It's time for yet another ride through Shadyside. Hard to believe I've been covering these for two years at this point. And while there's been far less coverage in the past few months, I'm still intent on covering as many as possible. This one is always one that when I see it I go "huh." then forget it exists again. Knowing how these have often panned out for me, that usually means that I'll probably end up liking it. Will Stine hit a wall in this one, or are we headed for a Dead End?
This cover is the main reason I just forget this one exists. It's kind of a dull cover with not enough happening to make you that invested. Maybe her decent shocked face. Other things like her posture, how she's drawn that just looks off to me. Not sure exactly why either. It just doesn't work for me. Probably in the lower end of Fear Street covers in my opinion.
We start the story proper with Natalie and her boyfriend Keith Parker at the party of their friend Talia Blanton. Yes, the same one from Thill Club. There are a few other notable names at the party like Ricky Schorr and Corky Corcoran who probably isn't possessed this time. We also meet a few other friends of Natalie's like Gillian Rose, Carlo Bennett and Todd Davis. There's also Natalie's friend Randee Morganthau who we meet a little later. We learn that Keith is a decent guy but can be very monotone and distant at times. He also partakes in the liquor as he heads upstairs to drink, which bothers Natalie. Randee later tells Natalie that Keith is playing "drink the beer" and going for the high score when suddenly Keith ends up falling down the basement stairs.
Keith is fine, but pretty much wasted. To the point of embarrassing Natalie, who doesn't want to know he even exists. As Keith goes to puke, Todd (who is also called "Caveman" because he's a big lug) offers to dance with Natalie, but she refuses. After Keith is done puking away his sins, he offers to drive Natalie home, but she refuses given that, he's drunk and two, he's being a pain in the ass. So she goes with Randee instead. Turns out this is just as bad as when Todd, Gillian, Carlo and Natalie drive off with Randee, she drives erratically in the convenient fog. So erratically that she crashes into another car on a street called [[TITLE OF THE BOOK]]. She committed the hit, now time for the run as she immediately drives off while Natalie is sure she saw a body bounce around in the other car. She tries to convince the others to go back, but they all have their reasons, mainly in sneaking out and their parents killing them, though likely not in the same way they possibly killed the person in the car.
The next day, Todd calls Natalie to give her the news. There was a woman in that car and she died from the impact. Oh, and that woman is Ellen Coletti, the sister of Mayor Coletti, and he's out to find whoever was responsible. So now Natalie realizes just how deep in shit she is and is more frustrated that they didn't stay to at least try and help her. The five meet later at school to which Todd adds that there's a reward for whoever turns in the killer. Carlo suggests they turn themselves in, but both Randee and Todd are against it. Snitches get stitches, and if Carlo talks, his corpse will need stitches to make it recognizable. See, Todd's father works with Mayor Coletti, and if he loses the job it'll be Todd's ass. Literally as in he'll kick the shit out of him for it. And Carlo's dad is in the hospital so bad news will probably lead to another corpse, so he promises not to. The five swear to a pact that they'll stick together on this. It's page 40 of this 147 page book, so good odds this doesn't last.
That night, Natalie is working on her poetry that she does for each month of the year when Keith shows up saying her knows her secret. That secret being that she wants to break up with him for Todd, which even Natalie laughs off. She doesn't mention the whole car incident and shoos him off. She calls Todd, but he snaps at her for constantly calling for updates. Later, he calls her saying that they may have to do something about Carlo since he wants to confess. So the group head to Pete's Pizza to discuss what to do. Been a hot minute since we've been at ol' Pete's. And a spicy idea blurts from Todd's mouth. Maybe it's time for Carlo to have an accident. But then he says he's joking. Totally. Totally just joking. And hey look, the kids are all going to a hunting lodge this weekend owned by Carlo's uncle George. Nothing could possibly go wrong there?
So they all arrive at the lodge, with the exception of Keith obviously. Todd and Carlo and Uncle George plan to go hunting while the girls stay at the lodge because "girls don't hunt." My god if this book was out in 2023 he'd just be spouting Andrew Tate shit. Anyway, Randee joins the hunt since fuck your sexism, while Natalie and Gillian would rather take a walk. As Natalie gets dressed, she hears a loud scream. The gun went off by mistake is all. Totally not a sign of what's to come, I'm sure. Natalie wanders into the woods for a bit where we learn when she was eight she got lost in Fear Street Woods, so it's always freaked her out. She then hears a loud gunshot and soon finds Carlo. Or to be more specific, CARLO'S CORPSE. Head blown off and in gory detail for Stine. Mentioning how his skull and parts of flesh are spread over the grass from the impact. Oh, I think I know how this book's going already. At least the realization came in the halfway point for once and not the first few pages.
So Carlo's death is ruled an accident, saying he must have tripped over a root and just blew his skull off with the shotgun. But now Natalie is suspecting that this wasn't an accident. It was an intentional "accident" caused by Todd. Also, Uncle George goes catatonic and is stretchered out and I'd guess this would probably be enough to kill Carlo's dad, so that's an extra corpse. Natalie returns home and is now worried. She gets scared when Keith shows up again. This is enough for Natalie to reveal everything to him. The accident, the mayor's sister, Todd's comments and what befell Carlo. The two then hear the doorbell and son of a shotgun to the head, it's Todd at the front door! Natalie asks point blank, but Todd says he didn't do it and that there was another person with a shotgun that day. And I don't mean Uncle George.
