Focusing On Fear Street - Cat

WELCOME TO FOCUSING ON FEAR STREET WITH THERESTHEGIRL

 

Book # 45 of the original Fear Street series

Published May 1997

Cover Art by Bill Schmidt

 

 

This cover is about the closest that an original cover by Bill Schmidt has gotten to rivaling the German cover art with its simplistic yet effective style. A woman with cat-like eyes holds a very mean looking cat with the same green eyes against a reddish-brown background with the book title in that same green. The feline and the cat-like woman look realistic but it also looks like a movie poster and even if there is nothing in the background the detail is wonderful so I like it. Sadly, only Germany has any different take on the cover art because other countries trying their hand would be interesting. The first is the original and the second is from an omnibus collection of Cat with Bad Moonlight but it fits better for the first title more.

 

 

 

The eyes of a cat peak out of the darkness with scratches on the door and a small puddle of blood on the ground while in the second, a black cat is on the stone wall of a cemetery looking like a staple of Halloween. Black cats are bad luck to some but the cat in the book is silver-gray with a black diamond on its forehead but the stereotype is fine for the atmosphere and the detail of both covers is gorgeous!

 

Taglines: On the front is "C-A-T spells murder" Oh my goodness this has to be the cheesiest one yet! because it's just so *erupts in laughter* On the back is "The cat came back..." I like it because it reminds me of the best thing ever:

 



 

Back to business now with the blurb. It gets the point of the story across to us and well it does sound interesting.

 

The First Line: "I never liked cats."

 

 

 

The prologue is being narrated by our main character, Martin "Marty" Harper. He tells us that he is allergic to cats and also confesses that it's mostly because they look so evil when they stare at you...he's just not a cat person. He may not like them but he admits that he never meant to kill that cat and we find ourselves getting a flashback to how this whole mess began.

 

I always thought the woman on the cover looked like actress Melinda Clarke...anyone agree?



 

A cat found its way into the gym at Shadyside High and has been staying under the bleachers, people giving it food and water and of course, the girls of the school love it. The ones who don't are the basketball team as the feline disrupts their practices by running out on to the court and tripping the players...it happens so often chasing the cat is part of practice in itself. On this particular day, Marty and his two friends, Dwayne Clark and Barry Allen, are being ridden pretty hard by their coach and I guess it's just being tough. Marty knows that he and his buddies are the best players on the team since they've been playing basketball since they were kids and he admits it's kind of hard not to get a big ego because of it.

 

Marty describes Barry as looking like "Superman on TV"...sounds good to me. Love Dean Cain ;)



 

Gayle Edgerton and Riki Crawford, two girls who are friends of Marty's, come by the gym to do a story on the "Three Musketeers" as the guys are called for the school paper. Gayle is the reporter and Riki the photographer, who just so happens to have gone out with Marty a few times and is still hung up on him, but they get interrupted when the cat shows up. The guys chase it for awhile until it disappears but when it shows up again, it trips Marty and he lands on his knee...badly

 

Dwayne wears Hawaiian shirts for good luck...Tommy Bahama or Hilfiger?



 

The nurse says it's just a sprain but Coach Griffin benches Marty to keep him from screwing up the leg even more and Marty is not happy. He told his friends he already had a basketball scholarship but he may have jumped the gun as another person is being considered as well but if he can't play, Marty knows he might not get it...and it's all that darn cat's fault.

 

This Darn Cat was the worst cat of 1997 IMHO



 

When he sees it, all Marty can see is red and the guys give chase again to trap the cat on the bleachers which makes Marty's knee even more painful as he grabs the cat. This is not a nice kitty it bites and scratches at Marty but I have to admit it might just be out of fear but the blood in his eyes and his knee buckling almost causes Marty to fall. Reaching out to grab Dwayne's hand, Marty lets go of the cat to see it tumble down the bleachers and fall on the ground with a sickening crack.

 

 

Art credit Casey Weldon



 

Gayle and Riki accuse Marty of throwing the cat off the bleachers with real intent to kill it but Marty admits it was just an accident. Barry and Dwayne are not as remorseful and have no tact saying that the cat was just a nuisance but Gayle is not amused...she is steaming mad. Riki is more shocked but still not happy with what Marty has done even when he pleads with her and Marty seems truly sorry even if he was angry with the cat. Barry and Dwayne say more awful things about the dead cat that send Gayle over the edge and it makes Marty angry how she won't even listen to him.

 



 

The next day, Marty arrives to school and gets hateful glares from a lot of girls and even one student's mom and his female homeroom teacher! Gayle works fast at getting the news about Marty killing the cat all around town that even Dwayne's little sister won't talk to him and it just so happens that Gayle is president of the Animal Rights Club at school. She also has put up a poster about a rally to stop cruelty to animals with not only pictures of said abuse but also one of MARTY for his killing of the cat.

