Tagline: Sweet sixteen and never been… killed
Back Tagline: N/A
Summary: Leslie can’t wait to turn sixteen. She’s planning a huge birthday party. Everyone’s invited.
Her gorgeous boyfriend, Rick. Her best friend, Deborah. Her cousin, Trish. It’s going to be the biggest bash ever.
But out of the blue, weird things start happening. Scary things. She nearly gets knocked down by a runaway car. People start getting hurt. It seems like someone doesn’t want Leslie to make it to sweet sixteen.
but a few little accidents won’t scare Leslie. She’s going to have her party. Even if it kills her.
First Impressions: It’s time for another birthday themed book in honour of my birthday on August 21. Unlike Leslie, though, it’s my sweet 27th (But mentally, I’m still 21 xoxo)!
This is a new author for the blog, and a quick google search doesn’t bring up any other books by her. Like any, at all. This is kind of concerning… is it so horrible that she gave up on her dreams of writing? Or is it her magnum opus and she knew nothing would top it?
Either way, it definitely sounds exciting. I love that the blurb states that everyone’s invited but then only lists three people lol. We haven’t had some deaths in a while, so hopefully there’s some of that. It’s over 200 pages though, so I have a strong feeling there’s gonna be a lot of page filler 😭
Now let’s talk about this cover. I’m into it, but that tagline is dumb. It took way too long to realise that was an ice skate, though. Speaking of, why is someone trying to cut the cake with it? Or it’s stabbed in there for dramatic effect? I like that it’s dripping with what’s obviously supposed to be blood, but like, why is the cake cracked around the ice skate? Cake’s don’t do that. It would make sense if it was like, a hard chocolate glaze or something like that, but then why is it also dripping down the side and pooling beneath the cake? I’m not sure about that crappy happy birthday stamped on top, either. I wonder if we’ll get this scene in the book? Only one way to find out!
Recap
Meet the cast:
Leslie – Our superstitious heroine who’s birthday plans are being sabotaged.
Rick – Leslie’s overprotective boyfriend who likes his women to depend on him.
Deborah – The best friend who’s very passionate about talk shows.
Trish – Leslie’s cousin who she doesn’t really get along with.
Steve – Trisha’s boyfriend and Leslie’s ex that may still have feelings for her.
Caroline – Rick’s ex-boyfriend who’s desperate to get him back.
Part One – May 8, 1993: Saturday Night
[Oooh, we’re doing parts!] It’s a warm night despite the storm a-brewin outside, and green-eyed redhead Leslie Barrows and her family are preparing the house for Granny Barrows’ 80th birthday party. Leslie’s birthday is on the same date, May 11, so they usually have joint parties, but for some reason tonight’s just about Granny Barrows, and Leslie will celebrate hers on the actual day with ‘a fancy night time picnic after school.’ [Ew, why? Do it the Saturday after?] Leslie also looks exactly like her grandmother and they share a special bond, which is cute.
The first guests start to arrive, including Aunt May, Uncle Fred and their daughter Trisha [So not Trish, like on the blurb?]. Leslie and Trisha are the same age, go to the same school and live close to each other, but they’re not really close, something which Leslie would like to change [Trisha doesn’t seem that interested, though]. Also arriving now is the new neighbours, the Shaws, including Deborah, also the same age as Leslie and Trisha. Shortly after as the three girls stand awkwardly around the kitchen, they hear Trisha’s parents arguing, something that happens quite often. Uncle Fred ends up storming out of the house through the back door in the kitchen, and an upset Trisha goes running off into the party.
Leslie darts after her, but is quickly distracted by her grandmother calling for her. Granny Barrows reckons her time is almost up and tells Leslie, who looks just like her, that she feels immortal when she looks at her. Like the rest of Granny Barrows’ jewellery, her precious emerald ring will be Leslie’s one day, and that’s as far as the conversation goes because they’re interrupted by Mrs. Krashmer, Granny’s best friend. They’d grown up in Europe together and have been inseparable ever since, which confuses Leslie because they’re so different; Granny’s adapted well to the US while Mrs. Krashmer is stuck in her old-world ways. She’s also got a mole on her face with dark hairs sprouting out of it, and right now her breath smells like garlic, so that must be nice to be around.
Mrs. Krashmer says it’s time for Leslie’s present, which is weird because she’s never given her one before, and takes her into the kitchen, which is now empty besides Trisha sitting at the table. Trisha’s birthday is a few weeks after Leslie’s, and as a present Mrs. Krashmer has decided to tell their fortunes using tea leaves. She forces them to drink a cup of tea each before examining the leftovers at the bottom, her eyes going wide [Uh oh]. The old woman has a reputation for having a sixth sense, so you can imagine how worried Leslie is when Mrs. Krashmer reveals there’ll be ‘”grave trouble for you both before your sixteenth birthdays.”‘ Before Leslie and Trisha can get more details, there’s commotion in the living room – Granny Barrows has collapsed [Ooky spooky! I feel like Granny knew she was about to cark it].
Part Two – April 1996
It’s present day now and Leslie’s getting ready for school on this lovely Friday morning. It’s been three years since Granny’s fatal stroke at her 80th birthday party, and Leslie finds comfort in a photo she keeps on her mirror of her grandmother at 15, Leslie’s current age; they really do look like twins! Also on the mirror is a photo of Leslie’s boyfriend, who just so happens to look like her grandfather, who’d died when she was young [That is quite the coincidence!].
Leslie heads downstairs for breakfast, annoyed to find Trisha at the table munching on toast for the third day in a row. Her parents finally split up three weeks ago, and her dad moved to a seedy part of town while Aunt May has slumped into a deep depression. Trisha’s still a bitch but Leslie’s kind enough to not retort with her own snide comments, since she’s going through a hard time and Leslie’s mother wants Trisha to feel welcome here [Nope, I’d still be rude back. Match other people’s energy, Leslie!].
Leslie studies her cousin, thinking about their resemblance to one another – ‘Leslie had overheard relatives discussing them, saying Trisha looked like a washed-out version of Leslie. A pale imitation.’ [And yet, Trisha’s got the worse attitude] But Trisha’s family problems have given her appearance more depth, and Leslie thinks the haunted look makes her prettier than she’s ever been [Hahahah OK]. Despite her hostility, Leslie has to admit that Trisha can be a lot of fun when she’s in a good mood, but I’m not so sure about that.
