The Stinal Countdown: Fear Street: Wrong Number 2

You know. Some sequels make sense. I can get why Cheerleaders got a whole slew for example. Can't say I see the point of a sequel to The Wrong Number. I mean, it was a fine enough book with a very basic mystery, but there really wasn't much else that needed to be explained after finishing up. So learning there's a second book has me raise my eyebrow. And given Stine's less than sterling record with sequels, I'm very curious if this one is a trainwreck or at least limps to the finish. Let's see for ourselves with Wrong Number 2.

This cover is kind of bland. Nothing super incredible. Reminds me a lot of The Babysitter books honestly. But it at least gets the message across of the book, with Deena and Jade once again on the line and once again having to deal with whatever evil is on the other end. Simple enough a cover I guess.

In the first book, Deena Martinson's dad brought home a super fancy new phone with tons of bells and whistles. So Deena and her friend Jade Smith use it to make prank calls of course. Deena's brother Chuck moves in with the family. A bad boy with a dark streak himself, he gets in on the prank calling, until the three end up calling the home of a woman who is in the process of being murdered. They arrive and find the woman is Edna Farberson, wife of Stanley Farberson, businessman and owner of failing Italian restaurant the Alberga III. Chuck gets arrested while Jade and Deena work together to eventually learn that it was Mr. Farberson that killed his wife, planning to steal her inheritance and fly off to Buenos Ares with his mistress. They manage to get Mr. Farberson arrested and Chuck freed from jail.

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Deena Martinson is still having bad dreams about Stanley Farberson and the incident before his arrest. After the prologue giving us that reminder, we have Deena and Jade talking about boyfriends and love interests. We also learn that Chuck went to college and seems to have calmed down. Suddenly, the phone rings. Deena picks up and the voice on the other line says that this is her wrong number, coming to disconnect her line real soon. Deena suspects it's Mr. Farberson, but Deena assures her that he's in jail for 20 years (seems pretty low a number for, you know, murdering his wife) so it couldn't possibly be him. She chalks it up to a prank caller then reminds the reader that prank calls were what they used to do. Though we forget when Jade tried to blackmail Deena into doing it. I certainly didn't.

Later that night, Deena gets another call, this time the voice promises revenge. She blocks the issue out of her head the next day to talk with Steve Mason, the Australian boy at school. You can tell he's Australian by him saying g'day and the fact that he's probably heard people say "Who's Sydney" every time he mentions it. Later, Deena tells Jade about the call, but Jade is certain it can't be Farberson as he's definitely still in jail. They also notice an odd Oldsmobile circling the block. The car stops and whoever is inside is about to exit, which gives the girls enough time to make a run for it. Though Jade still doesn't seem concerned.

Later, Deena and Jade go to a Shadyside Tigers basketball game. Jade's interested in one of the players, Teddy Miller, who she's interested in despite also being in a relationship with Chuck, but Deena's focus is more on a shady looking man she swears she saw. They head to Jade's after and things are calm until they hear a loud knock at their window, which is weird given they're on the second floor. When they check the window, it turns out to be Chuck, sitting on a branch, because that's not creepy at all. Turns out he dropped out of college, which given his issues with people, shouldn't come as that much of a surprise. He went to college to learn filmmaking, but didn't like that, you know, you can't just take a filmmaking course at college and that's all, so he's doing the even stupider idea of going to LA to ply his craft there. He also knows about Jade's relationship with Teddy, but seems to be fine with it for now.

Deena gets another call, and this one mentions her hiding in the closet when she and Jade were in Farberson's house. So now Deena's worried. Only ones who would know that are Jade, herself, and Mr. Farberson. The voice says that Deena will be scared real soon. Got a feeling I know who the caller is, but we'll see if Stine didn't reveal his hand too early yet again. The next day, the Martinson parents aren't quite fond of Chuck's decision to drop out which makes Chuck decide to cut out. As in leave the house. And also by that it means he's at Jade's watching a movie called Bikini Teen Mutants from Sunset Strip, which really sounds like a rejected Goosebumps title. Jade also made Chuck aware of the "wrong numbers", but he too thinks it's not Farberson for the same reason that Jade does.

As Deena gets a stack of letters from the mailman, one particular addition scares the hell out of her. A drawing of a chainsaw and the words "Your Turn Next!" Now Deena's certain it can't be Farberson as he couldn't be sending these kinds of threats through prison mail. Chuck says that they might find out what's up by going to Farberson's old house at, where else, Fear Street. They check the old house that seems to have someone inside. Before Chuck can go in, because nobody in R.L. Stine books know what a lock is, they see headlights shining from behind the house and heading straight for them. They drive off with the car following, trying to knock them off the road. Suddenly the other car crashes into a truck. Deena can see nobody was hurt, but that's enough playing junior detective for one night.

Deena notes that she saw whoever was driving the car. It's not a man, but a woman. Jade soon figures that it must mean Linda Morrison, Farberson's mistress. She's the one out for revenge. Jade suggests that maybe they can get some answers by going to visit her. Because you know, getting her lover arrested and ruining her escape plans is going to mean just a nice friendly chat. But, somehow, Jade manages to convince Ms. Morrison that she's a real estate agent, so now we have yet another elaborate disguise attempt from the girls to appear older. Which, I mean, if she keeps falling on it, shame on her I guess. 

They visit Ms. Morrison, who is noted to have gained weight, her blond hair now has roots and she just seems like her life is over. Which, I mean, given everything, I guess so. The con starts to work, but Morrison asks for their business cards. Luckily Jade has a decoy card in place, so points for putting in the effort. The girls then search the house and find a crude drawing of the Farberson house on Fear Street. Turns out giving Miss Morrison the card didn't help as she actually called the real estate agency to verify things, so this big con just up and bombed. The girls ask about the phone calls, but she has no idea about them. The whole car incident was her though, but she claims that she wanted to know who was trying to break into the Farberson house. 

