The Stinal Countdown: Fear Street: The Thrill Club

It's time for another Shadyside detour. And we have thrills awaiting us. At least that's what the title promises. Honestly, given all the clubs and cults already in Shadyside and on Fear Street in general, I shouldn't be surprised. But this is also a book about horror stories. Will we get a visit from Meta-Stine? Let's find out when we enroll in The Thrill Club.

Many Fear Street covers feel of their era, but oh man, the clothing alone makes this one so very, very nineties. So it scores points for that alone. Add in the ghost behind them and the shocked faces of the girls looking more like mild annoyance to slightly disturbed and you have a recipe for the finest aged cheese. Tough to sell me on cover alone, but good work. 

We start this story with a girl named Shandel Carter walking down, where else, Fear Street. It's pitch black there with no lights, which seems unsafe even for Fear Street. She' not too thrilled to be walking in the dark, but after an argument with her friend Nessa, she left and now has to look over her shoulder with every noise nearby. See, Nessa claims that she's seen a ghost around Fear Street. Shandel thinks it must be a ghost with a meat cleaver and a hockey mask, but not even Stine's that creative. It was a ghost woman in a wedding dress, kind of like the cover of the book. Shandel doesn't believe it to be true and left, stealing Nessa's pencil because it'll matter in a minute. As she heads through Fear Street, heading by the cemetery, she hears someone whispering her name. She thinks it must be Nessa , but suddenly her throat gets slit. As she dies, she tries to see what killed her, but only saw a pencil.

Oh, and none of that actually happened. It was the work of Talia Blanton. Talia is part of the Thrill Club, which includes Maura Drake, Seth Varner, Rudy Phillips, Shandel Carter and Nessa Troy. The sextet of teens formed the Thrill Club some time ago where each week they tell scary stories and try to scare one another. Like a society of some sort. The kind that maybe meet at midnight. With the stories being submitted for the approval of said society that meets at midnight. Everyone thought Talia's story was a hoot. Well, except for Shandel, who isn't too thrilled with being the murder victim for Talia's tale, which is a valid point. 

Everyone else is fine with it, even Maura, who seems to not like Talia after she started dating Seth because we need conflict. But Shandel just would rather her name be omitted from any future stories where she has to imagine herself being murdered. Though Maura says that Talia probably didn't even write the story all herself and got Seth's help, but Talia says it's all her work. Geez, Stine. Projecting much? When Talia mentions making Maura the next written victim, Shandel's had enough of Talia's ego and calls her annoying and aggravating. Talia responds by stabbing Shandel in the heart with a knife. Well that escalated. But, of course, it's a fake knife meant to just scare her. See, you're just making Shandel's point for her.

Shandel, shocker of shockers, isn't thrilled with being fake stabbed. Especially after being murdered in a story. She's about had it with Talia and makes a promise to get even, which even Talia starts to be concerned about. After Shandel leaves, everyone else calms down. Rudy praises the story and even Maura seemed to be cool with it. We also learn that Talia isn't that into Seth, more of a fleeting interest than anything, but they're still an item for now. After Rudy and Maura leave, Talia thanks Seth for writing the story for her, which given the history of this book, it really is projecting. We learn that Seth's father died not too long ago. Seth found him lifeless at his desk with a tape playing in the tape recorder. But that's not all as with the family now broke he has no idea what the future is for himself and his mother. He then goes to show Talia the tape, but Talia sees Maura staring out the windo-oh, she just lives next door. Okay then.

Seth plays the tape for Talia. Simply known as a "Transfer Tape" the recording are strange, almost primitive screeching noises that get louder and louder. It makes Talia panic as she tells Seth to shut it off, but suddenly he stops moving. As if he's in a trance. But he awakens to turn it off for her. Reader beware, Seven Days. As Talia heads home through Fear Street, in a situation eerily similar to the story, she gets attacked... but not really as it's just Shandel scaring her. That's the extent of the payback, I guess. I mean, kinda weak for someone who pretended to stab you in the heart, but you do you, Shandel. She mentions that it seems rocky for Rudy and Maura, and that maybe it's not looking so hot for Seth and Talia, which Talia gets pretty mad at. 

