You know, the more I go into a lot of Stine's young adult stuff, he really likes the tropes of using the phone as a source of horror. And when Stine likes a trope, he'll milk it for all its worth. And with phones being the subject of today's Fear Street coverage, I'm sure we'll get some more of that. Experience the horror of a world without caller ID. It's The Wrong Number.
And then we get to what may be the most dated conversation I've read in these books yet. The new phone at Deena's house. It has the ability to hold calls, record numbers and even has a speaker phone. And it looks like something out of a jet engine. The perks of Deena's father recently becoming vice president of the phone company. Right now it just has Deena's grandmother and Jade's numbers programmed. They then dial up Jade's sister Cathy to prank call her about winning a prize at the mall. Cathy doesn't fall for it. They then decide to call a boy named Henry Raven and prank call him by being all seductive. He doesn't have time for it either. So far their prank calls have kind of sucked.
So they try the seductive thing again with Rob Morell, one of Shadyside's most popular boys and Deena tries to seduce him. It seems to work. She doesn't say who she is, only that she's his secret admirer and she'll call him again very soon. Their night of prank calls is cut short as Deena goes to the airport to pick up Chuck. Chuck is very abrasive, especially to Deena. He even calls her "Kid". As they drive home, there's suddenly a massive pile-up of cars, creating a fiery wreckage. The Martinsons get out in time, but when a kid says his dog Tuffy is trapped in a car, Chuck tries to save it, only for the car to explode. Oh Stine, you haven't met a dog you didn't want to kill. But not this day! FOR TUFFY LIVES! Chuck managing to save the dog just in time.
Chuck saving the dog changes Deena's perspective on him, seeing him either as a hero, or a crazy hero. But Chuck still gives her the cold shoulder, especially at Shadyside High. In fact, Chuck doesn't take too long to introduce himself by getting into a fight with Bobby McCorey. And Chuck's got himself a knife. We then get a quick fourth chapter with our mystery character talking about their plan some more.
It's the second week of September. Chuck didn't kill anyone in the fight thankfully, but he gets indefinitely grounded and given the warning that he'll be kicked out of the house if he keeps this up. It leaves Chuck with a scowl that never seems to go away. We also learn that Deena's mom is chief administrator for social services, so add that to the pile. Jade visits and a rainstorm brews outside. Jade wants to prank call Rob Morell again, though Deena's heart isn't too into it. She calls Chuck and her ruse continues until she hears an odd click on the line, which causes the two to abort their plan. Jade gets to meet Chuck who tells them that he heard everything. He then tells the two that he'll keep from telling Mr. Martinson provided he too can get in on the prank calling. Which means that he makes a prank phone call about a bomb threat. Well this escalated.
Chuck then inquires about, where else, Fear Street. About all the stories of strange happenings. He then calls Bobby McCorey, the kid he got in a fight with earlier, calling himself the Phantom of Fear Street and he has his eye on Bobby. Then a bolt of lightning hits the house, causing the power to go out for a moment. When they come back up, Chuck is dead... Actually, just another prank which feels pretty in character so far. Deena's pissed, but Jade just admires him more because we've established pretty well so far that she too has a bit of a twisted side.
At school, Deena runs into Rob, but doesn't have much assertiveness to talk to him like she did with the whole sultry prank. But even worse, the papers have been reporting on Chuck's bomb hoax, though with no answer as to who did it just yet. Jade's excited while Deena is now paranoid. Deena wants to stop this and Jade, the wonderful friend she is, says that Deena has no say in the matter and holds over her head the calls to Rob and that she'll tell. But, surprisingly for Deena, Chuck and Jade later say they'll stop with the prank calls. After a bat scare, Chuck changes the subject back to Fear Street, still unconvinced of any supernatural elements. He then calls someone, claiming he'll have his proof, but the woman on the other line panics, saying something about someone trying to kill her. Suddenly Chuck hears a slap and a gruff male voice telling him to mind his own business and that they got *Title of the Book*.
The trio have no idea what just transpired. Was it real, or someone else playing a prank? They can't call the cops because it could lead back to Chuck's bomb threat. Instead Chuck gets the address from the phone book, intent on finding out for himself what's going on. He gets the address of the Farberson residence. 884 Fear Street. Which is, of course, near the cemetery. Because almost every house is near the cemetery. They arrive and at first it appears that the house is empty. But when the three go inside, they see the house has been ransacked and a woman has been stabbed to death. Chuck calls for an ambulance, only to discover that the killer is still in the house and is none too happy that they got into his business. A large man in an overcoat and ski mask wielding a tire iron. Chuck tries to use the knife to defend himself, but the three eventually make a run for it, driving home with the killer following them. They make it back in time and seem to, at least for now, lose the killer.
The next day, a pair of officers, Detective Frazier and Detective Monroe, arrive at the Martinson residence to get answers about how the teens discovered the dead body. Chuck manages to tell the cops that Deena and himself were nowhere near the scene of the crime, but the cops have proof otherwise. And with further proof, the cops bring them in for questioning. Another quick chapter with whoever this is believing their plan is working perfectly. They just need another week and maybe another murder for it to perfect itself.
