Tagline: It was too shocking to tell…
Back tagline: Do you want to hear a secret?
Summary: Holly did. She learned a terrible secret, and now her friends know it too.
Someone wants to make sure they never talk about it. Someone who’ll go to any length to keep them quiet.
Lying…
Threats…
Even murder.
First impressions: This one appeals to me because I love knowing everything about everyone. Very curious to know what Holly heard but given the track record of secrets in the books I’ve recapped so far [Looking at you, Shane, Margot and Lacey], I’m not expecting much.
Love the cover though! I’m assuming that’s Holly showing a severe lack of subtlety as she eavesdrops at the lockers. Let’s read! [And check out the episode of the Fear Street Book Club podcast where I discussed this book with Hannah!]
Recap
Meet the squad:
Miriam – Our protagonist who loves hearing gossip just as much as Holly loves spreading it.
Holly – The gossip queen of Shadyside High.
Ruth – The shy, more reserved best friend.
Jed – Miriam’s boyfriend who’s been distant and aggressive lately.
Gary – Holly’s boyfriend who’s like a brother to Ruth.
Mei – An old friend of Miriam’s who dropped her friends as soon as she started dating Noah.
Noah – Mei’s bad boy boyfriend who Holly is also super into.
We begin with our protagonist, Miriam [We’ve been hoodwinked! I expected gossip girl Holly to be the main character. Also, Miriam is a name for an old woman!] at her locker with best friend, Ruth, when her other best friend, Holly, comes running down the hall to tell them the latest goss. Although they’re both besties with Miriam, Ruth and Holly don’t always get along because they’re so different:
Ruth was shy, with a definite sarcastic streak running beneath her quiet exterior. Holly was bubbly and social, and went out of her way to make others smile.
Ruth wore no makeup and let her blond hair hang straight to her shoulders. Holly spent hours on her “look”. She permed her long dark hair and sported a trendy wardrobe that always included her bright blue scarf, which she claimed brought her good luck.
[Trademark blue scarf? That is Holly on the cover! But it says she’s got a perm and later the book describes her curls, so like…???] Miriam wishes Ruth could be a little more outgoing so everyone would get along better, but she loves her besties all the same, hehe!
Anyway, Holly’s gossip is about Mei, an old friend of Miriam’s who’s also the Asian girl on the front cover [Mei’s outfit description matches the cover too!]. Mei’s dating Noah, an “infamous senior” at Shadyside High:
He was kind of wild, and very unpredictable. He wore his black hair long, past his shoulders, and he had a double-pierced ear, a lean muscular body, and a lot of attitude.
How I picture Noah and his bad attitude
[Is that supposed to be Noah on the cover? The hair doesn’t match and I don’t see any earrings… Does the cover artist read the books before doing the artwork?! Also LOL at the double pierced ear – that’s the sign of a Shadyside bad boy]. Mei’s been fighting with her mother lately about Noah because her parents are both doctors and they’re all about doing good in school [Ethnic diversity with a side of stereotypes, please xx]. Mei’s thinking about running away, but Holly hopes the happy couple breaks up because she wants Noah all for herself. This doesn’t sit well with Ruth, because Holly’s already got a boyfriend, Gary, who’s like a brother to Ruth, who’s known him her whole life [Holly u little slut! I love her though].
Speaking of Noah, here he comes down the hall now! He stops for a chat with Holly, but Mei soon appears to put an end to that. Noah quickly forgets about Holly as he leaves with Mei, and Ruth snaps at her for pining after him when she’s got a great guy like Gary [If he’s so great, why don’t you go out with him Ruth? I’m gonna call it right now, if something happens to Holly, Ruth’s responsible]. Besides, Mei will never break up with Noah. “We’ll see,” replies Holly, who’s got something up her sleeve for Mei’s party tonight because “love makes you do crazy things.” [We’re probably supposed to be against Holly but she’s honestly great]. Sick of Holly’s indifference towards Gary’s feelings, Ruth storms off in a huff [She really has her knickers in a twist over everything Holly does, so she’s definitely gonna be the bad guy].
