Tagline: No one can save her now.
Back tagline: In Too Deep…
Summary: The lifeguards at North Beach Country Club know they’re lucky. While other kids are flipping burgers, they’re sunning themselves by day and partying by night. So what if some people say the place is cursed, haunted. This is the life!
And then, one by one, the lifeguards start to die horrible deaths. Someone—or something—evil is stalking them. They all know how to save other people’s lives…but who will save theirs?
First impressions: OK, I normally like to read holiday-themed books during their corresponding holidays, [I unfortunately missed a Halloween read due to starting a new job and not having enough time to smash out a Halloween recap 🥲] but I don’t have any Christmas-themed reads that I haven’t already recapped. (Click here to check those out) I know in the US Christmas is in winter, but here in Australia our Christmas occurs in summer, so I’ve settled on a summer-themed book.
I’m 80% sure The Dead Lifeguard was the first Super Chiller I read back in the day, probably in seventh or eighth grade when I really struggled finding Fear Street books anywhere. I discovered it in my high school library and judging by the label on the back with my high school’s name on it, I stole it. Oooooops!
It’s possible I’m mixing it up with another book, but I think the only thing I remember about this one is that our heroine is trying to forget about something in her past and someone is murdered while lifting weights or something like that. I don’t remember the specifics of either situation, though, so it’ll be like going in fresh.
The blurb is very generic but definitely intriguing, and I LOVE that last line. The cover is nice enough, but at first glance it doesn’t seem like they’re in a pool because the edge of the pool is the same colour as the sky, so it seems more like a beach to me. I don’t remember how much I enjoyed this as a 12-year-old, but I clearly liked it enough to steal. Let’s find out if it was worth the risk!
Recap
Roll call:
Lindsay – The returning lifeguard with a memory problem.
Cassie – The flirty lifeguard.
Danny – The big enchilada head lifeguard.
Pug – The muscly lifeguard stereotype.
Deirdre – The lifeguard with a crush on Pug.
May-Ann – The standoffish lifeguard who’s sure there’s ghosts afoot.
Arnie – The scrawny lifeguard.
Spencer — Another returning lifeguard.
Pete – The athletic director.
Mouse – Our killer’s alias who interrupts the book periodically with POV phone calls.
Terry – The recipient of Mouse’s phone calls who can’t reply because he’s dead.
Part One: A New Ghost
[With all those characters, I wonder how many will be axed?] FYI, each chapter of the book is told from a different character’s perspective, so I’ll specify who’s POV we have each time to avoid confusion.
The book begins with someone nicknamed Mouse speaking to the dial tone of a phone but pretending their good friend Terry is on the other end. Mouse can’t stop thinking about last summer and the one before that, and knows they have to kill some lifeguards because lifeguards are the reason Terry’s dead! Mouse has some good news for his/her friend that’s not on the line:
Hey, Terry, guess what? I passed the test.
What test, you ask.
The blood test! Ha-ha.
Just a joke, Terry. I passed the lifeguard test. Really! I’m going to be a lifeguard. Do you believe it, Mouse? A lifeguard!
[Two things here. First, jokes are meant to be funny, Mouse. Second, either Mouse was supposed to say, ‘do you believe it, Terry? A lifeguard!’ or the grammar needed to be different, like, ‘do you believe it? Mouse, a lifeguard!’ I guess it can make sense how it’s written, but grammatically it reads as if Mouse is asking if Mouse believes it. Page 1 and I’m already complaining…..]
Anyway, Mouse wanted to be a lifeguard so bad that he/she killed one, presumably to take their spot at the North Beach Country Club. [But as a replacement or identity theft?!] Mouse is only telling Terry because Mouse knows Terry can’t blow the whistle on him/her. ‘Ha-ha. Get it? Lifeguard? Blow the whistle? You always had a great sense of humor. Like me.’ [Is that great sense of humour in the room with us right now?] Mouse insists he/she is definitely not crazy. No siree, no way! Not at all! Mouse promises to call from the club and bids Terry farewell. [Mouse and Terry’s genders are both very ambiguous here, which is annoying in the sense that it’ll be hard to figure out who Mouse is, but great in the sense that this is a whodunnit so it won’t be predictable]
Over to Lindsay Beck, who’s just arriving at the North Beach Country Club ahead of opening day tomorrow. She’s back for another summer of lifeguard duties and is looking forward to escaping from her normal life for a while. It’ll be a summer to meet new people and make a fresh start, living with seven or eight other teens in the lifeguard dorm — ‘Party time all summer long!’ [Ill jump off a cliff if these kids start saying ‘Party summer!’ every second page] Lindsay had been packing in such a hurry, [Why? Because she killed a lifeguard and got the job at the last minute? Is Lindsay Mouse? It can’t be that obvious already, surely] she forgot to pack sunblock! Not that it looks like she’ll need it anytime soon because there’s a storm a-brewing, but hopefully it’ll pass by tomorrow. The clubhouse, ‘an endlessly long two-story redwood building’, looks dull and black under the dark sky. It looks like a forest lodge but much, much, much bigger, with a pool out the back and tennis courts.
It starts to rain as Lindsay makes her way to the side gate entrance, wishing she had a mirror. She’d left home in such a rush, [Again, why?!?] she hadn’t checked her hair! It’s short, straight and blonde and almost always falls into place, but she constantly worries about it anyway. Lindsay self-admittedly has a nose that’s too short and a face that’s too round, but people say she’s cute, so she doesn’t mind. Reaching the gate, she spies the guest house, used as the lifeguard dorm, which is actually attached to one end of the clubhouse itself. The swimming pool stretches nearby, but Lindsay’s more focused on the back of a red-headed boy’s head she can see through one of the guest house windows. As she wonders who he is and if any of the lifeguards from last year will be back, she finds that the gate is locked and remembers she needs to use the ID card the club had sent when she’s got the job. Her picture isn’t very good — ‘blurred, with me in my old haircut, my hair longer and sort of flipped over my shoulders.’ [If she’s Mouse, did she just kill the lifeguard who looked most like her so she could pose as her with a different haircut?]
