Tagline: Happy holidays—you’re dead!
Back tagline: Don’t open that present!
Summary: If only Reva Dalby had listened to that warning.
But beautiful, cold Reva won’t listen to anyone. Reva thinks she can have whatever—and whoever—she wants. After all, her daddy owns Dalby Department Stores.
Now, someone has surprises instore for her. Robbery? Terror? Even murder? Someone wants to treat Reva to a holiday she’ll never forget.
Holiday cheer quickly turns to holiday chills for Reva. Someone is stalking her, someone is trying to get her.
Her money can’t help her. No one can.
After all, who can you turn to when murder comes gift-wrapped?
First impressions: Wowee, that might be the cheesiest blurb I’ve ever read. I love it! Not really sure what’s going on with this cover though. It looks like she’s trapped in a mirror, but I’m assuming it’s a window because there’s snow? I’m excited for these holiday chills, let’s read!
Recap
Roll call:
Reva – Shadyside’s biggest bitch and our protagonist.
Pam – Reva’s poor cousin and our second protagonist.
Hank – Reva’s ex who may or may not be trying to get back at her.
Foxy – Pam’s loving boyfriend with a stupid nickname.
Robb – “A real chub” that used to have a big crush on Reva.
Mickey – Pam’s friend and co-conspirator.
Clay – Pam’s other friend and co-conspirator.
Mitch – Lissa’s boyfriend who Reva gets her claws into.
Lissa – One of many of Reva’s victims.
We start with a prologue two weeks before Christmas where our protagonist, Reva Dalby, is working at the perfume counter in one of many Dalby Department Stores, all owned by her father. It quickly becomes clear we’ve got a rude, entitled piece of shit for a heroine who might even surpass Dore on the CU Next Tuesday scale [It’s gonna be a looooooong book. Literally as well as figuratively, this is a Super Chiller with just over 200 pages!]:
How tacky, Reva thought scornfully. That woman is beyond makeup. She should go straight to plastic surgery.
And look at the bleach job on the one over there. Or is her hair naturally green?
Reva snickered. Making fun of the customers was the only thing that got her through the day. They were all so pitiful. They just didn’t have a clue.
Her boss, Ms. Smith, who’s wearing tacky shoulder pads that Reva has a lot of disdain for, asks her politely to fill the Chanel display with the new stock, but Reva’s just got her nails done so there’s no way she’s doing manual labour [Oh my god I hate her]. Reva’s planning on quitting after Christmas anyway so has no problem challenging Ms. Smith’s authority, especially since her dad owns the store [Why is she even working anyway? It’s not like she needs the job?].
As Ms. Smith leaves to do it herself, Reva blatantly ignores a customer in need to apply some magenta lipstick, but feels a sharp pain in her lip as blood drips down her chin. Examining the tube of lipstick, she finds a needle poking out of the centre [Hahahaha good]. It’s a lipstick she’s used before though, so someone’s obviously done it recently. But who would do such a thing to Reva Dalby?! [Probably the whole of Shadyside, hun]
Chapter one picks up two weeks earlier as Reva drives around with her boyfriend of six months, Hank, in the passenger seat when she suddenly pulls over. She breaks up with Hank then and there, relishing in his sadness and confusion and wondering if his temper will fly out of control again, like that time he punched a hole through a screen door because she refused to see an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie [In classic Shadyside teen girl fashion, Reva was turned on by this display of masculinity]. While Hank’s usually kind and caring, Reva’s been enjoying making him angry over these las six months, but their relationship has run its course because she’s “decided to start the new year with someone more interesting” [Oof. What a bitch].
Hank promises her she’ll be sorry and despite having no idea where they even are because she pulled over somewhere completely random, Reva kicks him out of the car and offers a cheerful “happy holidays” before speeding away, leaving him to walk home [I think we’ve found our red herring!].
She heads to Dalby’s to meet her dad so they can drive home together, a once-a-week tradition since her mum died in a plane crash three years ago, and on the way she decides that a guy named Mitch will be her next boyfriend, regardless of the fact he’s already dating “that drippy Lissa Dewey” [Wow this girl really has nothing nice to say about anyone]. It’s 8pm, two hours after Dalby’s closes, so she lets herself in through the security entrance, acknowledges the security guard on duty and makes her way across the store to the elevators. For reasons she doesn’t understand, Reva’s had an irrational fear of being in the store after closing time since she was a little girl [It sounds like a great time to me tbh. Spooky, but I’d love it].
