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...













 

 

Focusing On Fear Street: Switched

This is the one that started me on reading Fear Street. I didn't want to start on it first...waiting for the right time to discuss it. Now is that time...

 

WELCOME TO FOCUSING ON FEAR STREET WITH THERESTHEGIRL

 

Book# 31

Published May 1995

Cover Art by Bill Schmidt

 

 

 

We have brunette Nicole Darwin and blonde Lucy Kramer, dressed in the same outfit and holding hands...a lightning bolt between them and electric bolts about the clasped hands. Nicole's face looks a little evil while Lucy looks a lot softer in her features...a great depiction of what we are about to find out within the books pages. Dark browns, reds and yellows provide a well balanced color palette to draw in your eye with a good use of shadow...one of my favorites and a memorable Fear Street cover.

 

In 2006 this was one of the books that got an update on the cover and well it's interesting...

 

 

 

 

I like that Nicole doesn't have to be white...it gives a nice contrast to the blonde Lucy but both of their eyes look a little off. It's okay but the re-issues don't compare to the original Bill Schmidt art work. So, of course, the German artwork is always so very good with the first being the original and the second from an omnibus collection in which Switched is collected.

 

 

 

A torn picture of Lucy and Nicole and a knife in a note written by Lucy and a cracked wall in the middle of the evil woods. Ominous, creepy imagery that is accurate to the book with only one critique...I wish the knife had blood to make it a lot more dark. Then there is the French cover:

 

 

 

Two girls jumping over a wall with either the full moon behind it or the glow of dark magic switching their bodies? The characters are always portrayed kind of young on these French covers but they have that creepy atmosphere so it works I guess. The last interesting cover I found was for a Greek edition:

 

 

 

This one is probably the most artistic with two conjoined women, one with an evil face the other with a helpless expression with some sort of evil root or tentacle wrapping about the body. It's sort of the comedy/tragedy masks in a more sinister turn.

 

Taglines: On the front: "A mind is a terrible thing to lose." On the back: "She traded places with a killer...". The blurb on the back has a nice buildup as to what we can expect: Lucy did something awful and is using Nicole's body to escape. The only thing is it talks about a cabin being the place where you body swap when in the book...it's a wall. A minus for that but the taglines are good and I'm intrigued.

 

The First Line: "My name is Nicole Darwin and I am a loser."

 

Very nice and chipper isn't it? Nicole seems to be a hard person to read. She seems to like the way she looks and cries if she breaks a nail but doesn't seem to enjoy her life very much right now. Nicole feels smothered by her parents' over protectiveness and her mother thinks she should smile more and she's wearing black clothes...sounds like late 1990s emo to me.

 

Nicole on the cover reminds me of an evil Kimberly Hart like in the Turbo movie when she was possessed...am I wrong?

 

Her teacher has called her in because Nicole didn't feel like writing her biology paper and now, even though he'll let her turn it in Monday, Nicole has to cancel a date with her boyfriend, David. Things only go from bad to worse as David breaks up with her instead and Nicole is feeling even more depressed feeling her life spinning out of control. Meeting her best friend since preschool Lucy outside, Nicole learns that Lucy isn't having a good time either and she has a suggestion for Nicole that may help:

 

"Let's switch bodies."

 

Well that sure was unexpected...a movie night might have been more conventional to me. Anyway, Nicole doesn't seem to be against it until her and Lucy head into the creepy Fear Street woods which would and should make anyone from Shadyside reconsider doing anything there.

 

 

 

Lucy tells Nicole that the old caretaker of the cemetery told Lucy's Grandfather about a wall in the middle of the woods where evil people would take unsuspecting victims to switch bodies and get away with doing horrible...terrible crimes. Against their will, these poor people would be forced to jump over the wall and have their lives taken from them by the dark arts (we'll get more into that as my book reviews continue...) but this instance is all mutual between the two girls.

 

Also is it just me or does Lucy on the cover look totally like Phoebe with that scrunchie?