All Lindsay needs to do is run the card through the electronic lock by the gate and it should buzz open for her, but would you believe it? Nothing happens when she scans her ID! Another boy appears in the window, his back to outside world, oblivious to poor, soaking Lindsay and she struggles in the pouring rain. She tries shouting out to the boys in the window, but no-one can hear her through the wind and rain. As she stares through the fence, something catches her eye in the corner of the swimming pool — a girl floating facedown in the pool, her blond hair bobbing around her and her arms stretched lifelessly at her sides:
A girl. A girl in a blue swimsuit.
Drowning.
Drowned.
Gripping the cold fence, I raised my face to the rain and let out a shrill wail of horror.
[The girl on the cover? Who is she?! Why’s she in the pool during a storm?]
Over to red-headed Danny now, who’s in the guest house common room with the other lifeguards as the storm hits. Danny’s the head lifeguard, or as he puts it, ‘the big enchilada’, [Hahahaha shut up, Danny] and is struggling a little bit to remember who’s who since they’re all new to the club, but he considers it important to learn everyone’s names and help make them feel comfortable. We’ve got sexy, brown-eyed, whispery-voiced Cassie Harlow and her piles of white-blonde hair, [White-blonde with brown eyes? I’m surprised, Stine!] who shrieks when the thunder booms right outside and is immediately teased for not enjoying storms. There’s Arnie Wilts, a runt of a guy who declares that he likes swimming in lightning storms because he gets a charge out of it, and everyone groans at his bad joke. [Mouse also made bad jokes… Is Arnie Mouse?] Danny’s not sure how many bad jokes he can take over the summer before he’d have to drop Arnie in the pool and hold his head under ‘for five or ten minutes!’ [Murderous thoughts, maybe Danny’s Mouse!] We also have Pug, a typical, all-American hunk who looks like he’s never had a serious thought in his life and has a red bandanna tied across his forehead; ‘the pirate-dude look, I guess.’ [Ah yes, what every girl loves] Next we have Deirdre Webb, who’s got short, straight black hair and the most amazing pale blue eyes. Lastly, there’s quiet, standoffish-but-maybe-just-shy May-Ann Delacroix, who’s got auburn hair and cold, dark eyes. Danny wouldn’t turn any of these babes down and is looking forward to spending time with them; ‘Okay, dudes—let’s party all summer!’ [Oh no, the Party Summer PTSD is kicking in]
Inside with Danny, a shrill wailing from outside alerts everyone to the girl on the other side of the fence, and Danny and Arnie rush out see what’s going on. She insists that a girl’s drowned in the pool, but of course the pool is empty when Danny runs over to investigate.
Back to Lindsay, who’s absolutely mortified about the first impression she’s made on her new friends [If Lindsay is Mouse, could the dead girl be Terry, and her delusion is making her hallucinate?] as the two boys lead her back to the guest house common room. Inside, Lindsay’s bombarded with concerned and confused questions as May-Ann fetches her a towel. After introductions are made, Lindsay tries to explain what she saw but Danny assures her there wasn’t anything in the pool except a few leaves. Lindsay had seen the girl so clearly; her pale skin, her blue bikini, her blonde hair, just like Lindsay’s, [Maybe Lindsay is a ghost and saw herself floating there?! Could she be the titular dead lifeguard?] but apologises and suggests the rain and shadows had played a trick on her. Lindsay tells them she may not look like it, but she’s actually one of this year’s lifeguards. A bewildered Danny consults the list of names, but there’s no Lindsay Beck there. Lindsay can’t believe all the bad luck she’s having today and insists someone’s messed up, whipping out her ID card to prove she’s meant to be here. Examining the card, Danny notices something off about it – ‘”this ID card is two years old.”‘
Now to May-Ann, who feels terribly sorry for the dripping-wet shivering girl because everyone’s just staring at her like she’s from another planet, and kindly takes Lindsay up to her room so she can change into some dry clothes. Lindsay turns back in the doorway, though, and asks if anyone had been here last year, but Danny confirms they’re all new. Pug reveals he’d been a guest last year, but he doesn’t remember Lindsay, and she also doesn’t remember him, despite apparently being on duty every afternoon. Speaking of Pug, according to May-Ann there may-ann be [See what I did there? That’s humour, Mouse] a love triangle starting; he’d been all over Cassie this afternoon, which she’d clearly enjoyed, while Deirdre had glared at Cassie the whole time, clearly interested in Pug herself. Cassie’s a huge flirt, though, and had even flirted with weasely Arnie! Anyway, Danny assures Lindsay that Pete Harris will straighten everything out. He’s the hotshot athletic director who has a lot of energy and likes to show off; when interviewing May-Ann for the lifeguard job, he did 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups in front of his desk. [Cringe]
In May-Ann’s room, Lindsay changes into a maroon-and-grey Tigers sweatshirt [There’s our Shadyside connection!] and faded, ripped jeans while May-Ann pours some seeds into the cage of her pet rodent, a white mouse named Munchy. [Oh God, Munchy won’t survive this book, will he? Or is May-Ann Mouse?!?! Is the nickname because of her pet mouse? Everyone’s bound to be a suspect at this point, and that’s how I like it] She asks if Lindsay’s feeling better now, but Lindsay just doesn’t get what’s going on. She’s sure she saw a girl in the pool and doesn’t understand why her ID is two years old or why her name isn’t on the list. May-Ann assures her that Pete will sort it out, and then they head back to the common room where everyone’s clearly just been talking about Lindsay. Everyone just sort of sits there in awkward silence, until May-Ann admits she knows who Lindsay saw floating in the pool — ‘”You saw one of the dead kids.”‘
Over to Danny again, who observes everyone when thunder roars and the lights briefly go out right after May-Ann drops that bomb. Pug slides closer to Cassie, and Danny has noticed Dierdre glancing at them quite a lot today. He’s feeling a little jealous because if they both go for Pug, who’s left form him?! Danny likes tall girls, and May-Ann fits that bill, but he’s not so sure about her — ‘there was something strange about her, something cold and unfriendly.’ [Do I smell a red herring!] May-Ann and her long legs explain that the club is cursed and there’s mysterious deaths every summer, including someone drowning in the pool the past two summers. [Is a drowning mysterious? Has their only been two deaths?] Arnie gets some nervous laughter when he cracks, ‘”Huh? The same person drowned two years in a row?”‘ [Can Arnie die first, plz] but May-Ann’s as straight-faced as I am. Last year, a 14-year-old boy drowned in the deep end despite their being three lifeguards on duty, and the previous summer, a lifeguard drowned in the shallow end of the pool! [Could that be Terry? Or is Terry the 14-year-old boy?]
