Our story begins in the village of Shadyside in the year 1900. Just as the Fear mansion is on fire. A girl, Nora Goode, is outside of the burning building, calling for Daniel Fear, while clutching a large silver amulet with three blue jewels around her neck, given to her by Daniel. However, it seems like Daniel, nor the other people trapped inside are going to be leaving the mansion. The firefighters are unable to stop the fire and with the building seeming to not succumb to the fire, the villagers claim that the house must be cursed by the evils of the Fear family. Then again, it's 1900. They probably think the newfangled automobiles are evil.
Nora runs into the mansion She can't make it far in because, duh, fire. But she sees the burning bodies inside writhing in agony, somehow still alive despite, you know, hair on fire and eyes burned out of their skulls. Shit, on an imagery level alone this is already eclipsing most Fear Street books. She then sees a girl in maroon, screaming in agony, tied to a wooden stake. As the mansion finally fills with flames and explodes, somehow Nora's still alive and watching on, just as confused as the reader.
And with that, we jump further backwards to 1692. Wickham Village, Massachusetts to be precise. Susannah Goode is baking by the fire while her mother scolds her for tucking her brother George in too tightly. Susannah admires herself a bit before going to fetch her father and get firewood. Her mother warns her not to go out by herself given that this is again 1600s Massachusetts and the people there are witch crazy. One previous girl, Abigail Hopper, was called a witch by one Benjamin Fier and she's about to be put on trial. In fact, Benjamin Fier's been on a roll uncovering "witches" with three burned so far.
See, Benjamin Fier is the magistrate of the village, having just arrived the previous summer. He's the one in charge and the one you don't want to piss off lest you be accused of being a witch. He also lives in the largest home in the village on, where else, Fea-well, it's not Fear Street yet, but that's indeed the mansion. The other Fier brother, Matthew, has the most prosperous farm in the village where every 31st of October the great pumpkin appears and flies around... wait, wrong story. More importantly to Susannah is Benjamin's son Edward who is her age and she has feelings for. Falling in love with the son of the guy who is making a sport out of getting women killed for "witchcraft". You can all see where this is going.
Susannah gets the firewood then thinks about "The Evil One". Some guy in the forest who works with the witches to curse the village. She gets grabbed by behind, but it's not the evil one, it's only Edward, because even in the 1600s there needs to be lame chapter cliffhangers. He mentions that the Evil One's slaves are in town and that his dad was right to burn another girl named Faith Warburton for wearing a red ribbon. My god, a red ribbon. That's the ye olde equivalent of Minnie Mouse in a pantsuit. Despite Susannah's concerns of, well, Benjamin Fier being full on witch burning, Edward says that them being a relationship should be fine.
The two overhear some people chanting to burn a witch before Edward leaves, saying he'll definitely tell his dad about their relationship. That night at dinner, Susannah's father William complains about his meager crop compared to Matthew Fier's bountiful harvest. Nobody seems to know where the Fier brothers came from. They didn't arrive from England, and seemed to have come from another village. After dinner, Mr. Goode tells Susannah that he's learned that Edward has actually been courting another girl in Portsmouth. At least that's what Benjamin told him. And Susannah buys it, believing that well, if Mr. Fier said it's true, it must be true. She then vows never to love again.
And sure enough, Edward's not happy about this either as it was Benjamin who has arranged his marriage to a girl named Anne Ward. Benjamin tells Edward that it doesn't matter, especially if love is involved. He wants the two married for money and success. He then guilt trips Edward as he talks about how he and Matthew were once so poor they had to eat rats, which I'm going to count as our Stine animal abuse of the book. And then Edward does perhaps the dumbest thing he can do in front of a guy who burns women, mention that he's actually in love with Susannah Goode. As Edward leaves, Benjamin states that Edward will not be marrying Susannah.