As she walks through the vast aisles and display cases, a reoccurring thought comes to mind—what if some deranged person or a “disgusting homeless person” [Reva is the poster child for white privilege] is hidden inside the store? And then a hand bumps her shoulder [!!!!!!]. Except it’s just a mannequin, which she only realises after shouting at it [I think we’ve all thought the mannequin in our peripheral vision was a real person at one point, but this dickhead is looking directly at it].
Up on the sixth floor, where all the executive offices are, she’s almost knocked over by the head of security, Mr. Wakely, who comes barging out of her dad’s office and storms off. She goes to school with his son, Mickey, but they don’t run in the same crowd of course, since Mickey’s from the Old Village and Reva’s from the expensive North Hills section of Shadyside [Reva, you uppity bitch].
Her dad reveals he just fired Mr. Wakely after catching him drinking on the job [Is it too early to assume he’s the bad guy?]. He also mentions some other problems at several of his department stores, but Reva makes it clear she has no interest in her father’s issues [Why is her dad letting her disrespect him like this? She needs a good smack]. Her dad also asks her to find some kids for him to hire for the holidays, and Reva is happy to oblige because it’s the perfect way to steal Mitch from Lissa, since Mitch will so grateful, “he’ll drop Lissa without hesitating” [I’m sure he’s got more integrity than that, Reva]:
She wondered how Lissa Dewey would react when she Reva stole her boyfriend from her. Just thinking about it made Reva smile all the way home.
What a hoot!
[Everything’s a damn hoot to this bitch]. Later that night, Reva calls Mitch to offer him a job at the department store, trying to seduce him over the phone as she reveals she’ll also be working there over Christmas. Mitch accepts, but also asks if there’s a job available for Lissa, too:
Why not? Reva told herself, unable to suppress a cunning smile. Having Lissa right there will make it even more interesting when I take Mitch away from her.
Lissa, who’s at Mitch’s house, comes to the phone to thank Reva, and asshole Reva tells her to wear her best clothes because she’s gonna be a sales girl at the Chanel counter, but really she’ll be loading shelves in the stockrooms [I really want to like Reva because she sort of gives me Rachael vibes, the kind of bitchy character I love, but she seems more like Dore, the bane of my existence].
Afterwards, Reva gets a call from her cousin Pam, AKA “Miss Pretty Puss”, AKA “Miss Sweet as Apple Pie”. Although Pam lives on Fear Street, is “pathetically poor” and “wore the same pair of jeans every time Reva saw her”, [Some jeans are just that good, though, ya know?], Reva envies Pam’s way with people and how everyone immediately likes her, not that she’d ever admit that to her cousin [Maybe if you weren’t such a narcissistic cow, people would like you more].
Pam wants to know if there’s any jobs available at the Dalby’s, but Reva lies that all the holiday jobs have been taken already because “who needs a poor, tacky cousin lurking about”? [Honestly, why has no-one put this little c*nt in her place yet? She’s making me so fkn mad]. She hangs up and we cut to Pam, [Our second protagonist I guess], who knows Reva was lying and wishes she could find a way to get back at her some day.
Frustrated and edgy now, Pam decides against calling her boyfriend, Foxy [Yuck hahahahah], who’s working on an important school project tonight, and phones good friend Mickey instead, agreeing to meet him and his friend, Clay, at the local 7-Eleven [Fear Street—proudly brought to you by 7-Eleven]. Although she’s been friends with Mickey since they were kids, she’s a bit scared of Clay, who has a bad temper, gets in lots of fights in school and “had even been suspended once for a week” [Why isn’t this Fear Street gal creaming her jeans over a bad boy like Clay?!].
Pam jumps into her dad’s unreliable shitbox of a car and drives to the 7-Eleven, where the cashier accuses Clay of stealing and calls the police. Clay jumps over the counter and starts shoving the poor guy, but leaves with Pam and Mickey when they hear sirens. A police chase ensues, with Clay erratically speeding in Pam’s dad’s car [Why are you letting him drive it anyway, Pam?!] until he eventually loses the cops.
Although she was terrified, Pam secretly enjoyed the thrill of the chase and isn’t worried about the police running the number plate because it had fallen off the car last week and hasn’t been replaced yet [Luckyyyyyyyy. That’ll get you another fine though, surely?]. Clay reveals the cashier was right to call the police, because he did steal some food, and Pam tells him he should learn to control his temper. Mickey mentions his dad getting fired from Dalby’s earlier tonight and Pam joins him in sorrow, telling the boys how she couldn’t get a holiday job there. This confuses Clay, who explains he heard from Mitch about Reva’s job offer for him and Lissa, and now Pam is fuming:
“I’m going to get Reva,” she said in a low voice she didn’t recognise. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. But somehow, I’m really going to get her.”