May-Ann solemnly tells the group the place is haunted by the kids who drown here, and Danny doesn’t like that she’s bringing the mood down. As the big enchilada, it’s his job to keep up the morale! So when the silence gets too heavy as everyone considers May-Ann’s words, he pulls an Arnie and shouts ‘”Boo!”‘, which gets everyone laughing. [So funny!] When Dierdre questions how a lifeguard could drown, Pug jokes that they probably didn’t know how to swim, only tan, which prompts more laughter. [Seriously, none of the others’ jokes are any better than Arnie’s, why is he bullied so much?] May-Ann insists the club is haunted because ‘”the ghosts of the drowned cannot rest,”‘ and most of the group laugh at that too because, in Danny’s opinion, the girl is ‘too cornball for words.’ The laughter stops when the door starts to creak, and they hear footsteps in the hall before the door swings all the way open to reveal…………..no-one!
Over to Lindsay as eventually a new lifeguard walks in, having doubled back down the hall to close the outer door, and our girl likes what she sees! Spencer Brown has dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and big, dark eyes with a serious face. Lindsay suddenly realises he looks familiar and excitedly asks if he remembers her, introducing herself. He studies her for ages, even asking ‘”You’re Lindsay?”‘ [So she’s definitely stolen the real Lindsay’s identity and looks nothing like her besides being blonde, right?] but finally accepts that she’s who she says she is. Another guy walks in soon after, and after Danny greets him and calls him Pete, Lindsay ‘realized it must be Pete, the club’s athletic director.’ [What gave it away, Lindsay?] Pete looks around 20 and has a short, stocky build with round, marble-like blue eyes. Arnie is bullied some more as introductions are made before Danny pulls Pete aside to discuss the mix-up with Lindsay. Pete comes over to talk to Lindsay, asking when they’d talked, but neither of them remember their interview together. [Because it never happened! I don’t think Lindsay is Mouse, though, it’d be too obvious. I don’t know what’s going on with her] Lindsay confirms she passed her lifesavings tests two summer ago [Mouse’s delusional conversation with Terry made it seem like Mouse only passed recently, so more proof that Lindsay probably isn’t Mouse] and was a lifeguard here last summer, but Pete really doesn’t remember her at all. He decides she can stay on as an alternate, since the original one pulled out at the last minute.
With that sorted, Pete announces that it’s almost dinner time and asks if Pug’s putting on weight. Pug is immediately offended, insisting he works out every day and will be heading straight to the weight room after dinner if Pete wants to go one on one with him, and Pete reckons he might just take him up on that! [Look at the fragile masculinity] Arnie informs everyone that he’s been pumping up too, and Pete gets a laugh from everyone when he makes a face — ‘”Arnie, please—not before dinner. Keep it to yourself, okay?”‘ [If Arnie is Mouse, I wouldn’t blame him for killing all these bullies] Pete confirms that the storm will pass by the morning, when the club is due to open, and Cassie complains about having to start her morning at the kiddie pool. She suggests a swap with Deirdre, who angrily refuses, and Lindsay silently notes how much Deirdre seems to dislike Cassie, probably due to her crush on Pug. Danny promises to check the schedules before Pete heads off, and Lindsay finally starts to feel better, like she belongs. She studies Spencer as he talks to May-Ann, trying to remember him, but not a single memory comes to mind.
A quick Mouse POV now, as he/she “calls” Terry to confirm he/she’s at the North Beach Country Club and has been accepted as a lifeguard. Mouse can’t talk long, though, because their roommate will be back soon. Mouse wonders if the roommate should be the first to die; even though Terry’s dead, Mouse leaves the decision in Terry’s hands…
We’re with Danny during dinner, and everyone’s surprised by how good the food is; the cook, Lonnie, really knows his way around fried chicken! [Is that hard to mess up?] Danny’s getting more and more jealous as Cassie and Deirdre keep hitting on Pug — ‘I’m the big cheese, after all, the main guy. Those girls were supposed to come after my bod! Maybe I’ll get a red bandanna, I told myself, if that’s what it takes to turn girls on.’ [Maybe your weird arrogance is turning them off, Danny] Pug starts bragging about working out every day, and Danny shows off his own biceps. Spencer, who’d been talking quietly with May-Ann all through dinner, declares that he could take on both guys with his eyes closed, [Do I smell a threesome?] and Arnie brags about his own strength, ‘even though it’s obvious that he’s a puny shrimp.’ Danny’s also noticed that Arnie keeps gazing across the table at Lindsay, who doesn’t seem to have any idea because she’s been too busy staring at Spencer.
Speaking of Lindsay, Danny notices that she doesn’t really show any interest in dinner conversations until Spencer starts talking about how last summer’s lifeguards were party animals. Eventually, Lindsay asks if he was on duty when the 14-year-old boy drowned, but Spencer denies being at the club that day. Lindsay wants to know if anyone talked about ghosts or mentioned seeing a drowned girl in the pool, [Bitch, weren’t you supposed to be here last summer too? Wouldn’t you know that? I mean, she clearly wasn’t here last summer, but she’s lead everyone to believe she was, so why isn’t anyone questioning her questions?] but Spencer just stares at her like he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. May-Ann pipes up that everyone knows about the ghosts here, but Pug and Arnie basically tell her to shut the fuck up. She starts to argue about the ghosts, gripping her knife tightly, when suddenly Cassie, who’s tending to the fire, screams and points to the door because there’s the g-g-g-g-g-ghost!
But Cassie’s just pulling a cheeky prank and quickly collapses into laughter. Everyone else laughs, except for May-Ann, who’s fuming. She jumps up, screams, ‘”We’ll see who’s laughing at the end of the summer!”‘ and storms out. Danny doesn’t like that they’re already arguing and slamming doors on their first night together, but the others wish May-Ann would just drop the whole ghost thing. Pug and Spencer break the tension by having an arm wrestle, joking around at first. Arnie wants to fight the winner, insisting he’s strong and could take all of them on one by one, but completely ignores Cassie when she declares he can’t beat her. The arm wrestle between the two boys soon gets serious, as they both try as hard as they can to pin the other one down. As Pug starts pushing Spencer’s hand down, the silence in the room is interrupted by a sickening crack, and Spencer goes white as a sheet.