Miriam and Holly both live on Fear Street, so Holly drives her home each day. As they head to her car, they spot Jed, Miriam’s boyfriend, quickly dropping something into his bag and zipping it up. Miram calls out to him and hurries over for a little lovers chat. Jed’s banking on getting a basketball scholarship for college and has been “acting like a different person ever since the basketball play-offs had started”, the boy Miriam fell for often replaced by a “dark, angry creature” [Abusive boyfriend? Check]. He’s in a mood right now, too, and has forgotten all about Mei’s party. He’s all whiny about going but finally agrees to pick Miriam up at 8:00 before heading back to training.
On the car ride home, Holly asks what Jed put in his bag as Miriam approached, and Miriam suspects Holly knows something she doesn’t, or at least thinks she knows something. Our gossip queen offers to suss out anything sketchy for her best friend, and Miriam accepts as long as Holly’s subtle and doesn’t directly spy on him [Based on the cover, I wouldn’t be counting on Holly’s subtlety skills].
Jed and Miriam drive to the party with Ruth and Patrick, Miriam’s cousin she’s trying to get Ruth with [So many characters in the book already, wtf]. Jed apologises for his mood earlier, explaining he’s just really stressed about the playoffs and because there’s college scouts coming to the game tomorrow, so Miriam comforts him:
Miriam reached over and stroked his freshly showered hair. It felt smooth and moist.
[Hahahahaha thanks for that description]. In the backseat, Ruth doesn’t seem all that interested in Patrick, because all she cares about are books and her two pet hamsters. At the party, they spot Gary and Holly, who’s wearing a black, skin-tight dress that makes everyone stare, but I think we all know who’s attention she really wants. As Ruth and Patrick dance, Miriam and Holly leave Jed and Gary, who also happen to be best friends, so Miriam can scold Holly about her infatuation with Noah.
The dress has definitely got Noah’s attention, but Holly feels bad about it now because Mei is furious [Honestly, what did Holly expect? She’s been very open with her flirting]. But poor Holly just can’t get Noah out of her head and she doesn’t know why. Miriam’s never seen Holly upset over a guy before, so maybe Holly’s crush is more serious then she thinks. Miriam doesn’t like Noah that much anyway and tells Holly he’s not worth the heartache and Holly seemingly agrees not to steal him from Mei.
Shortly after, the lights go out and when Mei’s dad gets them back on, Holly is wrapped in the arms of Noah [Cheeky little devil!]. Miriam watches as Mei storms over, but Holly casually strolls back to Gary before Mei reaches them and Noah says something that calms her down.
Miriam pulls Holly aside and scolds her again for flirting with Mei’s boyfriend in her own house [Which I agree is very disrespectful], but Holly claims she was just scared and grabbed the closest person to her, and would never do that to Gary [Hun, you’ve been going after Noah since before the book even started, of course you would]. Miriam thinks she almost seems sincere, if not for the self-satisfied smile on her face.
The next day, Miriam and Ruth wait for Holly to pick them up from Ruth’s place for the big basketball game. As Ruth removes her Shadyside sweatshirt from her backpack, an old, damaged hammer falls out. Ruth says it’s for a loom she’s building for art class and that it belonged to her dad, who died of a heart attack three years ago, and Miriam knows Ruth’s still very hung up on it. She suspects it’s why she avoids guys, too – she’s scared to get close to anyone again [Poor Ruth. Maybe that’s why she’s so defensive about Gary, too, since he’s the only guy in her life. I still think she’s in love with him though].
The conversation quickly turns to Holly’s shenanigans last night and Ruth is really sick of it. Ruth reveals she spoke with Gary at the party and he apparently knows that Holly isn’t really interested in him, but he’s too nice for his own good and he really likes Holly [I like Holly, but poor Gary. But still, he’s a big boy, he can end the relationship himself if he wants to].
Holly arrives with some more juicy gossip from last night’s party. After Miriam, Ruth and their dates left, some of Noah’s friends, who are also bad news [Are they hard dudes from Waynesbridge?], showed up and were kicked out by Mei’s parents. Mei got into an intense argument with her mother straight away about how Noah’s “irresponsible and a creep”, even though he didn’t invite his friends, they just showed up. Then everyone was kicked out, and there was beer cans all over the front lawn and the Kamatas’ car was toilet papered [Lol were these boys 12?].