It’s Sunday now and we’re back to Reva, who’s driving around town looking for something to do. She spots Robb, a guy in her class who used to follow her around like a puppy dog hoping she’d go out with him. Although she’s always liked Robb, there was one thing stopping her from considering him as a potential boyfriend:
She’d never go out with him because he was overweight. I just couldn’t go out with such a buffalo, Reva told herself.
[I’m sure you’re no prize pig either, Reva]. As they talk, she remembers Dad needs a new Santa for the store, and big fat, “roly-poly” Robb would be perfect! She offers him a job at the store but doesn’t reveal the nature of it, instead playing another little joke and telling him he’ll be in public relations. As she heads home, Reva can’t wait to see the horror on Robb and Lissa’s faces when they realise what they’ll really be doing at the store [I need the bad guy to do his thing ASAP because this girl needs to go down].
Her dad’s out that night and after finally getting younger brother Michael to bed around 10pm, Reva hears a knock at the door. But who could be visiting this late [Hopefully a murderer]?! Unfortunately for me it’s just Hank, who’s swallowed his pride and come to ask for a job at Dalby’s. Reva’s a total cow, as usual, and refuses his request [Bitch], then has an orgasm over his disappointment. After he grabs her in frustration, she lets out a high-pitched whistle and the Dalby’s guard dog, a Doberman named King, emerges from the bushes. The whistle was King’s signal to attack, and he leaps at Hank before chasing him all the way back to his car. Reva thinks it’s super hilarious and Hank vows to get her back before driving away [I hope the twist is that everyone she’s ever wronged is out to get her! That would be iconic].
It’s Saturday morning now, the first day of work for Reva, Mitch, Lissa and Robb. Believing Reva’s lies, both Lissa and Robb wore nice clothes, and Reva has another orgasm over their humiliation. The stockroom manager sends Lissa hope to get changed into something more suitable for stocking shelves, and Reva loudly asks Rawson to make sure Mitch and Lissa will be working in different departments [Surely you’d be more subtle, wouldn’t you?].
As Reva heads to the elevators so she can start her job on the main floor at a perfume counter, she’s grabbed from behind and dragged into a supply room by Hank, who just wanted to pay her back for the dog incident the other night. He reveals he got a job as a security assistant without her help, but narcissistic Reva accuses him of stalking her. She continues to be an asshole, so he tells her he’ll be watching every move she makes on the security monitors he’ll be overseeing.
We cut to Pam, Mickey and Clay in Mickey’s living room, where Pam informs them that her boyfriend Foxy got a job at Dalby’s [I’m thinking we’ve already met Foxy, but under his different name. Maybe Hank? I wouldn’t put it past Reva to secretly date her cousin’s boyfriend. I reckon it’s Robb, though. Or it could be someone we haven’t met yet, but it just seems weird her boyfriend hasn’t made a physical appearance yet, so it’s got to be someone from Reva’s storyline]. They can hear Mickey’s dad in the kitchen, starting on his third six-pack of beer, and Mickey reveals his dad’s been drinking nonstop since getting fired, only leaving the house to buy more beer [He literally hasn’t even looked for another job. As much as I’d like to sympathise with Mr. Wakely, he brought the whole situation on himself and isn’t even attempting to fix things]. Clay has a little secret he wants to let Mickey and Pam in on, but first he’s got to get comfortable:
Then, glancing toward the kitchen, he pulled the wooden chair over to the couch and straddled it right in front of Pam and Mickey.
[We love some sexual subtext! I love the “right in front of” part hahaha]. Turns out Clay’s going to Rob Dalby’s, and he’s already worked it all out with the night security guard [Seriously, how are the Shadyside girls not all over this guy?], John Maywood, who’s angry that Mr. Wakely was fired and hates the Dalbys just as much as anyone. Clay invites Pam and Mickey to join him and explains how Maywood will leave a back door unlocked for them, and as long as they make it look like a real robbery, with Maywood being knocked out or tied up or something so no-one will realise the truth, and in return, he just wants some stuff stolen for him as well. Maywood will trip the alarm once they’ve escaped, so there’s no real threat of them being caught [Sounds easy enough!].
