It's time for another shindig in Shadyside. Party themed books have been a mostly mixed bag for me. Some land just fine, others feel like they drag on and on. But they usually have at least a semblance of an interesting plot, so there's that. So get a good nap in first because it's time for an All-Night Party.
Well, this cover is fine. Not the most energetic, but I guess it does enough to sell this being a party all right. Definitely a harrowing enough situation to make a reader interested, but I don't know. Boy on the left looks like a mannequin brought to life. Good odds that's not the plot, but if it was... Also, I notice the girl on the left's intense stare, which already makes me think that she'll be the villain because why wouldn't she be? This is Fear Street after all. This cover is the very definition of "it's a cover".
They arrive at Cindy's house and wait until they can see a light in her room before barging in. They grab Cindy and blindfold her, with Patrick brandishing a fucking gun in her face! But it's not loaded. So... I guess that changes everything then. They tell her that they're taking her to her birthday party while keeping her blindfolded. And when she's annoyed by that, Hannah mentions how Cindy loves doing her helpless routine. Yeah, Cindy's cool with this, I guess. Oh why are Fear Street characters either weirdos or assholes? I wanna say "Rich and White", but...
But that doesn't matter. What matters is the freaking gun. Patrick mentions that there's been stories about an escaped killer who may be in Fear Woods. A killer who murders teenagers. So that's totally why he brought the gun and again, was waving it around. But now there's stories that the killer may be on Fear Island, which hey, that's where they're going. But Cindy's not worried. Why would an escaped killer want to hide on an island? Oh my god they're all morons. Hope this book turns around when we get to the island because oh lordy I'm not liking this one so far. Also there's this tension between Hannah and Cindy as despite Gil being Hannah's boyfriend, she's still friends with Cindy, who is Gil's ex.
After Patrick jokes about seeing a shark in Fear Lake, they bring up Grecthen's "boyfriend" Marco. Gretchen didn't invite him because she's not happy with him and wants him gone, which Cindy seems keen on taking him from her anyway. See, Marco's a real bad boy with his earring and motorcycle. And it's all fun until you realize this also comes with the fact that Marco has a bad temper and because of said temper, she can't just tell him she wants to break up. But as the teens wander through the dark woods, Gretchen gets grabbed from behind by Marco. This scares her because of the whole story about the killer, which even Marco wasn't aware of. So you can't blame him for that. Just the whole "being a creep by proxy" part.
They all arrive at the cabin where everything is set up for Cindy's birthday party. She's impressed as nobody has ever thrown a party for her before. She'll remember this for the rest of her life, which the book tells us is something that Gretchen won't ever forget. So foreshadowing. They have cake and hot dogs, all while Gil and Cindy continue to mingle as Hannah's pretty much ready to kill her and finish this book early. Hannah has had issues with Cindy since they were kids. They're always competing with one another. They're both interested in Gil, even if Cindy dumped him. Oh, and also Cindy's rich and white. Been a while since I've given that a lot of use. And despite said richness and whiteness, Cindy is trying to screw Hannah out of a scholarship. It makes her so mad she wishes that Cindy was dead. So, extra foreshadowing.
Cindy opens her presents in a cold, spoiled way, to which even Gretchen is turned off by it. Marco gives her a bunch of slasher movies which makes her get really pissy at him. To the point that even Gretchen comments that it's not really fair to Marco. Which, I get it, but also, kind of on him to think that she'd like horror. She gives them to Patrick and they all start dancing to music. This means more awkwardness with Marco who starts dancing with Gretchen. But her attention is more on Jackson, who is still staring at her in a "we may have invited the murderer" sort of way. And speaking of which, as Gretchen heads out to get firewood, she overhears what sounds like Cindy and Jackson arguing in the kitchen leading to a loud slap and a scream. And then Gretchen almost screams when Marco grabs her from behind again because my god this book has nobody likable.
Finally sick of this, Gretchen tells Marco that she's done with him, to which he responds logically and rationall-oh of course he fucking doesn't, he pulls out a switchblades and stabs... a tree. I guess some restraint at least? He calms down after hacking the tree and is pissed at Gretchen. They both return to the cabin in silence, only to find Cindy. Or, to be more precise, Cindy's corpse! Stabbed in the side and in a pool of her own blood. They go to get Patrick, who conveniently has a shirt covered in blood. But he just cut his hand earlier opening the bedroom window. You know, given they mentioned him eating a lot of hot dogs, I swear to god Stine was going to make it ketchup. Way to go old man, you swerved correctly. Just enough to make Patrick a suspect.