And wouldn't you know it, Benjamin Fier and his mob accuse Susannah and her mother Martha of being witches and capture them. Their proof? A strange dried chicken foot, a vial of blood-colored stuff and other miscellanea. They drag the two out of their house and Benjamin promises they'll burn by the end of the week. But Martha thinks that they'll be fine, surely the people will know they're not witches. Because even in the 1600s, parents are dumb as bricks. Because this whole trial is as kangaroo court as you'd expect, with the Fiers letting loose a bat in the courtroom and blaming it on the two. Same with torches burning out because, they control the wind too? Mr. Goode tries to tell Benjamin to free them, but of course the woman-burning pyromaniac isn't just going to listen to him.
So, sure enough, Susannah and Martha are sentenced to be burned. As they await their death, Edward comes. Oh, but not to save them, perish the thought. He thinks she's in league with the evil one because at this rate, a conversation with Benjamin Fier would be like:
Anyone: They're not in league with the evil one. They can't be witches!
Benjamin: Yes they are.
Anyone: Okay, airtight argument there, by all means burn away.
And that's pretty much the reasoning Edward has. He told his father about his love for Susannah, Benjamin accused her of being a witch. And, despite, you know, the argument that night being about how Benjamin had an arranged marriage for Edward, he doesn't factor that in as to why out of the blue Susannah would be accused of witchcraft. Matthew Fier talks with William about maybe letting his brother change his mind about killing Susannah and Martha, but of course not for any altruistic reason. For 100 pounds of course. As he gives him pretty much everything he owns, William notices that Matthew wears a strange silver amulet around his neck with three blue jewels and the words Dominato per malum inscribed on it. Well, at least it's not Karru Marri Odonna Loma Molonu Karrano. Then this book would be thrown at the wall.
The next day, it seems like Matthew was good on his word as he sees Susannah and Martha. William is excited, he doesn't even care that their arms are still tied and they're calling for help and they're being led to the stake to be burn-dude, you got bilked. Turns out it's not the Fiers responsible, but another man named Giles Roberts. Turns out the Fiers fled town the previous night. Turns out they robbed the entire town of their belongings then turned tail and ran. Oh, but they're still going to burn Susannah and Martha since the sentence was still put out... by obvious con men, but this is the 1600s and good lord these people are gullible.
So, yeah. Susannah and Martha are burned alive and killed, with William running off as he hears their screams of anguish. He returns home and vows vengeance on those who killed his family. He puts on a robe and enters a room with a summoning circle and always lit black candles. He vows that the Fiers will never escape him for murdering his family. So, I guess he's the evil one? So Benjamin Fier was kind of right? Either way, we go back to 1900. Back to Nora Goode, writing about her family's history in a dark room. She has no idea how she survived the burning mansion.
We cut to eighteen years later, 1710 in the Western Pennsylvania frontier. The Fier brothers are once again running a successful farm, with Matthew's wife Constance giving birth to a daughter named Mary. Edward didn't go into the arranged marriage and instead married a woman named Rebecca and had a son named Ezra. I'm surprised Benjamin didn't try to burn her too. Turns out that they're living a cozy little life for former murderers. Benjamin however does have the feeling that the family is cursed. And despite a niece and a hell spawn of a grandson, he looks to things like the new shingles being struck down by the wind as signs enough of a curse on their name.
And he may be right about that as a disheveled William Goode has finally found where the Fiers ended up. He sneaks by their house and watches them, then promises that he will get to cursing while the cursing's good. And that starts with Edward who goes up to the roof to inspect the shingles, only to end up falling and breaking his arm. At the same time, Constance accidentally cut her hand with a carving knife. So, someone falling off a ladder and someone injuring their hand. If this was the origin story of the Grool, I'd be impressed.
Or maybe this is a Danhausen origin story, who knows? Hey, it's my one per blog!
Mary is now convinced that something is up with her family. Maybe her uncle was right about the curses. She then ends up running into a boy about her age named Jeremy Thorne. He asks Matthew if he can help around the farm. Matthew is against it, but Edward, realizing he's got a bum arm, says the more help the merrier. Meanwhile, it seems as if Jeremy has already farm handed Mary's heart. As they talk and get to know one another, Constance tells Mary to fetch Edward and Matthew as something horrible has happened. They find Benjamin on the floor, dead. Or not as he starts breathing again. Honestly, if the dude's death was going to just be that after everything that would be weak sauce, Bob. But that doesn't dissuade the feeling of a curse going on and now Benjamin's left leg won't move anymore.