Mickey’s keen to join in, and Pam realises how mad he is about his dad’s firing. Pam feels the same anger towards Reva, with Reva’s lie about the job availability being the final straw in a long list of cruel behaviour towards Pam:
It wasn’t the first time Reva had lied to her, had kept her down, had made sure that Pam knew her place. Their entire lives, Reva had treated Pam as an inferior, as a poor relation, as a nuisance to be snubbed, to be looked down upon, to be taken advantage of.
It wasn’t always like that though, with Reva only turning cold and superior once her mother died. Pam wonders if Reva doesn’t like her because Pam’s mother is still alive [Sounds highly likely! Reva’s an idiot], but then decides the idea of Reva being jealous of her is absurd, since Reva has everything [Except a mother, Pam]. Ultimately, Pam can’t bring herself to rob her uncle’s store, but does agree to be the getaway driver since she’s the only one with access to a car. Foxy arrives to pick Pam up, and the trio agree not to tell him anything about the robbery [Still no word on his real name yet. Surely Robb though!].
We jump forward two weeks now, a day or two after Reva’s needle injury in the prologue. She’s still at home, completely unbothered that she’s running late for work, but is interrupted by Michael as she’s about to leave. He wants her to take him to the store to see Santa, like she’d promised, but she says it’ll have to wait for another day. As slightly redeemable proof Reva has a heart, she realises how lonely the six-year-old must be and promises herself she’ll spend more time wth him [For some reason I don’t totally hate Reva as much as I hate Dore. Sure, Reva’s a miserable little mole and technically she’s worse than Dore, but there’s something campy, for lack of a better word, about her villainy, like an over the top cartoon antagonist or something, that I’m enjoying. We’re occasionally getting some vulnerability from her too, which is something we never saw from Dore, so it makes it easier to root for Reva. I still can’t wait for her to get her comeuppance though!].
As she drives to work, she thinks about her lack of progress with Mitch and decides she’ll have to make a bold move today. At lunchtime, she puts her plan in motion, cornering him in the storeroom. He’s clearly uncomfortable, but that won’t stop this red-headed predator! She kisses him and he kisses back [You stop that right now, Mitch!], and with a security camera above, Reva can’t help hoping that Hank is enjoying the show.
They’re soon interrupted by Lissa, who tearfully tells Reva she can’t play with people like this before running off. Mitch runs after her, much to Reva’s dismay, who follows him out to the shop floor to try lure him back to the storeroom. Mitch isn’t too keen [So why’d you kiss her back before?!], wanting to find Lissa, but that doesn’t stop Reva draping herself all over him when Hank walks past, trying to make him jealous. Mitch is totally flustered about the situation, but Reva has to hurry back to the perfume counter to continue her shift.
She’s 10 minutes late of course, and offers Ms. Smith a clearly fake apology [Slap the bitch, Ms. Smith!]. As Ms. Smith heads off on her own lunch break, she tells Reva that a package arrived for her, but she doesn’t know who it’s from. Once again, Reva ignores any customer who tries to get her attention and opens the package, revealing some kind of perfume bottle made with smooth, red glass [Sounds pretty]. As she takes the topper off to give it a whiff, she sees a red liquid clinging to the bottom of it and realises it’s not perfume inside—it’s blood [Spooky!].
Reva drops the bottle, which shatters on the counter, and utters “a silent cry of surprise” [So did she cry out or was she silent, Stine? It can’t be both] as the blood splashers her white cashmere sweater [Good]. She notices a card on the ground that that reads “HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM A FRIEND” and guesses the same person who did this must have put the needle in her lipstick too, and number one on her list of suspects is ex-boyfriend, Hank.
She heads straight up to the sixth floor to talk to her daddy about firing her ex-boyfriend, but notices Hank in the security room. She stops to confront him, but he has no idea what she’s talking about. She refuses to believe him and continues to her dad’s office, where she learns from his secretary he’s in an important meeting and can’t be interrupted. She decides to go home and change instead [In the middle of her shift! Without telling anyone. She’s got some nerve], and as she nears the elevator, she hears a continuous, deafening popping sound, a sound she recognises from TV—“The sound of machine guns” [I don’t think so, Reva. But then again this takes place in America, where I hears guns are handed out instead of candy on Halloween].
Mr. Dalby emerges from his meeting “in his shirtsleeves”, [a phrase I’ve never heard before but apparently means not wearing a jacket. Handy to know I guess], attracted by the sound, then faints at the sight of Reva’s blood-stained sweater, believing she was shot [I should be so lucky, lol]. He comes to pretty quickly, though, and a store worker arrives to explain a power surge had caused heaps of the Christmas lights to short out, which explains the sounds [Would that really sound like a machine gun though?]. Not wanting to further upset her dad, she explains she’ll tell him about the stain later and heads home to change.