We also learn that Steve, Leslie’s boyfriend from freshman year, is now dating Trisha. It’s not awkward, though; Leslie’s relationship with him was more like a friendship thanks to his introverted nature, and they’d remained on good terms when she’d ended things. Her new boyfriend Rick, on the other hand, is a popular, all-American guy with surfer looks, quite a contrast to responsible, quiet Leslie, but she’s in love with him nonetheless. Unfortunately Deborah, who Leslie had become best friends soon after her grandmother’s death, seems to be drifting away since Leslie started dating Rick. Now she spends most of her time watching talk shows on TV, ‘quoting the old hosts and panelists like old friends.’ [Deborah seems weird]
Rick arrives to take Leslie to school, and she’s kind of frustrated that Trisha’s riding with them again instead of scabbing a lift from her own boyfriend, but bites her tongue instead of making a big deal about it [Leslie, fuck this bitch and her attitude, you don’t owe her anything]. Heading out to Rick’s car, Leslie’s met with another disappointment because in the front seat is beautiful, blonde Caroline, Rick’s ex-girlfriend.
Kind-hearted Rick believes all these little favours is the least he can do for Caroline, who’s ‘”all alone, miserable and mixed up”‘ since he dumped her, but Leslie suspects that Caroline’s keen to steal him back. During the car ride, Caroline practically gloats about knowing Rick better than Leslie, prompting Trisha to roll her eyes and secretly mock Caroline, a fleeting glimpse of friendship between the two cousins.
Arriving at school, Deborah bounds on over and pulls her away, excited because this is her first time driving to school since getting her license recently. Deborah’s got short brown hair and always wears men’s shirts, ‘insisting to Leslie that they hid her flab.’ [Wouldn’t any oversized shirt do that, though?] Leslie absentmindedly compliments her parking and scans the crowd of arriving teens for Rick, desperate to talk to him before school starts; she’s got a superstitious streak and after the car ride with Caroline, she’s sure she’ll have a bad day if she doesn’t get some alone time with him.
He’s hanging with the other popular kids, who Deborah refers to as the cast of Snob Central, a fake TV show she’d concocted where embarrassing things happen to the most popular kids in school. Leslie would take part in it too, but then Deborah focused too much on Rick. Despite not even knowing him at this stage, she couldn’t lump him in with the rest of the populars [Why?], and shortly after is when Rick started noticing her and asked her out [Also why? Seems like a strange coincidence]. Leslie abandoned the whole Snob Central thing altogether, much to Deborah’s annoyance, because she was now hanging out with the populars and was starting to like them.
Leslie encourages Deborah to give the populars a chance as they approach them, and Deborah starts banging on about some talk shows she watched yesterday, including one with fortune tellers that reminded her of Mrs. Krashmer and her predictions about Leslie’s 16th birthday. Beautiful, popular Donna, who happens to be Caroline’s best friend, overhears this part and immediately wants to know more. Deborah elaborates, and Donna’s eyes light up as she announces ‘”Our Ricky is dating a woman who’s doomed!”‘ [I can’t tell if she’s being a bitch or she’s just very dramatic and funny] Then the bell rings, so it’s time for class.
Throughout the day, Leslie tries to find Rick every chance she gets, but doesn’t see him once [Do they not hang out at lunch time?], and her day is more stressful because of it. By her last class of the day, she’s still feeling humiliated by everyone’s reaction to Deborah’s revelations about Mrs. Krashmer, and is also pissed at how Caroline swooned all over Rick in the car. Everyone thinks Caroline’s so sweet, but Leslie remembers in junior high when she’d been obsessed with a boy named Tommy, following him around and ‘mooning over him like some crazed, adoring fan.’ Tommy’s family moved away [But it’s not stated if Caroline’s obsession was responsible for it] and Caroline moved onto other boyfriends, so everyone forgot about her behaviour. Not Leslie, though, who’s now wondering how Caroline would have reacted if Tommy had remained in town and dated someone else.
Caroline, who’s in this same class and sitting nearby, suddenly hands a note to Leslie, who already knows to pass it on to Donna, next to her. The teacher looks up at the exact moment Leslie’s passing it on and Donna lets the note drop, which slowly unfolds on the floor, showing off a big hear with “Caroline and Rick 4-ever” written inside [Sounds a bit juvenile, Caroline. How long ago did Rick break up with her? Did he break up with her for Leslie?].
After class, Leslie finds a note from Rick taped to her locker, inviting her to Tony’s, a pizza place in town. Standing nearby is Steve, mid-conversation with Trisha but staring intensely at Leslie. She’d seen this possessive look when they were dating and hurries off, intercepted by Rick who leads her to his car for their date at Tony’s. He’s a real gentleman, opening the door for her, serving her pizza and paying for the meal, and Leslie has no idea what she’d do without him. She considers telling him about Caroline’s heart note, but decides against it for now because they’re having such a nice time.
On Saturday morning, Deborah call at 7:30, which is way too early for the weekend, and invites her over to watch a talk show episode about party planning she’d taped [I love how the episodes Deborah has watched recently are coincidentally relevant to her life]. Everything’s already sorted, though, thanks to a lengthy brainstorming session Leslie had last night with her family.
Leslie excitedly tells her about the all-day celebrations – they’re renting out the entire skating rink for the afternoon and will head to a really nice restaurant for dinner [Is this what Sweet Sixteens were like in the ’90s? Doesn’t sound much like a party]. Leslie’s going dress shopping and to check out restaurants with her family, so can’t hang out today anyway. Deborah’s silent for a few moments before suggesting they grab a bite to eat tomorrow, but Leslie tells her that won’t be possible, without giving her an explanation why, although her inner monologue tells us readers that she needs to work on a paper that’s due Monday [Leslie’s not being a very good friend to Deborah].
Deborah is trying to be understanding, but brings up how Steve had always made her feel welcome and all three would hang out when he was dating Leslie, so Leslie impatiently promises that Deborah can hang out with her and Rick soon, ‘”But right now our relationship is still too new for that sort of thing.”‘ [How damn new is it?] Deborah’s not happy with the response and hangs up the phone, and although Leslie considers dropping by anyway, she ultimately decides not to because the best thing to do when Deb’s like this is to leave her alone and let her simmer down [Ugh, Leslie, your best friend thinks you don’t care about her, you need to do better! I wouldn’t be surprise if a neglected Deborah is our bad guy].
That night, Leslie’s in line for the movies with Rick, his best friend Brian, and Donna, his girlfriend. It was supposed to be just Rick and Leslie, but apparently they’d called him wanting to make plans, and he just couldn’t say no [Yes you can, it’s not that hard. I’m kinda suss about Rick. He’s a little too nice, maybe]. The line is super long, but Brian spots two more of their friends closer to the ticket booth, so the four of them head on up to join them. Leslie doesn’t feel right about cutting in line, but allows Rick to pull her along anyway. It turns out there’s a whole group of populars up there, but on the plus side, there’s no Caroline!
