The Stinal Countdown: Fear Street: The Fire Game

Time for a trip to 1991 for our next Fear Street blog. And it's time for games. Games associated with fire. Fire games if you will. Will it be a hot time in the old town tonight, or will we cool off quick? Let's discover with The Fire Game.

Cover is fine. Not super dynamic, but sets the message of the story across real simple. There's going to be a fire and these two teens are involved in it, possibly realizing how deep they're in. Does what it has to do and works just fine.

Jill Franks and her friends Andrea Hubbard and Diane Hamilton are at the library studying for their geography test. More so Diane, who says that at her old school, she never had geography. This is just Phoebe from The Magic School Bus, isn't it? Andrea is the gymnast of the group and Jill thinks that her grades won't matter that much so long as she's a star gymnast. So they didn't get Mr. Northwood for anything then. Andrea is concerned about her performance and needs a new song for it, to which Diane suggests her friend Gabe. He's a guitarist and he's just moved to Shadyside. He's also said to be a bit wild. He'd fit in with Max and Nick, two other boys in the library. They're big into horror movies, particularly one they saw called The Torch. About a man who can shoot fire from his hands who faces another guy who can also shoot flames from his hands. And, because these are stupid kids, they have butane torches on them to have a fire fight. Diane is concerned as it's been well established that Jill and Andrea are kind of stupid. Sure enough, they continue their fire duel which ends up burning Diane's folder.

Diane runs off with the girls following. She tells them only that she hates fire, but they both think she's just overreacting. It's not like that's a viable phobia or anything. Everyone goes to class and things are being rather dull until Jill smells smoke. The fire alarm hits and the kids exit as the fire is seen from the library. Turns out that Andrew threw Diane's burnt folder into a trash can, which wasn't put out properly. So far, this book is less horror and more a PSA on fire safety. All we're missing is Gilbert Gottfried as Seymour Smoke. Jill, Andrea, Max, Nick and Diane talk about the fire. It's bothering Diane, but again the others are all like "What's your problem?"

But we move on from that to the arrival of Gabe Miller, Diane's friend as mentioned earlier. He gets along with them pretty well. When they mention the wastebasket incident, he's not that impressed. When they ask if he set any fires, Gabe goes quiet. Diane also has an odd expression on her face. Later at lunch, they talk some more with Gabe, who being from Center City, thinks that Shadyside will be boring. That's when they mention Fear Street and its many bizarre incidents. And coincidentally, Diane's family has a lake cabin in Fear Street Woods. They want to go during the afternoon, but no such luck. That is, until Gabe suggests creating a reason for an early school day. Set a real fire in the boys' room. They at first opt out, but Gabe dares them to do it. Diane panics and runs off. After some hemming and hawing, Max decides to go through with it. Sure enough, an explosion goes off in the boys' room and fire reaches the cafeteria. 

Everyone just shrugs off the massive explosion as Andrea and Max tell them that they were the ones who did it. They set a wastebasket on fire in the boys' room, but there was a can of cleaning solution that exploded, making for more damage than expected. They all arrive to Diane's cabin and see a bunch of metal sculptures made by her dad, who is a master at it. Andrea is interested in Gabe and asks Diane if it's an issue, but she seems fine with it, though again hiding something. They all leave and put out the fire for once in this book, not before Gabe holds his hand atop the burning candle because we're just five chapters deep and I guess it hasn't been established enough yet that this guy is a pyromaniac. 

We learn some more from Jill that she's known Gabe since kindergarten. He's always had a bad streak, but she's managed to keep him good for the most part. Andrea is still crazy for him while Jill is starting to get weird vibes after the candle incident. Diane goes to get some new clothes. Andrea goes into the dressing room, only for it to be Diane's, who panics. Again, Jill and Andrea are like "What's her problem" since I guess in 1991 nobody knows what PTSD is. Though, that may actually be true given again, 1991. Jill returns home and plays with her cat Mittsy while learning her older brother Hal is coming home with his girlfriend. Jill gets a call from Gabe asking her to go with him around Shadyside on a Saturday, but only her. This sets off early alarm bells, but we're due another 100 pages, so plenty of time.