On the drive home, she realises she’s being followed by a man she doesn’t recognise in a white car. Instead of driving to the police station, or pulling over in a public place, dumb bitch Reva decides she’ll be perfectly safe at home [Can someone explain her logic to me? Why would you be safe at home, alone, when a man is clearly following you and will then know where you live?]. As she arrives home, the pursuer parks in her driveway and chases her to the front door [Kill her!].
He just wants tell her about her broken taillight, which he’d accidentally bumped into back in the Dalby parking lot. He hands her his insurance details and Reva is actually polite, thanking him for his thoughtfulness. When he leaves, she scolds herself for being so paranoid, but realises that with the needle and blood incidents it’s perfectly justified, and wonders what will happen next.
It’s 11:30 on Friday night now, and Pam is driving to Dalby’s with Clay and Mickey. She’s super anxious about the burglary, and decides she’ll go inside with them instead of waiting in the car, but won’t steal anything [I’d rather wait in the car, less chance of getting caught]. Clay mentions that they lucked out because the new surveillance system hasn’t been set up yet because “they were using some kid to set it up, and he blew it” [Hank!]. As they park in the third loading bay, as planned, Pam decides the dark lot is “like being on the moon” [Really, Pam? A dark parking lot next to a giant department store is like being on the moon? Are you sure, Pam?].
As the trio heads to the back door, Pam and Mickey notice that Clay’s bought a silver pistol, because, s he puts it, “you never know” [Americans and their guns, smh]. Mickey and Pam aren’t too bothered by it, for whatever reason, and follow Clay through the unlocked door and into the receiving bay. As they walk through the store to the electronics section, Pam starts to panic:
It’s stifling in here, she thought, unzipping her coat. They turn off the air at night. We’re breathing this afternoon’s air. Leftover air. We’re going to suffocate.
I can’t breathe!
[Hahahahahaha shut up, idiot]. She calms herself down and as she watches the boys steal stuff, they realise they didn’t bring any bags or anything to carry the stole goods [How do you plan to steal a shitload of stuff without it ever crossing your mind that you’ll need a way to carry it?! Clay’s a fkn idiot hahaha]. They decide they’ll do multiple trips back to the car [Which is a horrible idea], and the boys continue taking things while Pam stands there being useless. At one point she thinks she hears a noise coming from a nearby office, but Clay thinks she’s just hearing things and glares at her [Fuck off, Clay]. They don’t even get to finish their first round of theft before a security guard approaches, and guess what? It’s not John Maywood!
The guard triggers the security system, alerting the police, and there’s a brief stand-off before Clay pulls the gun on the guard and orders his companions to run. Pam and Mickey take off, but hear a gunshot ring out before Clay catches up to them. They exit the department store, but now their car is missing [!!!]. Except it’s not, they just exited the loading bay through the wrong door [So that one wasn’t locked either?].
The idiots pile into the car and drive off, and the next morning, Pam hears a news update on the radio that says a burglary took place at Dalby’s last night, where a security guard was shot dead and $25,000 taken from an office safe. Pam knows that Clay shot the guard, but they definitely didn’t take any money, so what gives?! [So another robbery was taking place as Clay, Pam and Mickey were trying to rob it? That’s convenient]. She calls Clay, who tells her the gun was just for show—it wasn’t loaded [Is he lying to save his own skin, though? Also, why wouldn’t he have mentioned that little fact when they left the store?]. Pam reckons they should go to the police and tell them everything, but Clay thinks there’s no point because no-one would believe them.
It’s Monday morning now and as Reva heads to work with her dad, he mentions having trouble claiming the insurance for the robbery because the surveillance system wasn’t working [Wait, was Hank in on this other robbery?!] and there’s a few things that don’t add up. First, there was no sign of a break in [But we knew that already]; second, the guard was shot in the back [So Clay was telling the truth!!!]; and third, the safe that was broken into is kept hidden and not many people know about it [Did Mr. Wakely know about it?] Mr. Dalby suspects it might have been an inside job by an employee, but everyone liked the dead guard, so surely no-one would have murdered him. But to be shot in the back, the guard would have turned his back on the burglars, which surely he wouldn’t have done if he didn’t know the culprit [Could have been a surprise attack though, right?].