But that wasn’t the end of it, because Holly heard more later! She’s positively glowing as she tells her friends that Mei’s mother forbade her from seeing Noah ever again [Now’s your time to shine, Holly! Break up with Gary first though plz]. Miriam encourages Holly to just forget about Noah again, since the whole incident will probably just make Mei’s relationship with him stronger, and Ruth and Holly start arguing about Holly’s gossiping habit:
“What do you care, Ruth?” Holly replied angrily. “You’ve never cared about any guy before.”
Ruth’s eyes narrowed, and she took a deep breath. “How do you know?” she snapped. “You don’t know anything about me! And I know everything about you—whether I want to or not.”
[Ooh, burn! Ruth’s 100% in love with Gary. Otherwise maybe she just has a stronger friendship with him than with Holly! This is a Point Horror though, so a love triangle is more accurate]. Holly eventually tells Ruth her relationship with Gary is none of her business anyway [except Holly’s putting her in an awkward position by constantly banging on about a boy that’s not her boyfriend, so really, she’s made it Ruth’s business], and Miriam breaks up the fight. Holly’s ready to forget about the whole thing, but Ruth’s lost her appetite for basketball and opts to stay home, although she does crack a smile at a joke from Holly, so I think things are all good.
At the basketball game, Jed is playing horribly [Can’t wait to see how he takes it out on Miriam lol] and eventually cops an elbow to the face after going for the ball alongside an opposing player. In return, Jed punches the guy and begins to strangle him. The other players manage to pull Jed off and he’s kicked off the court and forced to hit the showers. Miriam has never seen her boyfriend like this before, so she knows something is seriously wrong. Holly’s had no luck gaining any knowledge about what’s bugging him, but decides she’ll just ask Gary, who’ll surely know what’s up.
As everyone leaves after the game, which Shadyside won by one point thanks to Gary, Holly is a little upset to see Noah and Mei leaving together [Holly, they’re a couple!]. Miriam is secretly glad that they haven’t split up because she likes to believe that love is all that matters in a relationship [That’s definitely not the right attitude towards love in Shadyside. Something tells me she’s about to learn that the hard way with Jed].
Miriam wants to talk to Jed before heading home, so waits by the locker room while Holly heads back to the car to wait there. When Jed comes out, he angrily reveals he was almost kicked off the team. He hates being pushed around, and Miriam is still confused by his overdramatic mood swings, so he pokes her hard several times in the shoulder to see how she likes it. It hurts, but Jed doesn’t care, grabbing Miriam’s hand and twisting her fingers:
Miriam tried to free her hand, but his grip remained locked. She stared into his eyes and saw only delight there.
Delight in the pain he was inflicting on her.
“Jed,” Miriam gasped. “You’re hurting me!”
He didn’t seem to hear her.
He’s going to break my hand! she realised.
The pain shot up her arm, and she started to scream.
[Is love all that matters now, Miriam? Axe Jed asap]. He lets go and it’s almost as if he’s been snapped out of a deep trance. He apologises, but his only excuse is that he’s going crazy tonight because of basketball. Miriam isn’t having a bar of that pathetic excuse and walks off, unable to be around him any longer. A Shadyside girl who’s not turned on by abuse?! Never thought I’d see the day! Could Miriam be my favourite Fear Street girl? Maybe not, because her next thoughts are about comforting him:
This is Jed. This is the guy you care about. And he’s hurting, and he’s scared. I don’t think he’s ever been scared before.
[Girl, know your worth. I should’ve known better than to think any Shadyside girl could fully break the mould. Still, props to Miriam for standing her ground for a fleeting moment]. She turns around and warns him against ever laying a hand on her again [Good girl!], and the couple make up.
