The Stinal Countdown: Fear Street: Who Killed the Homecoming Queen?

You know, I was going to move on to a different book series for a bit, but given we've been in a decent run as of late, why not one more trip to Shadyside before we take a much needed breather? And we have a mystery on our hands, which already instills me with just, just the least amount of confidence here. But hey, Stine could surprise me. So let's find out Who Killed the Homecoming Queen?

This is definitely one of the better covers I've had in a while. It does a lot right. Set up that indeed our homecoming queen is looking pretty dead right now. Also a great touch in not showing her face to see just how dead she truly is. A case of less is more that works here. And we have a far better shocked cover face from our cover girl this time. Good use of lighting and shadow to give the feeling of a dark, empty room. Fear Street covers are a mixed bag sometimes. Some lack much to hook you, some hook you with a blatant lie, and some just really work. I just hope it stays the third option as we progress.

Eva Whelan is really excited about the pep rally taking place. She thinks everyone must really love pep rallies, when, like, not even. I mean, you're out of class at least? She's more excited about who will be named homecoming queen this year. And she hopes it's her friend Tania Darman. We learn a bit about Tania. How her mother is remarrying and she has a stepbrother named Jeremy that Eva's interested in. Tania is also in relationship with popular jock Sandy Bishop. Yes, another kid named Sandy. That is until suddenly Tania falls over the stairway. She manages to grab the railing in time but crashes into the wall hard. Both girls are confused as to what happened. That is until Leslie Gates show up and apologizes for bumping into Tania. Eva realizes this was likely intentional as Leslie here's been gunning for queen bee ever since she buzzed into this hive.

Eva also possibly has psychic powers. In that she gets these weird senses from time to time. And as of late it's been leaning toward a bad feeling. Like something bad is going to go down. But she just chalks it off as nothing important yet. I mean we're just getting started here. Eva heads to the pep rally and only notices four girls on the stage. Tania, Mei Kamata, Julia Moran and Dierdre Bradley. No Leslie though. Then Eva hears a gunshot! No, wait, some kid stepped on a can. That stinger somehow hasn't aged as well two and a half decades later.

There's also the homecoming king Jason Thompson, Jeremy, and Keith Hicks, a boy who wears all black, but has a gold hoop earring. So kind of looking like a beatnik pirate. Eva talks with Jeremy a bit, and we learn that he's never really had a real family before. That due to his mother dying when he was a baby, he's never known a complete family until his dad started the relationship with Tania's mom. The focus shifts to Keith, who is an amateur filmmaker, and has his own eyes on Tania. Like in a he's a massive creep, but too creepy to be the villain way. But yeah, he wants to break up Tania and Sandy, and even laughs when Jeremy jokingly suggests killing Sandy. Oh, and Keith's movie title is the title of this book, because of course it is.

To no real shock, Tania is chosen as homecoming queen. When she goes to the podium, she collapses. We learn that this is because of her low blood sugar giving her fainting spells, so I really hope Stine didn't reveal too much too soon again. Jeremy is super excited, but Eva notices that Sandy is nowhere to be seen. Eva talks with Leslie who is super jealous of Tania. Even her low blood sugar and how she can eat a lot of candy and stay thin, because this is a book from the 90s. More specifically an R.L. Stine book from the 90s. Leslie leaves in a jealous huff. 

Eva then discovers why Sandy was nowhere to be seen. He's been cheating on Tania with Cherise Colby. Guessing if this were a year or two beforehand this would be our Suki Thomas cameo. Or... nah, best not to evoke that name again. Eva starts to wonder if she should tell Tania now or spare her the heartbreak, even if it makes her a crappy friend in the process. She leaves for now and then overhears Leslie saying that she has something that will kill Tania. And we just move on from that. 

And for a nice case of irony, we have Sandy and Tania arguing over Sandy cheating on with her before the homecoming dance and attacking her until she collapses. Oh, she doesn't know yet, this is all for Keith's movie. But Tania does collapse again. Sandy panics, but it's the low blood sugar thing again. Oh, this is going to be the lion's share of the drama in this one, I can feel it already. Eva tries to tell Tania about Sandy as they head to the auditorium, where they're confronted by Leslie who says she's going to kill Tania... for taking the spot in Keith's video. You know that scene from the Simpsons episode Cape Feare where Bart keeps thinking everyone's out to kill him after he gets threatening letters? That's been this book so far. At this rate I'm just imagining a cliffhanger/chapter opening about Tania's mom going to get her... some ice cream at the store. 