Around lunchtime, Mitch pulls Reva to the storeroom to talk in private and asks to take her out, now that Lissa’s dumped him. He’s missed his chance, though, because Reva reckons he’s a total wimp now, completely turned off after he ran after Lissa the other day to beg for forgiveness. She shoots him down, not bothering to be gentle about it, and Mitch flips out, giving Reva yet another enemy [And another potential suspect. I can’t decide if Reva and Pam’s storylines are linked by the same bad guy or if the burglar and the prankster are different people].
She returns to the perfume counter where there’s another package waiting for her, and inside is a “stiff, folded-up human corpse” [!!!!!], and Reva screams like a banshee. But guess what? It’s not a human corpse, it’s another damn mannequin [For fuck sake, Reva] that happens to be very lifelike.
There’s another card with the package, with the message “HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM A FRIEND” once again. A crowd of customers gathers to see what all the fuss is, and overwhelmed with embarrassment at being such an idiot [Good], Reva runs away.
We cut to Mickey’s house, where Pam, Mickey and Clay are anxiously wondering why they haven’t been caught yet. Mr. Wakely isn’t home because apparently he drinks at a bar now instead of his kitchen [I’m suss and thinking he’s the burglar. He doesn’t have a job, so why is he wasting the little money he has on oversized drinks. It’s gotta be a cover story!].Clay reveals he hasn’t been able to get into contact with Maywood to find out why he wasn’t there that night, then arks up, accusing Pam and Mickey of blaming him [Clay, not Maywood], for everything. Not wanting him to lose his temper, Pam quickly declares “we’re all in this together” before mentioning her calls have been ignored by Reva, so she has no idea what Mr. Dalby knows or suspects of the robbery.
Then the phone rings:
“I saw what you did,” the voice croaked, low and menacing. “I want my share.”
[The plot thickens even more!]. The next night, Pam and Foxy are hanging out at her place when the phone rings, and it’s the same croaky caller! He wants $10,000 to keep quiet and he’ll be coming for it real soon. Pam tries to explain that they have no money, but the caller’s already hung up. Foxy realises something’s not right so Pam breaks down and tells him everything, and he’s surprisingly very understanding and not at all angry or judgy about it [A supportive boyfriend on Fear Street! Wow, what a keeper. Makes me suspicious though]. They head over to Mickey’s to discuss with him and Clay what to do about the blackmailer, but Clay, who “didn’t say things he didn’t mean”, reckons he’ll just kill him [Good plan, Clay].
On Thursday at work, Reva pulls Hank aside and apologises for how she’s treated him [It doesn’t seem genuine though], and demands he stop trying to frighten her [There’s the ulterior motive!]. He has no idea what she’s talking about and says it could literally be anyone terrorising her:
“Anyone could have sent you those things,” Hank explained. “You don’t have a friend in the world, Reva. Everyone hates you. Everyone. I can think of ten people who hate you enough to put a needle in your lipstick.”
[Harsh, but it’s true!]. Although Reva’s in denial at first, she realises he’s right and in another moment of genuine and humbling vulnerability, she explains that she “had to be hard”, had to keep her feelings to herself, so she wouldn’t lose control after her mother died [Character development from the biggest bitch in Shadyside! Love it. Dore could never].
Later that night, Pam is once again unable to contact Reva by phone, and with Foxy’s line being busy all night, she decides to walk over to his place to find out what he’s doing. On the way she swoons over how supportive he’s been and how “he’s so cute and cuddly” [Which I’m pretty sure is code for fat! And who do we already know is on the chubbier side from earlier? Robb! Foxy must be Robb!] before her journey is interrupted by every woman’s worst fear:
Two blocks later she was smiling to herself, thinking about Foxy, when he hand grabbed her from behind.
Before she could scream, the gloved hand slid down over her mouth, holding her too tight to scream.
She tried to pull away, but overwhelmed by panic, her muscles locked, all of her strength seemed to die.
She felt hot breath against her cheek.
Another arm was now locked tightly around her waist.
She was being dragged, dragged off the sidewalk into a dark yard, behind a tall hedge where no one could see her. No one could help.
[This made me very uncomfortable to read, so good work there, Stine]. The attacker pushes her into the hedge and orders her not to turn around unless she wants to get hurt. This is just a warning to let her know how easy it is for him to get to her. He wants $10,000 by tomorrow night or else! With a sudden burst of strength, Pam manages to get away from him and turn around, and she immediately recognises her attacker. We’ve still got 40 more pages though, so we don’t find out yet, and Pam’s no help because all she says is “You!” [I can’t stand this damn trope]. While she stands there like a stunned mullet, he easily catches her again and pins her to the driveway.