When Miriam gets back to Holly’s car, her friend has the gossip of a lifetime! She just heard Mei and Noah arguing at Mei’s car, so the snoopy girl hid out of sight and listened – turns out Mei and her mother have been fighting a lot worse than previously thought, and Holly’s certain she heard them saying “they were going to kill Mei’s mother” [Man, this is shaping up to be my favourite Fear Street! We’ve got Gossip Girl, a protagonist who stands up for herself and two teens conspiring to commit murder. What more could we want?!]. Miriam thinks that’s absolutely crazy, but Holly is almost hysterical, absolutely sure of what she heard, so Miriam coaxes out a word-for-word retelling:
“And then…and then I heard Mei.” Holly’s voice shook. “Mei yelled, ‘I’ll kill my mother for this.'”
Miriam almost laughed out loud. “That’s it?”
[Amen Miriam, I was expecting an elaborate murder plot]. Holly reckons Mei really sounded like she meant it, and Noah seemed to take her seriously:
“He told her he’d be willing to do whatever it took to make sure he could keep seeing her. Whatever it took, Miriam! Even murder!”
[EVEN MURDER, MIRIAM!!!! Calm the fuck down, Holly]. Miriam explains that every teenager says that about their parents at some point or another, and Holly is convinced enough to finally head home. During the drive, Holly asks how things went with Jed, and Miriam explains the whole hand crushing thing [Tsk tsk, Miriam]. Holly argues that it is a big deal and “any guy who will hurt you like that isn’t worth it” [Preach it, sister!], scolding her for defending Jed.
At school on Monday morning, Miriam tells Ruth all about the Jed thing, and Ruth is also more concerned for Miriam’s welfare than Miriam is herself. Then Miriam tells her what Holly heard [See what I did there? Hehe xo] and they share a big old chuckle about it since Mei’s the kind of gal that wouldn’t even risk breaking a nail!
Suddenly Holly appears with some bad news – Mei’s mother is dead! She was found at the bottom of the staircase, her neck broken. Holly’s completely distraught and just knows Mei and/or Noah is responsible, but Miriam just can’t believe that her old friend Mei could ever do something like that. It definitely wouldn’t be out of character for Noah though, since he hangs out with a bad crowd, drinks alcohol [Gasp!] and brags about doing dangerous things.
Speaking of Noah, here he comes now! He came to get Mei’s schoolwork for the week because she’s such a wreck. He then tells Holly he saw her in the parking lot on Saturday before walking off, and now Holly’s convinced she’s next on the kill list [I mean, it’s definitely a weird thing to say out of nowhere, so it sure seems like a warning to me]. Ruth and Miriam tell her she’s being a silly poo and make Holly promise not to tell anyone anything in case Mei and Noah are completely innocent.
That night, Miriam gets a call from Holly, who’s still at school helping decorate the gym for the victory rally Shadyside High will hold if they win the basketball tournament [A bit premature, but yolo]. Holly’s all alone and super scared, seeing menacing shadows everywhere, and begs Miriam to come keep her company while she finishes up. Miriam doesn’t seem keen, but Holly entices her with the claim of having something important to tell her about Jed [I’ve mentioned before how I hate when someone forces someone to meet them later to give them information when they could just do it on the phone or when they organised the meet-up in the first place, so it’s amazing to see an actual reason behind the trope for once].
When Miriam arrives at school shortly after, she finds Holly’s corpse, strangled to death with her trademark blue scarf, her eyes rolled to the back of her head “like two egg whites” [Hahahaha what a weird description]. Miriam screams and runs away, but she’s grabbed by Jed, who wants to know why she’s screaming. He goes to check Holly’s body for himself and they call the police before heading outside to wait for them [Why hasn’t she asked what he’s doing at the school so late?]. For some reason, Jed gets way too angry that the police are taking so long to arrive and starts banging his fists on Holly’s car [Roid rage maybe?] and finally Miriam asks what he was even doing here anyway.
He claims he was getting in a late workout sesh with Gary, who’d left 10 minutes earlier, and they didn’t hear anything because they were playing loud music [But surely Holly would have heard the music? If she was so scared, she would’ve gone to find where it was coming from for company, right?]. Anyway, Miriam thinks nothing more on the subject [But I’m thinking Jed and/or Gary murdered Holly. Probably too obvious though] and we cut to the next day at Miriam’s Fear Street residence, where Ruth and Miriam discuss the murder.
