The Stinal Countdown: The Fear Street Saga #02: The Secret

It's time to continue the saga of... well... The Fear Street Saga. In our last book, we learned about the earliest major point of the Fear-err, Fier family. How witch burning maniacs Benjamin and Matthew Fear's actions led to the death of Susannah and Martha Goode, and the revenge that the patriarch, William Goode intended for them. All while tying it to the events of the year 1900 with Nora Goode. We left off with Ezra Fier promising revenge for his family name. Will he succeed? I dunno, guess we need to cover The Secret to find out.

I like this cover a bitt more than the previous. Mainly for a bit more interesting imagery within. The headstones, the well detailed face, the bouquet and the wispy looking couple. It does a bit more than the first and makes me more interested to see what we're up against this time. 

After Nora continues to write us the exposition for those deciding the second book is where we'll start, we go to Wickham Village, 1737. Ezra, his wife Jane, their daughters eight year-old Abigail and three year-old Rachel and son Jonathan arrive in Wickham Village with one intention. And that's to get revenge on William's surviving son, George Goode. He's been searching colonies for a while, but he's sure he's finally found them. Jonathan's more confused than anything. Why move from Pennsylvania to hunt some Goode fellow? But everyone's more happy to finally get out of the wagon and relax for once.

However, there's no good night sleeps in their immediate future as the Fiers soon come upon a carriage. The two horses are long dead (because, since we couldn't get eaten rats last book, Stine had to compensate) and three women inside, their corpses horribly decomposed. Everyone is understandably ready to go far away from the corpse carriage, but Ezra's this close to his revenge. Two dead Mr. Eds aren't going to make him change course. He walks with Jonathan amongst the corpses and tells him of the history involving the Fiers and the witches of the Goode family. Since his family was wronged, he's going to finish them off once and for all. I mean, we know who's fault that is, but of course Ezra doesn't see it that way. He also thinks that William must be dead by now (I mean, his head went kablooey last book, but it could be witchcraft) but George must still be alive.

Ezra sends Jonathan to find the magistrate of the town, but all Ezra finds is an old, super dead skeleton. At this rate, it's safe to call Wickham Village a literal ghost town. Ezra chalks it up to a plague on the town and checks the Goode residents. Sure enough, no sign of George or anyone. So Erza assumes that the Goodes put the plague on the town then ran off. So, any logical human being would probably not want to subject their wife and kids to a plague-ridden town of skeletons (and none of them are having a picnic), but this is the 1700s and you may as well throw logic out the window. The Fiers are staying put, hoping that soon enough the Goodes will return. Clearly Ezra Fier believes in the "Three Bears" theory.

Turns out some people are still alive, but when Ezra asks of the Goodes, nobody seems to recall anything about them. That is until they head to another farm and ask an old man about the Goodes. And the man rationally responds by... pulling out a knife and leaping at Ezra's throat. Ah, now that's a 1700s greeting if ever there was one. He indeed confirms the Goodes were in the village and put the plague on the town before making their leave, so Ezra at least has that proof. 

The next day, Jonathan and Abigail head out to the village. They spot a dead dog (because of course) as they wonder what the town was like before the plague. I mean it was clearly all fun and frivolity and burning innocent women because they thought they were witches. You know, the usual. But props to Abigail, she has Jonathan find a shovel and bury the dog's remains. A few more days go by and Abigail still wants to go to the village to bury dead animals because we're still a good 320 years from the Nintendo Switch being made. Gotta kill time somehow.

While in the village, Abigail runs into another girl her age named Hester, but when Jonathan arrives, Hester disappears. One day, Hester and Abigail play among the graves in town when Hester hops into an open grave and pulls Abigail inside before Jonathan makes the save. The next day Ezra, Jonathan and Abigail run into Hester again and, seemingly out of character for him, Ezra just lets Abigail go with Hester to Hester's house. Of course, Jonathan is weirded out after the grave incident, but he's keeping mum. 

Sure enough, no sign of Abigail that night. Ezra heads out to find her, but only hears Hester's laughter. Ezra and Jonathan arrive in the graveyard and discover Hester. Or, to be more specific, the grave of Hester Goode. So yeah. This revenge plan's going well. So yeah, when Hester asked if Abigail can come to her house, she meant to the graveyard. And sure enough, there's a freshly dug in grave with Abigail's name on the headstone. They try to dig up the grave all while hearing what sounds like Hester's laughter in the wind. 

We then head to 1743. Rachel is nine, Jonathan is turning eighteen and Abigail is dead. Also Jane's gone a bit mad after her daughter's death and keeps mistaking Rachel for Abigail. But it's not been all bad, I guess. The Fiers are rich now having run a successful farm. One night, a girl about Jonathan's age arrives named Delilah Wilson. Nobody puts any thoughts into this being a concern and invite her in where Rachel brings up the curse on the family. Jonathan thinks it's bunk and that it's Ezra's fault for Abigail's death, which isn't totally wrong. But at this point, Jonathan has feelings for Delilah. The next day, she mentions about how she used to believe a fox would come into her window and take her away, so she had all her windows closed. 

