The Stinal Countdown: The Nightmare Room Thrillogy #01: Fear Games

We're approaching ever closer to the end of The Nightmare Room series of books. And before we hit the final couple mainline books, we must take a detour. See, in May of 2001, Camp Nowhere was released. In September, Full Moon Halloween was released. What filled the following three months? An interesting trio of books called the Thrillogy. Three books released over the summer that are all connected. Each month from June to August of that year would see a new part to the story. And were tied in a way to the upcoming Nightmare Room TV show, which I might talk about eventually, no promises.

Stine did try this idea once before with Invasion of the Body Squeezers, and that was a padded mess, so I'm not sure if I trust the man with a three-parter. I'm guessing if Nightmare Room continued on into 2002, this would have been his summer thing for the series? So let's see if this was an inspired idea or we dodged a jovial bullet. Let's look at Part 1 of this story, Fear Games.

Not super crazy about the covers for these books. The second one more so, but we'll get to it. They're fine, but I'm mixed on the more live action look for covers over traditional artwork. It's just comes off a lot mock lackluster. But this one is fine. I like the glowing red eyes, the feeling that this kid is hiding, stalking their prey. And the little lizard's a cute touch. Otherwise, not much to say here. Does enough of the trick I guess?

April Powers really hates Pam Largent. Pam is so perfect, and always bothering her and stuff. Even her friend Andy Butler doesn't get April's obsession. April's not a violent person, but she would really love to rip Pam's face off and hang it on a banner. That's sane. Pam shows up and April shows her something. See, April has magic powers. So her last name is also ironic. She uses her powers on chubby redhead Merilee Crane, causing her to spin uncontrollably in the lunchroom. This convinces Pam that April's a witch and she runs off while April is happy. See, April doesn't actually have magic powers. It was a work the whole time as Merilee was in on it. It was all to screw with Pam, even though really she hasn't done much yet to earn that? Like, I guess rat out to the boy that April likes that she liked him which made him laugh, which in teen logic I guess is enough ammunition?

April finds a letter in the mail by something called The Academy. It's an invitation to a two week stay at an academy along with eleven other honor students. They'll be at a Caribbean island where they will compete in something known as the Life Games. The winner of the Life Games will receive a $100,000 prize at the very end of the two weeks. The letter is signed by the director for The Academy, Donald Marks. April is excited about all this, then gets a call that Pam didn't get an invite, which makes her happier. But there's still the issue of her parents. Will they let her go to the academy? We'll find out after this flashback to 1680. 

We head to Ravenswoode, a tiny little village in the wonderful age of witch burning. Deborah Andersen is being chased by boys who call her a witch and a blackbird. They throw rocks at her, some hitting her, the eventually catch up to her. She must be a witch for the crops are failing because of her. And what female would dare want to go to school or to read? Ah yeah, this is 1680 alright. Or America if Ron DeSantis ends up as president. She manages to escape by telling them she is a witch, so you know, make things worse why don'tcha? She heads home to her mother Katherine where we learn that perhaps Deborah is cursed. Her mother calls her "Moon Child" on account of being born under a crescent moon. And having a moon shaped mark on her head, which, yeah, that's a dead giveaway.

 And she must have some curse upon her. The day she was born, so was a two-headed cow and the councilman pulled mice out of his ears? Wait, what? Deborah is frustrated that all the boys constantly hound her with claims of being a witch, notably Aaron Harrison, the blonde-haired leader of the group. She'd like to settle his hash, that's for sure. The next day, as Deborah and her mother go gather flowers, Emily Harrison, mother of Aaron, accuses Deborah of being a witch and drags her to see a chicken with blond hair. So, somehow Deborah managed to turn Aaron into a chicken? Still better than Chicken Chicken at least. Of course Deborah has no idea how to reverse this, or how it even happened, but 1680 logic states that she'll be hanged for this. I mean it's no burning, but still pretty, pretty bad times.

Deborah spends what could be her last night pretty depressed given she's about to be hung and all, when she hears panicked screams from the village which is suddenly on fire. But for some reason, the fire is cold, not hot. So, whether it is Deborah or not, whoever's cursing the town has a weird sense of humor. The next day comes and suddenly the town isn't in the mood to hang Deborah. Oh, she's still getting punished for this stuff she claims to have not done, but she's to be marooned on an island by herself. Which, hey, isn't April about to go to an island? Could these two stories connect? I mean, duh, but let's snap back to the present... by which I mean the present of 22 years ago. 

