The Stinal Countdown: Fear Street: The New Boy

It's been a minute since we've covered creepy boys in Shadyside, and it appears that we're in for some more with this latest Fear Street blog. Although I'm curious. We've had a woman-hating maniac that snapped kitten necks, and a tradwife-obsessed maniac who hated impure women. Just saying the bar's already pretty high when it comes to bad boys in Shadyside. What can this guy do to up the ante? Let's see when we discuss The New Boy.

This cover is kind of bland. Creepy looking boy peering behind a door and our cover girl looking... well, not scared really. Kind of bored and annoyed. Kind of a "fuck, get the hint" kind of face. And maybe that's the big reason this one always felt like a backburner book for me to get around to. But given that most covers I like tend to betray me, this could be a good sign? Either way, it's certainly a cover from the book series Fear Street.

We cut to two weeks before a murder where we get our protagonist, Janie Simpson, kind of falling for the quiet, serious, yet athletic new boy in Shadyside High with the prettiest eyes. We also get maybe the record for the quickest past book references with Corky Corcoran and Kimmy Bass who were probably having some fun not having to deal with an evil spirit for, like, a week maybe. Janie is working with her friends Faith and Eve Muller as treasurers for the school dance. But when Janie shows up for work, neither of the other girls are there. Eve does show up and mentions Deena Martinson because we HAVE to remember she exists. Anyway she broke up with Gary Brandt, another reg. But the more pressing matter to Janie is that the money they raised for the dance appears to be missing. 

Eve says it must have been stolen, and given it's over a thousand dollars, that's not good news. Maybe that's on Shadyside High. Maybe it's not the smartest move to have three teenagers take care of a shit ton of money, but what do I know? But they find Faith who has the money intact, and Eve admits to having pulled a prank on Janie. Faith says she wasn't in on any pranking, so Eve just sucks then. But before Janie is done with Eve, they then see the titular new boy, and his arm is bleeding. He introduces himself as Ross Gabriel and that his arm got cut bad by an accident involving trying to help a girl get her bike free from a fence. And one of the wires of the fence went and slashed his arm pretty bad. Reader beware, you're in for a tetanus shot. 

Eve and Faith take Ross to the nurse while Janie takes the money to Mr. Hernandez, the Principal, all while being pissed that her friends are horning in on who she's into. Even though both have boyfriends, Eve with Ian Smith and Faith with Paul Gordon, who Faith notes has a cool car and is tall and a top jock and all the other accoutrements. Meanwhile Ian works two jobs in hopes to pay for college. But they chide Janie for being so quiet and unable to speak for herself which, yeah I can't blame them on that. Speaking of the boyfriends, both arrive and grab the dance money before Mr. Hernandez shows up and expels them all. But it's just a joke, see? Oh we are waist-deep into shitty Stine chapter stinger territory. After they talk with Principal Hernandez, they go and count the money and put it in a filing drawer, and go again to Principal Hernandez. However, when they go back to get the money, it's stolen for real!

Later, Janie heads to Faith's to talk about the stolen money, since she's now super upset about it, while also confused as to who could have taken it. Paul claims he and Ian are innocent, as are Faith and Eve. They then talk about Ross, who Paul remembers Ross playing for the New Brighton football team the previous year. He's a star player and has a bit of an arrogant attitude. Not exactly the characteristics of most of our killer villains, but still early. Paul leaves and Eve arrives as they engage in one of my FAVORITE Stine tropes, a contest to see who dates Ross first. They all accept, including Janie who is begrudgingly a part of this. They then blame her for stealing the money, which is another joke. If Goosebumps did anything wrong, it made Stine think he could keep doing this shitty chapter stingers ad nauseum.

At chemistry the next day, Janie becomes lab partner with Ross as Pam Dalby is out sick. Or maybe Reva stole her boyfriend again because there is absolute fucking precedent to that. Ross isn't much for laughing at jokes, but he is proficient in chemistry. Case in point a stink bomb he makes that pretty much stinks out the classroom. He also mentions that he likes to mess people up in a way that even Janie thinks sounds weird to blurt out. But we're too early to really see what he means by that. However, before she can ask Ross for a date, he spots some blonde girl staring at him, which makes him panic and run off. And then Eve calls later and says she got a date with Ross, thereby winning this bet. Well that was quick. I mean, fuck Ian I guess. Serves him right for... working two jobs to go to college? 