The teens show Gabe Fear Street, but he's not that impressed. Even when they mention six skeletons buried in a backyard or Simon Fear's old mansion. They head to the cemetery and look around. Gabe then turns his attention to Nick, who hasn't set a fire yet. He tests Nick's bravery, but Nick is still against doing it. Gabe however is fine, especially with the idea of burning a caretaker's shack in the middle of the cemetery. He lights it up and laughs as they run off, saying that it'll be Nick's turn next. Like, even Beavis didn't like fire this much. 

The girls sleep over at Andrea's and watch movies on her built-in VCR. She then turns their attention to her new 90s laptop. She prints a note saying she loves watching Gabe play with fire on a note with blue ink. They also mention that the fires are making the papers, though nobody knows it was them yet. Diane is again worried, telling everyone that fire is dangerous, but again Andrea is like "what's her problem?" Okay, it was cute on page 9, but by page 60 I just think Diane needs better friends. Jill's at least more concerned than Andrea and thinks they should talk to Gabe about all this, when the phone rings. The voice says that it's Inspector Lindsay from the fire department who might have some info on those fires. But, of course, this is just Max and Nick in one of their lovable goofs. But it's enough for even Andrea to realize that the cops may actually suspect them sooner or later, so she too opts out of the fire stuff which makes Diane happy at least. She heads to the bathroom while Andrea wonders how Diane and Gabe are friends at all given how different they are. Jill cops to her "date" with Gabe and Andrea says it's fine, but she's not backing down either. 

Jill has her date with Gabe, which goes well. He's far calmer and far less ready to set things on fire. That is, until Jill mentions the "title of the book" and how they want to stop. But Gabe is against the idea of ending this fire game already. As they go to get pizza, suddenly Gabe sees his car on fire. The car explodes, but nobody is injured. Gabe is annoyed that the cops suspect him of blowing up what is actually his dad's car, but then thinks that someone must have done it out of jealousy or something like that. Jill suspects Nick, since he was technically next to set a fire. But when she calls him, Nick has no idea what she's talking about and says he didn't do it, but she doesn't believe him. But she's now convinced that things are going too far. She calls Andrea, who seems really excited to learn about the fire, even if it meant the boy she's interested in could have turned into a real hunk... of kindling.

Jill then smells smoke. She gets up to see her house on fire and her cat Mittsy on fire. But that was just a dream. Wow, Stine really loves his dead animal imagery. Later, Jill heads to Nick's, still blaming him for the fire, only to see Nick and Max drive off without even talking to her. She follows them to Fear Street, but her car suddenly dies on her. She sees a dog and another figure head to her. It's a cop who asks if she's all right and fixes her car. She then sees Nick's car, then see another building in the woods of Fear Street catch fire as the boys run back to the car and speed off. Jill returns home and watches some TV when she sees a news report about a homeless man killed in a fire. Specifically in the abandoned house that Max and Nick burnt. So now the boys have committed a murder and Jill is a witness.

Jill calls Nick and tells him about the homeless man's death which makes him panic. Nick admits to being there, but he and Max never started the fire. He received a random note to tell them to come to Fear Street for some real fun. Jill then calls Diane who is concerned. She tells Jill to meet with her to talk to Nick and Max. Nick hands Jill the note, which is a printed note in blue ink. That means it must have been Andrea who set the fire. But Jill doesn't tell the boys that important factoid. Jill and Diane see Andrea and press her about that, but Andrea thinks it's all a gag, a way to blame her for wanting Gabe to herself. She then kicks them both out. So, not going well. But Andrea calls Jill later and thinks she may know what's going on and that it has to do with Gabe.

The next day at school, Diane and Jill find Andrea dead in the gym. Oh, wait, she's alive. Like, I'm four books deep here, there is a lot less death in these than I expected. Save for nameless homeless guy. She fell off the balance beam. Diane thinks it may have been intentional, that maybe she shut herself up after revealing too much. That guilt makes people do bad things. Well, still 40 pages left, but Stine may have made the culprit too obvious, but let us proceed. The girls get the boys over to discuss this. Gabe says that the culprit must have been one of them, since they all enjoyed the fire game, even Diane to some extent. Gabe takes Jill home and says he think he knows who it is, but he isn't accusing anyone yet. 

