduces Liza first, but the model doesn’t come through the revolving door. Reva awkwardly stands there in silence, vowing to make sure Liza never works in Shadyside again for humiliating her like this. As she’s turning back to the crowd to continue the show without Liza, a mannequin on the far side of the stage catches her eye; the spotlight isn’t hitting it so it’s mostly in the shadows, but Reva can see that its tilted on its pole, and there’s a green Reva Wear scarf dragged on the floor at its feet:
Reva’s gaze traveled up the scarf to the mannequin’s head.
It was bent at an odd angle.
Its shiny dark hair drooped over one eye.
The other eye was open.
Staring into Liza’s lifeless face, Reva began to scream.
Part Three
A commotion ensues as shoppers follow Reva’s gaze and scramble to escape the room, and through it all Reva sees Pam and Willow standing inside the doors at the far end of the room, staring straight ahead with blank faces. They then shift their eyes to Reva, who shudders at their blank, empty eyes and flees the room herself.
Two hours later, Reva’s just finished being question by police in one of the storerooms, wondering if she’ll be the killer’s next target. [Why? You’re not a model, it would clearly be Ellie] Grant rounds the corner and Reva wraps her arms around him, expecting comfort, but he’s feeling way too guilty because he wasn’t there for Liza when she really needed him. Reva argues that yes, it’s awful what happened, but Liza’s dead and she needs him now, but that doesn’t work on him –‘”I came to you for sympathy, and all you can do is whine about how guilty you feel!”‘ [Reva, his fucking girlfriend just died, give him a break!] She storms off, unable to comprehend how selfish he is to only think about his guilt when she’s having an awful time. [Hahahaha Reva’s really outdoing her own selfishness this year]
Back home, Reva’s passing Grace’s bedroom when she overhears her on the phone, once again begging Rory to leave her alone. She heads to her own room and picks up the phone, wanting to call her father to see if he’s heard anything from the police, but Grace’s voice comes over the line, [Oh, so there is only one line? How has Reva not caught on that Rory is constantly calling but the phone never actually rings? And if there’s only one phone line, why did she think Grace’s call would have ended five seconds after she walked past?] begging Rory to stop threatening her, and my Grace theory proves true when Reva hears the second voice:
“The time is eleven forty-five and twenty seconds.” it said. “The temperature is thirty degrees. Need a wake-up call? Dial W-A-K-E!”
Huh? Reva scowled at the phone. What’s going on?
Why is Grace talking to the weather line?
“No, Rory,” Grace’s voice cried. “You can’t keep following me like this! It’s over, don’t you understand?”
[I knew it! I’m sure Rory is/was real at some point and probably was abusive, and now poor Grace is just dealing with the trauma in an unhinged way that she may or may not be conscious of. But then she had to have given herself the bruised eye and cut lip, so she must be somewhat aware of what she’s doing] Grace desperately pleads with “Rory” to leave her alone as the time and temperature continue to repeat, and Reva slowly hangs up. Confused, she wonders if Rory is even real at all and realises she really doesn’t know Grace that well – ‘What kind of person did I invite home for Christmas?’
She decides to call Grace’s mother, finding the number in the Smith Student Directory, and Mrs. Morton is glad she called because she hasn’t heard from Grace – she must have lied about that too! [Was that not immediately obvious at the time, Reva?] Reva explains that she’s worried about Grace because her ex-boyfriend Rory has been harassing her, but it turns out that Rory was killed by Grace two years ago. We don’t get told how he died, but t was apparently an accident. Mrs. Morton instructs Reva to get a doctor as well as the police because Grace could be dangerous, but she’s sick and doesn’t know what she’s doing. She plans on calling Grace’s old psychiatrist and bringing him to Shadyside, and Reva assures her that she’ll do what she can to help Grace for now.
Speaking of Grace, there she is in the doorway! She frantically declares that Rory just called and is on his way to kill them, and although she tries to play along at first, Reva can’t help but blurt out that she’d just had a conversation with Grace’s mother and knows Rory is dead. [Reva, you’re an idiot] Grace seems to calm down, but then points out that while she doesn’t need to be scared anymore, Reva sure does because Rory’s still going to kill her, just like he killed Traci and Liza. Realising Grace is the murderer, Reva makes a run for the bedroom door but Grace blocks her and pulls out a green Reva Wear scarf. Reva dashes for the bathroom door instead, but Grace is able to catch her and wraps the silky scarf tightly around her neck.