 

Lucy's parents fight more than Nicole's "boring" parents so she has more freedom despite being ignored and Nicole is also kind of curious to what it would be like to date Luce's boyfriend, Kent Borden. Once they land on the other side of The Changing Wall, Nicole is amazed to stare back at her own face and body, looking down to see herself wearing Lucy's clothes and both girls agree when they get tired of living in each other's shoes for awhile...they'll switch back.

 

This is like a horror version of Freaky Friday if either the mom or the daughter were secretly evil...

 

When Nicole gets home to Lucy's house, her giddiness is soon turned into horror and finding Mr. and Mrs. Kramer murdered, violently in cold blood. Nicole has to tell Lucy what has happened but returns to her house to find nobody home and decides that Kent is the only one she can turn to. Once at his home, Nicole blurts out everything that happened and he surprisingly believes her but soon...she hears Kent on the phone with a police officer!

 

Feeling betrayed by Kent, Nicole runs off and decides to go back to Lucy's to clean up and then continue to try and find her best friend...but finds something even more terrible in her wake. All of Lucy's clothes are gone and a large, bloody knife is pinning down a note: a confession to murder. Nicole is now in the body of a killer and willingly gave her own body over to the one person she always thought she could trust. Nicole has to prove she isn't Lucy but will anybody believe her...or will Nicole have to face even more terror as Lucy seems to be covering her tracks with even more grisly murders?

 

Giving anyone else the same vibes or is it just me?

 

Body Count: Technically...I can't tell you as is my way but four out of five stars.

 

For anyone who has read Switched, like I have, I never saw that ending coming when I first read it and it has to be the most tragic. It also has some of the most disturbing images of kills ever described and they have stayed with me...not enough to give me nightmares but you just mention this book or show me the cover, I can vividly picture those scenes. I was about to turn twelve when Switched came out and in middle school so this was my first taste of what Fear Street had to offer...and I've been hooked ever since. This is in my Top 5 favorite Fear Street books if not my number one (it's so hard to choose though!) and I recommend it to anyone who has yet to read it.

 

 



 

 

THE SHADYSIDE HIGH TIME CAPSULE

 

 

When dealing with a bad breakup, grab your best gal pal and go see a movie:

 

 

 

Or maybe go out dancing in the club if that's more your scene. If not it never hurts to just drive around and listen to some of your favorite jams. Anything is better than heading out to the Fear Street Woods!

 



 

 

NEXT BLOG: Well the 4th of July weekend is long past but pretty soon school will be back in session. If you thought high school was hell...a College Weekend is no walk in the park either.













Focusing On Fear Street: Final Grade

WELCOME TO FOCUSING ON FEAR STREET WITH THERESTHEGIRL

 

 

Book# 30

Published April 1995

Cover Art by Bill Schmidt

 

 

 

That is one fierce expression on Lily's face...I'm assuming anger? Lily's hair is described as black in the book but a dark kind of brown here. She is lunging forward to strangle her teacher, Mr. Reiner, and I think he's supposed to be scared but it's more like a "whoa!" kind of face. I like how his tie is flying backward over his shoulder and those papers falling on the floor. Also, I believe Lily is wearing some Laura Ashley...so the 1990s. Plus, Mr. Reiner looks like Andy Dick...kinda. I like the green, yellow and mahogany brown colors to make an interesting cover



 

There aren't a lot of different versions of Final Grade cover art around the world but as always Germany has some nice art. The first is the original and the second I believe is from an omnibus collection:

 

 

 

 

I think that is supposed to be a zip up pencil case or notebook with a rose, sort of broken and wilting, and splattered with some blood. The second is just a looming and ominous looking school building but the atmosphere of both is very creepy and mysterious...A+

 

 

Taglines: On the front: "Will Lily get an A in murder?" and on the back: "Everyone thinks she killed her teacher." I like the front but hello spoilers on the back! And the blurb even spoils that there will be another death before we even open it...bogus! I guess you have no choice to read it once that happens.

 

The First Line: "Lily Bancroft smoothed back her thick black hair and forced herself to take a deep breath."

