Once more into Shadyside we go and the book we're covering this time has always piqued my interest. And knowing how many times I've come to regret that I'm definitely concerned about what's to come. So, let's come face to face with The Face and hopefully have a decent book to cover.
While watching Lethal Weapon with Aaron (and being annoyed by his brother Jake), Martha mentions how Adriana's gotten really skinny lately, and how it may be due to the accident. Aaron changes the subject from the accident and says that Adriana's been going to a sleep doctor and not, you know... The next day, Martha talks with Ivan Petrakis, Adriana's brother, who looks a lot like his sister. He's a troublemaker, but Martha's always had the hots for him, even still while with Aaron. After getting in his car, and his odd choice of asking if she'd like to run away, he doesn't give much more of an answer. Other than their parents are getting a divorce and it's gotten messy. As in throwing stuff at each other messy. He's tired of the fighting from his parents and the constant crying from Adriana and just wants to end it all, which means he decides to run his Civic into a tree, with Martha still in the vehicle. They survive as Ivan couldn't go through with it, but whatever's bothering him is getting really bad.
The next day, Martha talks with Adriana, but she'd rather change the subject on things. Though she mentions having her sleep doctor, Dr. Corben, teach her self-hypnosis to get her to sleep. You did it again, didn't you Stine? On the subject of Ivan, Adriana mentions that Ivan's been acting this way after Laura Winter broke up with him. That it's why he's been acting so erratic and, well, straight up suicidal. But nobody can get through to him that his time with Laura is pretty much done. Martha later starts to draw a sketch of her own face, only she ends up drawing the face of some guy her age. A slender face with dark, serious eyes. She has no idea why she's drawing this nor why she can't seem to stop herself.
She finishes the sketch and studies it. It's a boy with wavy dark hair, a small nose, gloomy eyes and a mole on the right cheek. Yet she still doesn't know why she drew it. It's not someone she knows or recognizes. She tries again, this time planning to draw Laura, but again she draws the boy. So she's now drawn two sketches of someone she doesn't seem to know. Is it a warning, or is she losing what's left of her mind? Later, she sees Aaron with Justine, who is flirting with Aaron, which does annoy Martha. They all go to a Jim Carrey movie, which I'm guessing since this was in February of 1996 was Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. When Martha gets home she gets a call from Justine about how she's jealous that Martha has Aaron and how she won't be able to go to college due to grades and a lack of money. So, less rich and white in this edition. Martha tries to tell Justine that her life isn't perfect either, but Justine tells her that her life really isn't as perfect as she thinks, before hanging up.
Later, Martha is watching a skiing event on ESPN when she gets a flash of a memory. Something to do with a log cabin and the snow. Two cabins in fact. She's there with Adriana, Justine and Laura. There's a commotion outside and Aaron arrives with two boys, but she can't see their faces. She wakes up from her vision to see that she's drawn the face again. The next morning, Laura arrives as the two are to do a photoshoot for her with a photographer from the Old Village.
As they drive to Laura's, Laura mentions being at a party hosted by Gary Brandt, so there's a reference to a past character, right on time. Ivan was there. He got drunk, danced a bit and passed out, falling into the refreshments. After arriving at Laura's driveway, Laura makes an odd statement to Martha to watch out for Justine. Martha pays a visit with Dr. Sayles the next day. He's described as looking less like a doctor and more like a surfer with his Polo shits and chinos. She mentions the vision she had and he doesn't really elaborate much on what they mean. She then brings up the drawings of the face. He reacts in shock, but again won't tell her what it means. Both because whatever happened is being kept secret from her and, you know, we're not even at the halfway mark.
Later, Laura and Adriana take Martha sledding on Miller Hill. Martha slides down on her sled. And keeps sliding. And keeps sliding. Thankfully she didn't crash into a Wal-Mart dumpster. She mentions that it triggered her horror. God, I remember when that word actually was allowed to mean that. Something with the snow and going down really fast. At home she gets another memory. Of her having a snowball fight with the girls, as well as Aaron and Ivan. And Justine's there. Really hitting Martha hard with snowballs. Almost like she's trying to kill her or something. But she then gets a memory of kissing someone. Not Aaron, but someone she can't recognize. The boy from her drawings.
Martha heads to Aaron's the next day, hoping to get some answers. However, Justine's at Aaron's as well. When Justine leaves, Martha mentions the visions, but Aaron still won't answer. Doctor's orders. Only that when she does remember, it'll be hard on her. She then shows him the drawings and, just like with Dr. Sayles, Aaron panics and ultimately says that the boy she drew is dead. And, we just move on from that as Aaron decides to clam up at this point. Doesn't help Martha much. Now she wonders why a dead boy is in her memories. Adriana talks to her later to mention that Ivan's been acting weirder lately and has appeared to have stolen a stereo and a Discman. Ah, the great scratcher of many a CD. Martha draws the face again, and Adriana reacts like the others, but changes subjects to the Shadyside basketball game coming up. They go to the game and things go well, that is until Martha starts to see the face on all of the basketball players.