That night, Talia has nightmares that all seem to involve the noises she heard on the tape, and the visions of dogs and a maze of some sort. She wakes up the next day still very edgy and out of it. She goes to Shadyside High the next day and hey, look who it is? Deena Martinson and Jade Smith here for another brief cameo. In class, the teacher, Mr. Hanson talks to her and notices that the papers he got from her seem forged. As if someone's cheating for her. Talia then sees Shandel smiling, meaning that maybe we're getting far more than just a jump scare here. 

That night for the Thrill Club, only Nessa, Rudy and Maura are at the meeting. No sign of Seth, Shandel or Talia. Maura thinks that maybe Seth was writing Talia's new story and the disk crashed in case the cover didn't make this feel mid-90s enough. Talia and Seth arrive later, Talia in particular still very groggy and out of it. Seemingly no clue as to what's going on with her. Nessa learns from Shandel's mother that Shandel left a half hour prior and never showed up. Which is in itself concerning, but more so when the others notice a blood stain on Talia's shirt. Now more concerned the group head out to look for Shandel. And they find her alright. By the Fear Street cemetery with her throat slit. As the police arrive, the others find how this is exactly like Talia's story. What a coincidence. What a very, very, very, veryveryveryvery VERY timely coincidence.

After police questioning, Seth takes Talia home. Maura had mentioned Talia's story, but Talia didn't implicate either her or Seth as people who would actually want to harm Shandel. After she goes up her room however, Talia spots on her counter the fake knife of hers. Only it's actually covered in blood. Real blood. She tells Seth a few days later and they're both dumbfounded. Who would plant a knife in Talia's bedroom? It couldn't have been the Thrill Club, they were all present during the interviews and everyone was eventually there at Nessa's house before finding Shandel's body. I mean, it wasn't just Talia or Seth that were late, but we're still early for any real revelations. But definitely an inkling so far. 

After the funeral service, the club all meet at a coffee shop, still dumbfounded that Shandel's really dead. And Maura makes sure to point out that it must have been Talia since her shirt had blood on it that night. Talia chalks it up to just being ketchup is all. Just really red and bloody-looking ketchup. That night, she calls Seth to come over, but he's watching his sick mother. Don't do this to me, Waylon. After she hangs up, two cops, Detective Monroe and Detective Frasier, show up at the front door and say that Shandel's mother says that Talia had just called her, confessing to the murder. 

The next day at school (since I guess we just move on from that), Talia now feels she's being looked at by everyone as a murderer. Though Nessa doesn't seem to believe it was her. Maura on the other hand... Talia runs off, but runs into Rudy who takes her to the gymnasium where they end up kissing, because Talia's done with Seth because of the previous night. I mean, I get it. She was implicated for a murder, so she has a reason to be mad. They think they see someone looking at them before the person runs off, making them worry that they just got caught by either Maura or Seth. Either way, maybe this impromptu make out sessh was really poorly timed. 

The next day, still out of it, Talia searches for Seth but finds Nessa chatting with some guy. That guy being Seth. When she inquires as to what the hell's going on, Nessa's confused as it was Talia who called her the previous night, telling her to go for it and that she was breaking up with Seth anyway. This is news to Talia as she says that she did no such thing. Later at home, someone knocks at Talia's door and scares her with a monstrous face. It's Seth who was wearing an Aboriginal mask which, like, I can't flatly cry "racist" and given I can't fully blame Stine on this one given it's a ghostwritten book, but screw it, "what the hell, Stine?" After that happens, Talia tells Seth that she got accepted to UC Berkeley and will be leaving next year. This bothers Seth, but he moves on from the subject by giving her another story for the Thrill Club. And even Talia's a bit concerned given what happened the last time.

Meanwhile, it's Rudy's night to host the meeting and is planning a big elaborate prank involving a mannequin hanging over a pipe with a rope. His friends will bumble around in the dark and think that it's him dying. Even his little brother Pete thinks that's impressive. Just maybe don't utter any magic words. But as he tries to put the dummy's head through the noose, he slips on the chair he's standing on and ends up slipping into the noose and hanging. Of course that hasn't happened yet, that's Seth's next story. Talia thinks this isn't cool to do, but Seth says that it'll totally prove her innocence. I mean it's not like this is going to actually hap-It happens at the meeting. And once again Maura notices that it's Talia who has rope burn marks on her hands. Literally caught red (or really raw purple) handed. 