 

Lily is stressing majorly about getting a B on her honors social science paper and question her teacher, Mr. Reiner, as to why it was not an A hen she didn't get anything wrong. The handsome, young teacher says he suspects more of honor students and that Lily didn't put in the effort. This makes her have a little fantasy of strangling him to death and it kind of weirds Lily out.

 

Her older sisters, Melinda and Becky, were valedictorians and Lily wants to be one too and get the Shadyside Honors Scholarship. Her best friend Julie Prince and her boyfriend Alex Crofts think she's taking it a little too serious and it also doesn't help that they use to date and when they are all together it is awkward to add to Lily's stress.

 

 Her mother had a stroke and Lily has to work at her uncle's drugstore to help out, also knowing she'll need money to help even if she gets the scholarship. When she misses the bus to the other side of town, Lily accepts a ride from Julie's cousin, Graham, in his Porsche and we learn they don't really get along very well as they compete for the best grades since middle school and Graham is just as competitive and driven.

 

 

It may not be sea-green but damn some of these Shadyside kids are stinking rich!



 

Lily's night doesn't get better when a guy comes into her uncle's pharmacy and tries to rob the place, pulling a gun on her and Uncle Bob but her uncle pulls out a pistol to scare him off. An employee of Bob's, Rick Campbell, tries to go after the guy but loses him...he's a macho kind of guy. He hits on Lily but she tells him she has a boyfriend and Alex meets Lily on her way home to walk her to her door...so sweet.

 

Lily stays up real late to get her loads of homework done (a little talk with Dad putting no pressure on her really about how proud he is and that Lily does more than what she is capable of) and receives a call from a mystery man with stalker dialogue and it creeps her out.

 

Lily heads to Reiner's classroom the next day to try and talk to him about doing some extra work to raise her grade and finds the teacher dead on the floor. So after the funeral, everyone starts to act weird around Lily and well you know it's in the freaking synopsis on the back of the book!

 

Anyway, Lily believes it was just an accident because Reiner was thinking about fixing a faulty light fixture in his classroom and must have had a very bad fall standing on his desk to do so. Perhaps that's all it really is...until the mysterious voice calls again

 

"I know all about you, Lily," the voice whispered. "And I know you got what you wanted...didn't you?"

 

 

 

Lily has another run in with Rick at work and his pestering her for a date makes Lily snap at him but they end the conversation on amiable terms. Leaving work, Lily heads over to the newspaper printing press where Graham's dad lets the school paper print their literary magazine and she almost gets crushed by the large rolls of paper used in the press!

 

Side note: I use to work at a printing company and those machines are nothing to mess with!

 

Was this another accident or coincidence? Lily and Graham are going head to head for valedictorian...is he behind this to rattle her nerves or is someone else out to ruin Lily's life? The teacher she hated had an awful accident but what happens next is much more tragic...

 

 



 

Halfway through this one all of your theories go out the window and it's just a matter of what happens next and how  will it end. The ending is okay not really happy and no real lesson to speak of is learned.

 

Body Count: Mr. Reiner for sure, one possible and another definite in a very gruesome manner that still sticks with me all these years later.

 

Cameo Time!: Lisa Blume from The New Girl meets up with Lily before she discovers Mr. Reiner and let's just say I don't remember Lisa being such a gossip! I know she's the editor of the school paper but man I didn't know they had a gossip rag.

 

 

THE SHADYSIDE HIGH TIME CAPSULE

 

 

Lily goes to see a movie and it's suppose to be some romantic movie with Winona Ryder...so is it Reality Bites or The Age of Innocence at this behind the times movie theater?