Foxy pulls up in his car just then, scaring off the attacker, and because we’re still barely closer to the end, all Pam can say is “You won’t believe who is blackmailing us! You just won’t believe it!” [Try me, Pam. Just try me] before we cut to Reva.
It’s the next morning now, the Friday before Christmas, and Shadyside’s cruellest redhead is congratulating herself for not just arriving to work on time, but 10 minutes early [She’s really turned over a new leaf! Bless her]:
I hope I’m not turning over a new leaf, she thought. Promptness is such a boring virtue.
[Oh OK, never mind then…]. As Reva passes by the electronic storeroom on her way to her station, she here’s a scuffle going on and finds Robb and Mitch having a punch-on inside [So Pam told Foxy/Robb that Mitch is the blackmailer, right?]. The stockroom manager quickly arrives to break it up, and although Reva asks Mitch what happened, he basically tells her to fuck off.
Later, after taking her little brother Michael to visit the department’s Santa, which he’s been begging her to do the whole book, Reva returns to the perfume counter to find another package waiting for her. Refusing to make a fool of herself in front of everyone again, Reva prepares herself for what’s inside, expecting another lifelike mannequin. Instead, inside the large box is Mitch, crumpled at the bottom with a large kitchen knife between his shoulder blades [Oof. If Pam told Clay that Mitch was the blackmailer, maybe Clay killed him? There is so much going on in this book, it’s hard to keep track of everything. I love it though!].
Reva actually feels horrible because now she’ll never get to give Mitch the apology she owes him. For the rest of the day/night she can’t stop picturing his lifeless body, until later in bed, she bolts straight up, wide awake after realising who killed Mitch [I bet she doesn’t really know though. Probably assuming it was Robb because of their punch-on].
Back to Pam, Clay and Mickey at Mickey’s house, where Pam’s demanding to know if Clay killed Mitch on account of him saying he’d kill whoever was blackmailing them [Why is no-one wondering why Mitch was at the store that night though?]. Clay is super annoying, smirking as he tells them he didn’t. Then he gets mad because they don’t believe him [Stop being such a flog then????] and explains that Mitch was just a worm, and “Why should I mess up my life on account of a worm?”
It’s the next morning now, and Reva’s been doing a lot of thinking overnight and doesn’t like who she’s become [Woo! We love a self-aware character], glad to realise some of who she used to be is still there behind the hard front she’d put up. But Mitch’s murder is still on her mind, so at work, Reva takes her dad to the surveillance room. She asks Hank to show them the tapes of Santa Land yesterday afternoon, and she thinks her suspicions are proven right [But I’m not so sure] when instead of Robb being in the Santa costume, it’s someone else!
After Michael sat on his lap, he had told Reva he knew it wasn’t the real Santa because he could feel a pillow beneath his shirt. In bed last night, Reva remembered that Robb doesn’t need to pad the costume because “he’s a real chub” [Omfg hahahaha]. She tells them about the fisticuffs she saw yesterday morning and suggests Robb got someone to cover his shift so he could murder Mitch. Later, four policeman arrive to Santa Land to arrest Santa/Robb in front of a shitload of terrified kids. As Reva and Mr. Dalby watch on, Pam bursts through the crowd, wanting to know what’s happening to Foxy:
Does Pam know Robb? Reva asked herself, surprised. Why is she calling him Foxy?
[I’d love to know the reason for the nickname too, Reva. Also, yay for being right xo]. Robb/Foxy/Santa is taken away by the popo, all the while screaming he did it for Pam and “I only wanted to show Reva!” But Reva can’t work out what killing Mitch would show her exactly [Me either, tbh, so he mustn’t be responsible].
For the rest of the day, Reva throws herself into work, actually paying attention to customers and doing her actual job [Bless her]. After work, she has to catch the bus home because her dad had to leave earlier for a meeting. Pam’s waiting for her outside, wanting to talk, and Reva agrees, suddenly overcome with warm feelings for her cousin, feelings she’s pushed down since her mother died. They head to Pam’s car where Pam admits that Robb/Foxy was responsible for the blood cologne, lipstick needle and mannequin, but he definitely, 100% absolutely did not kill Mitch [I agree]. He got someone to cover his shift for a bit so he could meet up with Pam, because he knew how upset she still was about everything, and mentions Mitch blackmailing her but leaves out the reason why.
