The Stinal Countdown: Fear Street: Lights Out

Ain't no summer like a Party Summer because a Party Summer don't stop... until July ends at least. A month is enough. Welcome to our second year of (Woo!) Party Summer, a month of Summer-themed blogs. And we start it off with yet another visit to Shadyside. This was one in the planned batch last year but got bumped. But I've always been a bit intrigued about this one. It's an early Fear Street and it's a book placed in camp, a setting where Stine is usually decent at making a story about. Will this be the case here? Let's see what's up with Light's Out.

This is a classic cover and probably one of Fear Street's best if I'm being honest. Everything works, the dark atmosphere, the purple sky, the solid shocked face on our cover girl. It doesn't scream camp as much as just being in the woods, but it still works as a scary setting. And sometimes that's all you really need in the end. Excellent stuff.

We open with a quick chapter as someone is writing a letter to someone named Chief, saying that they're at Camp Nightwing, ready to finally get revenge. What kind of revenge? I... I mean it's page one, we have a long ways to go. The note says that by the time they're done, they'll be calling Camp Nightwing Camp Nightmare. So this book is set in outer space with humanoid aliens and... oh wait, that's ANOTHER Stine book. The man's nothing if not a literary recycling bin. We then go to Holly Flynn who is having a panic attack over a spider on her pillow. She's not fond of the outdoors much, but was asked to come to Camp Nightwing as a counselor by her Uncle Bill. Hey look, an uncle in these camp books who is actually an uncle, go fig. 

Uncle Bill's having a hard time running Camp Nightwing. Since purchasing it three years prior there's been fire, floods, a measles outbreak, and a camper even died. Gee, Moses does not like this camp. Holly is hesitant, but if it gets her away from her ex-boyfriend George, then so be it. After her spider crisis, Thea Mack greets Holly and says that this could be good for her, though Thea is more thinking about John Hardesty. The two get startled by the sound of Uncle Bill whose leg is trapped under a metal cabinet that fell over. Which is odd since he checked before camp opened and it was fine. Holly then notices a red feather sticking out. Ah, the villain is that no good Woody Woodpecker! While Thea is wishing that John Hardesty would peck her. 

but Holly has other issues, namely Geri Marcus, a girl from Waynesbridge that used to be her best friend. That is until Geri fell for an eighteen year old named Brad and Holly, having the worst poker face there is, didn't provide a strong enough alibi to Geri's parents, mucking up the deal and causing a rift between the now former friends. But that's in the past and I'm sure won't totally be a sticking factor in this book or anything. We meet some of the other counselors. A boy named Kit who is climbing a tree, a more serious girl named Debra who Holly is to be the assistant for, and a boy named Mick who is described as looking like Kevin Bacon. So this is just Friday the 13th then? Can-can we count this in the six degrees?

Mick is writing home to his mom. In fact, he's writing a lot of letters of his experiences before they happen and sends one a week. Still early but oh Stine you had better not have... Also Geri's into him and as it's becoming apparent, so is Holly, so we're not going to mend this rift any time soon. Holly heads to her cabin and gets attacked by a bat. She rushes out and everyone sort of mocks her for it since she'd better get used to a lot of bats given it's the woods and all. Everyone heads to the campfire for the evening, but there's still no sign of Uncle Bill. Mick talks with Holly saying they wish they could watch some horror movies instead like Friday the 13th, all eight of them. And he then describes the events of the movies... Okay, we get it Bob. The Kevin Bacon wink was kind of an indicator now you just made it literal.

Uncle Bill shows up and before they can get started, and because holy shit Bob we get it, a guy in a hockey mask shows up with a hatchet ready to attack Holly. But it's just Kit, the clown of the group. Oh. Goody. He's also interested in Geri, but that ain't happening. We meet another boy named Sandy Wayne from Center City. Center City... Wait a second. He reused that for Camp Nightmare too. He really is the literary recycling bin! So does that mean that Fear Street has been set on the human alien planet from Camp Nightmare the whole time? I mean, no, but the Pandora's Box that is my mind has been opened. We also learn that Sandy is rich. Also John is there so Thea's excited. Uncle Bill then goes over the basic camp rules. Curfew at 10:30 for counselors, recycle your garbage, and then he pulls the Camp Cock Block with no camp romances with other counselors. Nip it in the bud or you're kicked out. Yeah, I'm sure that'll be enforced. Be a dull book if it was.