After buying tickets, Rick and Brian head to the candy bar while Leslie and Donna make small talk, and when the boys return, Rick’s struggling to carry a tub of popcorn and two jumbo sodas. Leslie tries to help him but he stumbles at the same time, resulting in orange soda splashing all over her new lacy white blouse! Donna dramatically exclaims that the predictions about Leslie’s 16th birthday are coming true and helps clean up the stain, and although Leslie goes along with the joke, Donna’s curious if Leslie’s even a little nervous about it [I think I like Donna. She seems like she’s just got a sense of humour and not being mean, like Caroline would be].
Before Leslie can answer, Rick’s pulled off his sweater and is yanking it over her head, satisfied the problem is solved. He also answers Donna’s question for Leslie [Oof], saying there’s no need to be afraid because she’s got him to protect her [And every woman needs a big, strong man to protect her, you know!] Leslie’s grateful but also annoyed, not only because he hadn’t even given her a chance to answer, but because he’s always doing these little favours for her:
…chauffeuring her around, never letting her drive or pay for one little thing when they were together.
But I’m not helpless, Leslie told herself. I’m not like Caroline, who needs Rick’s help to tie her shoes. I can take care of myself.
[Hahaha oh snap] It does feel good knowing he’s around to protect her though, so Leslie doesn’t say how she really feels and snuggles into him instead [Oh, Leslie]. And that’s when she hears a mocking laugh that sounds like a shriek. No-one else seems to notice it, but only one person has a laugh like that: Caroline! And Leslie’s sure she just saw a flash of blonde hair disappear around the corner [Is she obsessed with Rick now, too?].
It’s lunchtime on Tuesday now, and although Leslie was saving a table in the cafeteria for Rick and the Snob Central cast, Steve saw her sitting alone and insisted he and Trisha sit with her. Deborah also plopped herself down right before the populars arrived, and Leslie can’t believe what a mixture she’s got in front of her [I have like 305955 friendship groups and I like when they all mix! And it’s not like the Snob Central cast bully Deborah or anything, Deborah’s just jealous of them].
A paper airplane lands in Deborah’s lap, and Caroline squeals that it could be a love letter. Wanting to draw the attention away from an embarrassed Deborah, Leslie starts talking about her history paper [Yeah, that’s much more interesting, Les]. Losing her audience, she switches the topic to her Sweet Sixteen invitations, which she has in her bag to mail after school [Why not just hand them out at school?]. They’re shaped like ice skates, with real pom-poms and laces attached [Sounds… great, I guess? I don’t know, this seems more like a 12-year-old’s party].
Rick insists she show everyone, so Leslie pulls out his invitation and hands it to Trisha, who then passes it to Steve. Rick suddenly pulls Leslie away for a make-out sesh, and our girl can’t resist, enveloped in his arms as they tongue wrestle in a dark corner of the cafeteria [I feel like this whole relationship is a big joke at Leslie’s expense or something. Rick is just so weird. Is this part of a conspiracy to sabotage her birthday? I bet the invitations won’t be there when Leslie gets back! ]. The bell rings a few minutes later and she hurries back to the table, shoving Rick’s invitation into her bag, noticing that it feels less heavy but not bothering to check why [Yup, the invitations are gone]. It’s not until history class later that day that Leslie realises why – just as I suspected, the invitations are missing!
She excuses herself from class and hurries to the cafeteria to see if they’d just fallen out somewhere, but they’re nowhere to be found, and that cow Caroline has some words prepared when Leslie returns:
“Hey, Leslie, don’t worry about it,” Caroline whispered in a falsely concerned tone. “Sometimes things just disappear. Just the other week it seems I had a boyfriend. And then — poof! — he was gone.”
Leslie tensed, waiting for the next sentence.
“But I guarantee you,” Caroline hissed, “I’m going to find him again real soon.”
[How did Caroline know the invitations were missing when Leslie hasn’t even said anything? Did she take them? Or maybe she saw who did. I don’t think she’s our bad guy, because that’s too obvious. Also, did no-one at the table see someone take the invitations from Leslie’s bag? Trisha and Steve were next to her, they had the easiest access…] Leslie chooses to continue ignoring Caroline’s catty behaviour and as soon as class is over, rushes out to buy standard invitations, fills them out and posts them. It’s time-consuming and throws her off schedule for all the other errands she’d planned for after school, and she’s still not caught up by Friday afternoon, where she’s waiting at the mall to meet Trisha. The shopping trip was forced upon the cousins by their mothers, hoping it’ll force more of a bond between the girls.
Trisha’s running later than Leslie but finally rocks up at their meeting spot with a brand-new haircut that makes her look like ‘a cave woman who’d chopped off all her hair with a dull ax.’ [Oof] Trisha is obviously upset, and after a little prompting, confides in Leslie what happened. Apparently Deborah called Trisha after school today, asking for her company while she got a haircut. Trisha thought it was weird but Deborah sounded so sad and was obviously missing Leslie, so she agreed, which is very uncharacteristic. Deborah somehow convinced Trisha to get her haircut too, but while she was in the chair, Deborah started hooting and hollering because there was a bug crawling up her sleeve – ‘”The stylist was so surprised, she cut a huge chunk of hair right out of my head.”‘ They’d spent ages trying to fix it, but Trisha’s hair got shorter and shorter until she ended up with her current cut [How could they not figure out a way to fix it? It’s their job, right?]
Deborah was so upset that she cried and wanted to go straight home instead of joining Trisha and Leslie [Why? Deborah’s hair wasn’t ruined lol], and Trisha asks Leslie not to say anything to Deb about the whole fiasco because it’ll make her feel worse [Red flag, Leslie! Red flag! Trisha is my number one suspect atm. She’d been sitting next to Leslie in the cafeteria so would have had the easiest access to her bag, and now it seems like she’s trying to isolate her from her real friends… Is she lying about coming to the mall with Deborah? Or maybe that’s true, but how the dodgy haircut came about is false. Or maybe Deborah’s the real bad guy and stole the invitations and really did sabotage Trisha’s haircut for some reason]. Leslie agrees not to say anything, wondering if Trisha really has softened up and their friendship will improve.
Trisha buys a baseball cap to cover her mangled hair and then the girls head to Blades, the skating store [How on the nose! Point Horror shop names kill me sometimes], where Leslie mentions they’ve both had bad luck recently. This isn’t the first of Trisha’s, though; she hasn’t been able to find her lucky earrings for the last few days, and jokes that maybe all this bad luck is part of Mrs. Krashmer’s predictions.