 



 

 

Personally I'm thinking a horror movie is more appropriate for this situation than any romance or comedy laughs. Actually I have two in mind:

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a few songs that seem almost fitting to me...twisted romance depending on how you look at it:

 



 

 

NEXT BLOG: Have you ever wondered how your life could be Switched upside down by forces beyond your control? Oh boy...we tackle a personal fave ;)









Focusing On Fear Street: Dead End

WELCOME TO FOCUSING ON FEAR STREET WITH THERESTHEGIRL

 

Book #29

Published March 1995

Cover Art by David Jarvis

 

 

I'm not really sure if this is supposed to be our narrator and main protagonist Natalie Erickson. In the book she says she has black hair and blue eyes so maybe it is just the red hue of the brake light. If so she is looking out the back of the car in terror at what she is seeing and I just love her striped top BTW. The book has a red/tan/dark brown color scheme with a little bit of green it's very nice and warm and intriguing. There aren't a lot of different covers for this one in other languages except for the German editions which had two different covers:

 

 

 

 

 

I believe the top one is the first edition and the bottom one is the reprint. A pair of broken glasses with a blood stained shirt on the ground...a woman's body at the bottom of the stairs, door open and one shoe gone from her foot in the tumble or struggle. Dire, suspenseful and accurate to what happens in the book...always my favorites of the bunch along with the original 90s art.

 





 

Taglines: On the front: "There's no turning back..." and on the back "Accidents can happen...". Not exactly riveting but the blurb again gives a good synopsis of the plot without being full of spoilers and the whole package makes you want to check out the story.

 

 

The First Line: The prologue isn't full of spoilers but it kind of mimics the tagline on the back of the book so I am going to start with the story proper on the first line of Chapter 1.

 

"Friday night Talia Blanton's parents were away, so Talia threw a party."

 

So it's a typical party of Shadyside High seniors being crashed by a few uninvited guests but Natalie is having an okay time, there with her boyfriend Keith Parker. Her friends Gillian Rose, Carlo Bennett and Todd Davis are there as well as her best friend Randee Morgenthau milling about. We learn from Natalie that she writes poetry, Keith loves salt, we learn how Gillian set them up to dating and that Gillian is a hot redhead whom Carlo would like to be more than friends with.

 

A hot redhead named Gillian in 1995? You're welcome!

 

 

Soon the music gets louder and Keith goes off to find the guys who brought the beer. Natalie does not like Keith drinking because he acts stupid and giggles and this is cemented when Keith stumbles down the stairs, wasted after winning a beer drinking contest upstairs. He then proceeds to race into the bathroom and blow chunks, embarrassing Natalie to the point where she pretends not to know Keith. So when Keith mentions he's ready to go, Natalie says she won't ride with him being so messed up so she's smart but you really need to focus on trying to help Keith with his problem, Nat.

 

In all seriousness...don't drink and drive or ride with anyone intoxicated. PLEASE.

 

Natalie grabs a ride with Randee and the others, leaving Keith at the party as he comes after her saying he's not drunk. The ride home doesn't go the way Natalie planned. It is a wet, foggy night and Randee may have been drinking a little bit as well and when she makes a wrong turn down a dead-end street instead of Todd's...they slam into a car parked with someone inside of it breaking a taillight. Randee freaks out and drives off. Seems Randee is supposed to be grounded and doesn't want to get caught and all of the others have excuses not to go back and only Natalie feels something is a little off.

 

The next morning, Natalie receives a call from Todd with bad news. His father works for the mayor in public relations nd learns that the mayor's sister was killed last night...in a hit and run accident on the same dead end street. The five of them meet up in the park and decide that they must keep this a secret: Randee could go to jail, Todd's father could lose his job, Carlo's dad is already sick in the hospital and not even Keith can know what they did. Soon, the secret begins to eat at some where they want to go to the police and confess...then the murders begin. The tension begins to grow higher and soon Natalie wonders if all of them will take this secret...to the grave?

 

 

 

It is so very hard not to spoil Dead End for anyone who has yet to read it. You get a few red herrings as to who is behind the killings and threats and think you have the culprit pegged but you get a twist toward the end and even a swerve in the middle. When I first read this book, I was shocked and blown away at the very first bittersweet ending I had encountered in this series.

 

Body Count: Besides the mayor's poor sister there are 3. Two of the kills are some of the most gruesome I had ever read in the series and I watch horror films...a lot. The other character death is one that makes that ending bittersweet even down right depressing.

