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.
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| 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?
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