As Reva struggles to free herself, Michael suddenly bursts into the room pretending the be his little ninja character, and he thinks the girls are play-fighting. He wants in on the action and attacks Grace with his fake knife, a distraction which allows Reva to get out of Grace’s tight grip and throw her off balance. Grace topples over, whacking her head on the corner of the desk with Stine’s beloved sickening crack as she falls.
Reva orders Michael to go get a security guard as Grace groggily sits up and dives right into a bad guy monologue, revealing she just wanted to show Reva she can’t have everything she wants as punishment for taking everything from other people. She planned on killing Reva, but only after scaring her and making her suffer for treating everyone around her like dirt, especially guys. Reva absolutely can’t believe what she’s hearing – ‘What was Grace talking about?’ [Really, Reva? You have no idea at all?]
Grace then goes off on a tangent about the lovely boyfriend she once had, Rory, and admits they got into an argument one day while he was driving. Grace ended up grabbing the wheel and causing an accident, and Reva realises the guilt has driven her crazy. Grace wanted Reva to know what that kind of loss feels like, but Reva is confused why she killed Traci and Liza if that’s the case, because she didn’t Traci and and barely knew them Liza. Why, because of the fashion show, of course! It’s the first thing Grace has ever seen Reva really want, and she’d wanted it so bad that she stole all the credit from her cousin. [Reva would have done that even if she didn’t care about the fashion show, tbh] Grace wanted to take it away bit by bit, person by person, so Reva would suffer, and Reva realises with disappointment that Grace is right; she did wanted the show more than anything else, and she had suffered as a result of Grace’s actions.
Next, Grace declares that while she failed to kill Reva, Rory will finish the job! He’s standing in the doorway, according to Grace, and she orders him to kill Reva. Reva knows it’s Grace’s imagination, but spins around anyway when movement catches her eye. Luckily it’s one of the security guards, who’s confused when Grace once again calls him Rory and orders him to kill Reva. Reva lets the guard know that Grace needs help and doesn’t know what she’s talking about, despite Grace’s protests that she does really want Reva dead. The guard ends up guard escorting Grace away, presumably to the police. [But there’s still about 20 more pages left, so something else is gonna go down. Who’s our next bad guy? Willow? Daniel? Pam? Grant? Ellie? The help?!]
Reva thanks Michael for saving her and calls Grace’s mother again to explain what happened. Then she calls Daddy Dalby at the store and tells him what went down, and he can’t believe it when she excitedly talks about continuing on with the fashion show. She begs him to let her go on with it, reminding him it’s good for business, and he agrees to choose two of the store models to replace the dead ones so they can have a show at 7pm tomorrow night. Next, Reva calls Ellie and explains everything before instructing her to get to the showroom early so she can make sure everything’s ready. [That’s quite literally your job, Reva, not the model’s] The last phone call of the night is for Pam, who feels awful for Grace after learning everything. Reva orders Pam to get to the store early tomorrow with Willow and get to work, and then has a nice hot bath, smiling to herself because the horror is all over. [Don’t be so sure, Reva]
It’s 6pm the next evening now, and Pam’s been working on scarves all day with Willow. Pam wants to check if Reva wants the particular scarf she’s just finished for the show [Why would she want the one you’ve just finished when she has all the other ones you’ve already made to choose from? What’s so special about it? Actually you know what, we’re nearing the end of the book so this scarf is definitely going to be used to save the day or something like that] and heads to the showroom, which is dim and shadowy, with the only light coming from a single bulb somewhere behind the revolving doors [Plural? It’s been singular every other time it was mentioned] on stage. Pam can hear a weird gasping noise as she goes deeper into the room and as she nears the stage, she spots Reva sprawled out on her stomach in front of the revolving doors. There’s a guy bending over her, and as Pam hurries forward she realises the man’s strangling Reva with a scarf! Pam scurries up to the stage and shoves him aside, then checks on her cousin, who’s stopped making those awful choking sounds by now – Reva’s dead! [Or is it Ellie?! If it is Reva, as if you care, Pam. She had it coming]
The man shoves Pam aside and plans to kill her too to eliminate the witness, and Pam demands to know why he murdered her cousin. Looking down at the corpse, the guy’s expression changes to one of total horror before he drops to his knees and turns the body over. As I suspected, it’s not Reva but her lookalike, Ellie, and the man wails that he killed the wrong girl.
