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.



 

 











 



Focusing On Fear Street - The Boy Next Door

WELCOME TO FOCUSING ON FEART STREET WITH THERESTHEGIRL

 

Book #39 in the original Fear Street Series

Published June 1996

Cover Art by Bill Schmidt

 

 

We see out titular boy next door, Scott Collins, looking upward into Crystal Thomas' room and looks can be deceiving because he doesn't look to threatening here. It says in the book that Crystal and her older sister Melinda look alike but that Melinda wears glasses but as it looks like this girl is getting ready for bed it could be Melinda but I'm not sure. The detail of the tree and the house is spectacular and my copy again has one of those stickers advertising to write The Best Friend 2 so I get some of my cover art hidden. For this blog I actually found the key art for this book by Bill Schmidt!

 

 

That's some really beautiful art right there! As always, Germany has some equally beautiful cover art for their editions and it hardly ever disappoints with its detail and even minimalistic focus so let's check it out:

 

 

A hand reaches out to grab a hold of a young woman's ankle, her foot in an open toed-high heel with a splatter of blood on the stairs. The ankle grabbing is something done in the book but I can't remember any blood being on the steps but I like that touch to add more to the thriller atmosphere and the suspense. So simple but gets the point of the story across. I don't really get a lot of countries popping up when it comes to cover art so I was surprised to find one from Italy!

 

 

The boy has almost a Terminator vibe and I like how he has both hands around the hilt of the knife he's holding. The double imagery of the screaming girl is nice as well and sort of reminds me of all those Italian horror films...it's very nice. Another country that I am sort of enjoying lately is finding Russian covers with their very romance against thriller juxtaposition so let's take a look.

 

 

Well this is a little less romantic than the last few Russian covers with Scott looking very creepy holding that huge knife! I suppose the girl in the foreground is supposed to be Crystal with her red tinted hair and her expression on the phone is slightly concerned. I like how it's also a mash-up of realistic in the forefront and illustration in the background (at least I think) and has a more appropriate cover. Lastly, the French cover which was disappointing last time so let's see if it can be redeemed this time:

 

 

I guess I just have trouble appreciating the artwork of these French covers when half of them use this yellow or green or blue tint that just makes me a little nauseated. The detail of the stuff in the background is wonderful and the glint on the knife blade is excellent but the color just makes Scott's face look like he has jaundice. He's also suppose to be good-looking and even though the shadowing is nice, his face just looks so sickly.

 

Taglines: On the front we have: "They were flirting-with death." and on the back: "This guy's got killer looks..." which are pretty good I must admit. The blurb on the back has the biggest mistake calling one of the girls in the book Lauren and not Lynne! I wonder how that got by someone and if they ever corrected that on other printings? Besides that, it gives us a good idea about the plot and is not too filled with any spoilers.

 

The First Line: "I stared into my girlfriend's open grave."

 

The prologue wastes no time in letting us know that we will get some first-person perspective from our titular boy next door as he let's know just what happened to poor Dana Potter. They went next door to the neighbor's house to swim in their pool but it had been drained and Dana dove in first...cracking her skull. It wasn't until she died that he screamed for help and the remorse he feels is for how it was her fault that he had to kill her. If she hadn't started to dress in short skirts, hadn't started painting her face with make-up and behaving so wild...her blood wouldn't be on his hands.

 

So in the first chapter, we meet Crystal Thomas talking on the phone to her best friend Lynne Palmer as she is trying on one of the new lipsticks that she bought at the mall. They talk about how they can't find a boyfriend even though Lynne has all the guys at Shadyside High trying to ask her out which brings them around to talking about Crystal's new neighbors as they finally arrive, Crystal peeking out the window. She tells Lynne the parents are good-looking and their son isn't half bad either as she sees him enter the house and take the bedroom right across from hers! He catches her staring at Crystal is mortified but not as much as he is in more of a disgusted manner at seeing the girl across the street in a low cut leotard under her jeans with red lipstick smeared on her lips...spying on him!

 



 

The next day or maybe a few days later, Lynne comes over to discuss Scott (know that they know his name so do we the readers) joining the football team and how every girl is wondering just who he will ask out. Crystal's sister Melinda wanders into the kitchen and it's clear that she and Lynne don't get along really well and that she might be at little jealous of how much closer Crystal seems to Lynne. When Lynne asks Melinda if she has talked to Scott (Crystal has only said like half a dozen words to him and Lynne probably not at all) Melinda says she has English with Scott and that he's nice but keeps to himself. It's very clear that Melinda thinks Scott is good-looking but Crystal knows how shy her sister can be around guys, always reading classic literature and wearing baggy tops over her jeans. Lynne decides that the girls should have a contest to see who can go out with Scott first with the only rules being they can't mess each other up on purpose and must be happy for whoever comes out victorious.