Leslie finds a light blue ice skating set to wear to her party before joining Trisha at the sale racks, realising this is probably all Trisha can afford. Trisha decides to wait until she’s found out from her mother if her dad’s check has come through yet before buying anything, and Leslie almost offers to buy something for her, but decides it might make Trisha feel worse.
As the girls head over to their next destination, Trisha confides that her parents’ split has her thinking about things more important than money – she’s thinking about breaking up with Steve! Their relationship is OK, but Trisha craves something amazing, not wanting to repeat her parents’ mistakes – ‘”Why draw out a relationship if you don’t think it’s going anywhere?”‘ And Steve is so intense, while Trisha just wants to have fun.
Leslie’s kind of relieved to hear all this because particularly over the past week, it’s seemed like Steve still likes her. He’s always trying to be near her, and Leslie even wonders if he’d only asked out Trisha to be closer to Leslie. Before Leslie can say anything on the matter, though, someone grabs her arm from behind!
It’s just Steve, who insists on speaking to Trisha alone. Leslie’s happy to oblige and leaves the mall to walk to Flamingo’s a few blocks away, wanting to look at the menu for her Sweet Sixteen. She quickly finds out her booking doesn’t exist, and a wedding is scheduled for that date instead [Which must be a fake booking someone made; May 11 is fast approaching, so the wedding would have been booked months ago, right?]. A confused Leslie heads home, convincing herself it’s just another case of bad luck [Come on Leslie, someone’s clearly trying to sabotage you here], and finds a message waiting for her on the answering machine:
“I just got my invitation to your party,” the girl was saying. “And I can’t wait. I’ll be the first to arrive and the last to leave! Just try and stop me.”
The girl sounded more threatening than excited, and then she laughed. A high-pitched, squeaky laugh that sent Leslie’s head spinning.
Caroline! Somehow, some way, she’d gotten an invitation!
[OK, love that Caroline was being left off the guest list hahaha] Feeling frazzled and annoyed, Leslie decides to reorganise her wardrobe to calm down [Gross, I can’t think of anything worse], while arguing with herself about whether or not all this bad luck is just that, or part of Mrs. Krashner’s prophecy. While rummaging around in her closet, she finds Granny Barrows’ old photo album and is it just me, or does this sound like she’s about to masturbate over it: ‘Leslie scooted over to her bed. Sighing with pleasure, she flipped open the album.’ Like, why is she sighing with pleasure right now? Is that not weird? Maybe my mind is just too dirty.
Anyway, she flips to a random page that has an old black-and-white photo of Granny and Mrs. Krashner looking troubled on a park bench; the wind has whipped their hair straight back behind them and there’s lightning in the sky. And then Leslie notices the date – April 28, just like today!
Recognising how weird this is and needing reassurance that the predictions aren’t coming true, Leslie phones Trisha and tells her all about it. Trisha agrees that the whole thing does sound crazy, but she did have some more bad luck at the mall. She’d decided to break up with Steve then and there, which was very bad timing because he’d just found out he didn’t get a university internship he’d applied for. He completely flipped out after Trish ended things and ‘”stalked around the mall, dragging me behind him, saying he’ll never let me go.”‘ [Steve sounds perfect for Caroline, tbh]
Trisha thinks this qualifies for part of Krashner’s predictions, but Leslie isn’t so sure since that happened because of a decision Trish actively made, not luck or chance, but it’s helped Leslie think more rationally now at least! The doorbell rings, and at the door is a delivery man with a package form Fiona’s, where Leslie had purchased her birthday dinner dress from. It was supposed to be picked up, not delivered, but Leslie assumes the store got the dress in earlier than expected [Why didn’t she just buy the dress when she tried it on? If they didn’t have it in stock, how did she know what to buy?]. She takes the package inside and opens it up, excited to see the dress once again:
Carefully, she lifted the smooth black velvet from the tissue paper.
Leslie gasped. Her fingers were sliding through the luxurious material, poking through the dress as if it were made of Swiss cheese.
Her beautiful formal dress! It was slashed to ribbons.
[I wonder how she’s gonna interpret this one as bad luck?] The next morning, Leslie wakes from a dream, which seems more like a memory, where she’s four or five years old and sitting in Granny’s lap. Granny leans forward to tell Leslie ‘a secret that would make a difference when she grew older…. A secret that could change her life,’ but of course Leslie can’t remember what the secret is [Note from future: This was never brought up again so I have no idea what was going on. It’s like Francesca Jeffries couldn’t decide between a supernatural thriller or an in-the-flesh bad guy].
Leslie gets a phone call from Rick now, regretfully telling her he won’t be able to drive her to school today [Huh? It’s Saturday today. Or it should be Saturday, because her mall adventure with Trisha was Friday evening, and that was yesterday] because he’s got a few errands to take care of beforehand. Leslie can’t help but be suspicious that this has something to do with Caroline, and even though she doesn’t bring the cow up, Rick assures Leslie that she can count on him and he’ll make it up to her. Leslie hasn’t taken the bus since she started dating Rick and isn’t looking forward to it, so instead phones Deborah for a lift, although she does recognise that maybe she’s become too dependent on Rick [But doesn’t recognise that she only wants to hang with Deborah when she needs something].
An hour later she’s in the car with Deborah, who’s excited to have a full car today because she’s picking up Trisha too! She explains that she felt so bad after convincing Trisha to get her haircut yesterday [OK, so Trisha wasn’t lying about that. Also this is confirmation that today is Saturday! Is it really that hard to stick to the timeline you set up yourself, Francesca?], and called her last night to see how she was doing. Trisha told her about the break-up with Steve, so Deborah offered to drive her to school, since Steve won’t be doing it anymore.
They arrive at Trisha’s place and she runs out to the car, her mangled hair pulled back with a headband which apparently looks good. Deborah’s in a great mood as they head off, pointing out that they’re ‘”three single chicks cruising the streets on the way to school.”‘ [Oh, Deborah]
“Of course you have a boyfriend, Les,” Deborah said. “But you never know. I mean, here you are driving with me, while Rick is probably pouring milk into Caroline’s cereal for her. Things haven’t been going so great for you lately. For either of you lately,” she added, nodding at Trisha.
[I wonder if Caroline is as dependent as they’re making out hahaha, it’s very funny] Leslie can’t help but notice the self-satisfied grin on her friend’s face [Bad guy or red herring? Probably red herring] as Deborah mentions a talk show episode about boyfriends, where a psychologist said guys are most vulnerable after a break-up. Deborah jokes that she should take a crack at Steve, who’ll be easy prey now that he’s been double-dumped, and Leslie realises that Deborah has a crush on Steve [Isn’t that crossing a line there, Deb?]!