The girls talk for a bit, even bringing up Bobby Newkirk, so add that to the reference pile. Natalie starts to suspect Randee was responsible given she took a shotgun as well and went hunting. Gillian goes to get something from her backpack, then notices a smell. Inside is rotten meat with maggots on it with a note saying that whoever tells will be dead meat, just like Carlo. Randee tries to claim it's a joke and that surely Carlo's death was an accident. Right. Totally not incriminating myself, the driver who killed the mayor's sister. Also Natalie makes things worse by admitting that she told Keith about the car accident. Keith will totally never tell. Not Keith, the guy who is a bit more outrageous when he drinks. The next day, Gillian tells Natalie that she's going to confess, that Carlo talked to her and mentioned something that we're not going to learn about right now because there's 40-odd pages left. Oh, and Todd and Randee are watching, so that's concerning.
Natalie goes skating with Keith who now says that they should talk Gillian out of it. After he leaves early, Natalie walks home, only to be followed by Todd and Randee. They heard everything and they want Gillian to not confess. Apparently the mayor has given up searching, so if they hold on for a little longer, they'll be home free. The three head to Gillian's and find her. Or, to be more precise, her corpse! Sprawled on the stairway, neck broken. Todd saying it must have been an accident. You know, this being the second time the cops were involved in a dead teen with these precise teenagers involved, you'd think they'd be suspicious. Like, even if someone was trying to silence them, they aren't doing a good job in making it inconspicuous.
The next night, Randee arrives at Natalie's claiming that she'll confess to the cops. Natalie, being a moron, believes this and goes in Randee's car. But wait a second, the police department's the other way, where could Randee be going? Could Randee be responsib-no, wait. She actually did drive the wrong way and they go to the police department. There haven't been too many stinky cliffhangers in this one but WOOF to that one. They confess to everything. The accidental hitting of Ellen Coletti's car and driving off. But the officer drops the world's most obvious bombshell, that's not the car that ran into Ellen Coletti. Randee's car is a green Volvo with different tires than the tire tracks left at the scene of the crime. It's a blue car that ran into Coletti.
They run into Todd and tell him the truth before Natalie leaves. She runs into Keith in his BLUE car and yep, as I expected. It was Keith the entire time. He pulls her into his car and confesses. The night of the party, he still decided to drive home despite being drunk. And thanks to the fog and the inebriation, he ended up crashing into Ellen Coletti's parked car, killing her instantly. Her face smashing the windshield in gory detail. He wanted to tell Natalie, but she cut him off due to her panic over the accident. So he told Carlo, who told Gillian. He then went to the hunting lodge and shot Carlo. When he found out Gillian knew, he went to her house and broke her neck. Oh, and now that Natalie knows everything, it's her turn to die.
He floors it to Dead End Drive and plans to jump out just before the car goes over the edge, killing Natalie in the process. Suddenly a loud bang is heard, causing him to hit the brakes long enough for Natalie to escape the car. However, the driver's door is conveniently stuck and Keith goes over the edge of the cliff and the car explodes. Natalie looks at the wreckage and still realizes that in the end, Todd, Randee and herself will always suffer for what happened that night and everything that followed, but at least it's finally over.
This one was decent. Not exactly an earth shattering book by any means, but for a Fear Street it was perfectly serviceable. Though it also seems to be more of a PSA book about why you shouldn't drink and drive. Which is a good lesson to teach, but once Keith is shitfaced and offers to drive Natalie home, it's obvious where this is going. And the "accident" involving Carlo pretty much sealed this one as super obvious, then Keith leaving and the others finding Gillian's corpse makes it EXTREMELY SUPER OBVIOUS. So when the boom is dropped that it wasn't Randee's car, it isn't the biggest shocker ever. It does lead to a solid finale with Keith about to kill Natalie by engaging in the ultimate game of Chicken. So in terms of horror and build, this one works fine.
Is it a better Hit and Run? Yes. A thousand times yes. The accident was an actual accident and the character presented as the villain isn't sympathetic. Eddie was a good kid treated like shit by everyone, even his so-called friends. He didn't deserve the fate he got. Again for added measure, FUCK WINKS! Keith on the other hand committed the crime and was determined to make others suffer for his actions. He wasn't a bullying victim whose life was in hell before the inciting incident. Also, a dead sister to the mayor feels less exploitive than using homeless corpses as toys, so this book's got that going for it as well.
Natalie is just okay as a protagonist. I like that the prologue of her being accident-prone plays sort of into the book. How she keeps running into more and more "accidents." You want to see her survive. Todd is interesting in that he's clearly got an anger problem and a bad attitude, but despite joking about harming Carlo, he's otherwise a decent guy. Just a Neanderthal with some shitty beliefs. Randee is also fine as a herring since it would have made sense for her to be the killer given she was driving that night. Carlo and Gillian are really only here to be killed. Gillian more so. So she's less Superfluous Clay and more Superfluous Corpse. And Keith works fine as the villain of the story.
So it's good to be back on Fear Street again. This book isn't going to set the world on fire, but I think for a standard book it does the job just fine. It's definitely a recommend, though don't expect like the most exciting book ever. It's still laden with Stine tropes. But thankfully he doesn't hit a wall in this one. I mean there's been enough car accidents in this book already. Dead End gets a B.
IT WAS ACCEPTABLE IN THE 90S: CDS, CD PLAYERS, "FOR SURE", VOLVO, DRUNK DRIVING PSAS.
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