 



 

Now Gayle says she saw what she saw with her own eyes but apparently not as I for one truly think Marty didn't do it on purpose. Even if the story is from his point of view, it was either drop the cat or both the cat and Marty could have fallen and DIED. Not all cats land on their feet but neither do most humans and the cat could have survived in that scenario but Marty most certainly would not have.

 

Back to the story from my little tangent, so...

 

Coach Griffin approaches Marty about the incident, listens to Marty's side of the story, and tells him that if he wants to play in next week's game he will have to go Student Court because basically the Animal Rights Club is putting him on trial for the cat's murder. Marty knows that if word gets to the school where he's hoping to get the scholarship from he most certainly will not get it and agrees.

 

The next day, Barry and Dwayne actually stand up for Marty (better than the other day) as witnesses and none of the boys are treating this as a joke but Gayle says that Marty was part of the teasing and that they even swung it around. I have no idea what this chick's problem is but Dwayne only held the cat's dead body by the tail and then they tossed it in a garbage can...they didn't skin it and throw the pelt at you!

 

After deliberating for fifteen minutes, the jury finds Marty not guilty of murdering the cat but guilty of cruelty to animals. His sentence is to do thirty hours of community service at the animal shelter which seems fair considering even if all he did was chase it with the intent of taking it to the shelter but fate went a little differently. Marty, on the other hand, even tells Coach Griffin that he was cruel to the cat and deserves to serve the full thirty hours when he says he'll try to get Marty's sentence reduced so he can rest up his knee.

 

It's mentioned several times that Marty has a dog named Teddy who is a Shar Pei so here you go!



 

For awhile, things go back to normal as if nothing ever happened except for Gayle and Riki being kind of jerky to Marty still. Riki's attitude is more towards Marty being flirty towards other girls and learning from Gayle that Marty lied about a date he broke off with Riki claiming he was sick. Okay so that might actually be the only jerky thing Marty has intentionally done but he doesn't deserve all this hate. When Marty begins his community service at the animal shelter is when things actually start to get kind of weird. The animals at the shelter start barking and hissing around Marty and well earlier he thought he saw the dead cat back underneath the bleachers and Barry did get attacked and scratched by a similar looking cat but that couldn't be possible...could it?

 

Marty keeps seeing cats following him...hearing them hiss on the phone late at night and long evil yowls...is he cracking up or did a cat just walk over his grave?

 

 



 

 

Body Count: Cats have nine lives...two humans lose their own.

 

 

MY TAKE: Cat is a really good Fear Street book...probably one of my favorites. It has a likeable male lead character in Marty, some actually good red herrings once you pay attention, and those twists...wow! The actual twist reveal is pretty easy to spot by some throw away lines but it is presented with something actually outside of the box that you don't really see in Fear Street books as most are actually more murder-mystery stories. The ending is again something out of Twilight Zone or Tales From The Crypt which is purr-fectly fine with me... I recommend you check this one me-out.

 

 

THE SHADYSIDE HIGH TIME CAPSULE

 

 

Seems Marty is a real ladies man and that he likes going out to the movies...many good choices this certain time of year!

 

 

 

Did you get my last little joke with the final movie? See the actress was in the 1982 remake of Cat People...so you know...it's funny.

 

 

Okay then so how about some music?

 

 



 

 

NEXT BLOG: We're going to dial it backward a little bit and talk about the first sequel to a Fear Street book that wasn't a Super Chiller or part of a trilogy. Time to call back for Wrong Number 2 

 

Focusing On Fear Street - Killer's Kiss

WELCOME TO FOCUSING ON FEAR SREET WITH THERESTHEGIRL

 

Book #42 in the original Fear Street Series

Published February 1997

Cover Art by Bill Schmidt

 

 

Not of the best quality but a picture of the main male character, Vincent Milano, covered with lip prints. The picture is on a heart stabbed to the wall with a really big knife. For a book published in February around Valentine's Day it has lots of reds and pinks and purples and is very realistic. It's got some good detail but I wish you could see the heart better instead of being close-up on the face. So this was another one that got a 2008 reprint cover so we might as well get that out of the way:

 

 

A skull with a lip print on the bone...okay maybe a little bit better than the last one. The color of the lipstick is actually much closer to the one described in the book than the red of the original and I like the color scheme with the double effect on the skull. To me it looks like the skull is wearing rose-tinted glasses but it's just the eye sockets weirdly colored and this one isn't too bad. So what does Russia have in store for us with it's cover since it's always a weird one?