We cut a bit to Talia in a hospital. Now implicated as the one who murdered Rudy and possibly Shandel, Talia is awaiting trial, but will at least stay with her parents. Seth visits her in the hospital as Talia says that she's starting to think maybe she did kill Shandel and Rudy. After Seth leaves, she spots him in the parking lot with Maura and it finally dawns on her. This was Maura's doing all along. I mean it might be, but we have a bit until we get there. That night she sees a boy and a girl enter her hospital room and start to grab at her hair. She recognizes them immediately as Rudy and Shandel. An orderly shows up to take the two away as they're actually two other patients named Arnold and Mayrose. But if Talia didn't need extra confirmation that she's cracking up, this certainly confirmed it.

Now back home, Talia calls Seth to come over, which after some hemming and hawing, he finally does. It's there that she shows him her "trophies". The shriveled heads of Rudy and Talia. This is a dark take on How I Got My Shrunken Head. She then tells Seth that she may as well add a third and begins to advance on him with a hacksaw. But none of that happened. It's again one of Seth's stories. They have the next meeting and Talia tells the story. Then a buzzing voice in her head tells her to actually finish the job. She grabs a hacksaw and advances on Maura. Eventually she gets overpowered by Maura and is unable to do the job. Talia then suddenly blinks back to normal, not knowing what's going on as Seth gets up and tells them that tonight, nobody leaves alive. To quote Lance Archer, everybody dies! There's the allotted wrestling reference. 

So, and this one's pretty damn crazy even for Stine, remember Seth's dad's "transfer tape"? Well the audio was the chanting of a New Guinea tribe's mind transfer spell. If you join in, you have the power to leave your body to transfer on to someone else's. That's what happened to Seth's dad. He didn't so much die as he left his body. Seth soon realized this and, along with how she had Seth help her with the stories and even homework, he felt used by her. So he used the spell to transfer his mind into hers, to make her do evil things. To kill Shandel and Rudy and send her to jail.

Seth begins to chant again, but the three girls grab him and stop the chant. But this causes Seth to fall limp and dead. His mind gone like his dad's. A bit of time passes and Talia is no longer accused of the murder. Though I guess you've been in Shadyside long enough, you can just look past mind control murders like that. Talia also still wants to write horror stories, but promises the next one will have a happy ending.

I kind of like this one, but kind of don't. I like the twist of it being mind control, which we have had before, and I guess we can count it as another hypnosis story. The whole addition of the New Guinea chanting stuff feels again really odd and questionably racist, but also at least a different spin on the concept. The ability to transfer your mind into another body, but with the caveat of possibly literally losing your mind into the either. Seth's turn is also very interesting how he felt so betrayed by Talia, which for some reasons like the kiss from Rudy and the whole issue of being her lackey with the stories and homework, I can see. Add in his already deteriorating mental health with his dad's "death" and you can see how he could snap to the point of framing Talia like that.

Talia is an okay protagonist, though nothing out of the ordinary. A bit unlikable in the beginning with how she treated Shandel. But also not bad enough that you want to see her be framed for murder. Maura works fine as a red herring though never to the point that you'd fully believe she would be the one framing Talia. Nessa exists, mostly to be the one friend who has no real stakes to the plot. Not fully superfluous, but could be cut and little would be lost. Rudy and Shandel just exist to die unfortunately. 

So why don't I like this one that much? I think it's just how rushed it feels. I mean, we really only get two deaths in the book related to the story and we rush to the conclusion at such a breakneck pace. It's as if Stine really wanted to get this one out to make quota. Which makes sense as this is actually a co-ghostwritten book by Tom Perotta. So that projecting bit really makes sense now. And even Perotta found this book to be stupid, so at least I don't feel bad with my final assessment. 

I mean, he ain't wrong since because of the roughshod nature of the story, nothing leaves enough of a lasting impact. And while mind control is a beaten horse in Fear Street, I do feel like other books handled the idea better and at least seemed to do better with the reasoning for why the villain becomes the way they are. A lot of great ingredients, but a sloppy soup overall. And given it's a confirmed case of a behind the scenes mess, that makes way too much sense. Worthy of a mild recommend, but nothing much else. The Thrill Club isn't as thrilling as you'd hope. Another cool cover, mid book. Oy. The Thrill Club gets a C+.