The Stinal Countdown: Fear Street: Cheerleaders: The Second Evil

On our last trip to Shadyside, we covered the first of the Cheerleaders books. My overall consensus was that it was a really good book. A lot of that having to do with focusing so much on the supernatural elements that haven't really felt as prevalent to Fear Street as I initially thought going in. Can the second keep up the energy? Let's find out with Cheerleaders: The Second Evil.

Not much to say with this one. After the epicness of the previous cover, this one feels far more conservative. Though with the ghostly circle around the center cheerleader, it at least gives off the feeling of ghostly possession, which given the saga centering around Sarah Fear., works well in this cover's favor. Not super memorable, but alright.

In our first book, Bobbi and Corky Corcoran had recently moved to Shadyside with their parents and younger brother Sean. The family ends up residing on Fear Street. Bobbi and Corky, all-state cheerleading champs, joined the Shadyside Tigers cheerleading squad, much to the chagrin of Kimmy Bass, who holds a grudge against the sisters, especially Bobbi. During a bus trip to the game, the bus accidentally crashes into Fear Street Cemetery, sending cheerleading captain Jennifer Daly crashing into the grave of Sarah Fear, but somehow she doesn't die. Bobbi becomes captain, which angers Kimmy. Strange things seem to happen and Bobbi is unable to save Kimmy from falling during a routine attempt. 

Bobbi gets kicked off the team. When she goes to shower, suddenly she's locked inside and the showers spray her with scalding water, killing her. Corky at first suspects Kimmy of foul play, but soon discovers that it was Jennifer, who did die in the accident, but her body was possessed by an evil spirit. After battling with the spirit, Corky manages to defeat it and put an end to the evil for now. But of course, with a lot of Fear Street, nothing ever stays buried. And thus we enter part two.

A bit of time has passed since the whole, you know, evil dead cheerleader thing, and Kimmy Bass, Debra Kern and Veronica "Ronnie" Mitchell are driving around, talking about how Debra is with Eric Bishop (near read that as Bischoff and almost did a double take), while it seems that Corky and Chip Chasner are a couple now. It's been a while since the death of Bobbi, and while the girls admit their jealousy of her, they didn't want her to, you know, actually die. But they've also noticed that Corky is acting weird lately, but chalk it up to grief. 

But the girls think that maybe bringing her back to the cheerleading squad would help. You know, the same one they hated Corky's sister Bobbi becoming captain of before her death. Debra also feels like the whole evil spirit is still haunting them, but the others tell her to cut that out. Seems Debra's taken a liking to reading on the occult. Their argument is interrupted as they see Corky in the Fear Street cemetery at the grave of Bobbi. She feels she should stop coming to Bobbi's grave all the time, but she feels as if a force is constantly pulling her there. Suddenly, the ground beneath her starts to shake and suddenly, the skeletal figure of Bobbi rises from the grave and a worm falls out of her mouth. But that was just a dream. That was just a dream, that's me in the corner...

Corky snaps out of her dream and decides that she's definitely not coming back for a while before she notices someone is watching her. Someone in a hood with gray eyes, almost like a ghost. Corky runs off, only to trip over a low tombstone. She recovers as Kimmy and the others help her home. When they get home, they get scared by Sean, who also wants to play Corky in a game of Mega Man 2. But, that's a one-player game, how would... never mind, it's Stine. After being pranked again with a whoopee cushion by Sean, the girls ask Corky if she's interested in rejoining the cheerleaders. Corky is against it, since, yeah, they treated Bobbi like garbage, but the girls insist that this could be a positive for her. And since they were all privy to the whole Sarah Fear incident, maybe that bonded them together, as if by fate. 

As Corky mulls it over, she thinks she sees the hooded figure again, but the other girls don't see anything. The other girls leave, but Debra decides to stay for a bit, and tells Corky that she still thinks the evil is still there haunting them. This shocks Corky as we hear, as Stine describes it, awful jangling music from the Nintendo. Dude, that is the Mega Man 2 soundtrack and I will not hear such slander. Corky would rather forget what happened, but also thinks that this might be a prank by Debra to scare her. But she also notices that Debra seems more frail than before, as if she's been drained of the energy she once had. As Corky attends to the hot chocolate she made, she notices her hand acting erratic as she grabs the kettle. He arm than makes her pour the scalding water of the kettle on to her hand, almost a reminder of what befell Bobbi.

Chip visits Corky later, which is awkward with Kimmy there, given they were an item before. It's been a week since the whole kettle incident, so she's been out of school for a week. Debra has also been calling her every day, still convinced of evil spirits. Corky is too since, you know, her arm went rogue on her. But at least no sign of the stalker. That's a win for now. We also learn that Corky's been seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Sterne. The one who helped Mayra Barnes back in The Sleepwalker. Dr. Sterne told her to get back on her normal routine before Bobbi's death. It might help her get over a lot of the stress she's been under. So Corky decides she'll rejoin the cheerleaders. One: to keep her busy. And two: to see if there really is an evil spirit that's still haunting them.

