NNtG: Ghosts of Fear Street #28: Hide and Shriek II

Another detour into kid-friendly Shadyside and this time we got a sequel, which is already a red flag because most sequels with Stine's name on it are a cause for alarm. Thankfully this does have the same author as the original Hide and Shriek so maybe there's hope in building a solid sequel. Or I'm just going to feel like hiding from all these bad books eventually. But before we ponder doing just that, it's time we talk about Hide and Shriek II.

So this is the first cover to pivot to the CGI style along with the move over to Gold Key as the publisher. And oh yeah, that's some goofy looking 90s CG cheese. Everything looks like a pre-rendered background from a Donkey Kong Country knockoff. And then there's Pete the ghost, who I do like the design of. Very eerie with the blue-green glow to him. And it's a case where the CG colors and design actually help make him stand out much better. I'd have preferred the Broeck Steadman or Mark Garro or John Youssi art, but Jim Ludtke's attempt is still decent enough.

Miranda "Randy" Clay and her family move to Shadyside. On her first day at Shadyside Middle School, Randy learns that June 10th is the birthday of someone named Pete. She soon learns that Pete is the ghost of a boy who died in Fear Street Woods and every year he emerges from the grave to possess someone. So much so that he made a game out of it. Every year on his birthday, the students of Shadyside Middle School have to go to the woods and play hide and seek with Pete or else he'll haunt them. The first person Pete finds, he possesses. Randy at first believes that Pete possessed a boy named Lucas, only to find out it was another boy named David. She survives the night, but soon learns that Lucas was possessed by Pete after all. Randy runs to the cemetery and before Pete can possess her, spirits emerge from the cemetery and drag Pete down into the depths, seemingly for good. Or at least until a sequel can be milked. Speaking of which...

Becky Taybor is new to Shadyside Middle School. Moving in right around the end of May. She lives on, where else, Fear Street next to a boy named Max Fisher who mentions the previous owner was an old lady who would shoot spitballs at him before she died. Have to do something before YouTube existed I guess. Becky is being led around the school by a girl named Darcy Noonan and the two have lunch with Max and another girl named Mina Baird who is described as having straight black hair that covers her face mostly. I wonder if she can make force fields. Becky then notices a note mentioning June 10th, Pete's Birthday. She asks what it's about, but the other kids just brush her off for now since we're super early into the book.

After passing by Fear Street Cemetery and being scared by a dog, Becky returns home to see her younger sister Martha tying a key to a kite because she thinks she's the reincarnation of Benjamin Franklin. Again, gotta do something before YouTube. They also have sort of a code with one another, often using terms that Ben Franklin coined, which I assume is going to matter later given what the plot is about. They have dinner where Becky's dad, a scientist who moves a lot hence why Becky is going to a new school in May, also likes reading horoscopes and notes that Becky won't be feeling quite herself for a bit. Martha goes out in the storm to test her key kite, but screams, telling her family she saw someone staring at her and running away, to which her mom thinks was just Martha seeing things. Or, you know, you just moved to a new neighborhood and there might be creeps around who might try to kidnap your daughter, but you do you boo. Becky also sees someone, but her dad chalks it up to an animal and probably nobody important. I guess you'd only give a shit about stranger danger if it was your horoscope.

The next day at school, Becky inquires about Pete again and Max gives the backstory. Pete was a 12 year old kid who died on his twelfth birthday while playing hide and seek. Every year he rises from the grave and challenges the 12 year olds in Shadyside to a game of hide and seek. The first person he finds, he possesses. But Max is hopeful it won't happen this year given that Randy Clay defeated Pete the previous year. But the dour Mina says that she thinks Pete will be back and that he'll probably possess Becky. Becky at first laughs this off, thinking it's some weird elaborate gag, but Mina's words at least scare her enough to not be a complete moron I hope. Max notes that Mina's been weird since last summer. So either she's a red herring or this book made things pretty obvious. 

Becky heads home, but ends up running into the dog from the previous day. And I mean literally as she hits it with her bike. This book gets an enthusiastic thumbs up from R.L. Stine. She follows the dog into the cemetery where she suddenly gets grabbed by a hand rising from the grave and pulled down below. Becky wakes up, no idea of what happened other than she has a splitting headache. She returns home and crashes into Martha's bike and then gets mad at her for the whole Ben Franklin deal. She then mocks her dad's horoscopes and throws mashed potatoes at him before rushing off to bed. She heads to school the next day and Mina notices she seems stranger than usual. Everyone talks some more about Pete and if he'll actually be at the hide and seek this year, but Becky instead focuses on tripping Max who is carrying a pile of books. Reader beware, you're in for some pranking.

