A bit refreshing to read knowing it's basically about somebody's weekend is about to get ruined, their planned holiday, like literally all planned out so well that they didn't even expect everything. However, I may have to inform that in my book review, I do discuss about the aspect of few storyline, therefore there will be a lot of spoiler, I even explain the whole plot.
Title : Fear Street : Ski Weekend
Author : R.L Stine
Year : 1991
Collation : 180 pages
Serial killer lurking around the ski lodge, shutting down their lights, turning off their electricity, forcing its way inside then murdering them all one by one. Nope, it's not one of those serial killer during holiday story, it's different, with lots of creativity and unexpected complication, the climax is right nearing the end of the book, so we have to be patient. I was almost satisfied with how well it turns out, what makes this different from other fear streets is that this isn't even taking place in Shadyside, although the narrator which is the main protagonist's house is resided at the fear street but it brings not much connection to it at all. But I guess those who already recognize Shadyside would figured out that this story cannot be taking place in Shadyside since it's not a snowy kind of place, definitely not for skiing.
Best friends Ariel Munroe, Doug Mahr and Shannon Harper become stranded in a blizzard and are saved by a strange man named Red, who guides them to a hilltop ski resort. But can he save them when their refuge becomes a trap? Their hosts are acting very sinister. Doug’s car is gone. The phones are dead. And the house is full of guns. Then a shot is fired and the real terror begins...
This was not the synopsis that I actually read, the other synopsis sounds like these best friends got trapped inside a ski lodge while there's a threat outside waiting to shed their blood kinda stuff, it's not wrong but not detailed either. While the synopsis above pretty much tells the whole thing which makes it less fun, but it is not accurate either though, here I'll be telling the whole spoiler, I mean the detailed summary.
First, Red did not save them, he was sort of hitchhiking, Doug owns the car and they just got trapped by the blizzard, heavy snow and the car broke down in the middle of a road while its heater doesn't even work, but Red did guide them to get to the nearest town where they found a house, the host which is a couple named Lou and Eva. Looking like a couple with lots of domestic abuse involves, and Lou being a creep, abusive and drunken towards them. Red heard about Lou's plot to rob our three protagonists and they decided to steal the gun, and the jeep but Doug was startled by an unknown guy in the garage and accidentally shot him, now they were convinced that Doug killed the guy who apparently was Lou's brother-in-law and Lou acted like "you guys killed him! and you attempt to steal my guns, and my jeep!, just wait the police, goddammit!". But Ariel, the narrator decided to check the unknown guy's body whose name is Rob, and realized that the body has been dead even before Doug shot it, she figured it out and finally Red confessed that he and Lou had been planning all that, literally the whole thing so they could get away from murdering Rob, to blame our three protagonists. It was apparently a family matter turned ugly, Rob is Eva's brother who stole the whole inheritance and Eva wouldn't let it go so they just killed him and made a plan to blame it on someone else. But you know the end of fear streets, it ends well with lots of struggles, actions involved and our three protagonists finally able to come home.
But bare with me, because it takes more than few pages to get to the climax, so I guess you have to be patient. First it was just lots of argue and description about the narrator's worries while they were driving in the blizzard, however R.L Stine did put a nice head for the narrator, she thinks well and has a good suspicion meter in her head, she knew Lou is dangerous but she tried to act cool and gathered a positive thought, but at least she didn't act like "everything's fine" like some stupid victim of horror films. Of course all readers would suspect Red for something but R.L Stine managed to get this Red out of the "who is the villain" circle, because I really thought he was kind, his act through my imagination was just a guy with worries, an innocent hitchhiker, and he even tried to get a romance out of that plan with Ariel, too bad it was just a lie.
I usually dislike a long introduction into the story, and I still feel like I need to keep myself up just to read 'till the climax on this book. I even skipped few words because I didn't think few parts were important enough to indicate something that's gonna happen in the climax, but honestly I'm not disappointed because this is different, just like what I told before that this is not taking place in Shadyside. Even the villains were not from there, so I guess Shadyside only affects its townies' fate, not their sanity to hurt others, it's like either you become a victim or a killer (broad meaning, could be robber, trafficker, cultist, or vengeful ghost) in Shadyside. Also it's great to see an actual character residing at the Fear street, not a new resident or runaway, but an actual resident who has been living there since they were a kid or something, because I thought maybe only creeps or antisocial live at that street since on another fear street book (I forgot the title again) says that most residence at Fear Street rarely communicate with each other.
Another strength I found within this book is the great depiction of its environment, I can imagine what the ski lodge looks like, and even their shadows while they walk through the snow by the morning, R.L Stine describes how their shadows are blue. I like how detailed it was, it's just too bad that not all the characters are physically described that detail, I mean few characters did get a good description like Lou, Shannon, and Red, but how come I didn't get much image about what the narrator aka Ariel looked like? thankfully old books had ways to depict thejr main attention well on the covers, so I could see what at least Ariel and the others look like. I think depiction is important, from books, they could grow a sense like you're watching a film if you get enough image on what everything looks like.
Besides how I didn't really like the pretty long introduction into the climax, I found another weakness in my eye, which is the clearance of the ending. Ariel mentions her boyfriend, Randy, several times and I thought maybe he got killed while he was about to go home earlier, but we didn't get that part enough, no further explanation about Randy or how she continued her life afterwards, it's like there wasn't enough closure. Those three best friends' experience was a hit, and that definitely affect them for a reason but it ended just like that, I can understand that lots of movies or books actually ended up like that but I personally felt like it wasn't enough. Last one, not much graphic (gory or killing) description, probably because only one murder occurred but this could be a plus for few readers.
I could understand everything pretty well, not much old slangs from the 90s so it was easy to comprehend everything, even though I did skip few words. Also, as always the english is simple, unlike classic dystopian, or psychologic novels, this is what I like from R.L Stine's works though. And in one page, the paragraphs are not that full if you know what I'm saying, try to compare the one page in Fear Street's Missing with this, I think this is friendlier for sensitive reading eyes.
Now, because the whole description tends to only show the environment and characters' feel or mimic, no sexual or harsh graphic depiction at all, this is good for all age, even for kids, I say. Although the plotting could be a bad influence but hey, it depends on how kids taking stuff in their head, whether they want to just regard it as an entertainment or stupidly as an influence, same as grown ups. But this isn't too fit for readers who seek violence, or mystical atmosphere from Shadyside, because it's merely about a plotting of murder and theft, no ghost or lots of killing involved, not even the background is taking place in Shadyside. Good Day!
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