But before Corky can begin anew, she has Chip take her to Bobbi's grave one more time. They pass by Jennifer's grave, as well as Sarah Fear's. They make it to Bobbi's grave and Corky tells her that she isn't coming back for a while. But before she can explain, a woman appears to float out of Sarah's grave. A young woman who tells the two that she has a job rubbing the gravestones to keep them clean. And being a grave rubber for Fear Street Cemetery is creepy enough as it is. She introduces herself as Sarah Beth Plummer. Another Sarah in the cemetery, huh? Also Sarah Beth? She better not be a cat witch. Since she knows the cemetery well, they ask if she knows anything about Sarah Fear. There's not much info on Sarah Fear when she was alive, but her death is well documented.

Sarah married the grandson of Simon Fear, who has been established in the past to have moved to Shadyside and lived in the burned out mansion by the cemetery. Sarah and Simon's grandson ended up living in a large house on Fear Lake. Her husband died of pneumonia two years after they married. She, of course, inherited his wealth, and moved her family into her house afterward. Her two brothers and several cousins. Sarah died in 1899 when her boat capsized on Fear Lake. Though there never seemed to be an explanation as to how. Yet all on board drowned. Of course, stories began to speculate after her death that she was in a relationship with one of her servants. And that they were even seen walking together after they died. But Sarah Beth doesn't fully believe it. She leaves the two, with Corky suspecting something odd about Sarah Beth. She had a really creepy smile. Almost evil-like. 

Corky arrives to cheerleading practice and the gang's all here. Kimmy, Ronnie, Debra, as well as Heather Diehl and Megan Carman who were briefly mentioned in the first book but had no significant role. With Corky back on the team, they can do the diamond-head pyramid routine. Which sounds good, until Debra senses the evil around them again. Suddenly Corky hears a horrific scream and panics, but the others are confused. When the girls cheer again, Corky hears the screams once more. Every time the cheering starts, the screams begin, causing Corky to run out of the gym, only to end up in the arms of the stalker from the cemetery. 

Corky manages to make a run for it, but soon the figure finds her again and tells her that he's the evil spirit. But it's actually not the evil spirit, it's Jon Daly, the brother of Jennifer Daly. He doesn't believe the stories that his sister was possessed by evil spirits, he believes it was Corky that killed Jennifer. He then tells her that he is going to be her evil spirit. He'll stalk her until he gets the proof he needs. Chip shows up just as Jon makes his escape. Chip gives some more exposition on Jon. How when he was a senior five years ago, he beat up a teacher and was suspended from Shadyside. He was then sent to military school. At Jennifer's funeral, he had to be held down. Chip warns Corky to be careful of Jon, he's a bad dude.

After getting a call from Kimmy, Corky goes for a drive when she spots Sarah Beth again, but she's not alone. Jon Daly is there as well. Sarah is dancing around the grave of Sarah Fear while Jon watches. That's enough weird for Corky who drives off. And then things get pretty weird as Corky is in the middle of a science exam. The teacher leaves for a bit and while Corky is in the lab along with croaking frogs, the blinds crash, making the room darker. Flies and caterpillars seem to come to life. The frogs croak loader and more erratic. And then a cow eyeball flops in front of Corky and seems to move on its own. When she tries to escape, the doors are locked. The room is also filling with a noxious odor. Then suddenly, the lab skeleton breaks free and chokes her. She manages to break the hands and free herself

The doors now are unlocked, so Corky makes a break for it. She calls for Chip's help. But when she goes to the woodshop where Chip was staying after school, she finds Chip. Or more accurately Chip's corpse. He was sliced up with a power saw. So, yeah. This isn't a dream or anything. Add Chip Chasner to the list of corpses in the Cheerleaders story. At the funeral, Corky ends up talking with Debra again. Corky brings up everything. The lab incident and the whole thing with Sarah Beth and Jon. They still don't know what's going on, but Debra might have an idea.

Four weeks pass and Corky is back on the cheerleading team. Things seem to go pretty well, despite still having that foreboding feeling. They perform the pyramid with Corky taking the top. And it seems to go well with no evil side effects. After practice, Debra brings Corky and Kimmy to the burned mansion of Simon Fear, as she thinks this may answer some questions. They then begin a sort of seance and soon enough a spirit rises from the floor... but it's just a dog that got in the house, so that's a bust. Kimmy calls it quits, but Debra and Corky decide they're going to confront Jon at his house. But when they get there, they learn that Jon disappeared two days ago.