Anyway, more fuel to the fire as to why Leslie hates Tania. And since Leslie knows about Sandy and Cherise, Eva gets her to keep quiet for now. Honestly, at this point, this is bordering on gaslighting. Eva runs into Jeremy the next day who is excited about buying his new mom a birthday present. He also mentions he used to get in trouble in school before, but let's not dwell on that just yet. They go to Pete's Pizza where Sandy and Cherise aren't doing a good job hiding this relationship, and Jeremy's not happy about it either. Tania arrives and Jeremy gets her out before she sees it. Again, aside from yes, emotionally wrecking her, why not get this over with given that Sandy's a scumbag? This book is really comfortable. Must be all the padding.

Eva decides to tell... Sandy instead of Tania because holy crap, why is this half the damn book? Sandy tells her to keep quiet and we get another rehearsal of Keith's movie. Then Sandy strangles her and that was for the movie. This may be the most glacially paced Fear Street yet and that's saying a lot. After the scene, Sandy grabs Tania in a very tight, very concerning way. Especially when she sort of collapses in a heap. Everyone checks on her, and she's not moving. And, at least for now, this doesn't look to be the blood sugar thing. Tania's dead. I swear, if this all goes where I think it's going...

Jeremy panics, especially when the talk of calling the cops and the ambulance is mentioned. He makes a run for it. Eva catches up to him and they return to Tania's body. But when they gets back, Tania's body is gone! The cops arrive and try to get answers as to what's going on. Eva sees Leslie and tells the cops to ask her. Which is enough time for Leslie to make a run for it. They confront her, but Leslie says she knew nothing about what's going on. She wasn't even aware that Tania died. Eva doesn't buy it, which probably all but confirms her innocence at the moment. But Eva's got those weird feelings again. Like someone is definitely lying.

They find Sandy who admits that he strangled Tania... for the movie. Like pretend strangle but in a way that it would look convincing. Unfortunately, too convincing. Also, he doesn't even know if she's alive or dead. When he checked her pulse initially, he didn't actually as it was part of the act. But that's enough for Jeremy to snap at the thought of his new sister being dead and try to strangle him. Man, didn't know the choking game was hot in the 90s. The cops take their leave given they don't have a body and think that Tania must be alive then.

Eva goes home, then thinks of something. They were filming the movie at the time. Maybe they got whatever happened to Tania on film. But for the sake of convenience, the camcorder jams and the tape gets ruined. So no leads there. Jeremy talks with Eva again and mentions that he heard Sandy and Cherise plotting to murder Tania. Eva heads to Cherise's where she thinks she overhears Cherise threatening to kill someone, but it was just a voice from the TV. Okay, that one was at least a bit more clever. She mentions Jeremy's claims, but Cherise says they were rehearsing for the movie. Yes, that's the ticket. But suddenly, someone calls Cherise's house with the traditional Stine book raspy voice to say that either Cherise or Eva is next.

A bit of time has passed. Still no sign of Tania. Leslie wants her role in the movie, Jeremy's a wreck, and even Sandy is still freaked out. Later, Eva finds Leslie again with a large blood stain on her clothes. Thankfully, this time it's not a major fake out or for that damn movie. She claims to have slammed her locker so hard it caused her mirror to break and cut her. So, now she has seven years bad luck to deal with too. But then Eva finds Sandy's body with a knife in his back and a note that says "Your Turn Next". 

So yeah, Sandy appears to actually be dead and not acting. Now everyone's worried that a killer is on the loose. They suspect Leslie, given the blood, but she claims her innocence. Eva gets another raspy voice call, promising that her turn is coming. And that seems to come the next day as Eva has her video portrait taken on the bleachers, the railing breaks and she begins to fall. What, did she get her picture taken by an evil camera? No, it appears that someone sawed it. Because I guess the killer figured that sooner or later Eva would be leaning on that specific railing? I dunno. I'm kind of ready to wrap this one up already. Like, it's not awful, but what goes up, must come down. Spinning wheel, got to go round. Talkin' bout your troubles, it's a cryin' sin. Ride a painted pony, let the spinning wheel spin.

