The Stinal Countdown: Fear Street: Switched

It's time once again for another venture into Shadyside, and a book that Stine actually likes. Well, that's already a blaring warning sign. But, sometimes I can be surprised by a book, so maybe it's time to switch my expectations. Which is fitting given our book du jour. It's time to get Switched.

The cover is fine. Nothing outright unique. I like the characters holding hands which emits super cartoony lightning effects, which I guess works fine enough to make this feel like a body swap story. Does feel super rushed and lacks much gusto, but nothing to really complain about.

Nicole Darwin thinks she's a loser, well, before she talks about her nails and how amazing she looks and how her boyfriend David really likes her mysterious, brown eyes. But lately things just haven't been going Nicole's way. Her mom thinks it's her mood and that she should smile more. Mask the pain, that'll do it. She then talks about how her parents are so boring. Oh god, I was hoping to NOT have another Reva on my hands. Only two pages in, so maybe the course will change. Giving you a chance, Bob. Famous last words those ones. 

She's also having issues in school as she's failing on her biology, which is annoying her teacher Mr. Frost. She calls him Frosty on account of him looking like a snowman. We discussed this and I said "no". Despite her not really having an excuse for not putting in effort, Mr. Frost threatens failing her which would screw her out of graduation. But he gives her one more chance to finish her work by the following Monday. Not only that, but David decides to break up with her out of the blue. Though he's been acting distant for a while. But he won't tell her why he's suddenly so weird around her. 

As a frustrated Nicole leaves school, she runs into her friend Lucy Kramer (another Kramer. Stine really loves Seinfeld). Nicole brings up how everything's gone south today, to which Lucy suggests switching bodies. And not as a joke either, she really means it as she leads Lucy to, where else, Fear Street. She leads Nicole up to a strange old wall. Lucy's grandfather mentioned how the wall has the power to make people switch bodies, often against their own will. Simply climb up on to the wall, hold hands, then leap off. That will create the switch. Now, Nicole knows Lucy's not in the best position either with violent parents, but she'll take it over everything that's gone down. And is even interested in Lucy's boyfriend Kent Borden. I mean, is it technically boyfriend theft if you're in the girlfriend's body? I mean, yes, but shush.

The girls climb up the wall while Nicole notices a bird warbling almost like a crying warning. But, regardless, the two make it up and do the jump. And sure enough, it works. Lucy is in Nicole's body and Nicole is in Lucy's. The girls are excited that it works, but also realize they can't tell anyone about the switch, lest they look insane. Lucy says that they should change back later, but Nicole isn't fully up for that right now, but they both go their separate ways. Nicole is thrilled, but also worried that she can pull off being Lucy. But, when Nicole heads there, she finds Lucy's family are all murdered. Gee, I wonder why Lucy was so adamant towards a body swap? 

Nicole panics and runs to find Lucy, but ends up heading to Kent's. She tries to explain everything about the body swapping and the murder, to which Kent does the only reasonable thing when your girlfriend is talking about body swaps and murder. He calls the cops on her. Kent winning the award for best character so far. Nicole makes a run for it, still trying to find Lucy. So, her logical answer? Go back to Lucy's house of course. You're already a suspect in a murder, or at least the body you're in is the suspect, why not go back to the scene of the crime? She goes into Lucy's room only to find it completely empty. Oh, but there's one item there. A blood-smeared knife on the desk. Nicole is still unable to believe it, that is until she literally finds the note saying that Lucy murdered her family. So yeah, maybe failing biology and a crappy boyfriend weren't the worst things ever.

Nicole, now realizing what just happened, tries to escape, only to see by two cops at the front door. So she hoofs it out the backdoor. Only to find out that the Kramers have a large fence that she can't climb over. Thankfully there's some weak boards, so she manages to push through and keep running, now with cops in tow. She manages to get to her car and drive off. When she heads to good old Pete's Pizza to find Lucy, she instead runs into Lucy's friends Margie Bendell and Hannah Franks, who refer to Nicole as Nicole. So they're at least aware of the body swap, but also aren't telling Nicole where Lucy is. She has a hallucination where she thinks she saw Lucy, but it's just Margie and Hannah who try to tell her something, but Nicole drives off.

Nicole thinks that while Margie and Hannah can't help, maybe Kent can. I mean, he called the cops on you last time, but sure. Let's try again. We're in spinning wheels territory, I can tell. Her suggestion, taking a knife and threatening him. Genius. And even more genius when it turns out that Kent's been killed. Straight up decapitated. And here's "Lucy" in his house wielding a knife. Well, at least Lucy's really putting in the effort to send Nicole up the river. She starts to feel woozy, then notices the cops have arrived, just as she's still holding the knife.