Leslie’s still thinking about the unlikely pairing of Deborah and Steve later in the day when she bumps into Steve in the hallways. She tells him she’s sorry that he didn’t get the internship, but Steve is unfazed about it now after realising ‘”I’d miss too many things here.”‘ He’s looking at her intensely while he says this, of course, then touches her cheek and stalks off [Yuck, don’t touch her]. And then Leslie spots Deborah at her locker, who’d apparently seen the whole thing [Nosy nosy]!
That night, Leslie has a claustrophobic nightmare about being stuck in a closet and feels uneasy all through school the next day [Which should be a Sunday lol]. She can’t help but feel like it has something to do with Mrs. Krashmer and her prediction, just like her dream about Granny, and has a sneaking suspicion it’s a sign the prophecy is coming true. Things are looking up, though, since Fiona’s had replaced the dress for her, and Flamingo’s had called her to offer her the 11th back after not being able to contact the bride who’d reserved it. The number she’d given was actually for a tow-truck company and she wasn’t listed in the phonebook, so Flamingo’s decided she didn’t exist [OK so it’s definitely a girl doing all this crap. Or maybe it’s a guy disguising his voice?].
Leslie’s in study hall now sitting with Trisha, who’s in a really good mood as she shows Leslie the drawing she’s just done of a stick figure wearing an elaborate, redone white tuxedo skating outfit. Trisha’s parents agreed she should have a new outfit for Leslie’s party, and Trisha might even get a Sweet Sixteen too! Trisha invites her over after school, wanting her to be there when she tries on the new skating outfit [Lol why? I guess they’re besties now], which is being delivered today from Blades.
Arriving at Trisha’s place later, the package is waiting for them inside and Trisha’s frothing at the mouth as she tears it open to get to the goodies inside. Unfortunately our bad guy has tampered with this package too, smearing the beautiful white outfit is smeared with red paint. Trisha ignores Leslie’s advice and quickly makes it worse by trying to wash the paint off, and Leslie assures her Blades will replace it. They’re get to talking about Mrs. Krashmer and her predictions again, realising there’s too much that’s gone wrong for everything to just be a coincidence, so the girls decide to track the old woman down so they can learn how to stop all this bad luck [What if she’s dead?].
The girls end up at a nursing home on the outskirts of town, where they learn that that Mrs. Krashmer died last week, and the other residents are super disturbed by it because she’d predicted it would happen [Ooky spooky!]!
the receptionist tells them Mrs. Krashmer died last week. The other residents are super disturbed by her death, so the receptionist won’t let Leslie and Trisha talk to anyone. An elderly woman comes shuffling along at that time and reveals the reason everyone is troubled by Krashmer’s death is that she predicted it would happen!
Part Three: May 1996
The next day, Leslie’s in history class fretting about Mrs. Krashmer’s prediction. She’d died in her sleep at the stroke of midnight under a full moon, just as she’d predicted, so there’s some truth to her prophecies. For some reason the news of her death convinced Trisha that Mrs. Krashmer dying means nothing, but Leslie isn’t so sure [I’m so confused by Trisha’s logic lol, how could it possibly mean nothing? Like, someone is definitely using the prediction as a cover to sabotage Leslie’s life, rather than the prediction being fate, but like it’s still at least a possibility!].
Anyway, the history teacher gives everyone back their paper except for Leslie, who he’d like to see after class. Caroline is falsely sympathetic, rubbing it in that she got an A for her own paper, ‘”And it’s all thanks to your boyfriend!” The bell rings and Caroline can’t resist being a bitch again as she leaves, revealing she’s got a date with Rick at the library – ‘”Oops. Did I say date?”‘
When everyone’s gone, the teacher accuses Leslie of plagiarising her whole paper, having been sent the exact same paper with a postmark from another town, Warrenton. Leslie grabs the paper off him and looks at the first page, where under the title is a last name – Krashmer [So someone somehow got their hands on Leslie’s paper, copied it verbatim and sent it to the teacher from another town? That’s a lot of effort]!
Leslie flees the classroom and bumps into Trisha in the hall. She explains what just happened before Trisha pulls out the history test she’d just gotten back. She’d failed because someone had erased all her multiple choice answers and replaced them with incorrect ones! Trisha still doesn’t think Mrs. Krashmer’s prediction is coming true, suggesting instead that it’s just someone from school playing a dirty trick [Yeah, you!]. The whole school pretty much knows about the prediction by this point apparently [Really? The whole school, Trisha?] and whoever it is probably used the Krashmer name to worry the girls [I doubt anyone even remembers the name of the woman who made the prediction, though].
Trisha also insists they can’t tell anyone because everyone will just think they’re nuts, and all they can do is wait and see what happens next [This is a bad idea]. Leslie agrees, not wanting to be a laughingstock, and to her surprise her parents are quite understanding when she tells them about the paper later. Leslie’s not sure if they believe someone set her up, but they know she’s been under a lot of pressure lately with school and the party and a new boyfriend, and her only punishment is that she can’t go out on school nights. She almost tells them about everything else that’s happened but stops herself, because what happens if they decide to call off the party out of fear?
In her room later, Leslie gets a phone call, but there’s only a recording of a children’s chorus singing Happy Birthday on the other end. The voices get higher and higher, as if someone’s changed the speed of the tape it’s playing on, until eventually it stops and there’s nothing but dead silence. Leslie quickly phones Trisha and tells her about it, insisting everything is tied together – someone’s out to get them, or maybe even just Leslie, and using the prediction as a cover. Leslie doesn’t point fingers out loud, but Deborah, Steve, Caroline and even Rick are on her list of suspects for various reasons. Trisha encourages Leslie to go to sleep and try to relax, suggesting that maybe nothing else will happen [Trisha, plz, I see right through you].
Leslie thinks Trisha makes sense [Omfg Leslie. How? What reason do either of you possibly have to think this might be over?] and goes to bed, where she has another nightmare. This time she’s at a funeral approaching the coffin. Granny Barrows suddenly pops out and warns Leslie that ‘”Birthday parties can be deadly,”‘ then starts closing the coffin lid with Leslie somehow inside of it now [How she replaced Granny Barrows inside the coffin is never explained, she’s just suddenly in it as Granny starts closing the lid. Is Francesca Jeffries alluding to how senseless dreams can be, or is this just bad writing?].