So with Jon out of the question, and Kimmy now sick (geez the germs on that dog), the next option is to find Sarah Beth Plummer. They arrive in Sarah Beth's house to ask for more on Sarah Fear. As they enter, Debra knocks over a stack of letters, all addressed to Sarah Fear. And, like new letters too. So now the girls suspect that Sarah Beth is also Sarah Fear. I mean half the name gives it away. Sarah Beth then reveals that yes, she is Sarah Fear. As in a descendant who is a part of the Fear family. She took the name Plummer from her mother's side. 

Sarah Beth reveals that she knew Jon for years and even dated for a while. Jon also knows that she's a Fear and asked her to come to the cemetery. He told her to do a ritual on Jennifer's grave to prove that her spirit couldn't be summoned. She then continues on the death of Sarah Fear. She was by all means a radiant and happy person. happily married, though bore no children. After the death of her husband, she too fell ill of what one of the  Fear's, Ben Fear, described as "wasting disease". The doctors gave up on her and had her grave dug up early at Fear Street Cemetery.

But Sarah didn't die. However, the Sarah that everyone knew had changed and become more cold and reclusive, even kicking Ben out. This was also when the rumors of her relationship with the servant began. There were also rumors of seances, wild parties and strange meetings in the mansion. Then the murders began. A housemaid followed by a guest, each stabbed in a different way. Sarah was suspected but never convicted. Then the boat trip occurred. Everything was normal until a sudden hurricane hit and capsized the boat. Everyone on board drowned, including Sarah. But when the bodies were brought ashore, their skin was red and blistered, as if drowned by boiling water.

Debra and Corky leave, but still feel that Sarah Beth was holding out on them about some details. Especially how the scalding death is exactly like how Bobbi died. Not to mention the kettle incident earlier. And there's the chopped up people, similar to how Chip died. They realize that whatever evil spirit possessed Sarah Fear has returned and has been continuing its evil, killing more people. Not long after getting home, Corky gets a call from Kimmy. Jon's body was found drowned in Fear Lake. So add Jon to the corpse pile. Boy, Stine's making up for a lot of non-dead teens. 

The cheerleaders perform at a game for the Shadyside Tigers, and despite everything, Corky's keeping her head in the game. It's time for the pyramid, with Kimmy promising to catch her off the dismount. But as she gets up, she gets dizzy. She sees Sarah Beth. Corky gets launched, and Kimmy doesn't catch her, causing her to crash hard. Just like what befell Bobbi before, Kimmy couldn't move her arms. So sure enough the evil spirit is lurking. She passes out and wakes up at home with a shoulder injury. She then goes to run a bath, but notices that Kimmy's here, still in her cheerleader garb. Kimmy reveals that surprise, she's the evil spirit!

So, back at the cemetery, the night that Corky fought the evil spirit, she didn't actually defeat it. It instead took over Kimmy's body. She was the one who killed Chip. Revenge for Kimmy. Now she's ready to kill Corky. She turns the water in the bath into the equivalent of a scalding cauldron, ready to lower Corky inside. Corky almost drowns, but manages to elbow "Kimmy" long enough to save herself. She then grabs "Kimmy"'s head and shoves it deep into the water. But as that happens, the room gets steamy and hard to breathe. But she soon manages to hear a gurgling sound and some sort of green liquid snake suck down the drain.

Kimmy recovers, confused about how she wound up in Corky's bathroom. In fact, she remembers nothing since the cemetery incident. Corky tells Kimmy that surely, the evil is gone. 

The next day Corky wakes up late. When she goes to check the mail she gets a letter addressed to her. She reads it and gasps in horror. Turns out the evil can't be drowned.

The Second Evil doesn't hit as well as the first, but is still a solid follow-up. However it very much has that feeling of a middle book. That Stine wanted to build on this in t he third book. But the second book still works really well. Mainly because it gives more on Sarah Fear, with another Sarah Fear giving us backstory on her, building us up into some understanding of just what evil she was a part of before the events of this story. As for the mystery, it's fine. The book makes it too obvious that Sarah Beth isn't the villain, even with her being around during a lot of the situations. And the book doesn't make it super obvious that it's Kimmy either, though there's enough of a reason to believe it could be here. Jon feels like a character that Stine didn't know what to do with, so offscreen death was his fate.

The mystery is built up well enough, with enough creepy moments and enough twists and turns to make things exciting enough. Pacing is solid in this one. Corky works well with the focus t his time and you do feel for her plight. Having to deal with death that surrounds her on account of the evil spirit. I also like that there's character development for Debra, who was such a minor character last book. Scares are actually not bad, particularly the science lab stuff and the death of Chip. And the twist works better here because of course you can't drown a ghost. 

So I'm left with a book that was still good, and has me interested in where this leads with the third book, but also feels a lot less neat than what we got before. It still serves as a recommend, if only to continue the story as we head into the third chapter. Can Stine stick the landing, at least at this point? We'll soon see. Cheerleaders: The Second Evil gets a B+. 

It was acceptable in the 90s: Nintendo Entertainment System, Mega Man 2, Double Dribble... I think?