 



 

At lunch, Lynne sits herself down at the football players' lunch table, squeezing in between Scott and a boy named Jake Roberts, who is friends with her and Crystal and has a huge crush for Lynne. Lynne flirts with Scott like crazy and invites him to a party but he declines and Crystal can't help but be internally pleased but also wishes she could be as forward as her friend even though she and Scott exchange a few words. An opportunity presents itself for Crystal to go and talk with Scott when the mailman drops a magazine of his father's at her house by mistake and she decides to return it. Before that we get a little preview of just how messed up Scott is when he kills the dog of a woman who lives down the way :( The dog apparently had to die because the woman wears short shorts and makes kissing noises every time Scott passes by embarrassing him...and that's not nice.

 

Killing DOGS is what's not nice, SCOTT!



 

So Crystal comes over with the magazine and is a little disappointed that Jake is over there hanging out with his new buddy Scott but Scott invites Crystal to join them in his room to visit for awhile. When a knock comes to the front door, Scott comes back with Lynne in some skin-tight skating clothes with the excuse that she came looking for Jake and she's a little surprised to find Crystal on Scott's bed. When Scott tells them that he has homework and chores to do, Jake carries Lynne out of the room over his shoulder like a caveman which is pretty funny, leaving Crystal with Scott. Crystal tries to get Scott to kiss her but chickens out and awkwardly leaves and we learn that Scott was not amused. He accuses her of invading his room like a disease, probably stealing the magazine as an excuse to come over, feeling sick by her perfume and dreading that she would have kissed him with that cheap lipstick and have its taste on his mouth. With no outlet, Scott stabs the back of his hand with a pair of scissors!

 



 

A few days later, Lynne shows up at Scott's house with some Cokes and chips as Crystal comes home to see Scott arrive with Jake. He politely lets them in and while Jake watches football highlights, Crystal asks Scott if he had a girlfriend back home and when he says no it turns to why he hasn't asked anyone at Shadyside out. Scott doesn't answer and Crystal can understand what her sister Melinda meant about Scott being a little sad when they talked last. She thinks it's a little rude when Lynne tries to pressure him about the girlfriend thing, thinking Scott probably has a broken heart, and soon he tells Crystal, Jake and Lynne that they have to leave again. Lynne makes an excuse about forgetting her backpack (she really did but it's so obvious she has another motive) and later reveals to Crystal that she went back and kissed Scott. Crystal's is not happy but neither is Scott, brushing his teeth, using mouthwash and scalding hot water to try and get the feeling of Lynne's lips off his skin.

 

 

Scott is now set on making sure Lynne pays for being such a bad, bad girl and almost gets the chance but gets interrupted by a man asking for directions while he and Lynne are parked up on a ridge. When a week goes by and no word from Scott, Lynne starts to become depressed and driving Crystal crazy so the girls do a prank call to Scott's house but Scott recognizes Lynne's voice and says he's sorry but football practice keeps him busy and turns her down when she asks if he wants to do something. We get an interesting look at what it's like in the Collins home when we learn that the girls' call disturbed dinner and Scott's mother isn't happy with how persistent this Lynne girl has been calling the house. She can't have her son going out with a girl who just doesn't know how to behave...maybe Scott shouldn't have given her any indication that he cared. Mother's angry and that just won't do...

 



 

 

When Crystal discovers (WARNING SPOILER!) Lynne has killed herself by turning on the car in the closed garage and leaving a suicide note behind, she is devastated and has no idea Scott is behind it. Now that Scott has gotten rid of another bad girl he can focus on finding the right girl...a girl like Melinda Thomas...a good girl. She's so sweet and kind taking care of her sister in this terrible time but Scott had to do what needed to be done...now he can have a normal life with  the perfect girlfriend. Too bad Crystal can't keep her opinions to herself and decides Melinda needs a little help to keep Scott interested, unknowing that her advice may just make her sister the next victim of the boy next door...

 

Body Count: It was so hard to try and not spoil it but...Two. Two dead bodies...oh and one poor little doggie :( .

 

 

 

MY TAKE: The Boy Next Door is actually a pretty good read. You already know that at least one of the lead girls is probably going to be one of Scott's victims and well, it's obviously not going to be Crystal because the protagonist almost always survives. I like how it switches to Scott's perspective at times so we can find out how deranged he is and the little moment with his mom gives us insight as to how maybe some of these parents are the reason the kids in Shadyside are the way they are. When we get to the last few chapters, it's pretty intense despite going so fast to wrap things up and the ending is one of those Ha-ha sitcom endings but it lets us know what happens to our villain instead of leaving it open-ended even if it is a throw away and you might miss it line. All in all...I would recommend it.