Time for Lindsay’s POV now as Cassie starts giggling from the fireplace, having simply snapped a piece of kindling because the boys were getting too serious. [Cheeky little devil!] It takes Lindsay a long time [Too long] to figure out that Spencer’s arm wasn’t broken and the cracking was only the kindling, and Spencer demands a rematch since Cassie helped Pug win, promising to get Cassie back. Arnie pushes Spencer out of the way so he can take on Pug, but Pug’s not interested. Instead, he lifts Arnie into the air and stuffs him into a tall wastebasket. Danny seems to recognise that things are getting a bit too out of control and suggests they have some dessert. Lindsay skips dessert and heads to the room she’ll be sharing with May-Ann, hoping to cheer her up. The reading lamp on the desk is the only light on in the room, but May-Ann’s nowhere to be found. Lindsay starts toward the phone [To “call” Terry? Or is that just what Stine wants us to think?!] but stops short when she sees that May-Ann’s dresser top is crawling with mice!
A quick Mouse chapter again now, this time complaining to Terry that everyone’s been laughing at him/her. They don’t know that Mouse is a lot stronger now, having been working out, and he/she is going to kill all the lifeguards for how they’d laughed at Mouse and Terry when Terry was alive. [Even though it wasn’t these specific lifeguards] ‘We’ll see who’s laughing when the summer is over,’ says Mouse, but the main problem is which one should die first? [I love that these Mouse chapters seem to give hints as to their identity, but at the same time it could still be anyone. Lindsay had been moving toward the phone right before this chapter, so it could be her. Arnie is constantly being laughed at, not with, so it could be him. And Mouse even echoed May-Ann’s words before she’d stormed out, so it could be her! I can’t remember the last time I was this unsure of the bad guy’s identity!]
Back to Lindsay, and it’s opening day afternoon. The threatening clouds had kept most people away, and the most interesting thing to happen is seeing Pug and Cassie disappear down to the tennis courts, snuggled against each other. After a quiet dinner as Lindsay’s changing for bed, May-Ann comes in, grinning, because she can’t stop picturing Lindsay coming into the room last night and thinking all the mice figurines were real! They share a laugh, and Lindsay admires the collection some more. Apparently when May-Ann first got Munchy, everyone started giving her mice figurines, but Lindsay has no idea why she’d brought them to the club. But why does May-Ann do anything? ‘She’s a truly weird person.’ May-Ann starts brushing her hair in the mirror, then heads out, ignoring Lindsay when she asks where she’s going.
Lindsay awakens from a nightmare around 2am that night, and May-Ann sits bolt upright shortly after, asking if Lindsay heard it too. Lindsay’s not sure what she’s talking about, but listens hard, hearing a low moan out in the hall, and then a cry, ‘”Help me. Please—help me.”‘ Lindsay confirms she hears it too and May-Ann insists it’s the drowned girl before they creep over to the door to investigate. Pulling it open, they find not a ghost, but Cassie pulling another of her now trademark pranks. Pug’s also there, looking all sheepish as Cassie continues to laugh. Lindsay laughs too, now that her heart’s stopped racing, but May-Ann can’t find the humour in it and starts to sob. She declares that Cassie will be sorry and slams the bedroom door, repeating that Cassie will be sorry when Lindsay tries to comfort her.
Later that morning, Lindsay and Pug are first up on lifeguard duty, and Pug’s a huge hit with the local girls. Cassie, over in the kiddie pool, notices his fan club and glares at him angrily. May-Ann seems to be in high spirits today, giving Lindsay a wave before taking a graceful dive into the pool. Relieved by Arnie shortly after 11am, Lindsay’s on her way inside for some nice, cold water when Spencer interrupts her to complain about a quarter he received as a tip from some rich old woman, who’d suggested he put it in his college fund. The pair laugh about it before he tosses it into the trash, which Lindsay thinks is illegal. [Is that a real law?] Lindsay tries to remember anything from last summer as they talk, but comes up short. Just as she’s about to ask him something about it, he suddenly has to go and jogs off to the pool. Lindsay stares after him, positive they know each other and wondering if maybe they’d had a summer fling.
Lindsay wakes up in the middle of the night once again and finds that May-Ann isn’t in the room. Lindsay’s a sweaty mess because of the heat and decides to go for a quick dip in the pool, despite it almost being 3am. Making her way out to the pool, she spots a blonde girl in a blue bikini floating facedown again and jumps in to rescue her, lifting her head out of the water by her hair. To Lindsay’s horror, it’s her own face that stares lifelessly back at her! Lindsay quickly tells the dead girl what’s what, insisting ‘”You can’t be Lindsay!… Because I am Lindsay!”‘ and then water starts pouring out of the dead girls mouth before she disintegrates, and Lindsay’s left in the water holding a handful of blonde hair and a watery skull. releases the hair as the corpse fades into the water and closes her eyes to avoid the horror. When she opens them again, she finds herself sitting up in bed, still drenched in sweat, because it was just a dream.
May-Ann’s bed is still empty, so Lindsay thinks it’s her when she starts hearing her name from outside the bedroom door. The voice calls out to Lindsay in a whispered voice, wanting her to follow. Still half asleep, Lindsay opens the door to find no-one there, and the voice now calling to her from around the corner. Still thinking it’s May-Ann, Lindsay follows the voice to the dining room, which is stifling hot thanks to the flames blazing in the fireplace. Stepping further into the room, her eyes on the fire, Lindsay finally notices Cassie lying facedown in front of the fireplace. Way too close, Lindsay realises, and then she shrieks as she notices the flames leaping over Cassie’s head, which is in the fireplace. [Oof] Terrified and shocked, Lindsay grabs Cassie’s feet and yanks her out of the flames, but it’s too late — ‘her hair, her face—they were all burned away.’
