Focusing On Fear Street: College Weekend

WELCOME TO FOCUSING ON FEAR STREET WITH THERESTHEGIRL

 

Book #32 in the Fear Street Series

Published July 1995

Cover Art by Bill Schmidt

 

 

Tina Rivers, our main character, sitting on a bench as she clutches her bag with an anxious expression. A dark silhouette in the window of the building behind her seems to be watching her and waiting perhaps to do Tina some serious harm. The color palette is of cool colors in blues and purples with just a small hint of mystery and suspense. I believe I had a similar dress to what Tina is wearing but it was pink and not yellow and I like how slender she looks compared to other girls I have seen on Fear Street covers...very frail like a true damsel in distress. Here her hair is a strawberry-blonde color and the book says it's a light blond but I think Tina looks beautiful.

 

So of course we have a German cover for the book:

 

 

Here Tina is the much lighter blonde described in the book and her face is turned from us but she is waiting under a streetlamp as someone watches her from the bushes...taking her picture without her knowing. Simple yet unnerving with such great detail...another favorite.

 

Then there is this one from France:

 

 

We have a studio light and a camera in a studio where there is a man chasing a woman with a knife in his hand. The lighting is this reddish-pink and it seems to be blazing like the red lighting in a darkroom which sort of reminds me of nighttime crime drama like Silk Stalkings.

 

 

Does anyone else remember this show or am I just old?

 

Next is the cover from Spain:

 

 

Looks like Tina in a studio with our other main character Chris photographing her while in the background someone is reaching out in terror for help. Does she notice this guy? Is he even alive or is he like already a stiff corpse? Also, is it just me or does Chris look like Rob Lowe?

 

Finally two covers from Russia:

 

 

 

 

The first is a knife in the ground of a college campus I guess? I found in my search for Fear Street cover art around the world that some of the Russian art might have been for a different book in the series or another book entirely. This one looks more appropriate for The Knife to me. The second I guess has Chris in the foreground with blonde Tina and her brunette cousin Holly in the background over a building on the campus. Holly is supposed to have curly hair but I guess Tina and Chris look fine? Most of these other Russian covers look like Teen Romance novels to me and just what is up with that fisherman slicker collar on the guy's jacket?

 

Taglines: "She was just dying to visit her boyfriend..." greets us on the front and I guess it's okay. Not original but not too corny. "Nightmare Weekend." is on the back as I guess a play on the title which is clever to tell us what we are in for. The blurb also gives us an idea of what the plot is going to bring us and I like how it calls Chris "Christopher" when that doesn't happen with how characters refer to him.

 

The First Line: Skipping the prologue which is a conversation between Tina Rivers and her boyfriend Josh Martin...missing each other and talking about the plans of the trip but also ominous warnings that this is how all of it begins...

 

"Tina Rivers checked her watch for about the millionth time."

 

Tina and her cousin Holly Phillips arrive at the train station in Patterson, the town that houses the college where Tina's boyfriend Josh is going to school studying geology. It's his freshman year and Tina is at Shadyside High in her senior year and it has been three months since she last saw Josh at Christmas time so this must be close to Spring Break but she's only there for a three day weekend because they missed each other I guess and couldn't wait for that?

 

Anyway, Tina's parents made her drag Holly along to keep Tina out of trouble but don't realize that Holly is more likely to get in trouble while Tina and Josh are all lovey-dovey. It's not off to a good start as Josh seems to be running late and the train station waiting room is empty until a man comes upon the two girls demanding their money but he gets scared away by Chris Roberts, Josh's roommate. Josh has told her all about Chris being rich but not how good looking he is with his "piecing green eyes" and dark hair pulled back in a short ponytail, which Holly and Tina both seem to appreciate. Chris can't help but keep staring at Tina and totally ignoring Holly, mentioning that Josh has pictures of his girlfriend all over their dorm room.

 

Why am I imaging it looks like this?

 

The million dollar question: why is Chris here and not Josh? Josh went out on a camping trip with their mutual friend Steve and was suppose to be back but they had trouble with the transmission of their car and won't be back until later tonight...maybe longer. Tina is disappointed but not that mad at Josh as Chris gives her and Holly a ride to the dorm in his expensive Jeep with its sound system and CD player. The conversation reveals that Chris and Tina like the same music and food and that Chris' uncle is a famous fashion photographer. Tina's dream is to be a model when she gets done with school and Chris offers to take some photos of her for his portfolio and pass them along to his uncle.

 

Getting some vibes here...again am I old?

 

Tina and Holly have been approved to stay in Chris and Josh's dorm while they stay at Chris' studio and Tina is surprised to see that all the pictures supposedly of her are not there except Josh's senior prom picture. A girl shows up and her name is Carla, who is Steve's girlfriend. She acts a little strange around Tina and ends up telling the other two girls about Chris' last girlfriend, Judy, and that she died by drowning while they were out sailing when the boat got caught in a storm. After learning that sad bit of information, Chris arrives and invites the girls to go out to a party while they wait for Josh and Steve to get back. Hanging up her clothes in Josh's closet, Tina finds a pair of hiking boots which send up a red flag.

 

 

 

When Tina mentions this to Chris, he informs her Josh bought new ones with money from his new on campus job. This makes Tina internally questions if people do change when they go to college because Josh doesn't seem to tell her anything anymore. At the party, Carla introduces Holly to the drama crowd and that leaves Tina alone with Chris where she seems at ease with him since they have so much in common and they end up kissing. Feeling guilty, Tina discovers that Holly is gone when she finds one of her beaded earrings on the ground and believes her cousin may have been abducted by some local townie bikers.

 

Carla tells Tina that Holly went off with a girl named Alyssa from Shadyside that she knew from Drama and not to worry. Tina goes back to the dorm and is completely alone so while trying to occupy herself she finds Josh's car keys on a quartz keychain she got him for Christmas. The morning comes and Josh is still not back but neither is Holly so Tina and Chris go about campus and town to find her when they can't get a hold of the girl named Alyssa she ran off with last night. Chris brings his camera to take some professional shots of Tina and the attraction between them is growing as they head to the fair. Everything really starts to become a nightmare when Tina runs into a guy named Jack she knows from Shadyside and he tells her that Alyssa Pryor now lives in Seattle...so where is Holly?

 

Her cousin is missing and her boyfriend is stranded in the mountains, Carla seems to be keeping secrets and Chris is starting to act strangely around Tina...what is going on? Can Tina figure it out before it's too late?

 

 

 

Body Count:  One and it's pretty obvious who it is...

 

 

College Weekend is suspenseful but it won't take a savvy reader long to figure out a major plot point and for a while you try and hope you were very wrong. You may figure out the answer to another twist in the story thanks to the changes in a certain character as well. As main characters go, I like Tina for she isn't whiny or bitchy so you do feel sorry for her. The ending is also pretty bittersweet and sad which to me is better than a happy ending or a character getting away with their actions. When the story has a pretty foregone conclusion of a down ending especially in a Fear Street book it seems wrong to say you hope for the best right then and there...it's not realistic. Still a very good book in the series...I recommend it.

 

 

 

THE SHADYSIDE HIGH TIME CAPSULE

 

 

Now I know I can get a little heavy handed or go a little dark in my comedy concerning these books but if I do one or the other or both...it's just my style. Now a certain film came out at this time and I think a few of the songs from its soundtrack work here. Tina is said to like two bands in College Weekend called Psycho Surfers and Spoiled Rotten who do not exist and I have no idea what sort of music it is supposed to be so I have a few choices.

 



 

 

 

NEXT BLOG: Hope you can wait to discover What Holly Heard...