We get a surprisingly realistic portrayal of different types of grief, as Miriam openly struggles to come to terms with Holly’s death while Ruth’s sadness is less obvious but present nonetheless [These books tend to gloss over the mourning phase a fair bit, so it’s nice to see characters dealing with their emotions instead of the book just jumping forward two weeks]. Miriam stayed home from school today, and apparently so did Gary and Mei, as Ruth reports. Noah was there though, looking all psycho and like he hadn’t slept. Despite both suspecting Mei and/or Noah was responsible for Holly’s murder, they fear they won’t be taken seriously by the police since their only proof is a rumour.
When Ruth reaches into her bag for Miriam’s schoolwork, they discover a notebook with a blood-red message written on the cover:
“’We know you know,’” Miriam read, her voice trembling. “‘That’s why you die next!’”
The girls realise Mei and Noah must have figured out that Holly told them what she’d heard and decide the notebook is enough proof to go to the police about everything. The police take them seriously, and two hours later, Miriam’s home alone waiting for her mother to return from dropping Ruth home. She really wants to talk to Jed, so calls him up and invites him over, but comforting his girlfriend is the last thing on his mind when he arrives. He talks shit about Holly, angry that the school is making out like she was some sort of saint:
“She treated Gary like dirt! And she stuck her nose in everyone else’s business. Miriam—she was even asking Gary questions about me. What did she need to know about me? Huh? What’s wrong with me?”
[…]
“She was murdered, Jed!” Miriam cried. “Someone strangled her! How can you be so heartless?”
Jed leaned close to Miriam, his breath hot on her face, his eyes cold. “Because it was all Holly’s fault.”
[Ummmm, what a fucking asshole. Even if you hated Holly, she was Miriam’s best friend, show some damn sympathy. Maybe Jed really did kill her? He’s certainly got motive, it seems. Miriam better not end up with him in the end!]. It’s Miriam’s turn to rage now as she confesses to asking Holly to ask around about him since he’d been acting so differently. She demands to know what’s been going on with him, but he sticks to his story about all the pressure he’s under from his dad, the coach, the whole school etc [Which sounds legit enough but at the same time his mood swings are dangerous, so…]. She wants to know why he thinks Holly is to blame for her own death, but Jed just cryptically says “You don’t know everything, Miriam.” [Is he victim blaming her because she found out something she shouldn’t have and had to die as a result? If he’s the killer and that’s what’s happened, it’s still not her fault, bud. God, I’m so invested in these characters hahahaha]. Jed jumps straight back into his car and speeds off while Miriam realises he’s no longer the guy she fell in love with and is basically a stranger now [You deserve better though, girl!].
At school the next day, Miriam’s unable to bring herself to enter the gym for the memorial the school is holding for Holly, not wanting to be reminded of her friend’s dead body. She can’t stop thinking about it anyway though, and runs to the bathroom to throw up while the rest of the school attends the service [Again, I really like how we’re seeing Miriam’s reaction to Holly’s death. It’s refreshing to see her grief continue instead of just being confined to one or two paragraphs and moving on]. She calms herself down but is soon confronted by Mei and Noah, who demand to know what she told the police.
Turns out they were both questioned last night, Noah for four hours, and they plead their case to Miriam about being innocent. Mei explains that her mother’s death was just a freak accident – she’d sprained her ankle the previous week and it gave out again at the top of the stairs. She tries to appeal to the strong friendship she and Miriam once shared before declaring that a lot of people probably wanted Holly and her big mouth dead [That’s a bit dramatic, Mei]. Miriam admits that she wants to believe her old friend is innocent, but isn’t sure what she’s capable of ever since she started dating Noah, which Mei doesn’t like:
“I would kill for Noah!” She cried. “Don’t say a word about Noah!”
Miriam gasped. “You would kill?”
Mei smiled. “I would,” she repeated. “But I didn’t.”
[Not really helping your own case there, Mei]. Miriam stays late after school that day to make up for a test she missed and as she’s about to leave the near-empty school, she overhears Jed and Gary arguing. Gary apparently knows everything that Holly knew and is threatening to “blow the whistle” while Jed warns him to just forget everything [I reckon it’s steroids. It would definitely explain the mood swings, and he is an athlete under a lot of pressure].