Part Two: The Old ghost
Over to Danny, who’s gathered in the dining room with Pete and the other lifeguards as police examine the scene. Cassie’s body is still just lying there uncovered, which seems traumatising for the lifeguards, and Danny can’t help but wonder why she’d been in the dining room so late, or how Lindsay had come to discover her. There’s no signs of a break-in, so Danny asks Pete if he thinks someone in the room is responsible for the death, but his denial isn’t very convincing. When a policewoman, Officer Malone, approaches Lindsay, Danny moves closer to eavesdrop. Malone takes notes as Lindsay recounts following a whispery voice to the dining room and finding Cassie’s body, insisting the voice was real and she hadn’t been sleepwalking or anything like that. Next, Pug is questioned, since he’d gone cruising around with Cassie after dinner, but he claims they got back early. Deirdre, who shares a room with Cassie, confirms that she heard Cassie come into the room around 11:30pm, but didn’t hear her leave because she’s a sound sleeper. Danny notices Spencer comforting Lindsay and feels a pang of jealousy; he wants to be the one comforting her! Does Lindsay likes Spencer more than him? [Instead of being jealous that the girls like the other boys more, maybe you could actually interact with the girls?] Anyway, the police have more questions, but it’s late so they’ll let everyone to go back to bed while they continue their work. As everyone heads to their rooms, May-Ann turns to Danny and tells him the police should know someone dies here every summer. Her eyes are lit up excitedly and she’s got a strange, gloating smile on her face, unnerving Danny.
Another quick Mouse-Terry phone call as Mouse gloats about killing a lifeguard and how no-one suspects him/her. Mouse plans to pick up the pace and kill more of them soon, promising to call Terry again after the next death.
Back to Lindsay two days later, and although Everything seems back to normal, Lindsay’s been struggling with the memories of Cassie’s death and the disembodied voice that lead her to it. Pug’s moved on quickly, taking a random girl down to the tennis courts on his break, probably for some hanky panky. Lindsay suddenly remembers that she has parents and realises she’s had no contact with them for the week she’s been here, which is weird. They’re a family of constant communicators, so Lindsay isn’t sure why they haven’t called, or why it’s never occurred to her to call them. On her break, she decides to phone home, hoping it’ll lift her spirits and maybe even clear some things up, like the two-year-old ID, and if she’d ever mentioned Spencer to them at all. After dialling her home number, a recorded voice tells her the number is no longer in service.
She tries four more times, getting the same recording each time, and then decides that the phone lines must have been messed up in the storm that blew through yesterday. She calls the operator and asks to be connected to her home number, but again it’s the recording. Thinking that maybe she’d forgotten her own number somehow, she dials long distance information and asks for the number for Mr and Mrs Austin Beck of Fear Street in Shadyside, but the man finds no listing for anyone named Beck in Shadyside at all! Something must be wrong, so Lindsay rushes outside to ask Danny if she can borrow his car, because she needs to go home.
It takes almost an hour to get to Shadyside, and Lindsay’s plagued by questions the whole drive. Why is her ID card two years old? Why does she keep seeing a drowned girl in a blue swimsuit? Arriving at her Fear Street home, she notices that her parents have cut down the apple tree and planted some new flowers while she’s been gone. After noticing movement through a window, she barges into the house, excited to see her mother, but a complete stranger is in the house instead, and she’s so startled by this random teenager in her house that she drops the vase she’d been carrying. Lindsay, assuming the woman is a new neighbour but also confused by the unfamiliar furniture in the house, explains that she’s the Becks’ daughter, and asks if her mother is home. The woman apologises for having to be the one to break the news, but the Becks’ daughter died two years ago and the shattered parents fled the town soon after, never wanting to come back. Naturally, Lindsay’s confused and screams that she’s Lindsay Beck, then scampers from the house and drives around aimlessly for hours.
It’s dark by the time she gets back to the club, and Lindsay doesn’t remember anything after she left “her” house. Unable to face all the questions her fellow lifeguards will have for her, she avoids the dining room and heads straight for Pete’s office, hoping to find her phone number in her file so she can call her parents and understand what the hell is going on. Unfortunately for Lindsay, her file is marked deceased, and there’s a news article clipped to it titled, ‘SHADYSIDE GIRL, 15, DROWNS IN CLUB POOL’:
A tragic accident at the North Beach Country Club… Lindsay Beck, 15, drowned… Attempts to resuscitate her failed… Her first year as lifeguard at the club… off duty at the time…
I struggled to make sense of the words.
My eyes rose to the date at the top of the clipping. It was two years old.
Two years ago.
The story said that I had drowned two years ago.
It didn’t make sense. No sense at all.
And then it hit me all at once.
I dropped to my knees, stunned and shaken.
I dropped to my knees and hugged myself, hugged myself tighter and tighter.
It hit me. It hit me. It suddenly came so horrifyingly clear to me:
I am the dead lifeguard.
[So Lindsay actually dead? Or is Terry a nickname for the original Lindsay somehow, and Mouse has taken over her identity to get revenge, but has some sort of split personality? Idk, I’m confused]
Part Three: Two Ghosts
Another pointless “phone call” between Mouse and Terry reveals Mouse hasn’t called for a while because they’ve been too busy being a lifeguard, but Mouse hasn’t forgotten his/her mission, and he/she already has the next victim picked out!
We jump forward two days later, still with Lindsay as everyone’s having dinner in the dining room. Arnie’s on the phone, and Danny calls him over to join the party. Deirdre asks how many times a day he calls his mum, which gets a lot of laughter and opens the poor guy up to some more bullying, with Pug joking he’d actually been on the phone to his personal trainer to get his money back. [Or was he on the phone to Terry?! Although I doubt he’d be talking to Terry in front of everyone, so maybe we can cross Arnie off the suspects list] Arnie challenges Pug to a weightlifting competition, but Pug just lifts him up into the air and pretends to lift weights with him, which angers Arnie even more before Danny defuses the situation. Spencer also does some great impressions of the rich people who visit the club, and he’s super hilarious apparently!
This is the first night since Cassie’s death that everyone seems normal, and Lindsay’s glad to be laughing again, having spent the last two days focused on trying to remember anything from the past two summers, or about herself in general. She’d had no luck contacting her parents, but Danny’s been really understanding about her being on the phone all the time. He’s a great guy! May-Ann has also offered a listening ear if Lindsay wants to talk about anything, which Lindsay’s grateful for, but sometimes she catches May-Ann staring at her like she’s some sort of lab specimen.