Reva accepts Robb’s alibi and on the way home, she realises she left her purse in Daddy’s office back at Dalby’s. Pam heads back to the store, where Reva tells her to wait in the car because she won’t be long [We are at the climax, people!!]. Inside the store, the night guard isn’t at his usual station, which surprises Reva. Continuing on up to the sixth floor, she passes the surveillance room, where Mr. Wakely [!!!!!!] is standing, and he’s got a pistol [I had a strong feeling he was the bad guy ever since he got fired right from the start. I think I’m just gonna go with my first gut instinct when deciding who the bad guy is]!
He’s drunk [As usual], and begins his bad guy monologue. Maywood had planned his own robbery to coincide with one three kids were doing, intending for them to be a distraction while Maywood and Mr. Wakely robbed the safe. But then Mr. Wakely saw that Mickey was one of the kids, and the security guard was pointing a gun, so he shot the guard to protect his son.
He’d then overheard that Mitch, who was only in the store that fateful night because he’d left something behind [He went back to the store at 11:30pm because he left something there? Just get it the next day? Plot reasons I guess], was blackmailing them, so Mr. Wakely had to kill him to protect his son again. Reva asks why he sent the body to her, but he has no idea what she’s talking about, saying he stashed Mitch’s corpse in the first big carton he could find, which conveniently happened to be the packaging from the mannequin sent to Reva. Since it still had her name on it, it was delivered to her all over again within the store. Throughout his whole speech, Mr. Wakely annoyingly talks like a gangster cliche:
“And now here I am. I came back to finish my work here, see. I just want to get paid, see. From the safe in your daddy’s office.”
[Super annoying, see? Who even talks like that, see?]. Now he’s gotta kill Reva, too! She runs away, chased by Mr. Wakely and his flying bullets, until she eventually stops at the balcony that looks over the whole department store [The last place she should be cornering herself in]. Instead of shooting her, Mr. Wakely lunges for her, but she ducks and he hurdles over the balcony, falling to his death five stories below. Reva hears the sound of popping Christmas lights again [The ones that sound like a machine gun…] and peers over the balcony. Mr. Wakely landed on the giant Christmas tree, causing the lights to short out again, electrocuting his body before finally fizzling out. Hank, who had been in the basement fixing a video camera, appears and explains that he saw everything on a monitor and it was all on tape [Took your time getting here though, Hank].
An unspecified amount of time later, Reva’s sitting with Hank and Robb outside the Shadyside police hearing room, waiting for Pam to come out. Robb and Reva are on good terms now, and she seems to have taken Hank back, before Pam finally comes out, flanked by her parents, who reveal she’ll only be charged with trespassing because she’s never been in trouble before [Couldn’t Mr. Dalby just not press charges, since he’s her uncle and he owns the property?]. Pam doesn’t know what will happen to Clay and Mickey though, since their hearings are next week. As everyone heads back to their vehicles, Reva gives Pam a long hug:
I feel so warm, Reva thought, so light, as if a layer of ice had melted from me. If I hadn’t been so cold, so bottled up, so hateful, maybe none of this would have happened.
What a shame that such horrors had to take place before I could feel again, Reva thought.
The book ends as she makes a New Year’s resolution to never lose the warm, real feelings she has now again [There’s two sequels, both starring Reva as far as I know, so I wonder if she really has changed or if it’s just temporary].
Final Thoughts
This was awesome, definitely one of my favourite Fear Streets that I’ve covered so far! I loved Reva’s character development – @Deathkins, this is how you do a horrible protagonist that you want people to like. Take note! I thought it was great that the token bitchy girl, usually just a minor antagonist to our wholesome heroines in these kind of stories, took centre stage and was a three dimensional character with a lot of development. As I mentioned somewhere, even when Reva was a total asshole she wasn’t completely intolerable because there was something fun about it, and I loved that a traumatic experience had turned her into an ice queen. I’m sure many people can relate to her experience with grief.
Pam was great too, and I like that being poor wasn’t her entire personality—her poverty was simply a fact of life, pretty much only being brought up to contrast with Reva’s privilege and superiority complex. It shows you that money isn’t everything—although she hated being poor, she had good friends, a loving boyfriend and parents that loved her, so her life wasn’t totally bad, and she appreciated it.
I enjoyed both storylines and I thought they meshed together pretty well, although it did mean there was a lot more going on than in a usual Fear Street or Point Horror. Although Mr. Wakely was my very first guess for the bad guy, I was never completely sure because there were so many potential suspects, and everything came together in a way that made sense, even if it was slightly convoluted.
It was a fun read that I almost didn’t want to end, so 96 crumpled corpses in a package out of 107! And Don’t forget to check out Silent Night 2!