After Gary leaves, Miriam speaks with Jed, who apologises for the nasty things he said about Holly [Well I don’t forgive you, Bucko]. He also invites her to watch the big game tonight – it’s the one that will determine whether Shadyside makes the finals and there’ll be six scouts watching [I hope you choke xx]. Instead of accepting the offer, Miriam demands to know one last time what he’s hiding from her, but he just sticks to his story about pressure and gets aggressive again. Miriam finally suspects Jed of Holly’s murder, since she obviously knew something bad about him and he was there the night she was murdered [So she didn’t suspect him when she asked what he was doing there on the actual night? Idiot. He’s obviously the red herring anyway, but still].
She asks what he was doing there that night again and he yells at her to ask Gary if she doesn’t believe him about lifting weights. Jed’s too busy dealing with the big game to worry about Miriam’s prying, and tells her as such, and she ultimately decides he didn’t kill Holly [That was a quick and not-really-justified turnaround, lol]. She apologises and promises to be at the game tonight.
We then cut to Ruth’s place a little later, where Miriam’s trying to convince her to come to the game as well so she doesn’t have to go alone. Ruth has no interest in possibly bumping into Mei and Noah, especially after Miriam told her earlier about the bathroom encounter. Apparently no amount of begging will convince Ruth:
“Gary is going to need all his friends for support, Ruth.” Miriam insisted. “This game will be really hard for him. You know how wrecked he is by Holly’s death.”
“I know. But think how wrecked he’d be if you and I were murdered, too,” Ruth replied.
[Hahaha fair call, Ruth. But honestly, what does she think’s going to happen to her surrounded by a crowd of people?]. Miriam thinks Mei was telling the truth in the bathroom, that Mei really believes her mother’s death was an accident. Ruth’s willing to accept this possibility, but they both agree that Noah was most likely involved, even if Mei is unaware. Ruth warns Miriam against going to the game because she thinks something terrible is going to happen, but Miriam heads off anyway [We are approaching the climax, people!].
Miriam arrives at the game half an hour early, hoping to smooth things over a bit more with Jed, since he “shouldn’t be worrying about her during his big game” [Yet another instance of the victim apologising for the abuser’s behaviour].
She scolds herself for even considering him as Holly’s killer when he has no reason to have done it [What? You know Holly knew something juicy about him? He was there that night? He’s been violently aggressive lately? Do I really need to go on? Again, I’m sure he’s innocent but still, there’s no reason for her to not consider him a suspect]. She spots Jed alone at a drinking fountain, popping something into his mouth and quickly swallowing it. Miriam asks what it was, but he nervously explains it’s a “high-potency vitamin” [It’s steroids] that gives him energy before a game and apologises for being a dick earlier. They make plans for after the game before he heads off to do some drills with the team.
During the game, where Jed is performing really well, Miriam notices Noah staring at her across the bleachers, but there’s no sign of Mei. When she glances in his direction later, he’s gone. She doesn’t have time to dwell on it though, because superstar basketballer Jed decides to get violent again, abusing the referee and punching an opposing player before strangling him and slamming his head into the floor again and again [Definitely roid rage. How you gonna justify this, Miriam?]. Miriam thinks he’s killing the other boy, and noticing his big strong hands around his throat, it all hits her – Jed did kill Holly [No he didn’t].
As Jed is pulled off court and shoved towards the showers, Miriam escapes the school, planning to go to Ruth’s [Who definitely killed Holly]. Outside, she hears someone following her and spots a tall, dark figure approaching. She just knows whoever it is has come to kill her and ducks behind a parked car, trying to make out who it is [There’s floodlights on but for some reason all she can see is his silhouette??], deciding it’s either Jed or Noah. She scurries to the end of the parked cars and breaks into a sprint, hearing Jed’s voice calling after her.
He gives chase, but Miriam manages to lose him a few houses down from Ruth’s and slows to a walk [Bad idea!]. As she continues on, Jed steps out from the bushes, blocking her path [We love a teleporting villain!]. He grabs her but she bites his hand and elbows him away, hurrying to Ruth’s door and pounding on it. When Ruth opens it, she barges in and locks it behind her, explaining that Jed’s the killer. Miriam notices her friend’s dishevelled appearance and bloodshot eyes, and Ruth reveals that Jed can’t be the murderer, because there were two more murders tonight [Oh god, Ruth’s murdered Mei and Noah, hasn’t she?].