Becky again chews out her family before deciding to eat the fat off her mom's steak bone. She heads to her room and sees her Raggedy Ann doll torn apart. She blames Martha, but Martha says that she could hear Becky in her room the prior night going insane and likely ripping the doll herself. Becky doesn't believe that, but given her situation she's confused as to what she should believe. At school the next day, instead of eating an apple, Becky goes outside, finds a worm and chews it up meaning, you guessed it, this book has more worm eating than Go Eat Worms! All while Mina watches on in a very "either into this or just a creep" sort of way. Becky heads home while still feeling someone is watching her. She goes to sleep, but wakes up in the cemetery where Mina is again watching her, saying she's it before running off. So Becky begins to clue in. Mina said that Pete likes new kids and that Becky is "it"... so that means that Pete must have possessed Mina! *BUZZER SOUND* Ohhh, so close. You missed it by THAT much. But, you know, 60 pages left so we gotta pad.

The next day, Max tells Becky more about Pete and how he possessed a kid named David who started to act more strange and more evil after being possessed by Pete, and had him do things like go to the cemetery and eat worms, which is finally enough for Becky to start to wonder if maybe she's the one being possessed. That and man, for a dead kid, he doesn't have much scope for "things to do while possessing someone". That night, Becky tries a mantra to call for her true self, by saying her name over and over. Her parents tried that with Martha to try to knock out this weird Ben Franklin kick. But despite her best efforts, the voice in her head says that she's Pete. Sure enough, it's Pete in her head. The famous Pete at that. I don't know. I mean, evil ghost kid and all, you aren't the Pete of Pete's Pizza. Or maybe he is? Maybe one of the caveats in him not haunting people all year wasn't just the hide and seek game, but his own chain of pizza parlors? Oh, crap. New Fear Street headcanon. 

Pete tells Becky that this was his plan from the beginning. The dog that Becky had hit? It was possessed by Pete who lured her to the cemetery so that he could take over her mind. And despite Becky's pleas, he's not leaving until the hide and seek game where he'll possess someone else. At school she tries to warn the others, but each time she ends up falling face first into her lunch. The kids get a good laugh at it, despite never realizing, you know, you're already worried about Pete being anyone, or even being back at all, and yet you think a kid acting weird isn't at all suspect? Maybe you deserve to suffer the wrath of Pete. Pete then forces Becky into the school basement, grab a dead mouse and put it in Darcy's sandwich who eats a bite and screams. Pete forces Becky to laugh so all the kids just thinks she's a jerk and, AGAIN, not possibly Pete. Look, I get it. Dumb 12 year olds but come on. Oh, and Mina's staring at her again.

Becky returns home and snaps at Martha for a bit before realizing that if she can talk to Martha through the Ben Franklin code, maybe she'll get it. And, sure enough, Martha gets it. She then lures Becky/Pete into the bathroom where she puts Becky in an oil and perfume-filled tub then pulls out a spell book to remove spirits from the body. It works... technically. It did get a spirit out of Becky's body, but not Pete... Becky! Pete laughs and tells Becky that now she's double screwed. Because even when Pete possesses someone, that kid is still in their body after it's over. With Becky now out of the body, she won't be able to get back and her body will just be a husk. So, yeah. This was a foul-up and a half. Pete leaves and causes a ruckus while Martha asks Becky's spirit if they should try to lure Pete to the grave and send him back. Since Becky can't communicate verbally, she grabs Martha by the head and forces her to nod. So she technically has the Patrick Swayze Ghost powers. Cool.

Becky follows Pete and tickles him to the cemetery. Ghosts do come out to pull someone down, but it's again Becky because she's currently a ghost. She manages to escape. The next day, Pete does more gross and rude stuff while, of course, nobody clues in that, you know, Pete possessed Becky. So Becky starts to move things around, cause a food fight in the cafeteria. All for the kids to finally realize that Pete is back, oh but not Becky, the same Becky acting like Pete did in David's body, MAX, you remember saying that, right? No, she's just a jerk. May-maybe Pete's right to terrorize these idiots. 