Regardless, Thea goes to talk with John while Holly talks with Mick, who she again says looks like Kevin Bac-WE GET IT BOB!! Anyway that was a bad idea because it clearly pissed Geri off. We get another letter from someone talking to "Chief" about how the cabinet scheme failed but there's plenty of time for more accidents. Holly wakes up the next day and heads to the lake for a swim. She gets stopped by Sandy first then Mick, who talks about the canoes at the lake. How the kids loved them last year, then mentions that a kid died last year. Mick then notices that three of the canoes have holes inside them. Another red feather at the scene of the crime. That damn Woody Woodpecker strikes again! 

The campers arrive and Holly has to round up six girls from Cabin five, Stacey, Suzie, Candy, Melissa, Jessica and Tracy. She gets along with them well. Yet that's cut by the crash of Tracy and Jessica's bunk bed, which seems like it wasn't properly aligned. Debra shows up and blames Holly for this and the hysteria from the girls. As Debra gets praised by Uncle Bill for handling the situation (making Holly feel more like shit BTW), Holly finds yet another red feather. So now she's already suspecting that these aren't isolated incidents. She goes to tell Uncle Bill, but he's too busy given everything right now and tells her to leave. She then talks with Debra, tries to tell her that she shouldn't have gone all in on blaming her, which just makes things worse here. Holly then sees Geri nearby smiling at the situation. Making friends, just making LOTS of friends...

The next day, Kit shows up with a snake on his arm, but it's fake because of course it is. Please let him be a corpse in this book, kay thanx. Debra uses it again to mock Holly. The reveals that Debra is Geri's friend so that explains that. And Kit did the snake prank on Holly because Geri told him to. Holly hears a wolf howl and starts to worry, deciding to go back to the cabins while Thea waits for John. As she walks, Holly hears the sound of footsteps approaching her and so she makes a run for it. It's just two of the older girl campers, Courtney Blair and Cyndi something. Okay, Stine not even trying to write a last name made me chuckle. She runs into Mick who wants to go for a walk with her, but Holly declines given it's late and all. He grabs her forcefully before backing off. She then runs into Sandy who talks about how he was a counselor in the desert and that he has no siblings, though Holly has a sister ten years her senior.

When Holly enters her cabin, she sees a snake in her bed. And not a fake Kit snake this time, a real one. But Debra comes in and chides her since it's a garter snake. She then goes to talk with Uncle Bill about the accidents being connected, but he doesn't believe her, especially with the red feather clues given that, duh, they're in a forest! But despite being brushed off again, Holly realizes she has to turn things around, especially when it comes to Debra and Geri getting the better of her. And that she has to be brave for whatever's coming to Camp Nightwing. Speaking of which, another letter to "Chief",  saying it's time to take off the kid gloves. Let's be gettin' to some killin'!

So now it's time to start figuring out who the saboteur is. Holly suspects it's a counselor, but who? She then gets scared by Mick who again asks to go for a walk to the lake, which she accepts this time. He mentions that he lives on a farm in Belleville and that there's plenty of things she doesn't know about him. He tries to get closer to her, but Holly turns him down again, which makes him grab her again in a rage before leaving saying that the next time he wants her to know him better he'll send a letter. In case the point wasn't made hard enough that this dude is a herring, I guess. Oh and Geri heard all of that, is mad that Holly is trying to take Mick from her and now things are going to get worse. Dude, Geri, I don't know, given that guy's mood swings, you're actually kind of lucky to be cucked.