So now the party's over, the birthday girl's dead, and everyone is in fear that maybe that murderer is on the island. You know, the one he couldn't have possibly considered hiding from. Gretchen says they should call the cops, but Patrick says they can't. Not because he's the killer, but there's no phones in this cabin. Gretchen suggests rowing back to land, but wouldn't you know it? There's a convenient storm brewing, so they're just going to have to stay here and hope they don't die I guess. But don't worry, Patrick has a gun, remember? And he has bullets too. Oh, and Jackson is still staring like a creep, so that's on brand I guess. Oh, and the killer is probably still in the cabin too, so that's an added bit of "oh crap" to a massive "oh crap" sundae.
Gretchen suggests Patrick whips out the gun, to which Jackson is to one to say that's not a good idea. Everyone looks around, but no sign of any killer. That is until Gretchen spots someone out on the porch. She grabs a log is about to bean the person, only to find out that it's Jackson. Again being suspicious. So he's not our killer then, but look at how suspicious he is so far. They all converge back in the living room. Only one room wasn't checked, that being the kitchen. Jackson and Marco go inside to investigate, when there's suddenly silence. Gretchen panics, screaming that they were killed, but both return unscathed, so that was pointless. I mean, it was a chapter stinger, but, again, pointless.
But, in fairness, it is a bunch of panicked teenagers. Hannah feels bad for fighting with Cindy, everyone thinks Patrick did it on account of the cut and no blood on the window he claims he got the wound. Gretchen then remembers that the last time she heard Cindy alive, it was the argument with Jackson, who denies it happening. Meanwhile Gil starts to snap at Hannah and reveals that it was Cindy's parents that caused them to split up. He never really was over Cindy and I guess Hannah was just a second place trophy? They all argue some more until something opens the door! It's the wind. The wind opens the door. Oh we are knee deep in spinning wheels territory.
So at this point Gretchen is starting to think that any of them could be the killer. Or it's the actual killer. The one that Patrick and only Patrick knew about. And to further add to the possibility of it being Patrick, they notice that Cindy was holding a cap belonging to Patrick, who straight up admits it. He then performs the incredible performance of sticking both feet in his mouth by saying that #1: He has a gun, remember? Why would he stab her if he could shoot her? And #2: Why would he stab her with a bread knife? The exact same bread knife that killed her? Okay, so this is building to the point it should obviously not be Patrick, but you've got to admit that this dude has the absolute worst poker face. But he recovers by saying that the bread knife is missing, so it's a save I guess.
So after Gretchen tries to calm things down (not before yelling at Hannah for panicking), they notice some spilled flour and a boot print. And sure enough, they find flour under one of Patrick's boots. So now they're fully convinced that Patrick's the killer. They tie him up and check his backpack, where they find a note from Cindy saying that she can't lie to her parents about them anymore. Now, if this were a Christopher Pike book, I'd be panic sweating right about now. But it's Stine. Just Stine. We're safe. Thankfully we don't get any implications other than Cindy's parents being strict about her boyfriends, which we got with Gil earlier. But that's moot because the bloody knife is in Patrick's backpack.
Now 100% convinced that Patrick's the killer, they're all pissed at him. Though he brings up a pretty good point. If he killed Cindy, why would he put the evidence in his backpack? Wouldn't he try to hide it? He also sees the note and says Cindy didn't write it. It's not her signature handwriting at all. After checking some of Cindy's writing, they get confirmation. Patrick and Cindy weren't an item and he was being framed. But by who? As they untie Patrick, they notice that Hannah is missing now. And they find a note saying she wasn't staying in a house with a killer so she's run off. As the others leave, Gretchen is about to head off before Jackson acts like a creep again, now making it seemingly obvious to Gretchen it's Jackson.