 

Cameo Time!: We finally get to se some familiar faces from past books this time! The party is at the home of Talia Blanton, our writer from The Thrill Club, who seems to be well adjusted. Janie Simpson from The New Boy is a guest at the party who gets a shout out and class clown Ricky Schorr from Halloween Party as well feeding chips to Talia's little brown cocker spaniel. Also a quick mention about male pig Bobby Newkirk from Double Date...peachy.

 

 

THE SHADYSIDE HIGH TIME CAPSULE

 

 



 The party at Talia's is booming and blaring with tunes to shake the walls...I wonder what kind of jams they were listening too? I have some suggestions...

 

 

 

 

NEXT BLOG: Will the next book make...the Final Grade?





Focusing On Fear Street: Truth Or Dare

Time for another stroll done memory lane with some more of this classic series so here we go!

 

 

WELCOME TO FOCUSING ON FEAR STREET WITH THERESTHEGIRL

Book #28

Published February 1995

Cover Art by David Jarvis

So first off the man behind this cover is not regular Bill Schmidt but David Jarvis as noted. His art style doesn't look that different and I wouldn't know if it didn't state so inside. The characters are brunette Jenny and blonde April dressed in ski gear on a lift over the perfect evergreen forest looking ahead in terror I would assume. Some teal, pinks and purple give off distinct female vibes but with a pulp cover that can grab your interest. The girls have a red windblown-cold weather hue to their faces and it is pretty okay I guess. Usually I would go to German covers first but there are three of them (reprints or omnibus ones as well as the original) so how about looking at the French cover first:

Two teens find a dead body in a wood shed...pretty simple. Semi accurate because that axe should be sticking out of the girl's back but maybe that's too much for a book aimed at teenagers. These French covers are always moody and dark...I think it's okay but not very eye-popping. Let's see what Spain has for us:

A very good recreation of the American cover except this Jenny is straight up ready to push this April off the ski lift! The color palette of the outfits is the same but I think the blonde looks more like the other girl in the group Dara because her hair is more crimped and curly. Also Jenny's hair is longer here but still I like it! So here are the three covers in German:

I'm not sure about the last one but the first two are listed on Goodreads as editions so. The first with a spilled bottle of red ink and the second with a note written in red ink found out in a snowstorm are present in the book so high marks and of course, very dramatic as always and full of foreboding suspense. The third one has a log on a table with a book covered in blood...some even on the wood as if it were used to bludgeon someone to death. Nice and creepy!

Taglines: On the front we have "It started as a game...and ended in death." and on the back we have "The truth hurts". Not too bad I guess and the blurb on the back sets up the plot pretty nice and leaves you intrigued enough to read so on we go!

The First Line: "The long, white stretch limo rolled over a pothole in the twisting country road."

Not exactly riveting but riding in a limo is always a plus so we have April Leeds, Jenny Byrd, Ken Knight and a kid named Josh Berman as passengers. The first three all go to Shadyside High and don't really know Josh as April, who is our narrator, explains and is riding with them to Dara Harker's ski house. Dara is rich, which is all we know at this point, but we also learn April would like a lime green or sky blue limo with blond interior when Ken jokes to by her a limo when he says he would like one like the one Dara sent to pick them up.

 

Even X thinks that would look awful on Pimp My Ride...

 

We also learn that Ken and Jen are one of those couples who make up, break up, finish each others sentences and make April a little jealous as a third wheel (been there and done that girl!) April tries to strike up conversation with Josh who is super shy but we learn that he knows Dara because their dads both work for the same law firm. Also, Dara hasn't been in Shadyside long and invited April to go skiing, Jenny and Ken as her guests, and Josh kind of invited himself out of boredom. Shortly after they arrive, Dara shows up without her parents and we finally get to meet this rich girl. She talks fast with a croaky voice, has pale blue eyes, crimped blonde hair with white-blonde streaks, is cute but not beautiful like Jenny and has a perky nose that April thinks may be a nose job. Don't you just love how girls work...April seems so jealous! Dara gives everyone a warm welcome except Josh and once they get inside...there are more people than expected. Another guy and a girl are caught making out and we learn his name is Tony Macedo and the girl is Carly Rae...Jepsen! No I'm kidding but her name is Carly Rae.