The next day, Holly talks with Sandy about things to which Sandy mentions a wilderness trip the next week that she'll be a part of given she's needed for the boating. Rented canoes given the other ones are holier than thou. She's nervous, since she's not a wilderness person, obviously, but she'll do it. She then talks with Thea who mentions that John's too busy writing letters than meeting with her. Holly goes to do pottery, fails and Debra mocks her again. You know this book would be 100 times better if Holly would just punch Debra the fuck out already. 

Speaking of bullies, as Holly heads to her cabin, she gets grabbed by Kit, Mick and Geri who is holding a bucket of leeches. Still mad at what happened with the whole poor lie thing, Geri wants to make Holly suffer. She pushes Holly into a creek and throws the bucket of leeches at her. Also Sandy is watching on, so fuck him too, I guess? The foursome leave and Holly tries to get her bearings when she sees a scream and the sight of someone running off. She ends up finding John instead who I guess gets to be a character now. He thinks she's spying on him and yells at her. Holly runs into Sandy who acts all poker face like he didn't have anything to do with the whole incident minutes prior. I mean at least he's a better liar than she is? He mentions something about having something happen to him and nobody will listen, but we still have like 70 pages left, so you know, breadcrumbs and all.

Holly then sees the list of campers and counselors involved in the wilderness trip, which includes Mick, Kit and Geri. So this won't be a fun hike in the woods. After talking with Thea, Holly notes the lack of Debra around for once. She then enters the crafts room and finds Debra... or to be more precise, Debra's CORPSE! Her head rammed into the active pottery wheel thanks to the pendant around her neck being caught, spraying blood everywhere. Man, this book making all the Kevin Bacon references when a perfect Patrick Swayze reference was here all along! John shows up and sees what happened and goes to get Uncle Bill while once again Holly spots a red feather on the pendant. Cut to the next letter to "Chief" as the killer is proud of their work, though notes that nobody is noticing the red feather calling card. I mean, DUH, IT'S THE WOODS.

That night, Geri mocks Holly saying she must be glad Debra's gone. Okay, given Debra's dead, this book would be 1000% better if Holly would just punch Geri the fuck out already. Holly talks with the cops, tries to mention the feathers and the accidents, but they don't acknowledge it because why would they? Oh and Uncle Bill now has Geri working with Holly at the cabin and won't listen to her about, you know, the animosity. That night, she checks the other cabins for any clues. She checks John and Kit's, only to find a locked box. John catches her and isn't too keen on being accused for something. She then goes to check Mick's cabin and spots a bunch of Native American rattles, covered in red feathers. You know what this means, right? MICK KILLED WOODY WOODPECKER! Another letter to "Chief" mentioning that the canoe trip will be where the girl spying on them will be finished off.

Later that night, Uncle Bill gathers the counselors for a meeting, saying that, well, shit's fucked you guys. Given Debra's death the camp is very much in danger of being shut down, so they need to work together to get through this. He talks with Holly saying that a loan he needed to keep the camp running hasn't shown up and given Debra's death it might have made that even more unlikely. She tries to mention her proof, he brushes her off and tells her that she should focus on the wilderness trip. Which is where we cut to next. John gets added to the canoe trip, and also she'll be canoeing with Mick. Later in the woods, Holly hears a scream and runs into John again, who is carrying a knife. Courtney, one of the older campers from earlier shows up and we learn John's secret. He and Courtney are a couple. But she's fifteen, he's eighteen, and those logistics are very, very concerning. They asks Holly not to tell and she obliges, but, you know, we've established she's a bad liar.

Holly wakes up the next day as Sandy invites her down to the river for a canoe trip. And yep, it's about that time. Time to find out what's up with Sandy. As they approach the rapids, he keeps saying that he's been careless and so has she. And so was Debra one year ago. Her carelessness at the wilderness trip the year prior led to the death of a boy named Seth, Sandy's brother. Yeah, he lied about the only child thing too. Also, given Seth never liked his name, he would usually be called "Chief". And he always carried with him red feathers. It was on the river where he died by Debra's carelessness. So Debra had to die as well, and now so must Holly. She tries to control the situation, but Sandy's too far gone for that. He blames Debra, Uncle Bill and Camp Nightwing for Chief's death. He didn't want to harm Holly, given she wasn't there the year prior, but given she knows too much, well, T.S. 