Leslie’s all jittery the next morning and decides she’ll walk to school to clear her mind. She phones Rick and tells him she won’t be needing a lift, and he complains that they haven’t spent any time together lately [That’s because you’re always with Caroline, champ]. He can tell something’s wrong and urges her not to shut him out, and she agrees to plans to do something tonight, just them two, since it’s Friday [This book seems to take place over consecutive days, but the timeline just makes no sense at all. Trisha’s haircut was Friday, then the next day, which can only be a Saturday, they were at school. The day after that, which can only be a Sunday, they were also at school. Then there was a new day after that, which should have been Monday so today should be Tuesday. How the fuck is it Friday?]. Deborah also calls to offer Leslie a lift, and doesn’t take it very well when Leslie declines.
Leslie sets off now, thinking everything over, but as she’s crossing the street, she hears an engine gun directly behind her. She’s briefly frozen to the spot in fear but manages to jump to the sidewalk just in time, the car missing her by a few inches. It quickly speeds off before Leslie can get a good look at it, so all she knows is that it’s a red car. The deluded girl tries to tell herself that maybe someone just lost control of their steering and it was just an accident [And they didn’t stop to apologise or check on you? I can’t with this girl], and continues on to school.
As she reaches the school parking lot, Steve calls out to her and rushes over, insisting they need to talk – ‘”A lot’s been going on. There are things that need to be discussed. Now.”‘ [Oooh, spill the tea, bro!]. A few feet away, Deborah’s waving wildly at her, mouthing something Leslie can’t quite make out but assumes is a ploy to get her away from Steve so she can shoot her shot [They’re all friends, so why doesn’t Deb come over anyway? Unless one of them is the bad guy and the other one is trying to warn Leslie, maybe?]. And then Leslie notices Deborah’s family station wagon parked next to Steve’s Volkswagen, which are both red [Forgot that little detail until now, did ya?]!
Leslie suddenly doesn’t want to be around anyone so decides to cut school for the day and hurries back to the safety of her home. She’s unsure what to do about her date with Rick that night; can she really trust him? He’d do anything to protect her, and is there really anything wrong with enjoying the hero role [Oooooh, what if his hero complex is so big that he’s behind everything because Leslie’s too independent? Maybe he needs someone to depend on him, and this is his way into manipulating Leslie to thinking she needs him!]? She’s unable to convince herself to eliminate Rick from her suspect list, and a thought pops into her head about Caroline’s apparent dependence on Rick – ‘Was it just crazy Caroline, or did Rick manipulate her into needing him?’ [We’re on the same page there, Les! But I don’t know, I think Trisha’s still at the top of my list. Her life has turned to shit, so maybe she’s jealous of Leslie’s?]
Leslie falls asleep in front of the TV and takes a walk later when she wakes up, still feeling tense. It’s 6:15pm by the time she gets home to an empty house because her parents are visiting Aunt May. It’s too late to call off her date with Rick and she contemplates making up an excuse when he arrives to pick her up, but he’s looking way too sexy when he pulls up so she decides to go after all [Leslie, plz].
Rick’s planned a sunset picnic at Mount Porter for them, and even brought his portable CD player and plenty of CDs, ‘”perfect for a romantic picnic.”‘ So off they go to Mount Porter, up steep inclines and around sharp turns, but when they’re almost at the top, Rick’s car runs out of gas [Hmm… did someone drain his fuel at some point, or did he purposely not have enough? Surely if someone drained it he would have noticed how little he had left?]. He slides the car to the shoulder of the road, inches from the guardrail and the steep drop behind it, and Leslie can’t help but notice the gap in the rail, right where the car has stopped [Uh oh].
Rick remembers seeing a gas station a little while back [What, on the mountain?] and decides to walk there for a gas can, telling Leslie he’ll be back before she knows it. She begs him not to abandon her but he does anyway, leaving Leslie stranded all alone at the top of the mountain [Are your legs painted on, Leslie? Go with him!]. To make it even more terrifying, Rick’s car is a convertible, so she’d be easy pickings for our bad guy right now!
Darkness quickly closes in and Leslie finds a flashlight in the glove compartment before deciding to get the convertible’s top up. She’s only able to get it up part way, realising the car probably needs to be turned on for it to complete its journey, but she’s feeling a little bit safer at least, because ‘What could happen out here in the middle of nowhere?’ [A lot, Leslie. A lot] Her logic is that no-one knew where she was going, and if someone had followed, surely they would have made themselves known by now.
A rock suddenly hurtles through the windshield, shattering the glass, and before Leslie can open the door to escape, the car begins to rock as someone pushes down on the trunk repeatedly. The convertible’s top is blocking her view of whoever it is, but she’s sure they’re planning on pushing the car through the gap in the guardrail:
A strangled cry escaped Leslie’s lips. Should she try and get out of the car? Face her attacker? Or would she be safer inside, on the chance the car was too heavy to budge?
[Leslie, if you think he’s trying to push the car off the cliff, why are you even entertaining the idea of staying inside it?] She stays where she is for a little while, then flops into the back seat to escape through the back door [And not the front passenger door, which is closest to her, for some reason?? God, this girl is dumb] as the rocking stops. She stays crouched by the rear tire, the guardrail in front of her, and notices the car hadn’t actually moved an inch [Hmm, maybe the attacker was just trying to scare her rather than push her off the cliff. Did Rick has something to do with this? If it wasn’t him doing it, he could be in on this conspiracy against her. But then how did the attacker get up here without being seen or heard? They can’t have driven, right?]. Leslie’s frozen in place as she wonders where the attacker is, and then she hears a rustling noise [!!!!].
Rick suddenly appears with a gas can and Leslie leaps into his arms without a second thought [I’d be more suspicious of him now than ever before if I was her], and if he knew he’d get this reception, ‘”I’d leave you stranded more often.”‘ [I bet you would!] Leslie shows him the smashed windscreen and tells him what happened and he’s more shocked than angry, assuming it was probably some kid out for a joyride who decided to scare her. He apologises for leaving her alone [Seriously, why wasn’t going together even an option?] and quickly fills up the car so they can leave.
