Tagline: When you’re playing with fire, someone is bound to get burned….
Back tagline: It was just a game…
Summary: The first fire started almost by accident. A wastebasket fire in the school library. Jill Franks and her friends found it exciting. And it got them out of school for a few hours.
Who could have guessed that the fire game would quickly spread? That one fire would lead to another? That Jill, and Andrea, and Diane, and the three boys they hung out with would find themselves caught up in the most dangerous—and deadly—game of all?
When one of their fires ends in murder, the game ends—and the real terror begins. All of them realize that someone is playing the game for keeps. Now Jill has no choice. She knows she must find the murderer—before her life goes up in flames!
First impressions: Not the most intriguing plot to be honest, but it seems unique enough to be interesting! Lighting fires with friends isn’t my idea of fun so I’m not sure what to expect from this friend group, but I have a feeling one of the guys will be super obnoxious! It’s a decent-sized group of friends, so maybe we’ll even get some some deaths! Fingers crossed!
On the cover we’ve got an attractive young couple, presumably Jill and whoever her love interest is, running from a fire they probably lit. It’s quite simple, but I like it. It’s very dark and broody thanks to the colour scheme.
Will Jill’s life go up in flames like the building behind her? Let’s find out!
Recap
Roll call:
Jill — Our heroine who’s in two minds about the fire game.
Andrea — The best friend who’s very into the fire game…and Gabe.
Diane — Jill’s shy, sweet friend who isn’t a fan of flames.
Nick — Jill’s friend who also isn’t too fond of the fire game.
Max — The chubby friend who enjoys the fire game.
Gabe — The obnoxious firebug and Jill’s love interest.
The book begins with our heroine, Jill Franks, studying in the library with her friends, Andrea Hubbard and Diane Hamilton. Well, Diane is studying, and the other two are mucking around; Diane’s worried about the geography test later this afternoon, particularly because they didn’t study geography at her old school. She transferred to Shadyside High at the start of the semester and met Jill and Andrea when she joined the gymnastics team, and the three hit it off right away despite Diane being so different from the others; Jill’s tall and slim with thick black hair and a bubbly personality, Andrea’s volatile and unserious with a muscular body and boy-short red hair, and brown-haired Diane’s calm, shy and petite. [Do best friends in Shadyside ever have the same hair colour?] She’s also the sweetest person Jill’s ever known, always ready with a compliment or words of encouragement.
Anyway, Andrea’s not too fussed about her grades as long as they’re good enough to keep her sports eligibility, and Jill’s sure Andrea’s grades won’t matter after she wins the upcoming state gymnastics championships. There’s 13 finalists, and all three girls believe Andrea’s got a shot at winning; Diane’s never seen anyone as good as Andrea on the floor routine! Speaking of the floor routine, Andrea needs help picking the music she’ll perform to, dismissing Jill’s suggestion of Bolero because it’s so overused. Diane proposes original music and suggests that her friend Gabe Miller, who plays guitar and writes songs, could come up with something. His father has just transferred to Shadyside for work, and Gabe and his mother should be arriving from Center City sometime over the next few days. Diane describes him as good-looking, with the greenest eyes you’ve ever seen, but he’s not like other boys — ‘”He’s—well, a little wild and kind of funny and sweet all at the same time. I’ve known him practically my whole life, and I never have any idea what he’s going to do.”‘
Gabe’s a little worried about moving to a small town after living in the city his whole life, but Andrea’s sure the girls can make things interesting. They’ll just need to keep him away from Nick Malone and Max Bogner, the two boys the girls have hung out with since the past summer. They’re nice boys, but according to Jill, exciting is the last word anyone would use to describe them. They both have a crush on Jill, too, but she’s not interested; if Gabe’s as great as Diane says, maybe Jill will find a connection with him!
Speaking of skinny, tall Nick and plump, red-faced Max, here they are now, pretending to be vampires because they watched some old horror movies last night. They particularly enjoyed The Torch, about a man who can shoot fire from his fingertips who comes across a bad guy with the same power, ‘”and pretty soon they’re having these big fire duels.”‘ The boys then demonstrate, whipping out their own disposable lighters and swiping the flames at each other. Jill and Andrea laugh along with them, but Diane tells them to stop. Jill notices the fear in her friend’s face [She must have had a bad experience in the past!] and tells the boys to cut it out, but Andrea urges them on, joking that they can start a fire and get the geography quiz cancelled. The boys keep it up, and Nick eventually holds a folder in the air, bringing the flame close before pulling it away. Diane shrieks, and everyone turns to look at her, including Nick, who accidentally sets the folder on fire while distracted.
Diane runs for her life, and Andrea grabs the folder, shaking it to kill the flames. Jill scolds the boys before leaving with Andrea to check on Diane, who they find trembling and breathing heavily by an open window. She confesses that she hates fire, [This is not the book to be in then, Diane! But wait, what if she’s the bad guy and is using fire to kill the others as revenge for them playing with fire when she’s scared? There’s nothing like revenge to help overcome your fears!] and Andrea politely accuses her of overreacting. Diane agrees and apologises, assuring them she’s fine now, but Jill can’t help but notice she still looks terrified…
A few minutes later, Jill’s in algebra thinking about Diane’s reaction and a possible new love interest in Gabe instead of doing her work. Suddenly, smoke appears outside the classroom window and the fire alarm goes off, followed by the principal’s voice over the intercom ordering all fire monitors to the stations. The school evacuates as firefighters arrive. A boy named Terry Ryan points out that the fire is coming from the library, and Jill raises her eyes to the second floor where smoke is billowing out of the library windows. Jill immediately realises what happened, and her theory is confirmed when two firefighters exit the building dragging a large, charred trash basket, smoke still rising from the blackened rubbish inside… the same trash basket Andrea had dropped the burnt folder into.