That night, as if on cue, Jonathan hears a strange noise outside, but when he goes to investigate, there's nobody around. He goes back to bed. The next day, Rachel discovers something in the well. The bucket is filled with blood. Ezra takes out the pendant and suddenly the blood turns to normal water. But that's enough for Ezra to be certain that the Goodes have found them. The next day, Jonathan relays the events to Delilah then meets her father, the reverend Wilson. All goes well, until the next night Jonathan sees a ghost hovering by his bed. Oh n-oh, wait, it's just his mother still delirious and calling out for Abigail. Oh mental health in the 1700s, you so silly. But she's sure convinced Abigail is outside.

The next day, Jonathan and Rachel plan to plant roses to cheer their mother up, when Delilah shows up again. That night, Jonathan hears the voice of Abigail and wakes up to see Rachel enter his room, mentioning that she saw Abigail's ghost. So now Jonathan is in a panic. Could there really be a ghost? Is there a curse? The next day, he again tells Delilah this, to which she apologizes for the pain she's caused him and tells him that she will be leaving with her father very soon. The next night, Jonathan finds it odd that his mother isn't out for her nightly freak outs. The family checks the well and find Jane's bloated corpse inside. 

Now fully convinced there's a curse, Jonathan and Rachel confront Delilah who reveals what we pretty much knew. She's a Goode. She and her father changed their names long ago. She mentions that she wanted to move from the curses that plagued both families and was hoping they could start anew. To undo the evil surrounding them, but clearly that isn't meant to be. There is one way that she believes the curses can be undone and that is if the Goodes and the Fiers come together. If a member of each family marries. Maybe that's the big undo button for this whole mess. 

The marriage is underway, and akin to a movie wedding, the pastor asks if anyone has cause for the two not to marry. And in comes Ezra, rifle in hand. He had forced Rachel to reveal what happened. Jonathan tries to wrestle the gun away from his dad, but in the struggle, he ends up accidentally shooting Delilah point blank. Ezra then goes to shoot the reverend, but he reveals that he's not a Goode. Neither was Delilah. Turns out that he wanted Delilah to marry into the Fier family, so that they would be rich. So he had Delilah claim to be a Goode in hopes that it would be enough of a reason for the two to join, which, in hindsight, is a stupid idea. Like, we established the hatred between the families. How else did you think this was going to end? 

Turns out that Reverend Wilson also had Delilah cause the death of Jane Fier, by luring her to the well. She didn't intend for Jane to die, but things happened. He had hoped this would make Jonathan desperate enough to marry to end the curse. Again, just to ask again. How else did you think this was going to end? But this is the 1700s and we're a few decades past the witch burning stage but clearly women were still expendable enough for any man's crackpot plan. Ezra, realizing everything that's happened and the lives he's lost, runs out of the church with his shotgun and kills himself. Before he dies, he gives Jonathan the pendant and says to avenge his death.

There was no funeral or burial for Ezra given his murdering of Reverend Wilson's daughter which, again, like is more his fault than Ezra's. But he is cremated with his ashes left in a wooden box. Jonathan looks at the pendant but decides that he won't honor his father's wishes. Now just him and Rachel, he no longer seeks revenge given how the curse has affected them every time. He buries the pendant in the box with the remains of Ezra and swears that the Goodes and Fiers will quarrel no longer.

We then fast forward 100 years to 1843 to Jonathan's great-great granddaughter Elizabeth who lives with her mother, as well as her father Samuel Fier and her siblings Kate and Simon. Yeah, that Simon. The family apple tree recently came down and now she begins work on a garden. But as she digs, she spots a box with a pendant inside. She has no idea what it is, but maybe Simon will know. She shows the family before putting it around her neck. Suddenly, she sees that everything is on fire. As she awaits to be burned, she's snapped out of it by her family.

Some time passes and Elizabeth still has the pendant on, given that it's her favorite piece of jewelry. One day, a young man, gaunt and disheveled shows up. His name is Franklin, or Frank for short. He once lived on a farm with his parents and seven brothers, but after some unfortunate circumstances, he was the only one left, so he's been drifting ever since. After taking a bath, Frank settles down with the family. Elizabeth begins to suspect that maybe he's not telling the whole story about what happened to family. In other words, he didn't provide a Goode explanation. And sure enough, we learn from Franklin's self monologue that he  is indeed the last of the Goodes, ready to kickstart that revenge stuff again. 