 

 

 

Was this supposed to be for a vampire book instead? That looks like blood on the girl's lips. The blonde girl in our story, Karina, doesn't even have anything to do with the lipstick that comes into play in the book so that's one swing and a miss. The guy looks pretty good but I think it may be another male character, Stewart, and not Vincent but again not too sure. I like the color scheme but also again that weird realistic style of the girl and the illustration of the boy is kind of off-putting like it was cobbled from something much different but it does have a nice, dark tone. Next up: Brazil/Portugal.

 

 

Our three main characters: dark-haired, stylish Delia, handsome Vincent and conservative, blonde Karina in front of a background with party balloons and the outline of a dead body. The napkin on the ground is focused more with tell-tale lip print in the corner and it's pretty much book-accurate and very nice looking even if it does spoil that someone gets murdered. So, last but not least, the German cover.

 

 

The outline of chalk where a dead body fell and a napkin on the ground with a perfect lip print. Seriously, that is a really detailed lip print as well as the fabric napkin. It's not as foreboding as the usual covers but it conveys the point of the story across in a very simplistic manner so I'd say it's in the top three after the original and the Brazil/Portugal one with Russia in fourth and the US reprint in last place.

 

Taglines: On the front: "Her lips were sweet and deadly." and on the back: "Kiss life good-bye..." The blurb tells us, of course, two girls after the same guy and one of them seems a little more determined than the other to make sure the boy is hers.

 

 

The First Line: "Whoa."

 

 

 

What a way to start a story huh? This is said by Vincent Milano after he and Delia Easton get done making out on his couch. Delia is always wearing this dark purple lipstick and leaving lip prints on Vincent's face and napkins, tissues and notebook papers blotting her lips. Not that Vincent minds because Delia is just one of those girls that everyone notices with her wild style and dark curls but he admits that Delia isn't beautiful. Oh no the other girl he's seeing is much more beautiful: the blonde and blue-eyed, Karina Frye, whom reminds him of Michelle Pfeiffer.

 

 

Young Michelle...meow!



 

Yep, Vincent's a two-timer seeing two girls at the same time and not just any girls but Karina and Delia who go head-to-head over everything. Who had the best grades, the most friends, the hottest guys and now over an award that's pretty much a scholarship sort of deal but neither girl knows the other is dating Vincent so either they are both just really self-absorbed or not that smart.

 

 



 

 When Vincent realizes that the fireplace clock is broken and that Karina will be at his house any minute, he tries to usher Delia out when only minutes ago he was thinking about nothing but making out with her some more...what a jerk. So the minute Delia's car is out of sight, Karina's car arrives and Vincent thinks he got away with something big until Karina flips out...by seeing the purple lip print on his cheek! Apparently, Delia is the only one who wears that shade so Karina knows she was there which I guess makes her a little smarter than I thought. Vincent explains that Delia just came for some notes and kissed him on the cheek as she left...no big deal since he didn't kiss her back. Karina is too livid to eat out of Vincent's hands and leaves saying how much she hates Delia...angry enough that Vincent is kind of afraid of her.

 

 

I so wish I could rock purple lipstick!



 

So the following day at school, Delia is in the gym with her friends, Gabe Denver and Britty Myers. It's pretty clear that Gabe has a crush on Delia but she only has eyes for Vincent and if not thinking about her boy toy, Delia's thinking about winning the Conklin Award scholarship. Besides Delia and Karina, there are four others and another boy they know named Stewart Andrews competing for the award which Delia thinks Karina will win because she goes around acting like Little Miss Perfect. Britty is friends with both girls and can't understand why they fight so much since they all use to be best friends and I can tell you why: Vincent. All of a sudden, Karina enters the gym and attacks Delia.

 



 

She outright starts choking her and even pulls her earring out of her ear...ouch! Delia has no idea what this is about but Karina keeps mentioning that she won't win but this clearly isn't about some award...especially when Vincent's name comes up. Karina is still upset about seeing Delia's lipstick on Vincent's cheek last night and has some serious anger issues. When Vincent is at Delia's house the next evening, he ignores Delia telling him about Karina this and Karina that but Delia can't forget how insane she was and of course, Delia is still clueless to his two-timing. We learn Delia has a sister named Sarah, who is fifteen and a tomboy, when she catches her spying on the couple and she gives her a hard time in a rather nasty way. Sarah, being embarrassed in front of Vincent, tells Delia she'll get back at her after running away with one of Delia's drawings for her portfolio to present to the Conklin Award judges.