Leslie’s too drained to do anything else so he drops her home. It’s 7:45pm by this point, and Leslie finds it ‘hard to believe she had been gone only a couple of hours.’ [That’s because she wasn’t, but by now we know Francesca Jeffries doesn’t know how time works. She got home from her afternoon walk at 6:15. Rick showed up a short time later. It was apparently a long drive to Mount Porter, and then she’d waited in the car for a while before Rick returned with the gas, then another long drive home. That’s 1.5 hours max, although I’m struggling to believe all that took place within 1.5 hours anyway] Leslie suddenly realises that Trisha could be in danger too and quickly jumps on the phone. Aunt May reveals that she and Leslie’s parents are about to head over to the hospital where Trisha’s in the emergency room after ‘”Someone pushed her down the stairs at the mall.”‘
Leslie’s parents pick her up on the way to the hospital and soon Leslie’s next to Trisha’s bed in a curtained-off area while the adults talk to the doctor. Trisha’s only injury is a sprained ankle but she’s shaken up nonetheless, and explains to Leslie what happened:
“It all happened so quickly. I was in a crowd of people, going down the escalator. You know, the one by the big clock? There was some kind of commotion behind me. I heard somebody pushing — his way? Her way? I don’t even know — down the stairs. Then I felt two hands on my back. They shoved — hard — and just toppled. I managed to keep standing somehow until the very end… until I hit the floor… and that’s when I tripped and twisted my ankle.”
Everyone rushed over to help her and the attacker disappeared [She was in a crowd of people, how did not one person see who pushed her? Is this a lie, Trisha?], and before Leslie can ask if anyone else saw anything [Good girl!], their parents are back. They convince Aunt May to let Trisha sleep over at Leslie’s tonight, and as they’re climbing into bed, Leslie tells her Trisha what happened at Mount Porter. The girls agree that things are getting out of hand now, but Trisha’s tired and wants to discuss it tomorrow instead.
Tonight, Leslie dreams about Granny’s 80th birthday party, with all the guests frothing over how much she and Leslie look alike. Granny Barrows suddenly appears before her and tells Leslie not to worry because this is all just a caution. Then she collapses, her fatal stroke playing out in front of Leslie this time, and manages to choke out a warning – ‘”See how tragedy strikes a birthday celebration?”‘
The next morning, Leslie tells Trisha she can’t take it anymore and is worried they’ll both wind up dead. She’s considering calling off her Sweet Sixteen, hoping that’ll stop all the trouble. Trisha agrees that things are serious, but doesn’t want to stress out her mother any more than she already is with the divorce and money problems, but it seems she’s got an ulterior motive for keeping Leslie quiet: ‘”If you call your Sweet Sixteen off, there’s no way she’ll say yes to mine. And I really really want one, Les.” [Trisha is soooooooo determined to keep Leslie quiet about everything. How is Leslie not suspicious?] Trisha feels that if she has a fun, great party, things will start to get better for her and she’ll stop feeling so alone. She insists Leslie’s just being superstitious, like she always has been [If someone really pushed her down the stairs, she’d be singing a different tune] and once again, Leslie allows herself to be manipulated into thinking Trisha’s right:
“Okay.” Leslie smiled. Then she added, joking, “I’ll be the guinea pig here. If I survive my Sweet Sixteen, you can go ahead with yours.”
Leslie straightened her shoulders. The decision was made. She’d have her party.
Even if it killed her.
[Why are these idiots prioritising a fucking party over their lives? They’re killing me hahahaha]
Part Four: May 11, 1996
Two days later, Leslie wakes up to a weather report. Today, her birthday, is going to be muggy with thunderstorms but also extremely hot, maybe even hotter than the previous record set on May 8, three years ago [The day of Granny Barrows’ stroke!]. The last few days have been trouble-free, but Leslie isn’t as excited as she should be for her birthday celebrations.
Downstairs, her parents give her an ornate jewellery box that she recognises belonged to her late grandmother; in her will, Granny Barrows had instructed it to be gifted to Leslie on her sixteenth birthday. Leslie can’t believe all the beautiful jewellery inside, including the emerald ring Granny wore every day. She tries it on and feels an instant closeness with her grandmother, which helps lift her spirits. She tells her parents she’s ready for her Sweet Sixteen, and as if in reply, the lights dim and a streak if lightning splits the sky as thunder roars over the house… ‘The storm had begun.’
We cut to the ice skating party, where everyone seems to be having fun, even Trisha who can’t even skate because she’s using a crutch now. Leslie’s skating around, having a good time until she overhears a few ominous conversations: Deborah talking to someone about a talk show episode featuring ex-best friends who all wanted revenge [How very specific for a talk show episode! Maybe the next one will be about teens whose best friends have a Sweet Sixteen at a skating rink!]; Caroline confidently assuring Donna that Rick will realise he needs her very soon and will come crawling back; and Steve arguing with Rick about how overprotective he is of Leslie. Leslie starts to worry now, but surely all of these people aren’t plotting against her?
Aunt May soon comes over to let Leslie know she’s heading home with Trisha to get changed for Flamingo’s, and the rest of the guests quickly start clearing out. The staff start packing things up, and after a quick pirouette on the ice, Leslie tells her parents she’s just going to get changed and heads into the empty locker. With the first part of her party going off without any trouble, Leslie’s feeling good about the rest of the night and starts talking to herself [She does this a lot]:
“Fortune-tellers? Predictions? Ha!” she said out loud, reaching down to unlace her skates. She slipped them off, and wriggled her toes. “I’m going to be just fine.”
An instant later, she heard a click. The sound of a light switch being turned off. And Leslie was plunged into darkness.
She calls out to whoever turned the lights off, but of course there’s no reply. She slowly makes her way through the darkness to the door, but finds it locked and can’t find the light switch. Then she hears a tap-tap-tapping sound and realises it’s footsteps coming towards her [Footsteps don’t tap… but a crutch might?!? Is Trisha our bad guy?!], so she finds her way back to her ice skates to use one as a weapon. Then two strong hands shove her from behind and she tumbles into an open locker, which is quickly locked behind her. Then the tap-tap-taps across the room and exits, leaving poor Leslie trapped in a locker in total darkness [Her parents were waiting for her in the rink to get changed, where are they now?]. To make matters worse, the rink is closed for renovations tomorrow, so who knows how long she’ll be trapped in here [Surely the staff hasn’t left without making sure everyone’s gone though?]?!
Leslie starts to panic and closes her eyes, and can’t be sure if she’s really awake when she opens them because Granny Barrows is suddenly in front of her, ‘as if the locker had no doors, no sides,’ bathed in a glowing light and beckoning silently [Grandma’s a g-g-g-g-g-ghost!]. Leslie realises Granny’s trying to tell her she can escape with the ice skate still gripped in her hand. ‘Leslie jolted into wakefulness’ and uses the blade of the skate to pry open the door, and once out in the open again, she remembers the tapping sound and it suddenly hits her who’s responsible. We don’t get to know who yet though, but I just know it’s Trisha and her crutch.