Speaking of May-Ann, here she goes again banging on about ghosts, but a fed-up Pug tells her to shut up because everyone’s sick of hearing about them after Cassie’s death. Deirdre agrees, suggesting they forget about the gloomy stuff and try to enjoy their summer. Pug keeps attacking May-Ann, though, and when Lindsay sticks up for her, Pug thinks it’s no surprise that she enjoys May-Ann’s stories because ‘”You mope around here as if you’re a ghost!”‘ [Hahahaha drag her] Soon, everyone’s shouting at each other and Arnie leans over and asks Lindsay if she wants to get out of here. She agrees, and they take a stroll outside, where Lindsay wonders if they’ll be able to save the summer. Arnie replies that summer hasn’t really started yet, and he’s got big plans for it! [Like murder?] As they find themselves in the small, secluded wood area that separates the golf course from the rest of the club, Lindsay laments about how much she’d looked forward to this summer before she’s rudely interrupted by Arnie, who grabs her by the shoulders and presses her hard against a tree and whispers ‘”Big plans.”‘ [?!?]
Over to Spencer, who’s also grown tired of the shouting match in the dining room and decided to head outside for a jog. Hearing some commotion, he follows Lindsay’s shrill cries and quickly stumbles upon what looks like Arnie trying to kiss her against the tree. Arnie apologises and backs away as soon as Spencer make his presence clear before scurrying off, and Lindsay tells Spencer what happened. She assures him she’s OK and was just taken by surprise, and when Spencer calls Arnie a creep, she admits that she glances over and catches him watching her quite a lot when they’re on duty. For whatever reason, Spencer decides now is a good time to confess that he watches her sometimes too, but Lindsay doesn’t seem to acknowledge that. [What could she even reply? It’s such a weird time to say that hahaha] They continue walking towards the golf club before Lindsay stops and asks if they’d been good friends last summer. Spencer explains that they didn’t have much time to get to know each other because she’d left so suddenly. Lindsay’s surprised by that and demands to know why she’d left, but Spencer isn’t sure what to say — doesn’t she remember herself? ‘I knew one thing for certain: if she didn’t remember, I sure wasn’t going to be the one to tell her!’ [What’s the bet it’s a fkn stupid reason?]
Back to Lindsay, and it’s the next afternoon now. She’s on duty at the pool and groans to herself when she spots Arnie hanging up the pay phone and walking over to her. She’s been avoiding him all day, but now she can’t escape. He wants to apologise for last night and didn’t realise how rough he was being, and Lindsay decides he’s being sincere and forgives him, even admitting she may have overreacted last night too. [Girl, he was trying to force himself on you, you didn’t overreact at all! You’re not at fault for a man’s actions] Arnie asks if she wants to go see a movie or something tonight, and when Lindsay tells him no, he asks if she’d be keen to go out some other night. She tells him maybe, and he suggests Friday, but she’s saved from having to answer because Pete starts shouting at Arnie to get over to the kiddie pool. As he walks off, Lindsay realises she’s still a little afraid of Arnie despite the apology, because he’s just too eager, too desperate. When she turns back toward the pool, she spots a middle-aged, short and plump woman gawking at her. Lindsay doesn’t recognise the woman, [Does Lindsay recognise anyone, though?] who states that she remembers her and asks if she’s OK, which Lindsay confirms:
“But—” The woman started to say something, then stopped herself. She stared at me a bit longer, raising a hand to her chin.
She shook her head. “Sorry, she murmured. “I thought…” Her voice trailed off. She hurried away.
What is her problem? I asked myself.
Why did she look so shocked to see me? So shocked she could barely speak?
“I’m alive!” I wanted to shout after her. “I’m Lindsay Beck, and I’m alive!”
So why did she stare at me as if she were seeing a ghost?
After dinner, a restless Lindsay decides to take a walk, but on her way past the small building where the gym is she a pair of arguing voices. Sneaking a look from behind a hedge, she spots Pug and May-Ann having a heated conversation, but a low-flying jet overheard prevents her from hearing much, besides May-Ann telling Pug to keep his mouth shut. Deirdre appears beside Lindsay, angry at Pug the pig for making his way through the female lifeguards. She’s so angry that she could kill him! But not really, she says, apologising for her poor choice of words in the wake of poor Cassie’s death. Dierdre just can’t believe Pug’s chasing after May-Ann now, and although Lindsay disagrees because they’d just been arguing, she can’t explain why they’re now disappearing inside the gym building, arm in arm and looking quite cosy.
Later, Lindsay’s in her room trying to call her parents, but gets the same recorded message as every other time. She suddenly remembers her aunt Billie in Burlington and tries to call her after getting her information from an operator, but the phone just rings out. It also occurs to her that she’s been at the club for two weeks and hasn’t heard from her friends either and wonders if everyone thinks she’s dead. May-Ann still hasn’t returned by the time Lindsay falls asleep, only to wake up later and be beckoned out of the room by a ghostly whisper. She ends up following it all the way out to the exercise room, [Didn’t you learn your lesson last time, Lindsay?] where she discovers a lifeless Pug lying on his back between two weight machines, a weighted barbell pressed down on his neck, having choked him to death. In her panic, Lindsay tries to lift the barbell off him but is interrupted by Peter, who comes into the room behind her.
Part Four: The Ghost Revealed
[God, how many parts are there in this book?! I don’t think it needs any] Instead of seeing that interaction, we jump forward a little bit to when the police are here, examining the crime scene and taking statements. The other lifeguards have all been gathered to the gym, including May-Ann, and Pete’s explaining to Officer Malone how he was walking to his room to go to bed when he noticed the light on in here, so had come to investigate and found Lindsay lifting the barbell off of Pug. Speaking of Pug, his body is still lying there, uncovered for everyone to see, [Which seems unprofessional?? Like, why are the police gathering a bunch of teens to a room with the corpse of their dead friend out in the open, for a second time?] and Lindsay vomits when she sees a black spider crawl down Pug’s forehead and into his nose. [Oof]
A short time later, everyone’s in the common room where Officer Malone asks Lindsay what we’re all thinking: ‘”You heard a whispered voice and you followed it—again—knowing that the first time it led you to a murdered girl?”‘ Lindsay explains the voice had pleaded with her, then gets upset and accuses Officer Malone of thinking she’s a murderer. Another policeman, Officer Trent, enters the room and theorises that someone’s killing the group off one by one, also revealing that Pug had been dead for at least an hour. He also thinks Lindsay looks familiar, but before they can discuss it any further, Officer Malone starts questioning May-Ann about whether Lindsay’s had any disagreements with Pug. May-Ann confirms that Lindsay had no reason to kill him, but does inform the officers that she’d seen Lindsay after dinner, hiding behind a hedge, staring at her and Pug with a strange look on her face.