Later, Jill, Andrea, Diane, Nick and Max are at Pete’s Pizza when Gabe arrives. Diane’s happy to see him, and Jill’s reminded of how pretty she is when she smiles. [So is she fugly when she’s not smiling?] Gabe’s as hot as Diane had said, with his bottle-green eyes and muscular build. Jill’s and Gabe’s eyes linger on each other for several seconds and as Diane introduces him to everyone, Jill senses from the ‘ironic half smile on his lips’ that he doesn’t want to be there. It’s obvious Gabe is a super-cool bad boy when instead of sitting in a chair normally, he turns it around so the back is at the table and straddles it, facing the others. Gabe shows no interest in conversing with the group, giving simple, short answers until today’s fire is brought up. He tells the others it takes real guts to set a fire deliberately, and when asked if he’s done that, he shrugs with that strange smile on his face. The strange smile that Stine has mentioned basically every other sentence. [We get it, Stine] Jill wonders if he is a firestarter and is confused by how excited her friends look. Except for Diane that is, who’s shaking her head at Gabe as if sending him a message. Does Diane know something about Gabe she wants to keep hidden from the others? [Was whatever traumatised Diane when it comes to fires caused by Gabe? Maybe someone died, or was badly injured! Maybe Diane was injured, and hides scars under makeup or something?!]
It’s lunchtime on Friday now, and the gang is in the cafeteria enjoying pizza. Especially Nick, who purchases six slices to the shock of everyone else, and he jokes that it’s all he could afford. [Hahahahaha I like him!] Max, on the other hand, is picking sadly at a salad, wanting to lose weight which Nick teases is so he can look more like Gabe. Andrea joins in the banter, but Diane steps in to defend Max, happy for his health journey. Gabe arrives and insults Shadyside’s pizza, going so far as to call Pete’s Pizza second-rate. [The nerve!] He also complains about how boring Shadyside is and is pretty rude when the others point out all the fun things the town has to offer. [He’s actually insufferable, I hate him]
They capture his interest when they mention Fear Street, and Diane suggests they visit her family’s cabin on the lake in the Fear Street Woods this weekend, but Gabe’s promised his parents he’ll help unpack all weekend. Max wishes they could get the afternoon off, and Gabe suggests they start a fire so classes will be cancelled, whipping out a disposable lighter. Everyone jokes around for a bit until it becomes clear Gabe is serious. Diane isn’t interested in all this fire talk [Why are they doing it out in the open in the cafeteria where a bunch of people can overhear????] and leaves to go study, while Gabe insists it will be easy to start one in the boys’ bathrooms, since no-one has entered or exited in the last 15 minutes. Gabe wants Max to start the fire since it was his idea to get the afternoon off in the first place, and Max eventually takes the lighter and heads into the bathroom. The bell rings and as the cafeteria starts to clear out, there’s a whoosh and an explosion as the boys’ bathroom door is brown off its hinges — ‘an instant later bright orange flames shot into the cafeteria.’
The group flee the cafeteria along with the other students, but are unsure if Max was still in the bathroom at the time of the explosion. To their relief, he finds them outside the school, and Diane arrives shortly after. Max explains that he only lit some paper in the waste basket, but there was a bottle of cleaning solution next to it that must have caused the explosion; luckily he was already out by then. Police come and question some of the students that had been in the cafeteria, but no-one had seen anything unusual, and classes are ultimately cancelled for the rest of the day due to the damage.
Cut to the gang at the lake, [How much school did they even have left if the fire was at lunch? Like, couldn’t they have just waited to go to the lake?] and everyone’s dressed for swimming except for Diane, who’s wearing a long sleeve top and jeans. [Yep, she’s definitely got scars on her body somewhere. Stine hasn’t mentioned her clothes before now so I’m not sure if she’s always fully covered, or if she just wants to hide her torso] She’s happy for everyone else to go swimming though, and reminds them she’s allergic to the sun. [It’s not clear if she’s making a joke or if she’s really told them she has this allergy] But first, Gabe wants to check out Diane’s cabin. From the outside it looks old and rustic, but the inside is modern and sleek due to renovations, which are yet to be completed. Diane’s father, who teaches metal sculpture at junior college, plans on using the cabin as his workshop on weekends, so his workbench and blowtorch are here, which will no doubt be relevant at some point.
Later, out on the lake, Jill only lasts a few minutes in the icy water before joining Diane on the dock. Andrea joins them soon after, explaining that Nick and Gabe are going to have a race. Her money’s on Gabe while Jill’s backing Nick, a strong swimmer. As the girls watch the race, Andrea explains she’d been talking to Gabe about writing some music for her gymnastics routine, and he agreed to come watch her practice for some inspiration. It’s clear she likes him, but she wants to make sure that Diane is fine with her pursuing him. Diane insists they’re just friends, but Jill can tell she’s uncomfortable by the conversation. The boys return to the dock and Nick, who’d been in the lead for most of the race, explains he’d slowed down because of a cramp, then gets salty when Gabe, who ended up winning, teases him for making excuses.