Over time, Elizabeth gets more smitten with Frank and Frank becomes beloved by the Fiers. He mentions that his family seemed to die off one by one until he, Franklin Goode, was the last one left. One day, Franklin and Elizabeth head into the woods. She plays with a red ribbon and teases him a bit. He grabs the ribbon and is ready to just strangle her now, but he doesn't get the chance as a strange old woman arrives. This is Aggie, who Elizabeth believed to be an old witch when she was younger. So no strangulation today.

Some more time passes and Elizabeth soon learns that Frank is going to marry Kate, not her. Everyone's just excited it's happening and less concerned that Elizabeth kind of got cucked here. She runs off to find Frank with Kate chasing after her. Some time passes and Simon soon finds Kate. Or to be more precise, Kate's corpse as she's been stabbed to death with a knitting needle. Everyone's upset, except for Elizabeth who is going all Gollum with her frustration over Frank picking Kate. So, you can imagine that the rest of the family easily suspect Elizabeth of killing Kate. 

Frank shows up and takes Elizabeth's side. But they don't believe her because... I mean she was literally speaking in the first person for a bit. Frank then suggests they elope that night and the two leave the Fier home. Also, another self-monologue with Frank confirming he killed Kate. Well duh! Simon heads into the woods himself, still confused about who killed Kate, when old Aggie shows up again. She tells Simon that Franklin Goode killed Kate and that the Fier name carries with it a curse. Mainly because it's an anagram of "fire". She says that because the Fiers name spells fire, their lives will one day end by fire. She then gives Simon a poison dagger and tells him to use it on Franklin. But he only gets one chance at this, so you know, no pressure or anything... well, except for the pressure of the dagger going inside of Franklin, of course.

Simon returns to find his parents dead and Franklin holding an axe above Elizabeth's head. He then drops the axe, but doesn't kill her. He was only teasing, plus we need a convoluted reason for the obvious plot twist here. He reveals that he knew of the curse of both families and sought to finally kill of the Fiers once and for all. Simon manages to stab him with the dagger, but it doesn't seem to work. Until it actually does and Franklin is killed. Elizabeth then gives Simon the pendant, believing it will keep him safe. Simon then thinks to Aggie's words. That the Fier family will face a fiery death. So he decides that the way to clearly stop this is to just change their last name to Fear. Maybe they'll now be cursed with fares? Either way, that's the big origin of the name, everyone. And so we end part two with Nora mentioning that Simon Fear's tale is the most frightening of all.

The most damning thing about a second part of a trilogy is that it's the book that has the most weight on its shoulders. It has to move the plot forward, while being strong enough as its own story, while also making you want to see how this ends. And The Secret does just that. This time focusing on two different timelines with both getting adequate time. The Ezra/Jonathan era and the Elizabeth/Simon era. The latter being the most important given how important Simon Fear is to the entire Fear Street story. How his actions are what create Fear Street. So, you have to make the road getting there entertaining and for the most part, it worked. 

We'll talk the Jonathan stuff first. I do feel this one is a bit all over the place. Just how a lot of the things that befall the Fiers are more a case of poor thought. Like, Ezra's whole deal is revenge, and that he thinks the Goodes will return to get their revenge. So, him just being like "I'm sure Hester isn't a problem" feels really convoluted and a reason to motivate the second part of the Jonathan saga more. And even that feels like it gets convoluted with the reveal that Delilah was a Goode, but then not really a Goode, but pretended to be because her dad is a greedy dumbass who never once considered that Ezra, given the deaths that surrounded his family by the curse, would maybe get revenge and kill Delilah? Again, the endgame here was just not well thought out. And when you factor in certain things involving the Elizabeth stuff, this whole part feel very superfluous clay.

The Elizabeth stuff is probably the stronger part, giving us more with the pendant, and enough time from the previous timeline for there to be a reason the Fiers just forget about the feud as that was Jonathan's intentions. But nothing truly ever stays buried and the Goodes return. And at this point, we really are at a "both sides suck" situation. Yes, the Goodes were wronged first, but most of the real victims of the story are innocent parties. People who knew little of the curse and the family feuds. So it becomes a gray area on both sides of the argument. But given the Fiers started this, yeah, it's mostly on them.

And then there's the explanation of how the Fear name was born and it's definitely so absurdly dumb that it's also kind of brilliant. In other words, it's Stine to a T. Like, does Simon think that maybe whatever supernatural forces will probably just look at the name change and be like "oh, never mind." I don't think most curses take grammar into consideration. But in terms of giving us a reason for the Fear name, it's at least memorable enough, I guess. Just if you were hoping for some super incredible reasoning, I'm going to guess some people will be underwhelmed. 

So, this is a decent enough second part. It continues the story well enough and sets up our third part well. And for scares and just deaths in general, you get a bunch, so if you want shock value, this is the book for you. Aside from some clunky parts and a feeling that some things either feel just there or less built up as you'd hoped, there's still enough here to make it worth a read. So, with one part left, how will Simon's reign of terror go down? Find out soon. But for now, The Secret gets a B+.