Janie talks with Faith as both are bummed that Eve won the bet. Faith then mentions that her parents are splitting up and that Paul sucks because he asked her for 300 bucks for a new transmission in a way that confirms that Paul only wanted to be with her because she's rich... maybe "and white"? But hey, at least Eve and Ross' date is going well. By which I mean he says he lives in Fear Street Woods and walks her into the woods at night in a totally unassuming manner. The next day, Ian calls Janie telling her that Eve's gone missing, and he already suspects she was dating someone behind his back. Janie heads to Eve's to which her mother mentions that nobody has seen Ross either since the previous night. She drives with Ian for a bit and the two head to Fear Street woods where they find Eve. Or, to be more precise, Eve's CORPSE! Skull cracked open and body lifeless. Also there's flies on her corpse and one goes in her mouth. Thank you Stine for that lovely image. 

The two call the cops who investigate the corpse, to which Ian then reveals to Janie that it was Eve who stole the money. Janie finds that hard to believe because Eve was so honest. I mean, she and Faith kept joking about stealing the money, why is this suddenly hard to buy? She also mentions that Eve was dating with Ross on the night of the murder, which obviously angers Ian who tries to kick Janie out of the car, but Janie throws the keys out of the car because even she knows that he's just going to do something reckless. Ian gets out of the car and Janie locks herself in as she watches cops go into the woods like flies on a body. Okay Stine, why the sudden fly obsession, my dude? But despite the search for Ross, he's nowhere to be found. Of course, it doesn't dawn on Janie that Ross may have killed Eve, mainly because we're like 58 pages deep into this 150 page book. 

Ian and Janie head to the police station and run into Ross, who is very much still alive, but claims he had to go to New Brighton and before he left Eve was totally still alive. Ian doesn't buy it because yeah no shit, while Janie is still worried. Janie talks with Faith who says she doesn't believe that Eve could have taken the money, thinking that Ian was lying about it. They talk about Ross possibly killing Eve, which is bad timing because Ross shows up, saying that he knows they already suspect him. He doesn't take that well and starts yelling at the girls saying that Eve told him about the money... the bet money that is and TOTALLY not the dance money and that after it was all said and done they'd split the winnings. Later, Janie talks with Paul, Faith and Ian, to which Ian suspects Ross did it, then Paul mentions getting a new transmission. He got the money from... a secret admirer for his birthday. Yeah, that's the ticket. 

Ross heads to Janie's to do French homework, but instead they head out for a drive, only for Ross' car to conveniently run out of gas at this exact moment. But he says that he just ran out of gas, and it's totally wasn't part of a plan to murder her, so Janie decides to trust Ross more, even if he hasn't exactly earned that so far. After filling the tank they drive to, where else, Fear Street, to which Ross shows her his old shack in the middle of the woods. They leave, Ross brings her home and the two kiss. After he leaves, Janie notices that his French textbook was still in her house, so she heads back to shack and tries to give it back. But living in the house is an old lady who has never heard of anyone named Ross Gabriel. 

But, despite everything so far matching up to Ross being the killer, Janie is still unwilling to believe it given her crush on him. And because we're at the halfway point until we get the reveal. Faith mentions that Janie doesn't know the real Ross Gabriel, but someone named Jordan Blye does. The blonde girl that caused Ross to make a run for it a while back. Jordan was in New Brighton with Ross before transferring. Before we get an answer, Paul says that Ross was arrested for murder. Must have been pretty quick because Ross is still in school. This angers Janie who decides to talk with Ross anyway. She mentions the old lady, to which Ross says that was his grandmother who isn't well in the head. But he was at the police station because the cops have since discovered that all of Eve's money, all of her family's money, has disappeared. But he totally didn't do it, and Janie believes him because she's very, very gullible. Also he tries to give her what Janie thinks is Eve's scarf, which he still has despite maybe that being important evidence and all, which is enough for Janie to run off in a panic, only to see Faith and Paul arguing over something.