With a surge of energy, Leslie finds her sneakers in the dark and escapes the locker room into the now-empty rink [Where are her parents?! What did Trisha tell them to get them to leave? Especially since Trisha was one of the first to leave? And she left with her mother?]. Still in her skating outfit, she flees the rink and races to Flamingo’s a few blocks away, bursting into the dining area to find all her guests grouped in a circle around somebody crying:
Not saying a word, Leslie pressed quietly against the far wall. This was it. The moment of truth. Whoever sat at the center of the circle would attempt to explain what happened. Why Leslie wasn’t at her own Sweet Sixteen dinner.
Then Leslie heard the voice. That old familiar voice. Smiling grimly, Leslie crossed her arms. She was right.
The person in the center was Tricia.
Through crocodile tears, Trisha explains to everyone that two men she didn’t recognise shoved Leslie into a car and took off [So are we not going to explain how Trisha was one on the first to leave the party, with her mother, but somehow didn’t actually leave? Where was her mother? Where were Leslie’s parents?]. Leslie makes herself known and her relieved parents rush over to her, explaining they’d looked for her at the rink but then assumed she’d gotten a ride with a friend [She literally told them she was going to get changed in the locker room, so they obviously didn’t look for her lol. She was in there for like two minutes before being attacked lol]. Leslie tells everyone she wasn’t kidnapped, revealing Trisha has been behind everything:
“I figured it out after I heard the tapping sound in the locker room. It was your crutch hitting the floor. Everything — all your little accidents — were just tricks. Ploys to make me think someone was after you, too. You drained the gas from Rick’s car, then rocked it on the mountain. You took the keys to Steve’s car and tried to run me down.”
[Did Steve not notice his car was gone, or?] Trisha angrily explains her motive, and just as I suspected, it’s jealousy [The uglier girl being dangerously jealous of the prettier one? Groundbreaking]. Leslie’s always had it so easy, with a perfect life and perfect parents etc. She was even the closest to Granny Barrows, which got her the emerald ring, the one piece of jewellery that Trisha had always loved. Trisha just wanted to scare Leslie at first, to get her to cancel the party [Girl, you literally convinced her not to cancel it every chance you got, wtf?], so pretended to lose her earrings and jumped up during her haircut, but had to keep making each thing worse and worse. ‘”And then … after all that … when I couldn’t even hold on to Steve … when I knew I’d lost him and had to do something, I wanted to hurt you. I didn’t want you to cancel the party. I wanted revenge.”‘ [You broke up with Steve, Trisha! I guess what she said about Steve dragging her around the mall saying he’d never let her go was a weird lie. And did she really threw herself down the escalators? Or that never happened and she was just faking her sprain? I need Answers, Jeffries!]
She apologises tearfully but warns everyone to stay back when they try to move closer, lunging for the sharp cake knife on the table. Leslie calmly steps forward anyway, so Trisha lights some candles on the cake and flings some at Leslie [So you’re not gonna use the knife, darl?]. It hits the curtains behind her which instantly go up in flames and spread quickly across the restaurant. Everyone escapes outside as the flames take over, including Trisha who’s guided out the back door but Aunt May. Outside, Leslie watches Flamingo’s burn, ‘the wreckage of her sixteenth birthday.’ She realises the prediction did come true, but her troubles are finally over while Trisha’s are just beginning.
Part IV, August 1996
[OK, wtf is going on, Francesca? Why is this part in Roman numerals, when the first four where numbers? Why isn’t this ‘Part Five’ to keep it cohesive?!] Leslie’s visiting Granny Barrows’ grave with some flowers, reminiscing over the past few months. She’d broken up with Rick a week after her birthday after realising he treated her like a fragile doll when she wanted to be a person, an equal. She does really miss him, but she’d made her choice [Did he go back to Caroline?].
Steve and Deborah are also together now, and it turns out Steve’s interest in Deborah is what he’d been trying to discuss with Leslie all along. Trisha had officially broken up with him first, but only because he’d been trying to end things with her [Ohhhhhhh, ok then]. All those looks and attempts to talk with Leslie were because he wanted to clear everything with her before pursuing her best friend, because he still wants to be friends with Leslie.
As for Trisha, she’s getting round-the-clock care and counselling at a nearby hospital. Leslie hasn’t been able to visit yet in case it set her progress back, but Aunt May has been surprisingly strong, visiting Trisha every day to support her – ‘”She’s going to come out of this,” she’d repeatedly told Leslie. “And she’s going to need all the friends she can get.” [Well maybe she shouldn’t try to kill one of the only friends she’s got?!]. Leslie had just nodded along, apparently not even angry anymore [Leslie, don’t be an idiot, the girl tried to kill you!].
A car horn suddenly beeps and Rick pulls up in his convertible to ask if she needs a lift. Leslie tells him she’s fine to walk, but he offers to let her drive, something she’d been trying to do their whole relationship so she could get some practice. And on top of that, he’ll even let her treat him to lunch afterward, anywhere she wants! And the book ends with Leslie accepting the offer with a smile [Cute. At least he’s trying to change his overprotective ways].
Final thoughts
Not a bad book! Definitely needed some proof-reading before being published though, because Francesca Jeffries doesn’t seem to have an accurate concept of time or days of the week. Excluding those issues, I thought it was mostly well-written, although there could have been some more danger and excitement.
I enjoyed Leslie for the most part, but she could also be extremely frustrating. Like, how many bad things have to happen before you believe you’re being targeted? And she really let Trisha manipulate her into thinking nothing was wrong several times, all for a damn party?! I guess it made sense not to suspect Trisha since bad things were apparently happening to her too, but still! Leslie had her strong moments, though; everyone else was a suspect, even if they were her best friend or boyfriend, and she gets bonus points for wanting to be an independent woman and being bothered by Rick’s protectiveness and need to do literally everything for her.
Trisha’s motive was a bit basic, especially since the main catalyst for increasing danger was Steve wanting to dump her. He was dumping Trisha for Leslie, so why attack Leslie? I’m also still confused by how she pulled off some of the things she did. Usually things are pretty self-explanatory and it’s annoying when the bad guy monologue involves an explanation for every single thing, but here we definitely could have used some of that!
There was some mild supernatural elements that didn’t really go anywhere, like Leslie’s dreams and Granny Barrows’ ghost appearing at the end. Like I guess they were all warnings of what was to happen at the rink, but Granny’s ghost simply pointing out the skate in Leslie’s hand was very anticlimactic. I’m also curious as to what exactly Mrs. Krashmer saw in the tea leaves… was it just that there’d be trouble before their 16th birthdays, or did she know that Trisha would be the one causing the trouble?
From what I can tell, this is Francesca Jeffries’ only Point Horror, and possibly only book altogether? It’s a shame, because I’d be interested to see what else she could do. Now that I think about it, maybe I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought hahaha.
91 ghosts in a locker out of 156!