 

We see the next day, Stewart asking Delia out on a date for the weekend so they both can get their minds of the competition but Delia turns Stewart down, saying that she and Vincent are going together but doesn't Stewart already know that? Delia soon finds Stewart in a conversation with Karina in a storage closet and thinks Karina asked Stewart to ask her out so that Karina could get Vincent alone. She tells this to Britty and even though the other girl thinks Karina and Delia are letting this get out of hand, agrees to talk to Karina to see what's going on with her thinking Vincent is her boyfriend. Karina is obviously the smarter of the two and knows exactly what Delia's up to sending Britty as a sort of spy so that the plan goes up in smoke.

 

 

Pretend Britty is Cady, Karina is Regina and Delia is Gretchen



 

At the talent part of the competition (other than painting which I guess all of the contenders have to do?) for the award, Stewart performs a magic act, Karina sings an Italian opera piece and just as Delia is going up to perform a song she wrote on an acoustic guitar...she finds all of the strings cut and a decomposing rat stuffed inside the sound hole! Of course, Delia accuses Karina but maybe it wasn't her as Delia sees sister Sarah in the audience smiling and leaving with the other girl...or maybe that was a grin on Stewart's face while he was offstage? Delia goes home that afternoon to find a note on the door from Vincent. To make up for not being at the show today, he wants to take Delia out dancing so she heads over to Britty' house to get back her skirt and finds Brit and Gabe making her cookies to feel better...aww.

 



 

On her way back home, Delia sees Karina with Vincent and crashes her car! While Vincent is calling Delia's parents, Karina rushes over to check on Delia and now both girls know that Vincent has been dating both of them at the same time! FINALLY DELIA! Karina apologizes for attacking Delia and calls a truce but even though Delia agrees to the truce it still doesn't mean she'll give up Vincent and oh my god here it goes again...

 



 

Okay...so...not because of the accident but a lame excuse, Vincent tells Delia he has to do a rain check on the offer to go out dancing. Vincent is a little worried that his life will be ruined if Karina and Delia decide to be best friends again so he gives Delia the story that whatever Karina said to her was all just bunk and Delia believes it. This is also where we find out that now Vincent is a three-timer and his other girl just so happens to be...Sarah!

 

When the time comes to show her art to the judges, Delia finds that all of her drawings have been defaced with her own Midnight Wine lipstick and completely ruined! Running off, Delia finds Karina with Vincent and at this point, I do feel a little sorry for her. It's never really fun when you have a frenemy but is Karina really that crazy when someone else had better access to destroy her pictures? Over at Britty's, Delia talks about dropping out of the competition but her friend convinces her not to because even if Karina is responsible for sabotaging Delia and gets kicked out, Delia still has a chance to win. Of course, Delia turns it all around to how she has to get the award to get out of Shadyside but none of that is worth it if she has to lose Vincent to Karina.

 

 



 

Despite Britty trying to convince Delia that Karina is better off having Vincent and how many other guys would love to go out with her, Delia leaves to go and talk with Vincent but gets a surprise to see Sarah there in her clothes and make-up, making out with her man. Sarah and Vincent aren't at all sorry so Delia gets in a nasty comment to her sister and Vincent says he was just trying to give the younger girl pointers and it seems Delia might finally be realizing the truth about Vincent but no...of course, NO. Vincent is a master-manipulator and Delia tells him he has to talk to Karina because all of this is getting out of hand and Delia is worried about what the other girl might do next.

 

What is in store in this torrid love triangle between Vincent, Delia and Karina? Which girl will win Vincent's heart or will this lover boy get what he deserves?

 

Body Count: There's a love triangle involved...and three is always a crowd so of course...it can't end well for at least one of them.

 

MY TAKE: This book took a lot to get through in reviewing it and trying not to spoil Killer's Kiss for anyone who has not read it. First off with the characters, I couldn't really stand any of them except for Gabe, Britty, Stewart and even Sarah. Vincent of course is just a complete jerk that rivals Bobby Newkirk from Double Date but might even be worse. Delia is just not very bright in the first half of the book and Karina is so much smarter but she is still quite horrible. Once you get to the last few chapters, it gets interesting and has a really good twist where the ending just fizzles out. It's not comical or sad it just ends...that's about it. I would recommend it just to find out the twist/ending that all Fear Street books have and that's not really saying much...it's just okay.

 

THE SHADYSIDE HIGH TIME CAPSULE

 

 

 

 

Not really a lot of movies that I can find for this point in time that I really liked or could even suggest either one of these "couples" go and see except maybe Fools Rush In because well it's a decent flick and that title is spot on or even Beautician and The Beast because well Fran Drescher.

 

The music on the other hand is a whole other story!

 

 



 

 

NEXT BLOG: We're going to cross paths with one really bad...Cat.