Eva then sees Tania there as well. Like, still alive Tania. Turns out that Tania was joking the entire time because again, the low blood sugar. She was also the one who was making the threats on the phone. See, given how Eva wouldn't just get it over with, Jeremy took initiative and told her about Sandy and Cherise. It did devastate her, but it also got her to thinking that she should pull an elaborate prank on everyone to get them back. And thanks to Jeremy, she managed to get it all to work. So, everything's certainly happily ever af-wait, what about Sandy's corpse? And most importantly, where's Cherise and Jeremy? Good thing Eva's got those bad vibes again.

They head to Cherise's house as they see that she's about to be killed by Jeremy because yep, he's our killer all right. After how Sandy and Cherise treated Tania, he wanted them to pay. So he killed Sandy and is finishing his job. Tania tries to grab him, but Jeremy slips and cracks his head on a coffee table. As they're about to call the cops, Jeremy recovers as Cherise makes a run for it. He says that it was her all along. She's the real killer. She killed Sandy, and when Jeremy came there to confront her, she acted as if she was the one being attacked. 

Cherise denies this, but Eva realizes she's lying. Not because of the psychic stuff, which really did not matter in this book I'll tell you what. But because Jeremy knew about Tania's prank and plans to trick Sandy and the others. It would make no sense for Jeremy to kill Sandy. She finally admits it, only for another shoe to drop on this. Keith wasn't just making the movie, but working with Sandy on a candid video of Sandy pretending to be in a relationship with Cherise. So, like, is there anyone other than maybe Jeremy that isn't a dick in this book? 

In fact, Keith had been secretly filming Cherise at this very moment and got her confession on tape. The killing of Sandy, trying to kill Eva and the others. All there on candid camera. Cherise tries to stab Keith, but he blocks the knife with his camera, sending it flying out of her hands. They manage to stop her as the cops arrive and take her away.

They then notice the cops forgot to take the tape for evidence. They check the tape, but the camcorder jammed again so it didn't work. 

*Laugh track*

"Fear Street" was recorded on tape in front of a live audience.

Ehhhh. This one kind of stunk to be honest. There are good things about the book. I do think it's one of Stine's less bluntly obvious mysteries. And there's at least some twists throughout to make the book flow. The problems just rack up when we spend so much time on the movie and Eva not wanting to tell Tania. For plot purposes, obviously. You can't have that extra shoe drop without it. But it also makes it feel like Eva is gaslighting Tania by just not being honest. And all to ultimately be for a rotten prank on Cherise just makes this whole thing feel lame. 

Honestly, the whole addition of the extra movie and the hidden camera prank on Cherise feels last minute. Like an extra motive as to why Cherise would kill Sandy. Like, it seems as if Stine at one point did want it to be Jeremy, but ultimately chose to give him a good ending and have Cherise take the fall instead. Earlier in the book, Jeremy mentions his shady past. And his attempt at running off before the cops showed up earlier would have made more sense for that. But you can tell Stine didn't like that ending and moved to this one. And hoo boy is that just not satisfying at all.

Eva is okay for a protagonist, though again, her not telling Tania might be altruistic but just boils down to not doing good by your friend. And even her whole psychic feelings gimmick barely matters that much to the plot. Makes it feel like a late book add-on. Tania's fine. Glad she gets comeuppance of some sort. But once she "died" and the body vanished, this became too obvious. If Stine didn't mention the low blood sugar and the fainting spells, and show the audience twice that these happen, her reveal to be alive the whole time would have had a bigger impact. Jeremy is interesting. Clearly the most morally sound member of the crew. Keith loses all credibility when the candid stuff is revealed. Leslie's an okay red herring and Cherise is just okay as the ultimate villain, though granted, her being treated like crap for a prank makes her at least sympathetic. Sandy sucks so I'm kind of not bothered that he's dead. Dude rolled the dice and got snake eyes.

Pacing moves quick, thankfully, but you can tell how much later in the series this book is with all of the really bad chapter cliffhangers. The Goosebumps influence really stinks up the series and having damn near half the chapters end with "I'm going to kill you" or someone pretending to die, it makes that brisk pace start to slog. Not to mention the real feel of spinning wheels near the end. The words "having to make page quota" dances in my head. So, ultimately, this one was a bust for me. There's a lot of good ideas, but those ingredients aren't used to make for a delicious work. If it were a meal for a Fear Street potluck, it would be the tuna casserole of Fear Street books. Who Killed the Homecoming Queen? Gets a C.

It Was Acceptable in the 90s: CDs, VCRs, One Hoop Earring, Using actual cameras instead of phones to film incriminating evidence.