NNtG: Ghosts of Fear Street #2: Who's Been Sleeping in My Grave?

Back to the kid friendly corner of Shadyside for another trip into Ghosts of Fear Street. And it's the second book of the series. Well, the first one was a mixed bag book, while so many others have ranged from not bad to quite insane to enraging. How does this one fare? Grab an Ambien and tuck yourself in for Who's Been Sleeping in My Grave? 

COVER STORY

Cover is fine this time around, but nothing too memorable either. The ghostly old woman does look creepy with her pointing at the reader. And the little touch of a literal bed at the graveyard with teddy bear in tow is a cute and silly addition. Not much to say here. It's alright.

STORY

Our protagonist is Zack Pepper, a kid who believes in all the ghost stories that seem to come from Shadyside. He even mentions ghosts playing hide-and-seek with kids. Well, it's good to see continuity in the non-teen Fear Street stuff. He's particularly afraid of Fear Street, thanks in part to his fifteen year old brother Kevin telling him tales of the street. But, Zack has something to help him out.  He's been reading this book called Power Kids, which is guaranteed to help you overcome your fear. Because Zack gets scared easily, and the other kids like to screw with him. This includes his friend, the aptly named Chris Hassler, who tricks him into believing his cousin's dog is a ghost dog. 

Zack's not happy about being the butt of another joke and runs into his friend Marcy Novi, who is more serious than Chris at least. The kids arrive to school and learn their teacher Miss. Prescott isn't there today. Instead they have a substitute teacher. One that's really pale and very ghost-like. Zack at first thinks she really is a ghost, but then notices the veil over her face, the white gloves and the white skirt, That is some really bizarre teaching apparel. She introduces herself as the even more suspiciously named Miss Gaunt. She gives roll call, embarrassing Zack by referring to him as Zachariah. Zack also notices the class hamster Homer, named after Homer Simpson because we need a reference, seems to be running in a panic.

Miss Gaunt seems to enjoy teasing Zack a bit, who gets in trouble for a quick joke about lunch after recess. When she touches him, he notices that she's ice cold. At recess, everyone thinks that Miss Gaunt is a little weird. It's Zack's turn to feed Homer, but when they return to class, they find the hamster's fur has turned white. They suspect Miss Gaunt, but she says it must be camouflage or a vitamin deficiency. Definitely not a haunting, no sir. Zack notices a weird spot on Miss Gaunt's neck and thinks he sees a worm sticking out, but then just thinks he's overreacting again. Maybe he just needs to finish his Power Kids book and it'll get all of these weird theories out of his system. 

Miss Gaunt then wants Zack to do some decimals, but Zack's worried since he's not good at that. When he goes to the chalkboard however, he suddenly feels his arms moving on their own, writing down the decimals with ease. Zack's more convinced that something's up with their substitute, but Chris and Marcy doubt it. Things get weirder with Zack finding one of Miss Gaunt's gloves in his desk. And the hand the glove goes in being hidden in her pocket. But everyone else is more concerned about setting up a Halloween party that Friday. That's when Zack notices when Miss Gaunt reaches for her glove. Her hand is skeletal. 

After school, Zack, Marcy and Chris head to one of the stores that Miss Gaunt suggested for the Halloween party. A store called Shop Till You Drop Dead (Hey, that's a Goosebumps title). The store looks super creepy. They walk around for a bit and find they're stepping on beetles! Plastic beetles, so not as scary. Marcy and Zack find Chris on the ground, covered in blood and fall for another one of his pranks like somehow they forgot that all this kid has been in this book is a prankster. They run into the store's owner, Mr. Sangfwad, who is cradling a rat. He says that he's been friends with Evangeline Gaunt since forever. The kids are freaked out, with Chris leaving. Marcy and Zack get their stuff for the party and leave. 

Zack is now 100% convinced that Miss Gaunt is a ghost or a zombie or something of that ilk, but Marcy still thinks he's overreacting. After school the next day, the pair follow Miss Gaunt home with Miss Gaunt living, where else, on Fear Street. They then see Miss Gaunt enter the Fear Street Cemetery. The pair follow, only to end up shrouded in mist. This causes the kids to fall into an open grave. When they get out of the grave, Zack spots the headstone for Evangeline Gaunt, 1769-1845. Sure enough, this cinches his theory. 