Ruth pulls Miriam upstairs to her room, explaining that Mei and Noah broke in while she was asleep in the family room, home alone [She doesn’t explain why she thinks it was them, so it’s very suss. Not that Miriam notices anyway]. Inside her room lay the bodies of… Ruth’s two pet hamsters, their heads “smashed flat” [Oh my god this bitch killed her own pets!]. There’s also a note on the desk that reads “Dead hamsters today… dead girls tomorrow”, and the girls decide it’s time to get the cops involved [Miriam is really testing my patience now. Use your brain! Why wouldn’t Ruth have already called the police?!].
Ruth calls the police [Although Miriam’s not paying attention so who knows if she actually did call them] and Miriam offers to cover the hamster bodies so Ruth can go in and get changed. As she searches Ruth’s closet for an old shoe box, she finds the old hammer that belonged to Ruth’s dad wrapped in a bloody flannel shirt, covered in “bits of gristle, shreds of matted hair” [Called it!]. Ruth comes in and realises she’s been found out, and the pair fight over the hammer until she incapacitates Miriam with a whack to the knee, kicking off the bad guy monologue.
So it turns out Ruth was in love with Gary [Called it!] and had to stop Holly breaking his heart. She went to the school that night to convince Holly to break up with him [Why not convince him to break up with her though?], but Holly laughed in her face:
“As if he belonged to her! As if he had no feelings! She laughed at me. She promised that once she had Noah, she’d deliver Gary to me personally, like he was a shipment of meat!”
Well, Ruth got so mad that she strangled Holly, and notes the irony that Holly’s gossiping, which Ruth hated so much, turned out to be her alibi since Miriam was so convinced that Mei and Noah were responsible. She also declares that Mei’s mother’s death was nothing but a freak accident [Boringgggg]. Miriam tries to prevent her impending death by declaring that Jed will follow her into the house, but Ruth reckons she’ll just kill him too, frame him for all the murders and claim to have killed him in self defence [I’m not sure how strong her case would be since everyone saw him at the game?? She can’t frame him for the hamsters at the very least, especially since she owns the murder weapon???].
Sure enough, Jed walks in but he’s quickly knocked out with the hammer, and now it’s time to get rid of Miriam! Miriam manages to hobble to the wall and when Ruth is momentarily distracted by Jed groaning, Miriam lunges for the glass hamster cage and brings it down over Ruth’s head, knocking her out.
There’s one last cliffhanger chapter ending, with Jed coming to and claiming he killed Holly, but it turns out he just feels responsible because Gary told her Jed had been using steroids for the past four weeks [Knew it!] and Jed had asked her to wait for him in the gym that night [Which is why she didn’t just leave when she was feeling scared. But still, she knew Jed was lifting weights nearby, why not just go to him?]. Miriam tells him not to blame himself, and the book ends with one final quip:
“We’ve got to call the police,” Miriam said. “Right away.”
But Jed held on to her, pressing his face against hers. “Does this mean—you—you’re going to keep seeing me? If I promise never to take another pill. Will you—will you stay with me?”
Miriam sighed and held on to him. “That’s the latest gossip,” she whispered.
[Hahaha I hate it. Miriam, your best friend died because she couldn’t keep her mouth shut, this is no time for jokes about gossip!!].
Final thoughts
I loved this book! I feel like it had a different feel to other Fear Streets, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. I think it just didn’t seem as far-fetched as some of the others, maybe.
Miriam was a great protagonist, at least until the end when she stopped using her brain. I definitely relate to Holly with the whole gossip thing, which is probably why I liked it so much. I love that Miriam stood up for herself throughout the book, especially against Jed, but hate that she stayed stayed with him in the end. She was basically like “Oh, you took steroids, crushed my hand, verbally abused me multiple times, talked shit about my dead best friend and made me suspect you of murder? No big deal hehe love u xx”. Hate it. At least he won’t getting a scholarship anytime soon >:D.
73 trademark blue scarfs out of 80!