Another brief phone call to Terry from Mouse reveals how excited Mouse is to have killed another one and not be suspected at all. Mouse already has the next victim picked out, and will call Terry again once it’s done.
The club is closed for a day and once opened again, everyone’s just going through the motions. Everyone does their own thing after work, avoiding one another, but every now and again Lindsay will catch someone staring at her and just knows they’re wondering if she’s a killer. Four nights after Pug’s murder, Pete tries to raise everyone’s spirits by assuring them the troubles are over and summer is just starting. He’s working on replacements for Cassie and Pug, and the police have a new theory: someone climbed over the fence those two nights, broke into the grounds and killed Cassie and Pug. Lindsay doesn’t believe that [Does anyone?] and suddenly realises that the killer has to be one of her colleagues.
She decides she has to get away for a while and borrows Danny’s car again, and soon she’s speeding along the freeway, windows down, hot wind streaming into the car. She’s about to turn on the radio when she catches a glimpse of a face in the rearview mirror… there’s someone in the backseat!! She manages to keep control of the vehicle and scolds Arnie, who apologises because he didn’t mean to scare her. [So why wouldn’t you announce yourself when she got into the car??] He thought he’d come along, try and cheer her up, because he doesn’t care what the others think; ‘”I don’t think you’re a murderer.”‘ Lindsay still finds herself frightened by the little creep, especially when he explains that he likes her and thinks she likes him too. He even climbs into the passenger seat and grabs her arm, and she angrily pulls the car over and leaps out. Crossing to the other side, she throws the passenger door open and orders him to get out, otherwise she’ll flag someone down and get the police. She tries to pull him out, but he doesn’t give in, instead telling her she’s making a huge mistake.
Over to Danny now, who’s frolicking in the pool with everyone else, but is growing concerned because it’s after midnight now and Lindsay hasn’t returned with his car. Arnie seems to be missing too, but everyone suspects he’d just gone into town unnoticed. Lindsay finally arrives home and tells Danny what happened with Arnie, explaining she’d left him on the side of the road so he could walk back. Upon everyone’s encouragement, she changes into a swimsuit and joins everyone in the pool. At one point, after May-Ann and Deirdre climb out and head to the diving board, laughing about something, May-Ann pushes Deirdre into the pool. This prompts some relentless screaming from Lindsay, who’s dragged from the pool by the boys and doesn’t seem to hear them when they ask what’s wrong. Finally, she explains that her memory suddenly came back to her when May-Ann pushed Deirdre into the water, and that she is, in fact, not Lindsay [I don’t think any of us are surprised here] — ‘”I’m Marissa!” Lindsay cried. “Marissa Dutton. I killed Lindsay two years ago!”‘
Back to Marissa, formerly known as Lindsay, who’s escorted to the common room of the guest house by Danny and Spencer, and tells them her story. [Are the others not interested to hear from a self-confessed murderer?] She and Lindsay, both from Shadyside, had been lifeguards here two summers ago and shared a dorm. One afternoon, they’d gotten into an argument by the pool about something silly, and Marissa had shoved Lindsay, who fell into the pool. She’d hit her head on the side on her way down, splitting her head open and dying. Afterwards, Marissa’s guilt lead her to assume Lindsay’s identity, bringing the dead lifeguard back to life by becoming her. Marissa really believed she was Lindsay, and ended up in a mental hospital for a while. The doctors worked hard to remove her guilt, to make her realise the death was just a tragic accident and she couldn’t blame herself for the rest of her life. [Shouldn’t she have been charged? Like yes, it was an accident, but it would also be manslaughter, wouldn’t it?] Marissa was eventually sent home to her parents after missing an entire school year and last summer, and things had been going OK for this past school year. But it seems Marissa was sent home too soon, not ready to be herself fulltime, and she now remembers becoming Lindsay again and just sneaking out one morning this summer and returning to the club, thinking she was supposed to be a lifeguard. Her parents don’t even know she’s here! She has no idea why she came back, maybe subconsciously needing to return to the place where she’d killed Lindsay.
With that revelation, the room is silent for a little while, until Spencer finally asks why she killed Cassie and Pug. Marissa replies that she doesn’t know, then jumps to her feet and shrilly denies killing them. At least, she doesn’t remember if she did or not. Spencer theorises she killed them and blocked that memory away too, but Marissa starts to protest that she had no reason to kill them, but then stops, suddenly remembering that Spencer had said he remembers her, so why hadn’t he said anything? Spencer sheepishly admits he didn’t really remember; he’d just arrived and the club had only been open a few days before one girl was dead and another was being taken away. He remembers seeing Marissa, but then she was gone and he didn’t remember her name, so was unable to recall if it was Lindsay or Marissa who’d died. [Hmm, sounds suspicious…]
Danny assumes everyone else has gone to bed and decides to go wake Pete to tell him what’s gone on, [Seriously, they all went to bed? How were they not interested in hearing Marissa’s story?!] while Marissa heads to Pete’s office to call her actual parents, declining Spencer’s offer to come with her. Before she can make the call, she realises Spencer’s followed her anyway, wanting to make sure she’s OK after her trauma dumping. Before she can get out a reply, the phone rings, and Marissa answers as they both wonder who’d be calling at such an hour:
I picked up the receiver and heard a woman’s voice. I could tell instantly that she was very stressed out. “Is this the North Beach Country Club?”
Pete’s speakerphone was on. Spencer and I could both hear her.
“Yes, it is,” I replied.