The next day, Zack intends to reveal the truth about Miss Gaunt to the other students. But when Marcy doesn't show up, he gets worried. At roll call, Miss Gaunt mentions that Marcy is sick and won't be in school for a while, making Zack panic. He rushes to Marcy's house only to find her front window has been shattered. A window repairman tells him that the family left the house after the glass shattered. At school the next day, Zack gives Chris a note about Miss Gaunt being a ghost. When Chris gets caught, he gives the note to Miss Gaunt because this kid's just the worst. Now Miss Gaunt knows someone's on to her, and that someone is Zack who she has stay after school.

So Miss Gaunt's known about Zack for a while. She was in the bookstore the day he bought the Power Kids book. She knows that he's easily frightened. And so she invaded his life by making Miss Prescott sick and usurping her role as teacher. She knew that Zack and Marcy followed her to the cemetery, which is why she got rid of Marcy. And with no one else believing she's a ghost, she can keep up with her plan. You see, every week before Halloween, Miss Gaunt leaves her grave and on the midnight of Halloween night she takes a child with her to the afterlife. And unfortunately for Zack, she's picked him. 

Zack rushes home and hopes to find a way to keep from going back to school. He also remembers that Miss Gaunt gave him a package before he left. He opens it to reveal that it's the book of the dead. After he sees his name in it, he decides to throw it out because he sure doesn't want to know what else is in that book. Zack manages to trick his family into letting him give out candy instead of going to the party. That turns out to fail as Miss Gaunt winds up at his front door. Oh, wait, it's just Chris in a costume because playing on your friend's trauma just makes you look so wonderful. 

After trying to get Chris to believe him again, only for Chris to doubt him some more, Zack heads to bed. Only for the real Miss Gaunt to show up. She grabs him and starts to take him to the Halloween party and given that Kevin's kind of been an awful brother, he's cool with this creepy adult dragging his frightened brother off into the darkness. And sure enough, they're going to no party, they're going to the Fear Street Cemetery. Mr. Sangfwad is there too, only now he has no eyes in his socket. Shocker of shockers, the creepy guy with the rat was a ghost as well. Well, at least the title "ghosts of fear street" is being well used in this book.

Zack then notices the open grave now has a coffin inside. An empty coffin. His coffin. He tries to escape, but Miss Gaunt grabs him and throws him down into the coffin. Zack manages to grab Miss Gaunt's veil and pull it off, revealing a skull filled with worms. She tries to choke Zack, but suddenly Chris shows up to help him. They manage to get Miss Gaunt into the coffin long enough for the clock to strike midnight, ending the curse. 

TWIST ENDING

The next Monday arrives and Chris is still pranking Zack with rubber snakes in his backpack. But this is a braver Zack. One who actually did read that book of the dead and learned how to bring that rubber snake to life so he can scare Chris. Zack then realizes maybe Miss Gaunt wasn't so bad after all.

CONCLUSION

It's another Stephen Roos book, who we last covered with Fright Christmas, a book I remember liking. And again he hits the mark with a rather creepy book. Zack's an okay protagonist. Not super dynamic, but still likable. Miss Gaunt is a great antagonist. Just generally freaky in her undead design and her evil intents to capture a kid. Why she captures kids on Halloween night is never well established, but the concept still works for a great finale to the book. In fact, there are a lot of solid set pieces that add to the horror of the story. The different moments where Zack suspects Miss Gaunt. The store with the creepy shopkeeper. The first cemetery scene. The destruction of Marcy's house and her disappearance. The confrontation between Miss Gaunt and Zack. And the finale. 

It's one of the more well rounded kids horror books I've read in a while. Everything has a point to it, to escalate the horror further and add to the tension of just how evil Miss Gaunt truly is. You could ask how nobody else has noticed the disappearing kids, but given that it's Fear Street and it's like not a week goes by without something screwed up happening there, I could understand how this could all just be so easily swept under the rug. The twist also works well too, at least giving Zack a victory that not even his Power Kids book could have given him. In the end, this one's a high recommend. One of my favorites so far out of Ghosts of Fear Street. Don't sleep on this one. Who's Been Sleeping in My Grave? gets an A.