After a hot dog dinner, Diane retrieves an old, battered guitar from the cabin and asks Gabe to play something. It was Gabe’s first guitar that he’d passed on to Diane a long time ago, and while she never learned to play it, her dad likes to use it from time to time. As the group sing along with Gabe, who’s really good by the way, Jill decides Gabe is a good addition to the group as he’s helping them break their normal routines and patterns.
Nick realises he needs to get the car back home soon, so the group start packing up. Diane instructs them to make sure no rubbish is left behind and to make sure the candles they set up are completely out, and Nick and Jill joke that they shouldn’t leave that to Andrea or Max, since they’d caused both fires at school. Gabe questions what’s so bad about a little fire, then holds his hand over a candle flame, his expression unbothered, as the others watch in horror.
It’s Tuesday evening now and Jill, Andrea and Diane are at the Division Street Mall for the weekly sales. As they roam around, Andrea bangs on about Gabe, asking Diane question after question as if she’s an encyclopaedia on the guy. We learn that they lived next door to each other when they were little and went to the same kindergarten, and Gabe was always getting into trouble. His mother thought Diane was a good influence on him, although no-one could stop Gabe from doing what he wanted. Jill, who’s both interested in Gabe and troubled by his behaviour, mentions how weird it was that he stuck his hand over the candle flame. Andrea absolutely frothed it, and thought Nick and Max were going to die of jealousy. [What’s to be jealous about? I’m with Jill; it’s weird and not impressive] Andrea asks if Gabe’s ever done something like that before, and Diane simply replies ‘”Not exactly like that”‘ before changing the subject to the shop she wants to visit. Jill suspects once again there’s something Diane doesn’t want them to know about their new friend.
While Diane hunts for a new top, Jill looks at scarves for her mother, who’s birthday is coming up. Suddenly, she hears Diane shrieking at someone to go away and leave her alone. Jill rushes to the back of the store where the change rooms are and bumps into Andrea, who was the one Diane had yelled at; Andrea had thought she was entering an empty dressing room, but Diane was inside. [Yep, her body is definitely covered in burns. I suppose she’ll also be the bad guy, getting revenge on her friends for continuously playing with fire despite her warnings. This could be the quickest I’ve ever solved the mystery (if I’m right)!] Diane wasn’t even undressed yet, she was just unbuttoning her shirt. They both know Diane’s modest because she gets changed in the stalls for PE class at school, but her reaction seems wild to Andrea. Jill wants to check on her, but Andrea tells her to wait for Diane to come out, then finds another change room. A short time later, Andrea and Diane return and Diane apologises, explaining she had been lost in thought and didn’t recognise Andrea straight away:
“Didn’t recognise me?” said Andrea in disbelief. “Who’d you think I was? Freddy Krueger?”
“I was thinking about something else,” Diane said. “I wasn’t expecting anyone to come in.”
“Well, no problem,” said Jill. But she wasn’t sure about it. Diane still looked upset, and despite her sarcasm, Andrea seemed bothered by the incident.
Jill remembered the sound of Diane’s scream—the sheer terror in it.
Andrea must have done—or said—something to have frightened Diane so badly, whether she realized it or not.
But what?
That night as Jill gets ready for bed, Gabe calls and asks her out for Saturday night. Jill’s hesitant at first, and he wonders if she’s worried he’ll do something crazy. He assures her he never does anything without a good reason, but refuses to explain further — ”The things you don’t know can’t hurt you.”‘ Jill eventually agrees and after the call ends, she finds herself with conflicted feelings. On the one hand she’s excited because she’d been attracted to him since they’d met, but on the other hand she’s nervous about what Andrea will think, since she’s made it very clear she’s interested. And not only that, but Gabe is so unpredictable — what did he mean when he said he doesn’t do anything without a good reason? Or what she doesn’t know can’t hurt her? What is he hiding, and how could it hurt her?!?!
Later that week, the six friends are cruising around in Nick’s dad’s car, which conveniently has three seats in both the front and back so they all can fit. Gabe wants to see Fear Street, but is disappointed when it seems to be just like any other street in town. The others point out Simon Fear’s burnt out mansion and tell him some of the strange and awful things that have happened here, such as 6 skeletons being found in the basement of a Fear Street home two years ago, [This sounds familiar but I don’t think it occurred in any of the 10 books before this] a house burning down on Halloween last year and almost killing a punch of party guests inside, [Halloween Party!] some girls nearly getting murdered by a guy with a chainsaw, [The Wrong Number!] and a girl who’s parents disappeared. [A reference to Missing I assume, although I haven’t read that one myself yet]
Gabe’s not really picking up what they’re putting down until Max suggests they visit the cemetery, where it’s rumoured the undead rise from their graves and roam the woods at night. So the gang explores the cemetery, but as usual the conversation quickly turns to fire, and Gabe nominates Nick to start the next one. Max agrees that it’s Nick’s turn, but Nick isn’t interested because ‘”Setting fires is stupid and dangerous.”‘ [Yes, but you didn’t seem to mind until now!] Jill, who doesn’t want the situation to escalate to another fire, complains about the cold and suggests they leave, but Max and Gabe continue to try and sway Nick. Nick stands his ground because he knows he doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone, even when Gabe accuses him of being too scared. [Nick’s the number one guy in the group for me!]