Edward and Mary walk in the woods, Edward still concerned about what's going on with the family. They then spot a woman on fire. And one that Edward recognizes instantly. Susannah Goode. Man, burning for eighteen years has got to suck. Mary tells Jeremy about this, but he thinks that she must have been seeing things. Mary mentions that she told her father about it and he seemed strange as he held the pendant around his neck. On the subject of the two of them, Mary wants to meet Jeremy's father, only Jeremy mentions his dad is really sick so it might not be the best time. Mary returns home only to find Edward's wife Rebecca has been hung and is dead. She heads outside and finds Benjamin Fier propped up like a scarecrow in the field. It'll be fine, he'll walk at midnight.
After the funeral, Mary again sees her father with the pendant, this time chanting in Latin. She runs into Jeremy who reveals that it was his father who killed Rebecca and Benjamin. See, Jeremy Thorne is actually Jeremy Goode and his father is William Goode. He's not on his father's side as he thinks his father's evil for his curses. His brother George even left back to Wickham Village to escape from it all. He then gives Mary all of the backstory. Susannah Goode, her burning, Edward's betrayal, her uncle and father's actions. Mary believes him and Jeremy says that they can stop this evil by getting married.
Turns out however that Edward listened to the whole thing and believes that Jeremy is lying. Matthew then reveals that it was all true. Edward is gob smacked obviously. How could the guy who had a fetish about burning women lie to him? Matthew then learns that Jeremy is a Goode and tells Mary that she will not marry him. She says she will and, because these people are super gullible, Matthew agrees. Which means that he then goes after Jeremy and points the pendant at him. And, holy shit, Jeremy's head straight up explodes! The body then changes to an older man. Turns out that there was no Jeremy. It was William Goode the whole time. Okay, this just took a weird turn, even for Fear Street. Mary freaks out, obviously, while Matthew laughs and the remaining Fiers make their leave.
We jump another 15 years to 1725. Ezra is now all alone. His family disappeared on him ages ago. He blames the Goodes for this, of course, and vows revenge. He returns to the old farm and finds a walled up room. Inside are skeletons, long since dead to the point that Ezra doesn't know if they belonged to any of his family. He finds Matthew's journal, and sure enough, it's them. He had the family walled up in case the Goodes came for revenge. Well now Ezra really wants his revenge on the Goodes as we end part one of this story.
I like that the book doesn't have a singular narrative focus, but rather several. Nora in 1900, followed briefly by Susannah, then William, then Mary and finally Ezra. And unlike something like Missing the narrative shift is better handled here. We get just a bit of Nora so we don't know much about her just yet. Susannah is killed off super quick but becomes one of the driving reasons for everything that comes after. We get enough from William as he enacts his revenge. Mary works fine as the focus while the other Fiers die. Though I will say Rebecca dying was lame. Technically she wasn't in the wrong. And finally Ezra is fine to set us up to the next part of the story.
As for villains, we get enough of Benjamin and Matthew's motivations for their actions, while Edward is such a gullible idiot that he is far from forgivable himself. Aside from Mary, Constance, Rebecca and maybe Ezra, the Fier family have been established for being horrible people and as the main villains of the Fear Street series they work well enough. As for the book, I think it flows well, though I will say the more dry narrative from the 1700s and 1900s did bore me a little. I need my Fear Street with a side of 90s cornball to really make me interested. But this still worked.
Overall, The Betrayal works well as a first part of the story, setting up everything in motion while not revealing too much too soon. From how Nora fully fits into the story to the mystery surrounding the pendant, to what comes next in this war between the Fiers and the Goodes. There's enough little threads that we can continue on with in the next edition. I'll give The Betrayal an A-. Will the next part be as strong? Find out soon.
It Was Acceptable in the 1600s: Witch Burnings, Being Really Really Gullible.
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