After she runs off and falls down a hill, Jackson grabs her, only to say what we all realized. That he's a creep. But not a MURDERER creep. He's always had a thing for her but was too shy to say anything. So when he heard that she was breaking up with Marco, he hoped this would be his chance, but was still too much of a coward to make the leap. As Gretchen processes this, they hear Hannah screaming. They find Marco, Gil and Patrick surrounding Hannah, claiming her to be the murderer which she admits to... sarcastically in the next page because holy crap this book is kind of shit. Anyway Gretchen realizes that it actually was Patrick. Okay yeah. This didn't hit just a wall, but like it hit the Rock of Gibraltar.
As he waves the gun at the others, Patrick says that he did something bad and only Cindy knew about it. And because of that, she was teasing him about it for years, constantly threatening to tell her parents about it. So all of this was his plan for a while. The phony kidnapping, bringing them out to Fear Island, the murderer story, and eventually killing Cindy while escaping, hoping he'd never be caught. Despite the fact that, again, his poker face game was god awful. Just as Patrick is about to shoot them, a cop arrives conveniently. The cop, Officer Reade tells the kids that Patrick had set a fire in Waynesbridge before arriving in Shadyside. Patrick gets taken away as the sun rises and the all-night party is finally over.
Something doesn't smell right with this book. Like, in terms of Fear Street, it's pretty much part and parcel to a lot of these mysteries. I'm just very mixed on its execution. I honestly didn't think it was going to be Patrick, and I wonder if this was more a case of Stine not knowing how to pin it to the more obvious Gil or Hannah. It makes some sense though once you add in the killer story only came from Patrick. So like all of his other attempts to hide the evidence of his plans, he really sucked at it. And, in retrospect makes him feel like the most like a teenager than most of these books have ever presented. A kid who acted more on instinct and didn't really know what he was doing. Only that if he wasn't successful in escaping, he had the gun to finish the job.
That's all fine and good, all works to the mystery. The reasoning is where I feel there's a massive wall hit. The whole "set a fire in Waynesbridge" feels like a last minute thing. It almost feels like Stine was going for a "he got Cindy pregnant" twist. Which would make more sense. Her hiding the truth from her strict parents, his panic in everything going down, her wanting to tell the truth, and his ultimate actions. And if this were Christopher Pike, then yeah, that fetus is getting stabbed. And he'd write it implying that Cindy deserved it or some shit. So I guess if Stine couldn't do that then am I ever glad he went and swerved to the even lamer "fire in Waynesbridge" swerve.
Maybe he also realized that Hannah would make way too much sense and changed course. He built up Hannah and Cindy's rivalry with one another, the whole scholarship thing (which Stine just shoves aside by saying Hannah got it anyway BTW) and the whole Gil dynamic, which just dies a death once Stine starts making the suspect entirely Patrick and sometimes Jackson. Like, Gil ultimately feels less important once Cindy dies and he breaks up with Hannah, saying he wanted Cindy anyway. Not Superfluous Clay level but the lingering string that you thought would matter but ultimately played no meaningful role in the story. Which, when you put it like that, I'd rather be a Superfluous Clay.
Gretchen is okay as a protagonist. Not the dumbest person in her group and her suspicions of Patrick and even Jackson at least make sense in the end. Everyone else stinks though. Patrick for obvious reasons. Marco for being a shitty boyfriend with anger problems that he thankfully doesn't take out on Gretchen. Hannah and Gil, like I said, exist less once we're on the "Patrick's the killer" express. Cindy's here to be the corpse. And Jackson I guess isn't the worst person ever, just a very shy guy who stares at girls he likes in a way that would make anyone suspect there's probably a corpse or two in his basement. And while the idiot ball with the characters got annoying, again, given they're a bunch of dumb kids, it at least feels on point.
So despite finding this one annoying to read, I ultimately didn't hate it. That doesn't mean I like it either. It's the definition of a "Mid" book. Existing fine enough in a bubble or even as your first Fear Street but feeling like the dregs if it's like your fortieth. The mystery is okay, albeit clunky, the characters unlikable, and it's yet another book about a party that barely involves a party. I guess the story lasted all night at least. Stine's not a total liar, I guess. Almost any other book is worth reading over this one, but it's not the worst one ever. It is a Fear Street Paradox made manifest. All-Night Party gets a C+.
IT WAS ACCEPTABLE IN THE 90S: CDs, CD players, VHS Tapes, Being in a situation where no phone availability is present.
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