Gabe decides he’ll do it himself and sets his sights on an olde caretaker’s shack that Max points out. Jill asks Gabe not to, still wanting to leave, but he assures her a little fire won’t hurt anything. Besides, it looks like the shack hasn’t been used in years; ‘”I’d probably be doing the town a favor but getting rid of it.”‘ The shack is filled with old sticks and rags, which Gabe notes should burn great as he pushes the debris into a pile. Jill glances at the others as he whips out his lighter; Max and Andrea’s eyes are sparkling excitedly and while Diane’s are shining too, Jill isn’t sure if it’s with fear or excitement. [Obviously fear, based on her previous reactions, Jill. Let’s use our brains!] Nick’s scowling, and Jill herself isn’t sure what to feel; she agrees with Nick that it’s stupid and dangerous, but she’s also waiting eagerly to see if Gabe will really do it! Of course he does, and the debris lights up quickly.
The group rush back to the car and watch the shack light up from afar. Jill now thinks it’s not a big deal since no-one was hurt and the shack was basically useless, and even Diane seems relaxed about it. Nick’s the only one who seems bothered, but a siren begins to wail in the distance before Jill can check on him. As they drive away, Gabe throws a few jabs at Nick about being careful, and Nick ignores him [I wish I had Nick’s strength] while Jill makes a note to herself to tell Gabe to back off on their date on Saturday. [Why not just stick up for him now?]
Nick pulls over to let the fire trucks pass, and Andrea flirts haaaaaaaard with Gabe, kissing a scrape on his hand that he’d gotten while piling up the leaves and rags. Jill’s never seen her like this — ‘it was as if the fires brought out a side of her no one knew existed.’ [Do we have a pyrophile on our hands?] What would she say if she knew Gabe had asked Jill out? Andrea huskily asks Gabe to come watch her gymnastics routine on Saturday night, but he tells her he has plans and they lock in Thursday instead. Not long after, Gabe and Andrea are making out in the backseat.
On Friday night, Andrea hosts the girls for a sleepover and shows off the early birthday present her dad has given her — a laptop and printer! Andrea brags that it has lots of power, ‘”can do calculations and play games, and it’s got a word processor. Dad thinks it will help me with my grades.”‘ Diane’s eager to see the printer in action and suggests Andrea type up a poem. After thinking for a moment, Andrea types something out and soon they’re all looking at a short poem, printed in blue ink [Which I’m sure will be relevant at some point] because her father grabbed that colour cartridge up by mistake: ‘I hope you won’t think I’m a liar, But I love it when Gabe plays with fire.’
Diane questions the poem, warning that the whole fire stuff is a bigger deal than Andrea or Jill realise and there was an article in the paper today about the recent string of arsons. There’s no suspects yet, and Andrea’s practically orgasming over it. Diane snaps that it’s not a game like Andrea and Gabe seem to think it is, and someone could get in real trouble, or even hurt. Andrea genuinely doesn’t seem to see the harm in the fires and doesn’t plan on letting Diane dictate what the group can and can’t do — ‘”just because sweet little Diane doesn’t like fire, the rest of us have to stop having fun?”‘ Jill, although somewhat excited by the fire stuff as well, knows Diane’s right and wants to tell the boys they need to stop, but Andrea’s still not sure.
The phone rings, and Jill answers because Andrea’s preoccupied painting her nails. To Jill’s horror, it’s Inspector Lindsay from the Shadyside Fire Department, wanting to ask Andrea some questions about a suspected case of arson! Jill quickly realises it’s just Max and Nick pranking them and soon hangs up. Andrea finally seems to understand the seriousness of their fire game and agrees they should cool it for a while, especially now that the police are investigating the fires. Diane hugs them both gratefully then hurries to the bathroom with her overnight bag, and Andrea tells Jill she didn’t realise how strongly Diane felt about fire. [Really? It’s basically her main personality train at this point] She finds it weird that Diane and Gabe are such good friends when they’re so different. Speaking of Gabe, Jill decides to tell Andrea about their date tomorrow night. Andrea’s surprisingly not at all upset, and with a cheeky smile advises Jill she plans on working on a lot more than her routine music with Gabe next Thursday. She wants Jill to have a good time on the date but warns she won’t be backing off, so may the best woman win…
It’s date night now and after going to see a film, Gabe and Jill are at a park while he plays his guitar, singing a slow, sad song. Jill’s had a great time tonight, and soon they’re smooching. It’s starting to get late, so they start heading back to Gabe’s car, which is parked a few blocks away by Pete’s Pizza. Jill tells Gabe she and the other girls want the fire game to stop, but he easily convinces her it’s all in good fun and they’re just overreacting. [Jill, please] They notice a crowd of people as they near Pete’s, and Gabe quickly realises his car is on fire. Jill manages to hold him back before the flames reach the gas tank, and the car explodes with a deafening roar.
