Time for some more Point. And more Stine. His summer stuff has been odd, especially in Point, but given we're in the middle of "WOO! Party Summer", I think there's always room for a party. One by the beach at that. Can we beat the heat or this book just a wet blanket? Let's see with Beach Party.
Ann-Marie and Karen were friends for years in Westwood Village, and despite Ann-Marie's family moving to New York, they kept in touch as much as they could. Karen takes Ann-Marie to where they'll be hanging out all summer. Venice Beach. Particularly the apartment of Karen's dad who has gone full mid-life crisis. Which in 90s terms means 60s posters on the walls and dating women half his age. And with the two of them gone, Karen thinks that crashing at their place for the summer is a great idea that surely won't go in any wrong directions or anything. What do you think this is, a horror book?
The girls head to the beach, which isn't as crowded as you'd expect for a summer night. Ann-Marie isn't as used to California as she used to be, what with being a New Yorker now. As they leave, they get accosted by five punk teens. You can tell by their spiky hair (or mullets), denim jackets and love for heavy metal music. The leader, named Vince, is particularly interested in Karen. Before things escalate into "oh god" territory, two other boys come to their aid, with one named Jerry Gaines claiming to be Karen's brother. It's enough to send the punks off for now. The boys, Marty and Jerry, help the girls get back to the apartment before inviting them to a coffee shop called RayJay's. Not a bad name. At least they didn't call it "Johnson". And there's my dated as hell reference for the book, folks!
As the foursome arrive, they get stopped by two other girls, Renee Watson and Stephanie. Jerry and Marty's actual girlfriends. But Karen tries to say this is all just innocuous. Just a nice reward after the two saved her and Ann-Marie from the punks. Eventually, things calm down and the four girls get along better. Jerry mentions that there's a (Woo!) party beach spot down by the cliffs and it's really interesting at midnight. Karen is intrigued, but as she leaves, Renee starts to tell her to stay away from Jerry. In a way that comes off both as sounding like clear jealousy but clearly not the intention. So, just in case obvious twist is obvious.
Later at the beach, Jerry bumps surfboards with Vince as the two argue some more before then horning on a pair of girls on skateboards. Speaking of board, Renee is rather bored. Not fond of Jerry having all the fun and her not really having much to do on the beach. She also saw Jerry's leering eyes not only on Karen but the boarders and tells him that he better not cheat on her, or else. So, things are awkward. Made even more so when Karen and Ann-Marie arrive. Karen's still annoyed by Renee's threat, but also not going to just back down either. Karen's attention is turned to Renee's snorkeling gear. She asks to snorkel, to which Renee says to snork away. Why not over by the sandbar where the water's looking rather choppy and dangerous. Nothing could go wrong. What do think this is, a set up?
Renee teaches Karen how to swim with the snorkel and eventually leads Karen further out to sea than Karen had hoped. Then Renee heads off while Karen gets chilled by freezing water and smacked about on jagged rocks. Jerry heads out to rescue Karen, when Renee shows up being all "well why didn't she call me?" despite, you know, her screaming out to Renee the whole time. But more concerning is that Karen seems to not be moving or breathing. Oh no, she's dea-oh wait, she starts breathing and talking. False alarm folks. But now Karen is certain that Renee did this all on purpose, though when she notices Renee crying, saying she was too far away, even Karen's confused on if this is all a ruse or not.
Cops arrive, chastising the girls for snorkeling in an area that's not really ideal for it. So if Renee thought this would keep Karen away from Jerry, the opposite happens as now Jerry invites Karen to the beach party on Malibu the coming Friday, which Karen easily accepts. As Karen looks to see Renee, she notices her smiling in a very triumphant and not-totally-evil way. So, now Karen's more than convinced this was all a setup. Later that night, we get the Stine specialty. No, not the animal murder, the other specialty. That's right. Karen gets a phone call late at night and the voice on the other line is whispery, saying to stay away from Jerry. She thinks it could be Renee, or possibly her ex-boyfriend Mike, who she hasn't seen in three weeks. Could he be in Venice too, out to seek revenge? Eh, probably.