Cops arrive at Jill's to ask her about the Fear Street fire. How an officer saw her there before the fire. She says that she was at Fear Street to let off some steam after a fight with her boyfriend. She claims to have seen nothing and they accept that and leave. The next day, Jill talks with Diane again, who suggests the two head to the lakeside cabin for the weekend, which Jill accepts. Things go fine until Diane heads to the shower and the phone rings. Jill picks it up, and it's Andrea on the other line, who blames her for shoving her off the beam. However, when she realizes she's actually talking to Jill, she gets worried because, and who could have seen it coming, it was Diane who attacked her. Diane's our arsonist. Believing that Diane is obsessed with Gabe, she's been trying to take the two of them out. Guess we finally got that answer to "What's her problem?" 

Jill goes to leave, but her keys are missing. She decides to run off in the woods, but it's dark and she gets lost. But she does get found. By Diane. She takes Jill back to the cabin. And Jill, stupidly, tells Diane about the call from Andrea. And Diane admits to everything, and that it was because Jill and Andrea were getting too close to Gabe. She didn't fight with them over him because even though she loved him since they were kids, she had no chance. She also saw Jill with Gabe and set fire to his car and set the fire in the house that killed the homeless man. She also says that she has a love-hate relationship with fire. She hates it, but it's like her true friend. And, no surprise to this either, she planned the stay so she could kill Jill. She then throws Jill's car keys into the fireplace, then tackles her to the ground. 

As Jill fights off Diane, she knocks off Diane's bathrobe, revealing her body is covered in burn scars. Her grandfather's kerosene heater exploded and she caught fire. She managed to survive the pain and the scarring thanks to Gabe being there for her. She thought of him as her soulmate, but because of her body, she knows he wouldn't want her. She then decides to just grab a blowtorch and show Jill just how bad fire can really be. Jill tries to throw water at the blowtorch, but no luck. But before Diane can attack her, Gabe shows up. He gets Jill and Diane out of the burning house in time. He tells Jill that the fire was so long ago, that he just thought she maybe moved on from, you know, a moment that caused a trigger. But at least this means the fire game is over.

The Fire Game is good, not great. Its strength is its story, particularly with this group of characters and the concept of the fire game itself. Reminds me of Let's Get Invisible! with how it's a group of friends playing a dangerous game that gets worse and worse. I also like that the book feels intense from the start. The last book I covered, The Dare, felt much slower, but still managed to work in its own way. This one gives us a lot of fire early on and enough time to build the mystery of who could be the arsonist. And it leads to a book that flows really well and gives us a shocking enough ending with the revelation of Diane's scars. 

But, that's also my biggest issue with the book. It makes Diane too obvious as the arsonist. Particularly when we get to the accident with Andrea and that everyone else gets blamed for these acts but Diane, it means you're just waiting for the book to just get to the reveal everyone could see coming. But thankfully, Diane's revelation and motives are still handled really well. Although, Gabe's motivations make very little sense. He knows what happened to Diane. Knows her issue with fire and her scars, which already play into her bad mental health. And how fire affects her. So, he just ignores that and starts literally playing with fire? Doesn't make him feel that much like the hero of the story and really makes him the catalyst for setting Diane off to do her actions. It also makes him too obvious to be our villain, so that hurts that.

So it leaves me with a book that I think works in what it needs to, but falls apart with characters with questionable motives, and a book that treats a person's PTSD, especially considering they nearly burned to death, as a joke to be either reminded of, or treated as just that person "being crazy". And in turn it makes Diane the most sympathetic character in the book, despite, you know, the setting fires and killing a homeless man thing. That drops her down a few pegs, I guess. In the end, The Fire Game is probably the most interesting book I've covered so far with the most energy to its plot and twist reveal, but lacks in some competent character stuff and gives too many red herrings for the big reveal to feel shocking. In the end, it's a book that burned bright, but burned quick. The Fire Game gets a B+. 

"It Was Acceptable in the 90s": Freddy Krueger (written as Kreuger), The 80s version of The Fly being new, VCRs, CD Players, 90s laptops and people being excited about printers, Three's Company reruns.