Turns out that Linda is also worried about Mr. Farberson coming back for her. She says that given the high-end lawyers he has, Farberson could easily be set free from jail, even for killing his wife. Lemme just check the date of this book. Came out January 1995. Just around the same time as the O.J. Simpson murder trial was beginning. Not saying Stine took inspiration, but definitely an interesting case of timing right there. On the subject of the crude map, she mentions that Stanley left the money he got after killing his wife somewhere in the house. Linda's been trying to find it, but to no avail. However, someone else seems to have taken it.

Deena brings this up to Chuck later, but she thinks Linda is lying. However, he now thinks that the dead woman's money is now theirs to take should they find it, and Chuck intends to use it to get him to LA. Deena's against this, while Jade, whose morals have usually been worse than Deena's, is sort of fine with it. The old "finders keepers" mentality. Though she's not keen on going back to the Farberson house. Chuck heads off with Jade following, while Deena notices some strange man staring at her in the shadows. The same man who then attacks Chuck and starts to strangle him. It's not Farberson, but Teddy. Remember Teddy? Well, he's not fond of Chuck taking Jade, so a choking we will go. The two brawl until Chuck dives at Teddy, who dodges, causing Chuck to smash his head on the curb. He's not dead, but unconscious and off to the hospital. Jade then dumps Teddy, which looks to already be a bad idea.

At the hospital, Chuck reveals what we all figured. He was the wrong number. The one making the threats to the girls. I mean, of course it was. This is the same kid who made a bomb threat in the previous book. Why? To mess with Jade because of the Teddy stuff. He also pranked Deena so it wouldn't be too obvious. Say what you will, dude's troubled, but he knows his stuff. The green car and the note was him too. Jade's still with him because, I guess she really likes maniacs like Chuck, but promises to pay him back somehow. So, Deena and Jade are now calmer over everything. That is until the news reports that, true to Linda's words, Stanley Farberson is a free man. Then she gets a phone call, but it's actually a wrong number. So hey, the book delivered!

Deena calls Jade, but she has other news. Chuck left the hospital against medical advice. So not only do we have a murder back on the (fear) streets, but Chuck clearly is on his way to Farberson's to find the money. So now the girls have to go through the stormy winter weather to get to Farberson's house before he does. So, the girls going there in another storm to deal with a murderer, only it's snow this time instead of rain. The girls arrive, but can't seem to find Chuck. The house is a mess, a clear sign that Linda was searching for the money. The girls then realize that Chuck isn't there. They at first think he may have never showed up until they find his hospital bracelet on the floor. They then see blood in front of the closet. But there's just some clothing inside. 

Chuck is there though, shocked to see the girls followed him there. He tells the girls that he found the money. However, before he could get it, he was attacked by someone who stole it from him. Deena and Jade tell him about Farberson's exit from jail and, sure enough, the man himself enters the house. The three run into the basement, but that turns out to be the worst idea in a series of worsening ideas as there's no exit. Farberson enters the basement and spots the three that sent him up the river. And he's packing heat as he points his gun at the three of them for the money, which he also does not have. 

Farberson gets the girls tied up as he pressures them to give him the money. When they say they don't have it, he then proceeds to pull out a gas can and a chainsaw. Same one from the last encounter. But not to use it on Chuck, but to use it on Deena to get Chuck to confess. Chuck tells Farberson that the money is in the closet under the floorboards, but again says that someone else stole it. Farberson then decides that "screw it, the money's not as important as getting rid of the three of them" and again goes to attack Deena.

Suddenly, Linda Morrison shows up holding a gun. She tells Farberson to leave the kids alone. Eventually he dives at her with the chainsaw, but trips and falls into the chainsaw, dying instantly. Well, that worked out better. The kids breathe a sigh of relief, until Linda then says that this was all part of her plan to kill him and take the money. And now that both are done, she doesn't need the three of them. So she plans to kill them and make it look like Farberson did it. And to finish them off, she begins to burn the house down with oily rags and a candle. Jade manages to use Farberson's corpse to strengthen a piece of crude metal to free themselves. As the flames begin, the three try to get out of the basement, only for the door to be locked. The three manage to break the door down and escape in time. The book ends with the three finally glad to be over all of this, but Chuck still wants to make some prank calls because, let's be honest, he hasn't learned a damn thing.

Well, despite my feelings that a second book wasn't needed, I'll hand it to Stine here. This was a decent sequel, which feels like the rarest of four-leaf clovers when talking about his work. What makes it work is that it actually does tie up most of the remaining loose ends from the previous book, mainly Linda Morrison's involvement. She played such a minor role in the prior book that it only stands to reason to involve her more in the plot. Though, once again at the sacrifice of any actual interesting mystery. The calls become obvious that it's Chuck given his past. And once the money mystery is brought into play we just wait for the inevitable finale. Though, points to the book for a thrilling final act. Characters remain the same. Deena's still our concerned protagonist while Jade still is a smart girl with a devious side. And Chuck is still a good hearted maniac. So nothing really new on their front, but I do like that the book doesn't change much to their character. 

So, there really isn't too much to really say here. It's a sequel that actually works. It flows well, has some decent suspense, some okay gore and puts the finishing touches to this little saga. Dammit Bob, you're supposed to give me fodder to get mad about. Maybe less fun with the crazy newfangled phones, can I call that a reason to nag? But, yeah. An okay mystery book for once that actually feels like a better book than the original. It actually can happen. Easy recommend. Wrong Number 2 gets an A-.