Speaking of which, Karen runs into Mike the next day. He's wearing a "Gumby Lives" T-shirt and Karen notes that he kind of looks like Jim Belushi. Somehow that may be the oddest sentence strung together for this blog and that's saying something. Correction: MOVIE STAR Jim Belushi. Mike is forceful to her, not willing to accept the break up and definitely coming off as the best decision Karen made this whole book so far. As things escalate, Karen hears a loud roar. It's Vince on his motorcycle. And I guess he's the lesser evil in this case so she heads off with him. After nearly running over a dog, which for Stine is restraint, the two stop in Santa Monica. They argue for a bit before Vince takes her back to Venice. At a high speed without a helmet on Karen by the way. Vince mentions the ride being like Space Mountain. Something, something, Ric Flair reference, one per blog, etc.
As Karen enters the apartment complex, she sees the wall has been spray painted with the words "STAY AWAY FROM JERRY" on them. You know, in case she needed a reminder. She enters the apartment to find Ann-Marie inside, surprised that someone would put in the effort to graffito tag the apartment like that. Though said in a way that would totally not implicate her in anything. No way, no how. What do you think this is, an elaborate mystery? Friday arrives and Karen is ready to head to the beach party. Ann-Marie is conveniently worn out and decides to stay home. She warns Karen about Jerry, but Karen just chalks it up to jealousy and not, you know, the near death incident involving Renee.
Karen enters Marty's van and meets with Jerry and their friends Alicia, Normy, Seth and Kenny. No Renee currently. They all arrive at the beach area and sure enough, it's a nice, yet cold, area. This is also the time where Karen ignores all the warnings and ends up making out with Jerry. This turns out to be the worst possible timing as Renee arrives. Renee talks with Karen and tells her that she should stay away from Jerry. See, Jerry had a brother named Todd and the two were very close. During one summer, they swam far out into the ocean. However, Todd got a leg cramp and was unable to make it back to land, due to no lifeguard or anyone to save him. Jerry tried to rescue him, but was too late as Todd drowned and died. Renee was there for Jerry during the death of his brother and that's the main reason for the warning. To not split them apart as Renee is far from willing to let him go.
Karen heads back to the apartment and calls for Ann-Marie, but doesn't get an answer. She does find something in Ann-Marie's drawer however. A can of black spray paint. She has a nightmare where she almost dies in the water, again being torn up by the rocks. She looks to the beach, we get our cover. A torn beach umbrella and a pair of sunglasses. Then, she notices as her flesh begins to literally tear apart from the rocks tearing at her, until all that's left is a skull. Okay, how was THAT not the cover? She talks with Ann-Marie about the spray paint can, but Ann-Marie's confused. Though more confusing to Karen is Ann-Marie not wanting to go to the beach. It's like there's maybe a connection here. But, you know. 60 pages left and all.
After a date with Jerry, Karen returns home to again not find Karen in the apartment. But instead finding a jellyfish in her bed. Now completely convinced it was Renee (especially after Ann-Marie claims to have run into Renee earlier), Karen heads to Renee's to give her what for with Ann-Marie tagging along. When they get there however, they find Renee. Or, to be more precise, Renee's corpse! Yep. She's dead. The cops arrive and Ann-Marie gets worried that they'll think she did it. Karen has her mother and their lawyer, Mr. Garland to at least help her out. She answers all the questions, but doesn't mention the snorkeling incident since that would make her more likely to be the suspect. After being questioned, she notices Vince being brought in for questioning, making Renee wonder if Vince was the killer, meaning he's not.
After leaving the police station, Karen runs into another girl who, like the rest, warn her to stay away from Jerry. She says she's Jerry's sister and she's making the warning for him. So, despite the obvious, now Karen believes it must have been Jerry's sister that killed Renee. When she mentions this to Jerry, he mentions that it's odd. He doesn't have a sister. But we just brush that concerning piece aside for now as they all suspect Vince now. Ann-Marie wants to go back to New York conveniently, but she can't since she's a suspect. Karen also spots Mike looking at her before he disappears. She talks with Vince who says he's innocent before they end up making out. So now Karen's more conflicted than ever. She heads to the beach and notices a piece of paper on her beach bag. A bag with the words "STAY AWAY FROM JERRY" typed all over it. Given this book's low amount of beach parties so far, Stay Away From Jerry should have been this book's title.
