There's The Girl With The Blog: Focusing On Fear Street: The Face

WELCOME TO FOCUSING ON FEAR STREET WITH THERESTHEGIRL

Book #35 of the series

Published February 1996

Cover Art by Bill Schmidt

I'm not really sure but I think Martha is supposed to be horrified at the face that she keeps drawing but that looks more like mild shock...maybe. The face she is drawing doesn't look like the one described in the book in only one little detail...the boy is supposed to be half-smiling. It's a little bland compared to past covers I've talked about and the lighting is about the only thing I like about it but it looks like just the model posing for Bill Schmidt.

Let's look at the French edition:

A little bit better with a book accurate scene where two skiers come across the body of a third as blood forms on the white snow. The trees and the mountains are very detailed and I like how the cover is brighter than past French covers that were very dark or harshly lit. Bright and simple.

Here's the cover art for the Portuguese/Brazilian cover:

The wintry backdrop is just gorgeous! The face of the girl who I guess is supposed to be Martha looks so sad and haunted but the face that she keeps on drawing looks like something out of a nightmare...it's hardly even human looking. The red in the foreground is blood on some sort of wire and that is very book accurate. Out of all the past covers from Portugal and Brazil, this one is the most detailed in facial features and is the most beautiful.

There are a few German covers which are from both omnibus collections and the original and reprint of The Face.

The first two are the original and the reprint I believe. So of course the first one is a drawing of a face that's similar to the one on the US cover with drawing utensils as the window outside shows a winter landscape at night. The second focuses on broken glasses and a turned over, burnt out candle dripping melted red wax that almost resembles blood. Some scenes do take place in a cabin but there is so face which is a little disappointing but the atmosphere is very creepy. The last is from an omnibus collection though Goodreads says this is the German edition so that's why it's here. Very detailed winter background with a bright moon, a wire strung up in the trees with blood upon the snow and the ski gear surrounding one mitten-clad hand. I like the last one the best...it's stunning!

Taglines: On the front we have: "He had something to tell her...from beyond the grave" Gives a pretty good indication or spoiler that the young man in the picture is dead. On the back: "Why can't she remember?" So now we know something horrible happened that Martha can't remember involving how the boy died and he wants her to know. Not just from the taglines but the blurb as well is enough to make me want to read the book.

I'm nor really sure which line I should start with. The prologue doesn't give anything away that we don't know but just Martha in first person telling us about a dream of drawing a silver line that begins to bleed. So I guess we'll just begin with the first chapter...

The First Line: "After the accident, I guess I went into shock."

Sometimes I love the first person narration of our main character or hidden antagonist to get more of their inner thoughts and feelings and with Martha having the hinderance of not being able to remember a whole week of her life it gives us more insight into the rest of her. For some reason, Martha is the only one out of her and all her friends who can not remember the accident and her doctor has instructed all of them not to interfere with letting it all come back naturally.

This includes her boyfriend Aaron, her redhead friend Justine who has no control flirting with Aaron around Martha, her exotic friend Adriana Petrakis and her older brother Ivan with his goatee and one pierced ear and Laura Winter, a dark-haired model. To Martha, all of her friends seem so different because of the accident and since they don't talk to her about it, she has her own worries worrying about everybody else!

Adriana and Ivan's parents seem to fight a lot so now straight-A student Adriana is having trouble sleeping and studying while Ivan has become late 1990's emo hanging out with a bad crowd, partying and possibly even stealing. Laura use to go out with Ivan but the winter before, shortly after the accident, she dumped him which is what Adriana thinks is bothering her big brother. Martha admits to us the readers that she use to have a crush on Ivan when she was younger and that she still may have those some feelings. When Martha fails to get Adriana concerned for her brother the day that Ivan almost gets himself and Martha killed giving her a ride home, possibly because he may have been suicidal, Martha decides to take her mind off this by drawing a self-portrait for her portfolio.

I wish I could be as talented as Martha in real life (my artistic skills are not anywhere near these cover art illustrators!) but perhaps that's a good thing when she starts drawing the face of a boy she doesn't know! Martha says it feels like her hand has a mind of it's own...as if being guided by some unknown force against her will! That's actually very eerie.

Soon after she starts drawing the face, Martha starts to get bits and pieces coming back to her of the previous snowy year and of her kissing this mystery boy. Martha ends up showing Aaron the drawings and when she pushes him a little too hard to tell her who this boy is Aaron admits that he's dead and something horrible happened to him. As the memories keep coming back a little at a time, Martha is going to find out the truth and discover what was an accident...was no accident at all. Her friends won't go against the doctor's order not to push her memory but are they doing it for perhaps another reason besides protecting Martha from the ugly truth?

Body Count: We already know the dead boy (real name Sean) is sending the image of his face to Martha from beyond the grave to help her remember so that's one for sure.

Cameo Time!: Yes I know I have not mentioned other recurring characters from books I have not read yet and just the ones I have. It's not really a cameo more a mention but Bobby Newkirk form Double Date shows up at a party that Ivan goes to where he (Ivan not Bobby) gets super drunk and Bobby helps him onto a couch. Seeing what a pig Bobby is, I commend him for being an actual decent human being.

My Take: The Face is a pretty good read. Some details are easy to figure out but when we find out more of the accident as Martha remembers, you still wonder who is behind this awful tragedy. You may be able to figure it out but there are some nice red herrings until we get to the reveal. The kill in this book is one I've always remembered so I would put it at the top of the pile if you haven't read it and rate it as maybe one of my top 10 favorites.

THE SHADYSIDE HIGH TIME CAPSULE

It's mentioned in the book that when Martha is over at Aaron's house that they are watching a Lethal Weapon movie on TV while making out. Martha thinks Aaron looks like Mel Gibson (of course younger) and by this time frame it's clearly the third one.

Also, Justine worms her way into going to the movies with Martha and Aaron and they mention seeing a Jim Carrey movie. The last movie Carrey made before this was Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls so it can't have been the movie they were watching. I know I'm nitpicking these details but if it's an older movie type theater it could be plausible but I know there are two similar movies that did come out at the right time that the trio could have seen instead:

Martha mentions riding around with Laura and Adriana before a basketball game just listening to the radio and singing along, trying to remember the good days and have fun. If I was riding around with my friends at this time, here are some songs we would be enjoying (or even just me alone):