Later, once emergency services have been called and the fire is out, Gabe learns that the firemen suspect arson. He’s super pissed, especially because the car belongs to his dad and was only purchased a few months ago. Jill wonders why someone would light the car on fire, but Gabe is sure that someone’s jealous, and he has some ideas as to who it may be… [He probably suspects Nick, who doesn’t seem as fond of Gabe as everyone else. But at this point I’m 100% sure he’s a red herring and Diane’s responsible. She’s fighting fire with fire, so to speak!]
At home later, Jill’s decided she suspects Nick of setting Gabe’s car ablaze since Gabe is always banging on about how it’s Nick’s turn to light a fire. He has a crush on Jill too, but would he really do such a thing out of jealousy? She absolutely has to know right now and gives Nick a call even though it’s after midnight. She immediately accuses him and, of course, he denies it since he was home all night watching both versions of The Fly. He angrily hangs up when she doesn’t back down, and Jill decides to call Andrea next. She tells Andrea about Gabe’s car and that she thinks Nick is responsible, and Andrea suggests the game will stop now that each boy has supposedly lit a fire. [It won’t stop, because now it’s the girls’ turn!] Andrea wants to know more about the date, and Jill admits it was nicer than she’d expected, but the fire ruined it. Andrea hopes to have better luck with Gabe on Thursday night, and Jill finds herself feeling sad as the conversation ends and she climbs into bed. What will happen on his date with Andrea? Will he play her the same songs? Will he hold her hand and kiss her like he did Jill?
Jill falls asleep and has a very vivid nightmare about her house being on fire. She investigates in the dream and discovers the fire started in the oven, where she finds her cat, Mittsy, burned to a crisp. [Oof] After waking up in horror, she’s even more determined to put a stop to the fire game.
A few nights later, Jill heads to Nick’s house for help with algebra; he’d noticed her struggling with it in study hall earlier today and invited her over to teach her some tips and tricks. It was the first time he’d spoken to her since hanging up on her the other night, and Jill’s feeling optimistic as she reaches his house, not only about the algebra, but about getting him to promise to not light any more fires. [He hasn’t even lit one, you dingbat! It’s definitely not going to go well if you accuse him of torching Gabe’s car again]
As she’s about to turn into Nick’s driveway, she spots Nick backing his dad’s car out, with Max in the passenger seat. Did Nick forget their study date, or was he playing a mean trick on her? She decides to follow, but loses them when they turn down Fear Street and her car shudders to a stop. The engine refuses to start, and she starts to panic as she recalls all the horrible stories about Fear Street. The panic turns to pure fear when she spots a figure approaching her car in the darkness, but it’s just a police office, who helps her get the car working again before heading off. Jill continues down Fear Street and eventually finds the boys’ car parked in the yard of a rundown, deserted house at the edge of the woods. Before she can head inside to confront the boys, the house suddenly bursts into flames, and Nick and Max flee the house and speed off in the car. [Surely they didn’t start this fire… if so, it’s pretty dumb of them to park right out front of it lol]
Jill heads to the fire box on Old Mill Road and pulls the fire alarm, then drives around aimlessly for a while before heading home. She turns on the TV in her room and soon the news comes on, revealing there’s been a fatal fire in Shadyside. To Jill’s horror, footage shows the same house she’d watched Max and Nick fleeing earlier. The reporter explains that a homeless man was found unconscious on the front porch when firefighters arrived but he could not be saved, the victim of a heart attack. [Not the fire itself, or even smoke inhalation? Boring. Is Stine too afraid to make the main group of friends killers?] Jill deduces that the homeless man must have been living in the deserted house, and the fire had caused his death, even if it was indirectly. Which means Max and Nick are murderers… and she’s a witness.
Jill calls Nick to question his whereabouts tonight, and he lies that Max got last minute tickets to a basketball game in Waynesbridge, claiming he’d tried to phone Jill but her line was busy. Jill lets him know she actually saw him on Fear street and knows he and Max started a fire in the house. He continues to deny being there until she tells him about the news report, and he’s shocked to learn someone died. He admits they were at the house, but they didn’t start the fire, and Jill senses he’s telling the truth but demands to know why they were there:
“Just before you were supposed to come over and study,” Nick said, “someone knocked on the front door. When I opened it, no one was there. Instead there was a note. It was addressed to me, and it said to come to the house on Fear Street for some real action.”
“Who was it from?”
“It wasn’t signed,” said Nick. “and then about five minutes later, Max came over. Someone had left the exact same note at his house. We both thought it wads so weird we decided to check it out right away.”
[I wonder if Diane knew the homeless man was inside when she lit the fire? Is she so blinded by her quest to stop the fire games that she doesn’t care about committing more serious crimes?] Jill promises to talk to the others so they can all work out what to do together, and after hanging up she realises the only person who could have started this fire is Gabe. Was this his way of getting revenge against Nick for the car fire? She doesn’t want to believe he’d be that vengeful, and decides there must be another answer. She tries to call Andrea but the line is busy, so Diane’s next up instead. Diane had seen the news and quickly realises one of her friends was responsible, and Jill fills her in on what Nick had said and her theory that Gabe may be responsible. Diane doesn’t want to believe it about Gabe and reminds Jill she’d known the fire game was a bad idea from the start. They have to put a stop to it right now! And she means literally right now! She plans to pick Jill up in 10 minutes so they can go to Nick’s, then they’ll go to Max’s next.