April is now on the boat headed to the island for the Life Games. She meets with a few other kids, Kristen, Martine and Anthony, who are all excited about who'll be on the island. Nobel winning scientists, celebrities, even a supreme court justice. Thank god this is 2001 because you'd probably get Kavanaugh. They arrive to the island and the Academy Village where two boys named Rick and Josh show them around, while calling themselves slaves to Donald Marks. The kids meet with Marks who is a giant of a man with dark eyes, a bald head and who looks a lot like a wrestler. Oh no, Bob. I'm not falling for "Wrestling Mark" Stine again. 

Marks tells the four kids that the island has no computers, very few lights and mostly runs by a generator at best. He then notices April isn't on the list. That, despite being given an invitation, she's not part of the twelve intended for the Life Games. So April may have come all this way for a nice trip but jack all else. And then suddenly Martine starts screaming as blood sprays out her ears. Somehow her eardrums just up and burst. That's pretty concerning. But with her now unable to compete (Hell, unable to hear maybe?) April's got a spot in the games after all. What a really, really messed up convenience. Also Anthony, who has been described so far as being super nervous about everything, is laughing. What a weird time for Schadenfreude.

April and the others arrive at a very unsafe rope bridge. April's team for the games includes Anthony and Kristen along with another kid in the group, Marlin, who is described as a tall African American boy with one earring-Okay, I get it Stine, you know one black kid. But he's also the most enthusiastic and the one pushing the team to do their best. So leader material in April's eyes. They arrive to the three staff members, Rick, Josh and Abby, along with Donald Marks who tells us the rules of the Life Games. Three teams of four compete in a series of competitions. Winning a contest gets you ten points, second place gets you five, third place gets you goose egg. There are also competitions for loyalty, honesty and bravery, each worth fifty points. None for kindness, generosity, laughter or magic though. Each contest will see the lowest scoring player be eliminated. The kids ask about all those celebrities and such, but Marks says "oh don't worry, they'll totally be here."

Back to the unsafe rope bridge from earlier. That's the first competition. Who can cross it the fastest. April is paranoid since, again, unsafe rope bridge. And because of that, she ends up slipping, but not falling off. Doing so puts her team in third, so no points. Anthony is pissed, saying that April shouldn't even be here since she wasn't technically invited, to which Kristen tells April to not bother with Anthony, who is described as having a bad temper on account of being a redhead. Okay, how long was Stine waiting to use that one? Man's been swimming in gingers waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Next up is rock climbing on these strange blue rock walls by the shore. April checks on them early and notes how cold they are. Stone cold if you will. She climbs atop the rock wall then notices a pile of fish bones, completely cleaned off as if they were eaten by someone. Could someone be living on the island? You know this mystery would be more interesting had Stine not telegraphed it. Just saying.

Of course, none of her teammates believe her about any other people living on this remote island. With Marlin making the best point, maybe the bones were placed up there by Marks to screw with the heads of the competitors. And by going up there early, that might screw up the loyalty test, meaning April would be two for two on muck-ups in one day. So everyone's all tense now after this situation, Anthony again showing off her ginger-related rage at April. So April decides to find a way to cheer everyone up, AKA making shit worse. It's time for the magic trick prank again. This time with a girl named Dolores who starts clucking and spinning. And then starts spinning so much that she starts to float in the air. So, way to go, kid. Everyone thinks you're a witch and they don't trust you. But don't worry, there's still about 50+ pages for her to make this worse.

As everyone arrives for the rock climbing competition, Josh is the only one who talks with her, saying he's been on the island a month before the contest and believes that something's up. That he could hear what sounds like the humming of a girl. He won't elaborate further, but April wants to check the caves by the rock wall for answers. As for the contest, April again costs the team the win, but they got second. That's something at least. But now her team still hates her, so April's just making friends, huh? But as she leaves, she thinks she can see someone looking on from one of the caves. The next event is the night hike. The three teams must pull an all-nighter hiking through the island and must arrive at the docks by dawn. First to make it wins. It's also the loyalty test which, given her situation, April's screwed either way. She tries to apologize to Dolores for the whole spinning thing, but Dolores doesn't trust her either. 

