NNtG: Shivers #12: The Secret of Fern Island

Load up the chamber because it's time for another round of Shivers Russian Roulette. Named as such because most of my experience with the book series can vary from decent little book with nothing too wild to the bullet in the chamber, the batshit book where things go too wild for what's supposed to be a kids story. So we'll have to see what we're in for with this island hopping tome. Is it a secret worth checking out or is it better we just stay at home instead? Well, let's find out by learning about The Secret of Fern Island.

I like this cover. Another really incredible piece of atmosphere on a Shivers cover. And, as is tradition with these books, we have a skull on the cover right up front this time. I like how the skull is used this time, being a fiery image from inside a discarded lantern. Really ramps up the creep factor. And for a place called Fern Island don't you worry none, there are indeed plenty of ferns. Also a lighthouse which you might not focus on as it does blend in with the quaint starry sky. Shivers rarely lets me down on the cover department and this is a prime example as to why. 

Kenny and his friend Stephanie watch as a boy is fishing across the nearby bride on an island. The titular Fern Island. Named that way because at one point scientists were very interested in its vegetation, but so some unexplained reason (at least for now because we're just on the first few pages) the island is off-limits to everyone. But somehow there's a kid over there always holding a lantern.  Kenny really wants to cross the bridge and talk with the boy, see what exactly is so bad about the island, but his friend Stephanie thinks it's a bad idea and they'll get in trouble for it. But she ultimately relents and decides to go cross with Kenny the next day. Downside is that Stephanie has to bring her nine year old sister Becky and Becky's friend Brooksie. So if Kenny dies, he'll take three others with him?

They arrive at the bridge, which is rickety and about to collapse, a sign that it's been a long time since anyone visited the island. Stephanie is worried about taking the kids over, while Brooksie is mostly worried about getting in trouble, but Kenny and Becky both seem okay about it, especially after seeing the boy with the lantern again. Despite Becky almost falling off the bridge, the kids bike across and search for the boy. They eventually come across a lighthouse on the island where the boy rushes inside. They go in to find the boy, but only find his lantern. The place looks slightly lived in, and has a painting of a skeleton driving a ship that keeps flipping upside down. Okay, how was THAT not the cover? 

Kenny heads downstairs to check for the boy while the others find a secret room, but still no sign of the boy. Instead there's a phonograph that keeps playing the words "SWIM... YOU... CAN?" Kenny returns, noting a room full of bats downstairs, which feels moot compared to weirdo phonograph. Suddenly, the boy returns then vanishes as the phonograph says "DOWN... FALLING... IS... BRIDGE... ISLAND... FERN" over and over. Kenny goes to search again which gives Stephanie and the girls enough time to find some old newspapers that are almost in another language. One has a picture of a woman with a boy in one hand, a fishing pole in the other. The boy shows up again, still silent. Stephanie tries to touch him, but her hand goes right through. So yeah, they're in the home of a ghost. Great job there, Kenny. 

Stephanie and the girls rush out of the lighthouse and run into Kenny again. They're about to leave the lighthouse, but Becky forgot her shoes up in the lighthouse, so they have to go back. A very "Lucy left her rollerblades" moment if there ever was one. They go back up and the phonograph now says "FISHERMAN A KNOT IS HE", which Stephanie deciphers not as "knot" but as "not" and the message is coming in backwards. They hear loud banging sounds from downstairs to which Kenny notes that there was something other than just bats in the downstairs area. Stephanie deciphers that the other messages were "Can You Swim?" and "Fern Island Bride is Falling Down." She then notices the newspapers and realizes the words are backwards, not in another language. And the paper reported on a boy who died on the island while fishing. So easy guess what boy that might have been.

Seven year old Mike Taylor was fishing on the Fern Island bridge when it suddenly collapsed, causing the boy to disappear. His parents, Evelyn and former president James Taylor say that Mike never learned to swim so it looks bleak. Police never found Mike's body. Since then there was a sense of superstition that came with the Fern Island bridge. As if it had a mind of its own. As if it were some kind of evil bridge. So that's the reason that the island was off limits. Because I guess it wouldn't be in the budget to repair a bridge to a possibly haunted island. So it explains what the phonograph was saying. That the bridge collapsed and that the boy couldn't swim, though why it said he wasn't a fisherman hasn't been explained just yet. The phonograph says to not blow out the torch, but Becky does that. Which, you know, probably a bad idea.

The trio head downstairs and get attacked by bats. The front door is stuck, but they manage to break through and escape. However, they're now lost, unsure of where the road to the bridge is. They soon find the bridge, but suddenly Kenny begins to freak out, as someone calls his name. However, only he can hear it. As they cross, Kenny's bike gets caught and the bridge begins to fall apart. However, he manages to get free and the foursome make it across the bridge with no problem.

However, awaiting them on the other side of the bridge is the boy who asks them if they know how to swim. So, good work guys. You brought an evil spirit across the bridge. Or maybe he's just going to drown them and that's it. Is this a dark ending or a really dark ending?

You know what I like about this book? It doesn't waste too much time. It gets right into the story and never really deviates much. It uses all of its time to build up the tension and the horror, along with giving us bits and pieces of the mystery. Granted, it's a bit of a confusing end. So what is the boy's deal? He's not a fisherman, so that could mean that this ghost boy wasn't Mike, but rather the evil spirit that haunted the island. The spirit likely lured Mike to his death and used his body to lure victims over to the island to be killed. I will say I do feel the book dropped the ball a little with the ending, to the point that it just feels like that. An ending. Meant to illicit a super scary finish but kind of just exists. Though I guess it's implied that the ghost just killed the four of them by sending them falling off the bridge so again, it delivers enough of what it intends. 

So we got the "safe" chamber again, which is fine. Not every Shivers book needs to be a massive gore fest or, thankfully, not a book about forgiving genocide. It's just a scary book with a scary setting with lots of little scares and a decent little mystery. Even the backwards words work in adding a freaky tension to the whole situation. One that you would definitely not want to stick around for. Though honestly the biggest eye roll moment was having the kids leave the lighthouse but return because Becky left her shoes in the lighthouse for some reason. Eh, I can chalk it up to dumb kid syndrome, but it does feel like the only real case of forced padding in an otherwise well packed book. Also I do wish the whole "scientists used to study the island" thing mattered at all. But that's just chicken feed.

While you could say Kenny's the protagonist, he's really not. It's more Stephanie. She's the one more heavily involved in the mystery (against her will but still) and feels like she gets more focus over Kenny who keeps disappearing in the story. Becky and Brooksie are fine little kid characters, though honestly if Brooksie was the only one it would have worked just as fine. Becky wins the Superfluous Clay award for the book. And I like the idea of the ghost of the island even if we don't get too much of an answer as to what's going on. That our titular secret of Fern Island still feels super secret. But then again not every horror story has to spell everything out for you to still work.

And this book, flaws aside, does work very well, giving us one of the better paced horror stories we've gotten in any of these books. A heavier focus on tension and freaky moments make this flow so well. You could argue if the twist does or does not work all too well, but I think it's an okay enough way to end us out. So in the end, this is another decent Safe Shivers and is worthy of a recommend. Quick to pick up and finish and just as easy to make a blog out of. Sometimes that's all I ask for. The Secret of Fern Island gets a B+.