Max is at Nick’s place when the girls arrive, having been summoned by Nick earlier after Jill’s phone call. Nick shows the girl the note, and they’re surprised to see that it was printed on a computer…in blue ink.
[You can’t fool me Diane, I know you’re trying to frame Andrea!!!] The boys hadn’t seen anyone else at the house, although they did hear a thumping sound shortly before the fire started. The girls head off and decide to pay Andrea a visit, hoping there’s some other explanation about the note. Diane gets straight into accusing Andrea of sending the notes, but Andrea has no idea what she’s talking about. Jill fills her in on the events of the night, and Andrea is absolutely fuming that her friends would ever think she’s responsible. She accuses Jill of being jealous and trying to get her in trouble so she can’t go out with Gabe, and swiftly kicks the girls out. Jill doesn’t want to believe Andrea is to blame, but she does, and she can tell Diane does too.
Andrea calls Jill just after 3am and reiterates that she had nothing to do with the fire, but she thinks she’s got it all figured out. She wants to think about it more before revealing anything to Jill, so asks her to meet her in the gym before classes tomorrow. Jill agrees and tries to get more information, but all Andrea will say is that it has something to do with Gabe… [Well, I guess Jill will be finding Andrea’s corpse in the gym tomorrow! Should have just said it over the phone, Andrea!]
Jill walks to school early the following day and heads straight to the gym, where Andrea is known to practice gymnastics before school. She practices so often, she even has her own key! The gym seems empty, so Jill checks the locker room, where she finds Diane. Apparently Diane also got a call from Andrea in the middle of the night, and Andrea had apologised for blowing up at her and asked Diane to come spot her this morning while she practiced. They wonder if Andrea slept in, but Jill notices her gym locker is open, so she must be around somewhere. They go back to the gym, and Jill decides to practice her own routine while they wait. That’s when Jill discovers Andrea next to the balance beam, pale-faced with her arms twisted beneath her, a nasty bruise forming on her head. Jill’s relieved to detect a heartbeat, and Diane rushes off to summon an ambulance.
A short time later, Andrea’s taken away and it’s assumed by the paramedics and faculty that she’d lost her balance on the beam. Jill’s not so sure because Andrea’s way too experienced to try a difficult routine without a spotter, and Diane suggests Andrea may have wanted to fall:
“I don’t mean consciously,” said Diane. “But maybe deep inside, Andrea felt guilty about the fire. Maybe this was some sort of unconscious way for her to punish herself.”
“That’s too deep for me,” said Jill. “Andrea’s not like that, and you know she isn’t. She’s the most straightforward person we know.”
“Guilt does strange things to people,” Diane said. “It can muddle their thinking, Jill. It can make them do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do.”
[Speaking from experience, Diane? I know you’re responsible!]
Jill’s sure what happened to Andrea wasn’t an accident and vows to find out the truth. What she doesn’t tell Diane is that she suspects Gabe, since Andrea had said the fire had something to do with him. If he was responsible and then found out Andrea was on to him, could he have done something to keep her quiet?
Later that day, Jill calls an emergency meeting at Diane’s house and explains to everyone that she thinks Andrea’s accident and the Fear Street fire are related. Diane argues her guilt theory again and insists Andrea’s to blame for it all, but Nick argues that Andrea can’t be the only person in town with a blue ink cartridge. He suspects Gabe, but Jill proposes that someone outside the group may have found out about the fire game and is using it against them for some reason. Gabe calls them all pathetic and thinks it’s clear they all enjoyed the fire game since it was the most excitement any of them have had in a long time — ‘”The Fear street fire, the notes—it’s obvious who did it. It had to be one of us.”‘ [I’m with Gabe, and it’s definitely Diane]
The meeting is cut short when everyone starts throwing out accusations at each other, and Gabe gives Jill a lift home where they discuss her theory. He thinks Jill wants a stranger to be behind everything since it’s easier than believing one of her friends is responsible, and that’s something he can get behind — ‘”No one wants to believe something bad about someone they care about.”‘ He says it so seriously that Jill thinks he knows more than he’s letting on, but when she asks who he suspects, he only tells her he’s not ready to make an accusation. Things get more confusing for Jill when he says things would have been better if he never came here. He won’t elaborate further and simply tells her he has a feeling the fires are over and she should forget about the one on Fear Street — ‘”If you keep investigating, you might find out that you’re really playing with fire, in more ways than one.”‘ Jill doesn’t know if this is a warning or a threat and wonders if it’s his way of saying he’s responsible for the fires, but won’t set anymore.
At Jill’s house, he walks her to the front door and asks her out for tomorrow night. Jill’s unsure, mostly because of whatever he’s got going on with Andrea, but he insists making out with Andrea in the car didn’t mean anything. Andrea had been all over him, and he just went with it. Jill agrees to the date and Gabe heads home. A short time later, there’s a knock at the door, and Jill’s nervous to find two detectives on her porch!