The cops are now also calling her Nicole, so it seems that everyone may already know about the whole body swap thing somehow. But Nicole isn't going to wait for any answers as she runs off again. She arrives at the Changing Wall and comes up with an idea. Maybe if she holds Lucy's ID and jumps, that will work? Of course not. See what I mean about wheels spinning? Nicole then passes out. She wakes up and learns that the murders haven't been reported on. But still needing answers as to where Lucy is, Nicole heads to Shadyside High to find Margie and Hannah. 

Nicole sneaks into the girls locker room and hides in a locker until Margie shows up. Except she soon finds Margie's corpse. No, wait. She was just on the ground in a corpse-like position because of a leg cramp. She tries to explain and take Margie to the Changing Wall when she hears someone come in. Nicole ducks into the closet and when she exits, Margie's on the ground again. Dead this time. Nicole runs off and now thinks about Lucy's grandmother Carla who lives on a farm. Maybe she'll have seen Lucy. She heads up to the farm and talks with Carla, who much like Kent calls the cops on her. Nicole realizes this means that she's hiding Lucy. And when Nicole checks the barn, she indeed finds Lucy. Except it's not Lucy, it's another girl named Nancy that Lucy switched bodies with. So it's someone different in the body. Gotta admit, Lucy's earning points for most clever Fear Street villain. Could I actually like a book that Stine likes? No, I mustn't think of it. About 20 pages left. Stine, the ball is in your hands. Do not drop it.

As Nicole panics, suddenly someone grabs her. It's Kent, despite, you know, being decapitated. I guess he got better. He drags Nicole to the nearby well where Lucy has fallen in, but Kent says to let her drown. Nicole escapes then tries to grab Lucy (or Nancy?), but she falls into the well. Nicole calls to her, but she gets no response. Nicole then realizes that Lucy is dead. Drowned in her body. That is until Lucy gets back out of the well and grabs Kent, pulling his head back off and killing him again, I guess. Lucy is erratic, wanting to switch bodies with Nicole and Headless Kent. Suddenly, Lucy's parents and Kent arrive. 

Nicole's parents are there too. They comfort her, talking about how Lucy had died three years ago in a car accident. Nicole didn't take it well is the nicest way to put it. It broke Nicole to the point that she started to believe she was Lucy. She had been fine for a while. No hallucinations, no believing she was Lucy. Until she snapped. The "cops" chasing her? Orderlies here to take her back to the hospital. So that all happened six months ago and Nicole's still in the hospital where she still believes that she gets visits from Lucy.

Switched comes so close to great, but just lands that end twist with a thud. Another book where the end result is just someone with horrible mental health ending up being crazy all along. In fairness though, that pretty much seemed like where we were going. When people started calling her Nicole instead of Lucy and when people were calling the authorities on her, it became obvious that this was all in her head and that maybe Lucy was really dead all along. And it's not like Stine doesn't drop those hints. There's an important line early on about how Nicole looks at Lucy and thinks she looks twelve and not seventeen. So, it's not the worst twist ever, just feels like one Stine's done a dozen times before a bit better. 

Nicole is an interesting protagonist, especially once we piece together so many little things about how broken her mental state is. That she seemed to fully create her own narrative of her own world. A boyfriend that might exist, might not, and a friend who has been dead for a while. Doesn't fully explain why Nicole has these visions of Lucy murdering everybody though. Most likely just a case of how over the edge she's become that she sees everyone as dead or out to get her. It at least gives us one of the goriest Fear Street books, even if none of those actually happened. Which I'd be more mad at if this was all really just a dream. It at least comes off that Nicole snapping like she did still happened throughout the evening, even if nobody was actually killed. Just Lucy offscreen.

I can see why Stine likes this one. And of the ones Stine's liked, it's the one I come close to liking as well. Albeit it's another one of Stine's staples, a mentally insane person, being the culprit. Though at least having the culprit be who we're focusing on does make for a fresher take than most. And, yes, I get it. Poor mental health is prevalent in much of Horror, but I do find it tacky sometimes. Especially when it feels like it lacks anything fresh. Though, again, this one did work better than others. So, I leave it not hating the book, but definitely feeling conflicted.

Overall, Switched is one of the better Fear Street books for its mystery, even if it becomes too obvious too quick. It's got some good scares, some gore and some solid moments. Unfortunately the book spins its wheels and feels like it would work better as a shorter story. We don't really need that much of Nicole bouncing back and forth. The book feels more padded than the cell she's likely in at the end of the story. And, as usual, Stine using poor mental health as a story crutch, you can take it or leave it. Not the worst book ever, but really suffers from not feeling as strong as it could have. Still an easy read and decent enough to be a light recommend. Though, again, take what you will of the twist. Switched gets a B-

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