Karen applies some suntan lotion only for immediately start burning. When she gets it checked, she learns her lotion was spiked with hydrochloric acid. So we've definitely ramped up from graffiti and jellyfish pillows. She leaves and ends up talking with Vince some more. When she heads back to the apartment, she first sees Mike running out of the building. She then finds Ann-Marie lying on the floor. Ann-Marie claims to have been looking for her pendant. She also says that she's been seeing Mike and that's what's been going on. Suddenly the phone rings again with it being Jerry's sister, but Karen doesn't buy it and hangs up immediately. Though given her fried arm and life in danger, that was probably a really dumb thing to do.
We finally get the eponymous "Beach Party" and Jerry takes Karen snorkeling out to the ocean again. Karen wants to go back, but Jerry says he can't help her. Because he's not Jerry, he's Todd! Oh, don't worry. This gets worse. See, he says this is Todd's spirit in Jerry's body. See, it was him who put out the warnings. Since Jerry couldn't save him, Todd warns others to stay away from him lest they die too. Die like Renee who he also killed. He tries to drown Karen, but she manages to escape and make it back to shore as Vince and Jerry's sister are waiting. The girl mentions that she is Jerry and Todd's sister, but since Jerry snapped, he cut everyone out of his life. They find Jerry and his sister stops him, causing him to snap out of the trance and leave with her while Karen and Vince are an item too, I guess.
This one was just okay. Honestly, it all worked well enough with nothing outwardly wrong. Hell, no animal killings for once which is a real surprise. But it was all pretty predictable in the outcome. I did think maybe it was Ann-Marie for a moment, thinking maybe she was obsessed with Jerry as well, but nope. Once we mention the dead brother then it all clicked. This was all another bad mental health ending. In this case a split personality after Jerry failed to save Todd. The guilt causing him to sort of create another being. One that Jerry believed to be Todd taking the reigns of his mind and acting as the devil on his shoulder. To make Jerry suffer for not saving Todd. This unfortunately means another book where the villain is chalked down to poor mental health. And no, I don't buy it's an actual possession as the book never makes it clear that it could be the possible case.
Though if Renee knew, why did she not warn Karen? Why did she lead her out during the snorkeling? Maybe she wanted to see if it really was Jerry in control and not Todd. That if Jerry would save Karen, it meant that the issue may be resolved? Of course, it doesn't, and it makes the scene look weirdly placed, but not in a way that hurts the overall book. Karen is an okay protagonist, but nothing outwardly unique. Ann-Marie is a decent enough red herring as is Vince who goes from creep to "less creep by comparison" at the end. Mike is also just okay a red herring, but given how forceful he was with Karen, I don't quite call him being with Ann-Marie a good thing. Jerry is an interesting enough villain, even if it is just a kid who needed serious help and didn't get it.
This book also reminds me of High Tide, a Fear Street Super Chiller I covered earlier this year. The major difference being that book focused on the boy whose mental health was so destroyed, he took the blame for killing his girlfriend when he never did, and gets his redemption at the end. I think I like that one more as it feels less like the lazy turn of events that Stine really likes to milk and more of a satisfying story in the end. This one, like I said, is just okay. But it definitely feels like a case of "you've read one Stine book, you've read 'em all". So it's at least worth a light recommend. Beach Party gets a B-.
IT WAS ACCEPTABLE IN THE 90'S: Freddy Krueger, "Like, gag me with a spoon", Day-Glo Baggies, Cheers Reruns, Gumby References, Motley Crue T-Shirts, Jim Belushi Comparisons, "Movie Star Jim Belushi", Hard Rock Cafe T-Shirts, Def Leppard T-Shirts, Grateful Dead Posters
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