Detectives Frazier and Monroe [Who we met in The Wrong Number! Wow, this is the first time I can recall any kind of continuity with Fear Street adults!] want to ask her some questions about a fire on Fear Street, and Jill invites them in, acting as casual as she can. They’d heard she had car troubles on Fear Street last night thanks to that officer who helped her and want to know if she saw anything suspicious, or even witnessed the fire herself, as they know authorities were alerted from the fire box on Old Mill Road around the same time she’d been in the area. Jill’s surprised at how easily she lies to them and soon they’re on their way.
Jill calls the hospital for an update on Andrea, but there’s been no change in her condition and she’s still unconscious. She feels bad about lying to the police and decides the right thing to do is for everyone to go to the police together and tell them what they know. She calls Diane to let her know her decision and asks her to help convince the guys to agree. Jill thinks Gabe will be the hardest, and she tells Diane about their conversation in the car, including how he’d asked her out again. She’s not sure if she wants to go now though, preferring to put a hold on dating until all this fire stuff is done with. Diane thinks Jill needs to forget about Gabe and everyone else and invites her to the cabin for the weekend instead. It will just be Diane and Jill, and they can figure out what they’re going to tell the police. With a bit of luck, maybe the culprit will have been caught by the time they return! A weekend away sounds like exactly what Jill needs, and she eagerly accepts.
We jump forward to the next night as Jill and Diane are just finishing dinner at the cabin. Jill explains that Gabe didn’t get mad about her breaking their date, having lied that her parents wanted her to stay in this weekend, and they briefly discuss how sometimes he can be so nice, but other times he’s so wild. Jill feels like Gabe is the key to the whole fire thing, even if he didn’t set the Fear Street one. Diane insists on forgetting about it for now so they can relax, then goes to take a shower. Jill answers the cabin phone when it rings and immediately recognises Andrea’s voice, glad to she’s alright:
“I’ll bet you are,” said Andrea. “But you can quit pretending. I know it was you. When you didn’t show up, I started warming up on the beam—probably just as you thought I would. The next thing I knew someone hit me from behind. It had to be you.”
Jill felt a jolt of fear run down her spine. “Andrea,” she said carefully, “you’re not making any sense. You’ve had a bad head injury. Maybe you ought to get a good night’s sleep and we can talk in the morning.”
Andrea laughed. “I may have a head injury,” she said, “but I don’t have amnesia. And I’ve had a lot of time to think. I know you printed the notes too, the day you came over to my house. I know everything, Diane.”
[Of course Andrea decided to confront Diane first instead of going to the police, lol] Jill clarifies who she is and why she’s at the cabin, and Andrea urges her to leave immediately because Diane is dangerous. She knows Diane is behind her attack, and she’s probably behind that Fear Street fire too! Instead of prioritising her own safety, Jill points out that Andrea’s theory doesn’t make sense because Diane’s terrified of fires, and why would she want to hurt Andrea? Andrea speculates that Diane’s in love with Gabe, and she called to tell Diane to seek help, even planning to offer to help her give herself up. But they can talk about it later; Jill needs to get out of there, because Diane knows she and Gabe are dating! Andrea’s urgency and fear finally gets through to Jill, who agrees to leave right now and promises to call Andrea when she arrives home.
Grabbing her overnight bag, Jill escapes to her car while Diane’s still in the shower, but her keys are no longer in her bag. Did Diane take them? ‘If so, it meant that she wanted to make sure Jill stayed there—maybe for good.’ Jill follows a path into the woods on foot, glancing back in time to see the bathroom light go out, which means Diane will realise she’s gone. A short time later, Jill hears footsteps behind her and starts to panic. She ends up hiding behind a tree until the footsteps fade in the distance, then heads deeper into the woods rather than sticking to the path, pushing all the awful stories she’s heard about the Fear Street Woods out of her mind. She heads in the direction she thinks the lake is, realising she should have just walked around it from the start, because she’s sure to come up on another cabin at some point, or even the little grocery store that’s opposite Diane’s cabin on the other side of the lake. [Now that I think about it, there seems to be so many families with cabins in the woods or on the lake, and yet whenever the plot of a book takes place there, you never hear anything about neighbours or other visitors. How spread out are these cabins?] Soon she spots a flashlight moving up ahead and calls out for help. Unfortunately for Jill, it’s Diane who’s come to the rescue, a jacket over her robe and a towel still wrapped around her hair.
Diane says she got worried when she Jill wasn’t in the cabin and she’d discovered her car keys on the porch. She then followed Jill’s footsteps; turns out Jill had walked in a circle, and the cabin is super close by. Jill lies that she wanted to get some fresh air and Diane seems to accept this as they head back to the cabin. Diane seems so much like herself that Jill doesn’t know what to think; could Andrea have been mistaken, despite sounding so sure on the phone? And even if it is true, Diane’s smaller than Jill, so probably can’t do any damage if she tried. [Jill, please] Jill decides to play it cool, hoping she can get more information from Diane.
Inside, Jill sits by the fire still wondering how her sweet, caring friend could be behind everything, while Diane brings over some tea. [Drugged tea?!?] Diane mentions hearing the phone ring while showering and Jill, whose brain must have fallen out in the woods, tells her what Andrea had said about the notes and the attack. Jill admits that she doesn’t know what to believe, then notices Diane’s expression has changed to anger. Diane sighs and with a strange smile, admits that Andrea is right. She’d attacked Andrea because she knew the truth and now, unfortunately, Jill knows the truth too.