Sandy throws away one of the paddles as the canoe begins to hit hard at the rapids. Holly manages to grab the other paddle and whack him over the head. He's out cold, but it doesn't matter as she ends up knocked out of the canoe. She manages to swim to safety, only for Sandy to show up again. She runs for it and finds a cave filled with snakes. She throws some snakes at Sandy and runs for it, only to find Mick and pass out. Some time passes as an ambulance takes Sandy away from the camp. Mick apologizes to Holly for everything. How he was acting and, of course, being a part of Geri's cruel actions. He wanted to apologize earlier but saw she left with Sandy and continued to follow and sure enough, found her among all the chaos. 

Holly talks with Uncle Bill who apologizes for not listening to her, and says he had no idea given that Sandy used a different last name than Seth. He mentions finding the notes that Sandy wrote all addressed to Chief, and that maybe now Camp Nightwing will be safe again. Dude, just close the fucking place. Like the damn thing's cursed. And so the book ends with Holly and Mick taking a walk. They come across a snake, which Holly easily disposes of, showing that maybe she does like the wilderness after all. And, while it doesn't happen, she probably punches Geri the fuck out. Now that would be a roll credits moment if ever there was one.

Fuck me running, he did it again. ANOTHER Camp book written by R.L. Stine that I really liked. It's not perfect, mainly in that, once again, Stine is a bad mystery writer. Mick might be his most obvious red herring in the history of red herrings. The letters, the feathers, his attitude, him being involved in the bullying, it screams "Oh, he'll be the good guy in the end". Same with John. Though I'm not going to bring up the questionable implications of an eighteen year old and a fifteen year old in a relationship. Like, it's that weird "too far a wedge" age gap that does make me a bit bothered, but I guess given this is a Stine book, it's nothing more than puppy love. If it were Pike, oh god I'm not going to spend a blog talking about ethics on THAT. 

But I think the reason I like this book is because of Holly. She's a great protagonist. She starts as very meek, afraid of everything, easily bullied and treated like garbage by the other counselors. So her ultimately overcoming everything and ending a stronger person than she was is something I like. You don't get enough earned character growth in Stine works, but when he does it, he does it very well. The mystery is also very solid, albeit again, too obvious who the villain is because while this was solid, I'll repeat that Stine is not a good mystery writer. Thought it might be Thea for a brief second, but nah, she's ultimately too Superfluous Clay for that role. Kit exists to be the dumb joker so it couldn't be him, Debra becomes a corpse so not her, and Geri is written to be too much of a mean girl archetype for her to be the master saboteur carrying around feathers.

It's fitting, I guess, that Stine leans so much into Friday the 13th with all the references given that in the end, despite the far lower body count, its plot is very similar. Teens at a summer camp. A kid dying because of negligence from the counselors and a relative out for revenge. Only instead of it being Seth's mom it's his brother instead. So while Stine goes a little too "YOU GET IT? YOU GET IT? YOU GET IT?" with it, it still works for the mystery. It also has one of the better climaxes full of action and suspense. It's not a deeply horror filled book save for Debra's corpse, but it does feel worth it for that conclusion. You could argue Mick gets off scot-free given, again, he was a part of that bullying, but I guess by comparison, he's the best choice here. I mean, who else would Holly end up with, Kit? Now that would suck. 

This book is an easy recommend and one of my favorite Fear Street books that I've read in quite some time. Maybe it being such an early book helps, maybe Stine just had more fun with this, who knows? What I know is this continues the man's near-perfect track record in the field of "The camp book is the good one". Not a bad way to kick off a (Woo!) Party Summer. Lights Out gets an A. 

IT WAS ACCEPTABLE IN THE 90S: Kevin Bacon comparisons, Friday the 13th, Friday the 13th having eight movies only, Hey did we mention Kevin Bacon enough folks?