Rereading My Childhood - Fear Street

The Wrong Number

Before cell phones, it wasn't an uncommon occurrence for a friend to call on the family phone and say to you, "Turn on channel eight." And then you'd just sit there and watch the X-Games together until your father wants to use the phone and frankly, you've been on the phone for long enough, young lady, and there are other members of the house who need to use it.

That is all to say that I didn't spend my phone time pranking. By the time I was a major phone user, caller ID was too prevalent to engage in phone-based pranks. Eventually, call phones became ubiquitous, but I still didn't feel the need to prank and, besides, caller id came with the phone, right next to Snake.

Caller ID was clearly not a thing in my latest Fear Street book review. The girls in The Wrong Number spend their night calling their classmates and "pranking" them, although the pranks are more breathy talking than "Is your refrigerator running?" Either way, murder happens because that's what the cover promises.

Immediately, we get a Fear Street trope: a chapter from the perspective of a nameless murderer. This time, the nameless one is someone who has screwed up in the past, but this time, they're planning a nasty surprise for another nameless someone. After two pages of that, we finally get to meet our protagonists.

Their names are Deena and Jade and, like many Stine BFFs, they are opposites while somehow still being the same. Deena is shy and blonde. Jade is outgoing and brunette. They are both skinny white girls from the suburbs. How do I know they're skinny? They make fun of the fact that the two fat kids in school are dating each other. Cool start. Wanna go after the poor kid next?

Anyway, Deena just got a brand new phone with all these buttons and Jade calls the next-door neighbor. Jade tells her that the local mall has selected her as the "worst-dressed shopper of the month." The neighbor recognizes Jade immediately.

Then Jade calls a random boy from school and tries to seduce him. He doesn't fall for it either. Finally, Deena gets in on the fun and calls her crush, Rob Morell. While she's not as breathy as Jade, she does refer to herself as his secret admirer. This time, he falls for it, but really, Deena isn't joking around, unlike Jade. She doesn't reveal her true identity, but she promises to call Rob the next day.

And speaking of the next day, Deena's half-brother Chuck is arriving at the airport to stay with Deena's family for a few days. He's been in some trouble and needs a new location. He is also our red herring. You'd think he'd be the creepy one, but the true creeper is Deena.

Her first glimpse of Chuck was promising. She hadn't seen him since he was about ten, and he'd grown up since then. He was tall now, and his T-shirt and tight jeans showed off the taut muscles of an athlete. His hair was thick and sandy above startlingly blue eyes.

Ew, Deena, that's your brother. Also, they're pretty close in age. Did Deena's dad bone someone else while Deena's mom was pregnant? Or did Deena's dad bone someone else while Chuck's mom was pregnant? The timeline is unclear.

Suddenly, Deena's dad slams on the brakes! There's an accident! A car is on fire! A kid screams for his dog! Chuck runs to the car! There's an explosion! Chuck emerges with the dog! Exciting times are had by all! Deena calls Chuck crazy for rescuing the dog. Man, Shadyside is a dangerous place for dogs. If they're rescued, the hero is called crazy and their sister questions their sanity. The nice ones are killed off in an attempt to raise stakes, so the only ones left are demonic hell beasts.

Then we get a free verse from our murderer.

Okay, okay.

So he was having a little trouble keeping it together.