Diane admits to having been in love with Gabe for years, and lied about her feelings when asked by the girls because what could she say? [Umm, the truth???] It’s not like he’d ever be with her! Jill apologises and insists she never would have gone out with Gabe if she’d known and promises to never see him again, but Diane says it’s too late and Jill won’t even be getting the chance to. We learn that not only did Diane set the Fear Street house on fire to frame Andrea, but she also torched Gabe’s dad’s car after witnessing him singing a song he’d written for her to another girl at the park that night; she’d assumed it was Andrea and hoped the car fire would stop him from seeing her again. Jill asks how she could have set the fires when she’s terrified of them, and Diane boasts she has a love-hate relationship with fire; ‘”For a long time I thought fire was my enemy. But now that I know what it can do, fire is my friend.”‘
Jill decides she’ll just head home and they can discuss everything at a later time, but Diane obviously has no intentions of letting her go anywhere; the whole weekend was a plan to get rid of Jill just like she got rid of Andrea. [But you didn’t get rid of Andrea?? And if you kill Jill, Andrea will know? So you literally cannot win here?] Reminding herself that Diane’s smaller than her, Jill demands her keys, which Diane dangles in front of her before promptly throwing them into the fire place. Jill announces that she’ll walk back home and heads for the door, but Diane tackles her to the ground. She’s surprisingly strong, which she smugly confesses is due to self-defence lessons last summer, and Jill grabs at her robe to try pull her off. The robe falls from Diane’s body, revealing long, ropy red scars crisscrossing her torso, and Jill screams in horror. [I know she’s trying to kill you but that’s so rude, Jill]
Diane stands up and turns around, showing that the scars continue along her back and the back of her arms. She explains that she was visiting her grandmother four years ago when a kerosene heater exploded. The doctors hadn’t expected her to make it, but she found the fight to live thanks to daily visits from Gabe, who would bring his guitar and sing songs just for her. He’d given her a reason to live, and she realised he was her soulmate. She’s sure he feels the same way but chose not to say anything because why would he date someone so disfigured:
“My body is ruined. It can never be! It can’t be!” Diane shouted, her face twisted with rage. “I’ve told him that a hundred times!”
Had she really? Jill wondered. Or was this something she had made up in her madness?
“I know what you’re thinking,” Diane went on. “You think I’m just imagining that Gabe loves me. That I’m jealous of you and Andrea. Well, you’re partly right.” She fixed her blue eyes on Jill and spoke slowly and intently. “I can’t ever be Gabe’s girlfriend, as I told you. But If I can’t have him, neither can anyone else—not Andrea and not you, Miss Perfect!”
Jill braces for another attack, but Diane keeps yapping instead. Jill had thought the fire game was all fun and games at first, but Now Diane’s going to show her how serious it can be! She quickly slips back into her robe and then grabs a blowtorch off her father’s workbench. She dashes to the door to block Jill from escaping and reveals this is what she used for the Fear Street fire. She smiles dreamily as she switches the blowtorch on, then aims it at Jill.
Jill runs around the cabin looking for a way to escape, but Diane sets fire to every object Jill goes near. Jill eventually falls over as the cabin fills with smoke and flames, and Diane’s about to lower the torch to Jill’s when the door slams open. It’s Gabe, who rushes in and wrestles the torch from Diane, burning his hand in the process. He shoves Diane outside then returns to help Jill out of the cabin. Jill confirms she’s alright, so Gabe turns his attention to Diane, who’s sobbing on the lawn. He tenderly holds her as the cabin is consumed by flames, and sirens can be heard in the distance. Gabe stares at the fire as he explains to Jill that Andrea called him, afraid Jill hadn’t believed her, and Jill admits she almost didn’t. He realises he hadn’t wanted to remember how scared and sick Diane had been after the fire four years ago. He would bring her her homework, and her parents said it had been helping, so he continued to visit. And now his stupid fire game has lead to all this! Gabe turns his attention back to Diane and the book ends as he tells her the fire game is over for good.
Final thoughts
While not a terribly exciting book, this was a nice, easy read. I actually enjoyed the realism of the plot because keeping it simple isn’t necessarily a bad thing; maybe it’s because I read so much of these consecutively, but the supernatural and stalker plots tend to get super repetitive.
I still wasn’t a fan of Gabe by the end of the book, and other than his looks I’m struggling to find a reason all Andrea and Jill were interested in him at all. He was rude and obnoxious most of the time, and had even called Jill and her friends pathetic less than an hour before she’d agreed to go out with him a second time! Speaking of Jill, I liked her but she was a huge pushover and her opinion on the fire game seemed to change whenever someone challenged her, so she loses points for that.
It was also pretty easy to figure out the bad guy, but I was wrong about the motive. I think the book would have been stronger if Diane’s burns had been caused by a previous fire game with Gabe, and she was doing everything as revenge for the group not listening to her warnings. But alas, we got boring, overused jealousy instead. But this is one of the earlier books and it wouldn’t have been a common trope at the time, so I can’t really dock points for that. But was Gabe really worth it, Diane? Is a man ever worth killing someone over?
Anyway, 67 fiery explosions in the boys’ bathroom out of 95.