 

THE SHADYSIDE HIGH TIME CAPSULE

 

Jake asks Lynne if she would like to go and see the new Jim Carrey movie with him after Scott has them leave his house the first time and you know what...there really was a Jim Carrey movie this time!

 



 

If this wasn't going to be an actual fluke there are a few other movies I could possibly suggest:

 

 



 

Also, a few musical favorites just because you know I love my music:

 

 

 

NEXT BLOG: Get those lips ready for a real Killer's Kiss...





 





 







Focusing On Fear Street - The Confession

WELCOME TO FOCUSING ON FEAR STREET WITH THERESTHEGIRL

Book #38 in the Fear Street Series

Published May 1996

Cover Art by Bill Schmidt

Our main heroine, Julie Carlson, comes upon the body of Al Freed in the back of an alley with an actual terrified and upset expression as if looking at a person in the distance to say "I didn't do this!"

It would be almost exactly like it is in the book if it didn't look like Al just passed out on the ground but since the way he's killed in the book is kind of gruesome I guess it works besides the fact he wears black clothing and not this khaki/plaid combo. Also, the back of the book blurb clearly states the words "killer" and "murderer" so it's not like I just ruined the whole book for you. This is a really good realistic cover and I can see more of the background art because this is what my copy looks like:

It had this sticker advertising a contest to write the sequel to The Best Friend (which I'll get to that book soon!) I don't mind that my book has it because if I got the 2008 reprint I would have been more disappointed:

A...hand...print...are you kidding me? We aren't even trying at this point! Even the 2014 version of Fear Street had just a little more thought put into it when it came to covers and someone got paid for this? Can I use that hand print to just give a big old facepalm by shoving my face at the screen?

Either one, Fry, either one



Well now that I got that out of the way and have regained consciousness...where were we? Oh yeah cover art so let's see what we have from France this time around:

Well I'd have to say that this is my least favorite French cover of a Fear Street book. It's just so dingy looking and bleak but not in a good way with that green tint that I feel kind of queasy and there is just no detail in the faces or background. So let's move on to wacky Russia and see what kind of cover they have this time around: romance novel or cobbled from another book's cover?

I kind of like the romance looking ones because they are just a complete 180 degree difference to the type of story going on. Since Julie is a brunette and Hillary (one of the other female characters) is African American, I'm going to say this blonde girl is Taylor and the boy in the background is either Al or Sandy but seeing as Sandy is described as being chubby it's most likely Al and also because the one other boy, Vincent, has long, wavy auburn hair. Despite my picky details, it's pretty and way better than the 2008 reprint and the French cover. Lastly, two German covers with the first the original and the second a reprint:

A girl coming upon an abandoned pair of roller blades in the middle of the street with a crescent moon up in the sky is kind of ominous but I like the second one better. A wallet with some money on a table as a knife blade holds down the bills is much more detailed and fresh with the shadows and...it kind of does happen in the book. Money exchanges hands between characters in kind of a subplot to the story leading up to the main incident so it works for me.

Taglines: On the front: "Sometimes the truth can kill you." and on the back: "Five close friends...one murderer." Both of them are okay I suppose but this blurb is what I'm not sure about. It tells us that one of Julie's friends confesses to killing Al they flat out use the word "he" so it is clearly either Sandy or Vincent. So a little bit of suspense is taken away by this but does it means we're in for disappointment? 

The First Line: "What would you do if one of your best friends took you aside and said he had a confession to make?"

Julie Carlson asks us the readers that very question as she recounts to us a tale that is our book. On a nice spring day, Julie and her girl friends Hillary Walker and Taylor Snook *stifled laugh* were just hanging out and talking when Al Freed showed up at Julie's door. He use to be a part of their little group of friends but has started acting like a jerk, hanging out with some tough dudes from Waynesbridge, drinking beer, smoking, selling answers to tests and just being a creep.

 

 



 

He comes in and harasses the girls into giving him money as he tosses a can of beer into the kitchen sink and gets cigarette ash all over the place and Julie's mom hates smoking after catching Julie smoking freshman year. Hillary ends up giving Al $20 to keep him from telling her parents that she bought answers for a Chemistry test from him and jeopardize her getting into college. When Julie's mom gets home, Al beats a hasty retreat and Julie's mom discovers the beer can and the still lit cigarette on the floor to which she grounds Julie making her miss a major party at Reva Dalby's home (oh Reva...I'll get to you soon enough as well!)