Janie talks with Ian later as he's still having a hard time grasping Eve's death. She talks with Faith on the phone who is again about to tell us about Paul, but she gets another call. But she does invite Janie over. She goes to Faith's to find her, or to be prec-... wait already did that bit. Faith is also now dead. Head stabbed with a fire poker. She hears a voice telling her to leave, but before she can, Ian shows up and also sees that Faith is dead. The cops arrive and some time passes after Faith's funeral. There's also been no sign of Ross since. But Janie decides to straight up get her answers from Jordan. Jordan mentions that Ross Gabriel's real name was Robert Kingston. He changed his name to Ross on account of breaking up with his girlfriend, only replace "breaking up with" with "murdered."

See, Robert was dating a girl named Karen Anders. After she broke up with him, he lured her into the nearby woods and killed her. However, when questioned by the cops, he had an alibi. He also was just a bad egg in general, so now Janie pretty much realizes "oh crap, I'm dead". She heads home and after being accosted by a creep offering a ride, she runs into Ross, where she admits that she knows all about him. He claims he's innocent and wants to meet with her. So she suggests the mall later that night. She rushes home to call the cops, but the lines are down due to a convenient storm. Ross shows up, which causes Janie to panic, but he has her scarf. It wasn't Eve's but the one she was wearing during their date. He says that he didn't kill Karen. That he only found her body and that he was blamed for it. Janie doesn't believe it and makes a run for it with Ross following. 

Ross eventually catches up to her. He tackles her and tries to get her to tell him why she doesn't believe him about being innocent, which, maybe tackling her doesn't help your case. When car headlights suddenly can be seen, Ross makes another run for it. The next day at school, Ross again chases after Janie, only to get beaten up by Paul. After running off for a bit, Janie sneaks into a closet to avoid Ross, only to be attacked by a CORPS-It's just a mop. Okay, in fairness, given her fear, I'll allow this stinger. Later, Ian calls her, saying he has the proof that Ross was the killer. He takes her to Fear Street Woods and the spot where Eve was murdered with a baseball bat. A baseball bat that Ian was using because psyche! It wasn't Ross as the murderer, it was Ian the entire time.

See, Ian was the one who stole the dance money. And he believed that when Faith was talking with Janie about what Jordan mentioned, he was on the other line and misconstrued it into being about the whereabouts of the money. Eve knew about Ian stealing the money because he was desperate for anything to help him afford to get into college. That night, he went to Eve's house to give a bat to her little brother Marky, only to learn she was on a date with Ross. After Ross left, that's when he did the deed. But now that Janie knows, she has to die like Faith and Eve. But before he can swing for the fences with Janie's skull, Ross shows up... only to be smashed in the head with the bat. Ian goes to hit Janie, but she manages to dodge the swing and tackle him. She takes the bat and starts to choke Ian with it while Ross recovers. He takes over choking him while she goes to call the cops.

This book sure existed, huh? Not saying that because it's a bad book or anything. Nah. But the best way to describe The New Boy is copypasta. We've seen this concept done so many times before that it's hard to get excited by the end. Our mysterious boy wasn't evil and instead it was the more obvious jilted boyfriend, who did what he did for selfish reasons. This book feels like the generic outline of a Fear Street story. And because of that it lacks much to really feel memorable about it. It's a quota book in the purest form. But I will say I do like the misdirect in this book with Jordan. How her story about Ross doesn't turn out to be true because she either mistook Ross for another kid named Robert, or how the rumors and stories about Ross got so great that everyone believed it. The power of propaganda in its purest form.

Janie is an okay protagonist. She's as naive as most of our protagonist when it comes to the person she's into and whether they're evil or not. Though in this case, she was right to assume, but in the end, completely wrong. Ross is a decent character. I wish his chemistry skills mattered more outside of the stink bomb. Though I guess that would have more oomph were he the villain of the book, which he isn't. Eve and Faith are mainly here for the body count, Paul is really our most Superfluous Clay of the entire book, and Ian as the villain does make sense given his backstory involving needing the college money. I can also buy that he was the one who game Paul the money for the transmission, which means that Paul's alibi may have worked if Ian sent it anonymously. Hey, he's a murderer but he looks out for his pals. Though they should look out when he's holding a baseball bat.

So there isn't too much to say about this one. I'd still say it's a light recommend if it's one of your first Fear Street books as it does at least have a story that flows well and moves at a brisk pace. Though if it's like your fiftieth like with me, it's an easy skip. Save your money on something else. Maybe not a bat to murder people with though. The New Boy gets a B.