Then April learns that Josh is now gone from the island as well. His freaking appendix must have burst. So, add that to the bleeding ears and whole spinning chicken stuff, either April is a witch or she's been cursed. Neither option looking all that great right now. And of course, nobody believes April, thinks she's crazy, and this will be no better since the path the team has to take is through the caves. But Marlin has a machete they can use to mark their path with chops in the trees if the caves end up a dead end. They get lost in the cave, so Anthony uses his compass, only for it to be spinning out of control. And their watches are stuck at 7:02. They hear chopping noises, then head out to see that all of the trees now have chops marks in them. Anthony blows up in red headed rage again and accuses April of her powers getting them lost. Marlin tells him to calm down since, again, there's a hundred grand at stake if they don't start to work together.

They eventually manage to escape the cave, with Marlin slipping behind. However, when they arrive, the other teams showed up, so they ended up losing again. Also Marlin's gone missing. April runs back to the beach and sees a strange woman with Marlin, seemingly sucking the oxygen out of his mouth. April and Marlin seem to then have some sort of mental blink as neither seem to even recall that happening. But Donald Marks then shows up to tell them that they won the loyalty contest on account of April going back for Marlin instead of just going to bed with the other teams. Next up is the honesty competition. But before that, April goes to Mr. Marks' office and asks where the other kids went, to which he says "Oh, they've all been eliminated." Which should set off some red flags, but not yet.

Next up is Kayaking with April and Marlin competing against two other kids, Jared and Clark. In the haste of the race, April gets knocked out of the kayak, and again can see the visage of the woman, now pointing at her. Kristen saves April from drowning, but says that April just up and flew out of the boat like she has magic powers. So we're back to the accusations again. But Mr. Marks says that he saw the other team cheating, so April's team wins again with the others again being "eliminated." Later that night, April, Marlin, Anthony and Kristen then see boats leaving the island. Everyone is leaving, while the four of them are stranded. They're confused about this, when April then hears the humming of a woman again. And that's where we end part one of this story.

So, Stine opens the book by saying that he felt this story was too good for just one part and thus we have a trilogy... sorry, a THRILLOGY on our hands. And for a first part this actually wasn't too bad. A bit wheel spinning in the middle, but otherwise the mystery has been built up well enough so far. And yes, while it's likely that the woman is Deborah, Stine doesn't out and out say that it is yet either. So there's plenty of time to build on this story for the coming parts. Granted, so much of this could have just been a single story and would have lost practically nothing in the long run, but I guess props to Stine for not just having an idea for a multi-part story, but actually putting in the effort to hook you into wanting to see how this continues. And yeah, I'm down to seeing where we go from here.

When we first met April, I got worried she was going to be one of THOSE protagonists. The kind that just come off as unlikeable. That their supposed plight is more them being awful to others and in the end, the people she hates are actually more likeable. Not in a Reva Dalby way, but still bad. Thankfully she isn't too bad for the remaining book and you do feel bad for her plight. How everyone thinks she's got magic powers or are cursing people. How all these strange things happen whenever April is around. And while it gets annoying seeing her be berated for things beyond her control constantly, it never gets to a point where I was ready to tap out either. 

As for the other characters, Marlin is okay. I like that he feels like the most levelheaded of the team. And never fully comes off like he's against April. That's mostly saved for Anthony, the angriest redhead in the history of R.L. Stine books. Which is interesting that he's so quick to tear into April when he was laughing about the whole bleeding ears thing earlier. He definitely isn't likeable but that's also the point. And it's different from what his role probably would have normally been in these books: the jokester. So angry kid I can live with. Kristen is definitely Superfluous Clay here, at least in this book. She is mostly here to continue to accuse April and I guess fill the team to four. Marks and the other members of The Academy are given just enough mystique that we really don't know what's up with them just yet.

Yeah, gee, I wonder what give Stine the idea of a reality competition on an island? A contest of a group of would be SURVIVORs, SURVIVING on an island, and the lone SURVIVOR gets to win a cash prize on account of how good of a SURVIVOR they were. I mean, almost everyone was watching Survivor then. Not  me though, never cared for it. Not a reality show fan and really never will be. Not in a "reality shows killed TV" way, just that very very few appeal to me in any way, shape or form. But using a Survivor style plot for this story works well, and I can't fully fault Stine for it.

So, not a bad first part. Next up is the more important part, the second. Because now Stine has to continue to build on this plot and keep people interested in a third part. What will happen with April and the other kids? Who is the mystery woman? Can they get off the island? Will they be rescued by, oh, let's say, Moe? Find out when we talk about What Scares You The Most?