 

 



 

So even though it was all Al's fault for the mess, Julie suffers missing the party and hears Hillary telling her all about how Sandy Miller followed Taylor around like a little lapdog while she flirted with every other guy there. Julie thinks maybe Hillary is jealous of Taylor's looks I'm not sure but I know that Hillary has purple nails, wears large earrings and white-rimmed glasses as Julie describes her and Taylor is blonde, almost platinum with green eyes, and red lips. When the two girls get to Sandy's, he tells them that Al has been suspended for fighting.

 

 

I couldn't resist hearing the name Taylor to put this up here ;)



 

For a minute nothing goes on except Julie gushing to us how much of a crush she has on Vincent Freedman and how he just treats like a friend until Al shows up on Sandy's porch, drunk and banging on the door. Against better judgement, Sandy lets him in and Al begins to give him a hard time and embarrass him in front of Taylor that the two boys start fighting and then Hillary gets involved with the fighting. It's not really exactly fighting just Al trying to push her down but Hillary doesn't budge literally until Al leaves, complaining how he just wanted one lousy beer. Several days later, Julie heads over to Vincent's in a cute outfit to do their chemistry project and she finds him stressing out in the driveway.

 

Julie asks him what's wrong and he says he let Al take out his mom's car but not willingly. You see Vincent got a speeding ticket and Al just happened to see it happen. He told Vincent not to worry and tore up the ticket and well Al now has his own way to blackmail Vincent whenever he needs something just as he did to Hillary. Al brings the car back and it is completely totaled with the hood, fender, bumper and driver's side door mangled! Vincent loses his cool and Al just runs off as Julie tries to calm down Vincent who is ready to draw blood.

 

So Vincent is now permanently grounded all summer by his parents that he won't be able to do a camp counselor job he got and work in his dad's shop to pay for the damages. Julie learns this after asking Vince to go rollerblading with the group at the skating rink so she goes with Sandy, Taylor and Hillary and let's them in on the bad news. Soon, Julie is at the rink alone as Sandy and Taylor slink off to make out and Hillary leaves to go to a party in Waynesbridge but when she finally leaves...Julie makes the gruesome discovery of Al's body in the back alley. Strangled to death with the laces of a pair of rollerblades, one shoved hard into his mouth that it is standing up!

 

 



 

Julie tells the police she didn't kill Al and when Officer Reed asks if Al had any enemies Julie mentions the new friends of his from Waynesbridge and can't help but confess that all of her own friends had enough reason to hate Al, herself included, but none of them would ever do such a horrible thing. Poor Julie, so naïve because at Sandy's house after the funeral he has a confession of his own...he killed Al. The others are shocked, Taylor hysterically so, but Hillary is more angry at Sandy for telling his friends and now they know and are in it just as deep. Sandy can't understand...he did it for all of them because Al was ruining their lives...his friends should be happy!

 

Now that all of them know what Sandy has done, Taylor's staying by his side but Hillary wants to go to the police and Julie and Vincent are caught in the middle...what will they do? Sandy's harmless and Al was a bully there's no way he could possibly kill again...right? 

 

Body Count: Good old Al and maybe...one more for the road?

 

Cameo Time!: A mention of Bobby Newkirk from Double Date being one of the guys Taylor was flirting with at Reva's party. Also, Deena Martinson and Jade Smith from The Wrong Number arm-wrestling at a lunch table. Not really a cameo but something the book mentions is...Graduation! Apparently, the seniors of Shadyside do matriculate as Julie mentions the class has 300 students! This is the first time I ever remember anything about actual graduating outside the Fear Street Seniors which focuses on a graduating group of students. Just something worth mentioning if you happen to miss it!

 

My Take: The Confession has a promising start but you know that Al is going to die and you have to learn half-way through the book who did it. Everything after that is basically fallout and paranoia which leads to more of an anti-climax IMHO. The twist is said to be obvious by the character who figures it out and I'm thinking more "No not really" unless you think really hard about what happens before that. Also, the ending tries to be weird but is more hilarious in my opinion but not in a good way. The description of Al's body is pretty good and memorable but the second half of the book falls flat... you can read it but you may be disappointed.

 

THE SHADYSIDE HIGH TIME CAPSULE

 

Julie and Hillary are going to see the new Keanu Reeves movie but alas...no Keanu movie could I find being released right at this time (I go by publication month in case anyone was curious as to how I determine what goes into the "time capsule") I know you want to make it more interesting using a big name actor but there are some pretty good movies from this time that would be interesting to see:

 

 

 

 

There was also some pretty good music too which should be played at the party Reva threw in between the two bands she booked! Some personal favorites:

 

 



 

 

 

NEXT BLOG: Every girl is just dying to date The Boy Next Door...