“This is Mrs. Brown,” the woman said. “I must apologize for not calling sooner. You all must be wondering why my son Spencer never showed up for his lifeguard job.”
[Oop] Spencer Brown was murdered the day before he was supposed to arrive at the club, and his heartbroken mother had had to be sedated. She’s been under so much stress lately she barely knows if it’s day or night, but she knew she should call and let the club know why Spencer never showed up. The line goes dead, and Marissa realises Spencer’s no longer in the room, but she hears footsteps running down the hall. Apparently it doesn’t even cross her mind that the Spencer she knows is also an imposter and is the real killer, because she goes chasing after him out to the pool area. Marissa’s still confused by the woman’s words and asks why she’d said Spencer was dead, so he clarifies things for her — ‘”I had to be a lifeguard. For Terry. Spencer died so I could be the lifeguard.”‘ And now Marissa has to die too!
Marissa still doesn’t understand, even the death threat, and Spencer explains that she knows too much. He’d already made the decision to kill her next anyway, and Marissa finally realises the danger she’s in. Spencer asserts that Marissa needs to die before her full memory comes back and she remembers who he really is, [Why not kill her first instead of Cassie then?] and just as he says the words, Marissa does remember who he really is — Jack Mouser, who everyone called Mouse. He was here two years ago, but not as a lifeguard. He and Terry worked in the kitchen, but they really wanted to be lifeguards. Marissa remembers how the lifeguards would tease the kitchen dudes, and they made them believe they could certify them. Mouse angrily recalls how the lifeguards had made him and Terry do twenty dives into the pool each one night, as well as drop to the bottom of the pool and hold their breath ‘”till we almost drowned”‘, and run 50 laps around the pool in flipflops. And it was all just a cruel joke; after the boys passed the test, the lifeguards laughed at them and told them it was all a joke. [Not to victim blame here but were they really that stupid to believe that was the kind of stuff that would qualify them as a lifeguard?]
Marissa admits that it was mean, but it was just a joke! Mouse reveals that Terry was a great guy, but was really messed up. He had a lot of personal problems, and when he was rejected from being a lifeguard last summer, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back; ‘”He went home, and he killed himself.”‘ [Poor Terry ☹️] And now Mouse is here to pay the lifeguards back, one by one. He doesn’t care that they’re not all the same lifeguards, and Terry doesn’t care either; all the lifeguards will die! And now it’s Marissa’s turn! Right after he continues talking for a bit longer, explaining how happy he was to see her here when he’d arrived, so happy to see that she was messed up too and didn’t even remember her own identity — ‘”I could kill the lifeguards and make everyone think you did it.”‘ [Smart thinking] He admits to being the one whispering to her, calling her out to find Cassie and Pug, so that wraps up that loose end. And now it’s time for Marissa to die, finally.
She tries to escape, but runs into a deck chair and is easily captured, clamping a hand over her mouth so she can’t scream. He drags her over to the pool and drops her in, holding her underwater with one hand on her shoulder and the other gripping her hair. She thrashes about but is unable to escape his grasp, and starts to succumb to the water. Marissa feels Mouse’s grip loosen and as soon as she’s floating free, pulls herself to the surface. Mouse, his back to the pool, turns around in surprise, realising she’d pretended to drown so he’d let go. [Yessss, I always wonder why victims never do that when they’re being drowned by a murderer??] Before he can move, she grabs his ankles and yanks him into the water, where they both struggle to get the upper hand on the other. As he begins to choke Marissa, she hears a splash as May-Ann comes to help, and together they drag Mouse to the shallow end. Danny, Deirdre and Pete appear too, and they work together to pin Mouse down. Arnie returns finally and is sent to call the police while Marissa explains that Jack Mouser killed the real Spencer Brown and took his place so he could kill off the lifeguards.
Leaving Mouse in the hands of the others, May-Ann wraps Marissa in a hug, apologising for suspecting her. Marissa admits to suspecting May-Ann right back and demands to know where she was the nights of the murders. May-Ann quietly reveals she’d been with Pete; they were dating back home, but there’s a rule against him dating the lifeguards so they had to keep it a secret while they’re working here. Pug had found out and was threatening to tell, just for the fun of it, which is why May-Ann had been arguing with him in front of the weight room.
With the police arriving, the girls head toward the guest house to get dried off, with Marissa planning to call her parents straight away, and when asked by May-Ann what she’s going to tell them, the book ends with a simple ‘”That I’m okay,”‘ from Marissa. [Kind of an underwhelming final line compared to the quips we usually finish with, but oh well]
Final thoughts
This was a fun little mystery that had enough going on to prevent it from being too predictable, even though I’d read it years ago. Like I mentioned in the first impressions, I knew there was a death involving gym equipment, but I felt almost sure that it was an obnoxious gym junkie female character who was murdered there, not an obnoxious male. Maybe I’m getting confused with another book? Or maybe I’d just merged Cassie and Pug into one character in my memory. Who knows.
I liked that literally everyone was a suspect at one point or another because it makes it harder to pin down the real bad guy. I also enjoyed the unreliable narrator aspect with Marissa/Lindsay and her memory issues.
There were some things I didn’t like, of course, like the POV jumping from person to person, but 90% of the time focussing on Marissa/Lindsay. I don’t think it was necessary to get Danny’s perspective of anything because it didn’t really offer anything to the story, and May-Ann and Spencer only got like one chapter each, so what was the point? Danny was also super annoying with how he was so focused on the girls liking the other guys better, but literally made no effort whatsoever to interact with any of them. He just felt entitled to their admiration and lust because he was the head lifeguard big enchilada. Arnie also could have been fleshed out a bit better, because why did he suddenly become such a creep? That’s the norm for Shadyside boys who have crushes, but Arnie’s not from Shadyside.
I’d also love to know who died last summer, since it wasn’t Lindsay (who’d died the previous summer), or Terry (who killed himself at home). The Mouse chapters were a good addition at the start to add to the mystery, but they got a bit useless as the book went on, not really offering up anything that would hint towards any suspects.
Lastly, with a cast list that huge, their should have been way more deaths. Only two out of nine potential victims were killed! I expect better from the Super Chillers.
All in all, it was still a good read, so 107 beckoning whispers in the night out of 144!