Martha panics, to which Adriana then hypnotizes her to calm her down. Oh, so I really know where we're going now. After that, she finally gets confirmation on the other issue as she sees Aaron making out with Justine. But even that she starts to suspect is a hallucination. She then falls into another memory with the face. She's back in the cabin. Making out with the boy by the fire. The boy's name is Sean. But the make out turns into a melee as they start fighting with one another. She even slapped Sean hard. She snaps back to reality and sees a message on her answering machine. The raspy voice of some girl saying that Martha keeps drawing Sean because she killed him. Martha suspects that it's Laura.
Martha then visits Dr. Corben in her office. She wants to be hypnotized. Hoping she can get more answers. Dr. Corben gets angry once she learns that Adriana's been using hypnosis on others. Either way, without permission from anyone, Martha can't be hypnotized by her, so that's a bust. Martha heads home, thinks she sees Sean's face, but it's Aaron. He apologizes for leading her along with the Justine relationship. She then mentions that she remembers Sean's name, but again he won't mention what happened. At this damn point, Stine shouldn't have called this book The Face. He should have called it The Gaslighting.
On the Ivan front, he beat up some other boy and is now suspended. Martha talks to Laura about it, then mentions that she remembers Sean and that Laura broke up with Ivan to go out with Sean. Once again, she doesn't get any answers from Laura. So Martha slips back into the memory, hopefully getting the full thing this time. The group were at a ski lodge. They sled a bit before deciding to go skiing. Sean goes down the slope, but for some reason, there's a silver wire between two trees. And it goes right through his neck and decapitates him. She also remembers fighting with Sean the night before his death. She remembers everything. Or so it seems at least. Something's still not coming clear.
She calls Adriana who says that the story's true, though they don't know how the wire got there. It's also why Adriana hasn't been able to concentrate or sleep. Martha suspects someone may have intentionally tried to kill Sean, which is enough for Adriana to head over there. As Martha wonders what's going on, she sees two things in her art bag. A pair of wire cutters. As well as the wire that killed Sean. She tells Adriana that she was the one who did it and is going to turn herself to the police. That's when Ivan shows up to reveal that Martha didn't do it. He did.
Ivan claims to be our killer. Why? Sean knew that Ivan had stolen a car and wrecked it. Sean used Ivan. Blackmailed him into giving him money lest he tell. It's why he was stealing at the time. To pay Sean off. So when they went to the lodge, he placed the wire there. But he only placed it low, hoping to trip Sean at worst. Adriana freaks out, saying that Ivan ruined everything, because it was Adriana who killed Sean, but Martha was supposed to die. She was jealous of Martha over having Sean and hoped that Martha would go skiing down the hill first. She had reset the wire in hopes of decapitating Martha. But Sean was the one who died instead.
And, as you've probably figured out, the memory loss was Adriana's doing. The hypnosis she learned from Dr. Corben. She used suggestions to mess with her head. To make her see Sean's face and feel the guilt. Then she planted the evidence in Martha's bag, hoping to get away with it. In a blind rage, Adriana attacks Martha, wrapping the wire around her neck. A drawing of Sean's face falls off of Martha's desk which distracts Adriana. They call the cops while Martha slumps into Ivan's arms, realizing the face saved her life.
The Face is frustrating. Surprise, surprise. A book cover I like with a story I didn't. I had a feeling hypnosis was a part of this plot, but I also didn't expect it to once again be a major factor in the story. I swear I didn't intend this and Bad Moonlight to be so close together, but it just proves the point once more. R.L. Stine is not a good mystery writer. Once Adriana and the hypnosis is mentioned, you know where this is going. It also doesn't help that this book spins its wheels for a while. Adriana and Ivan aside, it makes no sense why the others seem so intent on not talking to Martha about Sean. Granted, it's a concern of triggering PTSD of the incident at the lodge which has clearly screwed them all up. But, like, once the answers start to come in, everyone still acts like she shouldn't be allowed to know. So it's just chapter after chapter of gaslighting this girl until we get to the reveal we could see coming a mile away.
Martha is fine as a protagonist. Nothing super unique, but you feel her plight for how she doesn't know what's happening and how everyone seems to keep it that way. I also like Ivan and feel for his cause. Wracked with guilt for killing Sean when he wasn't even the one who did so. Throwing his life away and at one point almost killing himself over it. As for Adriana, she's fine, but we build her as this maniac in the last act like so many other characters. So there's not much time to build on her aside from the hypnosis stuff. But, again, once we realize hypnosis is in play, we know where this is going anyway, so any build would feel superfluous.
So, this one didn't hit with me that much. It feels like it has such a neat idea, it's also one of Stine's favorites, but Bob being high on it doesn't help when the book still suffers from feeling so similar to other, better Fear Street stories. Though points on the gory death of Sean at least. That does work for a scary moment. But when that's the lone highlight of the book, it doesn't say much. A definite skip book. A face you'd rather not remember any time soon. The Face gets a C-.
It Was Acceptable in the 90s: J. Crew, Grunge, Lethal Weapon movies, Liking Mel Gibson before... you know..., The new Jim Carrey gross comedy, Baywatch, Discman
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