The night arrives, Pete's big birthday. And he even decides what dress to wear when he finally strikes, both to rub it in when Becky loses access to her body for good and to slay, both fashion and otherwise. And, sure enough, the kids arrive for the game. Pete tries to attack different kids, but each time Becky keeps him from doing so. Pete soon finds Mina and is about to tag her, but Becky spots the dog from earlier and throws it in front of Pete. And because it was the creature Pete touched during the game, he ends up possessing the dog. Becky then manages to get back into her body and is relieved. She talks with Mina who we learn that her brother was once possessed by Pete, so the reason she was stalking Becky was because she was convinced that Pete would and eventually did possess her. So it's all good now. Except that Pete is a dog. 

Some time passes and everything is back to normal with Becky. She's no longer acting out or attacking anyone, and being the one to defeat Pete helped fix the reputation she's had. Suddenly, she hears something at the door. Pete, in dog form. Becky decides to keep Pete. With everyone knowing he's possessed the dog, nobody wants him. So Becky chooses to keep him and keep him in line instead of, you know, possessing anyone. Pete seems cool with it since he can eat dog food and worms till his heart's content. A very "well that was easy enough" feeling to this ending, huh folks?

Emily James returns for this book, which makes sense given she also wrote the first Hide and Shriek. And, compared to Stine at least, she actually seems to care about the events of the first book when bringing a sequel into play. This book doesn't feel like it deviates too far from what the first book did. Nor does it feel like a straight up rehash of the original book either. It's that rare fine line of doing just enough new while also making sure to honor the first effort. Compare this to Goosebumps and the Evan Ross Monster Blood era and you'll see what I mean by sequel with thought in mind versus sequel made for quota and money, continuity be damned. And there are things I like that this book does. I like the idea of doing the story from both the POV of a new character but also the one who'll be possessed by Pete. And with it being so early it feels like it even does a lot of this better than Fear Street did with similar possession tales. And we smartly escape from just having Becky possessed to have some ghost action as well, which also works. So yeah, it does a lot of things well. So why don't I like this one like I should then? 

I think that while the book does a good job continuing the story of Hide and Shriek, it stumbles big time in the plot department. Because I get you don't want to reveal that Pete possessed Becky before the big hide and seek game, but my god it just makes the kids all dense. Like, we build up the concern by these kids that Pete's birthday is coming up and, despite Randy defeating him last year, Pete could still return. The rumors of his demise being greatly exaggerated. So, why then do the kids not once think that Becky acting out might be Pete in her body? Like, Pete doesn't have that good of a poker face. It makes the moment of Max explaining what David went through when he was possessed by Pete come off as pointless when even he never puts two plus two together. I again get why this was done the way that it was, and you could again chalk it up as 12 year olds not using common sense, but it just felt like one of the more frustrating cases of idiot ball in any book. Honestly, if this was a possession story devoid of the superstition and the game, then I could buy it, but this does make the middle of the book suffer greatly in my eyes.

Becky is a decent protagonist, albeit nothing remarkable. Your basic POV into the events of the story. So basic that, again, her being possessed by Pete should be super obvious. Despite that, you still want her to succeed in getting her body back in the end. Pete gets more to do in this book than the last, which I do like as it does set up just how evil and twisted he is. Although honestly, if he just possessed a dog from the beginning and never tried to leave the dog, he'd have been much happier as the ending shows. But you wouldn't get a book if that happened. Martha's a decent younger sibling though I will say the Benjamin Franklin stuff is so weird that I kind of love it. Granted, it's just really here so Becky can use a code to communicate with her, but I just laugh at this little girl who thinks she's Ben Franklin. I just imagine her wearing the old timey suit and everything. So charming. And Mina works as a decent misdirect, even if it becomes way too obvious she's a red herring and nothing more. Max, Darcy and the other kids are Superfluous Clay, but less so because I guess they're needed to be pranked by Pete, but you could have it be any other kid and it wouldn't matter. Once Max is in on ignoring the possibility that Becky is Pete, I'll again say it feels like he just exists. 

So overall, I liked most of what this book has to offer. As a sequel book it's one that cares about the previous book just enough that it feels like a sequel. It has some decent horror and a fun climax, that is again very rushed. But I still really just hate the middle of this book just because it's a bad case of idiot ball for characters who, despite being kids, should know better or at least be able to suspect what's going on. But those frustrations aside, I'd still give it a recommend. It's a book that can't hide its flaws, but is still worth seeking out. Hide and Shriek II gets a B.