 



 

Dara knows him because their families share the ski house with hers taking it every other week and Tony says he forgot it wasn't his week (yeah right!) and April finds him very phony and doesn't like the cleft in his chin. She also doesn't think her red outfit goes with her red hair and that she has a lot of gums when she smiles...wow April is so judgmental! I have to agree that most redheads need to tone down the red in their wardrobe (especially with purple lipstick?) but damn. I'm not really liking April much. Dara isn't happy about the uninvited guests but they all decide to try and get along and I guess I gain some sympathy for April when she notes her Mom just lost her job (been there too) but I'm not surprised that her boyfriend broke up with her.

 

 



 

So as they are waiting for snow to fall Ken suggests they play the title game to break the ice and it's pretty tame with everyone answering truthfully but when April asks Dara who is the worst kisser of all the guys she's ever know and implies it's Josh...he does not take it well. He charges at Dara with a fireplace poker but doesn't attack her and Dara tries her best to calm Josh down claiming her humor is only mean-spirited to get a rise out of him and Josh accepts her apology but tells her not to make fun of him. Dara completely ignores the real answer to her question and turns another question to April asking her what secret does she know about someone that she wishes she had never found out and answers:

 

"I wish I didn't know about the girl on Sumner Island."

 

April hints to us the audience that it is about Ken and only Jenny reacts to April's answer...

 

 

 

Tony and Carly have finally stopped making out to join the game and Tony tells Dara he will take a dare being an obnoxious show-off which takes away from what just happened. So they all go outside and Dara dares Tony to go up to the roof to get a Frisbee he threw up awhile back that got stuck as snow starts to come down. Despite Carly and April's protests Tony does so and scares everyone when he slips but he makes it down okay but not very happy when Dara points out it is still there but eventually calms down as they all go or a walk where April reflects to fill us in about her secret. During the summer, April caught Ken with another girl who wasn't Jenny and never told her best friend so I guess I can understand not wanting to hurt her but another part of me thinks she should have let Jenny know.

 

The next morning a blizzard is hitting the slopes but the wind has shut down the lifts so after Dara and Josh don't show up to breakfast, the others find the pair missing as well as the Jeep...the only means of transportation. As time goes by, April gets worried and says they need to call the police but Tony is reluctant saying that he and Carly will get in trouble as neither one's parents know they are up at the ski house. When a knocking noise scares them, ken discovers a ski locker on the back porch is opened and when he and April go out to close it...the frozen corpse of Dara tumbles out with a hatchet in-between her shoulders! With their hostess dead, they prepare to call the police but the snowstorm has knocked out the phone and a killer is among the group!

 

 



 

There are two red herrings and a pretty illuminating twist before the big reveal and when I first read Truth Or Dare I was shocked! Going back and re-reading it for this post I realize it was obvious but I was much younger so it doesn't surprise me that I missed it. It's a pretty worthy read with suspense and an old fashioned whodunnit mystery so I recommend it highly.







 

Body Count: Dara's body brings about the plot and of course, in a game of Truth or Dare some more skeletons are bound to be found in the closet but I won't spoil it.

Cameo Time!: No callbacks to the previous books I have talked about. I know there are more pop-up cameos since I'm going over gaps but this is just how I'm rolling so...whatever.

 

 

THE SHADYSIDE HIGH TIME CAPSULE

 

 

Before the snow starts falling, Dara mentions that she sucks at Trivial Pursuit and knows nothing of The Brady Bunch or The Partridge Family. This was a time of Nick At Nite showing these kinds of shows she should know something! Well I mean the movie was out at the time...

 

 

 

 

If they had to be snowed in maybe they could have watched a nice movie rental:

 

 



 

 

Perhaps listening to some music could have prevented the game of Truth or Dare that brought about so many problems?

 

"Have you heard this song?" Ken asked cranking up the radio. "Isn't it awesome?

 

 

 

NEXT BLOG: You have to be careful on Fear Street for everyone will eventually meet their... Dead End