Meanwhile, Reva’s just arriving at the showroom and is pissed that it’s so dark. She edges along the wall, searching for the lights, when she hears a voice choking out, ‘”The wrong one!”‘ over and over. Curious, Reva edges further along the wall until she can see the stage and is horrified to see Pam looking nervous, Ellie dead on the floor and Grant Nichols leant over her corpse. [Oooh, trying to avenge Liza? Love it]
Pam asks why he was trying to kill Reva in the first place, and it turns out he blames Reva for Liza’s death. He really cared about his girlfriend, [Did you?] but kept sneaking around behind her back because Reva convinced him she had feelings for him. He now knows it was just a trick, and his words make Reva realise that what Grace said was true; she does use people and throw them away. [I’m pretty sure most people she’s come into contact with in the last three books have told her this, tbh] When Liza died, all Grant could think about was paying Reva back, [I mean, you could take some accountability here, Grant] so he decided to murder her in the same way the other girls died so her death would be pinned on their killer. Furious, Reva struts onto the stage and tells Grant that his plan was doomed from the start because the killer was caught last night. Grant protests that Reva’s the real killer, since everything was her fault, and dives towards her to complete his mission
Pam’s able to wrap the scarf she’s holding around Grant’s legs and trip him over, [See! I knew that scarf would have a heroic role] and Reva presses her platform shoe into the back of his neck, threatening to put all her weight on it if he moves. Pam ties the scarf into a knot and races to the side door to call for the guards. As she hurries back, she spots Ellie moving – she’s not dead after all! Reva points out that Pam saved both their lives and actually thanks her. [😮]
It’s Christmas Eve now, and Pam and Willow are over at Reva’s place enjoying mugs of hot cider in the living room. We learn that the scarf show is cancelled for good, but Pam and Willow are working on their own design company and Daddy Dalby has decided to stock some of their designs year-round. Their dresses, scarves and vests will be in the stores as fast as the girls can get them ready, and they’ll be marketed under PAM-WILLOW, not Reva Wear. [Good] Reva’s genuinely glad for them, although she still thinks her name is better. [Neither option is great, tbh]
The night Grant tried to kill Ellie and Reva is brought up, and again Reva thanks Pam for saving her life. [It’s a Christmas miracle!] Pam protests that it was the scarf that saved Reva’s life, and the book ends with this cute little exchange:
‘I guess you’re right,” Reva laughed. “Grant didn’t stand a chance with it tied around his ankles. It was really well-made.” She sipped some cider and leaned back in her chair. “You know, I’m thinking of buying one for myself. Any idea where I can get it?”
“You don’t have to buy one.” Pam went to the Christmas tree and picked up a box wrapped in shiny green foil. She held out the box to Reva and grinned. “Guess what I’m giving you for Christmas?”
Final thoughts
This was a pretty good book and a much better sequel than Silent Night 2, which felt more like a repeat of the first book. Here we have a more unique storyline and some actual deaths, which is always what I’m after when reading these books. Of course, more murders will always be better, but I’ll take what I can get. I might need to re-read the first two books again, but Reva seemed worse than ever in this book, so it would have been nice to see her suffer a bit more; she definitely deserved it. It was hilarious how little self-awareness Reva had this time around, but let’s hope she finally learned her lesson!
The Grace twist was pretty clever, although obvious, but I don’t think I would have guessed it if I’d read this as a kid. The end of Grace’s plot was a little anticlimactic, so I’m glad there was another twist to finish it off with.
Looking back, the blurb is just as irrelevant to the story as the cover; Reva didn’t want fame, she wanted a fashion show! Everything after that first line is so generic it could be the blurb for any Silent Night book. Oh well.
This was a strong conclusion to Reva Dalby’s story, so 207 murdered models posed as mannequins out of 255!