And so we enter week three of September. Deena and Chuck were detained for a bit, but eventually Deena is let go. Chuck isn't so lucky as they found the knife that killed Mrs. Farberson. a knife that has Chuck's DNA all over it. We also learn here that Chuck's previous arrest was for joyriding in a stolen car. Deena and Jade finally tell Mr. Martinson and the cops about the prank calls, including the bomb threat, which given that Chuck is eighteen and already likely to be tried as an adult for the murder, things are going great. When Deena tries to mention the robber however, the cops don't believe her.
Monday comes and the reports of Chuck being the murder are all over the news and the talk of Shadyside High. Some think Chuck's innocent, while others, Bobby for example, think he should get life. But in the midst of this, Deena does seem to hit it off a bit better with Rob. That night, Jade calls Deena to have her check out the news report on the murder. She sees the man being interviewed is a large man. That man is soon revealed to be Mr. Stanley Farberson, Mrs. Faberson's husband. Deena then clues in. Mr. Farberson's the murderer.
Deena reports this to the cops, who of course don't believe her. They think that Deena's just trying to clear Chuck's name and that respected businessman Mr. Farberson could never do something like murder his wife. There's literally no documented evidence of a successful person ever murdering a loved one. That has literally never happened in the history of society. So the next plan is for Deena and Jade to dress up like adults to find information at the Alberga III, which is an Italian restaurant run by Mr. Faberson They do manage to find one item. Two one-way plane tickets to Buenos Aires. So they have a piece of evidence, but still no real way to pin Mr. Farberson to the murder.
So, they head to the home of Miss Morrison, the former assistant to Mr. Farberson, to get more answers. This turns out to be a bad idea as they soon learn that Miss Morrison is Mr. Farberson's mistress. Oops! The girls get out in time, but manage to hide out and watch as Mr. Farberson arrives. He soon leaves, holding a package that he almost throws in the trash. Deena makes the assumption that the package must be the bloody clothes from the murder. Maybe he left them with Miss Morrison. The girls then follow him as he returns to the Alberga III. They soon see Mr. Farberson throw the package in the dumpster. Their first attempt to check is thwarted by security, so they have to try again that evening.
The girls hop in the dumpster in hopes of finding the package. They manage to find it and head off. However, when they open the package, it's a dead cat inside. I guess Farberson was testing Schrรถdinger's theory? A good scare for certain, but hardly the evidence to clear Chuck's name. As they leave, the masked man suddenly returns and grabs them, giving them one warning to stay out of his business, before running off. Deena visits Chuck in jail and tells him that she plans to return to the Farberson house to get her evidence. Deena and Jade arrive on Fear Street during a stormy night ready to sneak inside.
They soon find some letters written by Mr. Farberson's now dead wife, Edna. They learn that Stanley had been spending much of her inheritance on the Alberga III, which was a failing restaurant. Frustrated, she planned to leave him. So they have some proof that Mr. Farberson murdered his wife for her money. As they celebrate their proof, someone arrives at the front door. Mr. Farberson is home early. And since the girls didn't do a good job drying off, they get easily caught. Jade gets knocked out. Deena runs for help, but is easily caught as well. He then locks the girls in the room and leaves with their evidence.
Fortunately for the girls, the window in the room is next to a big tree that they can use to escape. They manage to climb out, but then notice that Mr. Farberson is now carrying a chainsaw, intent on chopping the tree down. Sure enough, he starts to chop the tree down. As the tree begins to tip over, the girls see cops arrive, including Detective Frazier who proceeds to shoot the enraged Mr. Farberson, but not kill him. Soon Mr. Martinson and Chuck arrive. The girls reveal everything they knew about Mr. Farberson and Miss Morrison, including all the evidence they found. Chuck managed to get free by calling his father to "confess", only to really warn him about what the girls were up to. So, in a way, he just did another prank call. And so the book ends with Jade and Deena being considered heroes at school, and Deena hitting off better with Rob.
The Wrong Number is decent. Not the most dynamic version of this story, but all of its important pieces fall to place well enough. Deena's a decent protagonist, albeit not super dynamic. Jade's a mixed bag, awful early on, but becomes somewhat better later during the whole investigation. Though given she was going to blackmail Deena so she could keep prank calling it makes me feel more like she was interested in clearing her name and not so much actually trying to help that much. Chuck is okay. We set up his bad boy attitude early on as well as him being headstrong and surprisingly more altruistic than expected. And Mr. Farberson is a decent villain given the right amount of motives to make him the murderer. Though by that extension it makes this one of the more obvious mysteries so far in Fear Street.
There is also a touch of this book hitting a wall midway through. The short chapters of someone waiting in the wings to enact their plan seems to just go away quick. I guess that was Mr. Farberson planning his murder, so with his deed done and Chuck locked up there was no need to continue them. It just feels odd to lose that so quickly. I will say that the investigation by Deena and Jade is actually fun. How they have to wear disguises and pretend to be older to get their information. It's silly and a classic trope of these types of teen mysteries, but it works fine here. And the climax is pretty obvious, but has enough time to feel exciting enough.
In the end, The Wrong Number feels like a retread of so many of these types of stories without much innovation, but the book is paced well, its characters mostly fine and there is enough fun in building the mystery. This one does have a sequel, so I'll be interested in finding out how much further this story idea goes, but for now, this one's a solid recommend. The Wrong Number gets B-.
It Was Acceptable in the 90s: Freddy Krueger, excitement over newfangled telephones, being compared to Kim Basinger, Dire Straits
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