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The Fear Street Saga #2
The Secret
Buried Evil
What is the secret of Fear Street?
Why has its horror lasted so long?
Ezra Fier wants to find out. He searches for the answer among the rotting bones in the ghostly town of Wickham. But he find only betrayal and death.
Elizabeth and Kate are in love with the same boy. How can they know that they too are caught by the evil that will haunt this family forever?
What is the secret of Fear Street?
Why has its horror lasted so long?
Ezra Fier wants to find out. He searches for the answer among the rotting bones in the ghostly town of Wickham. But he find only betrayal and death.
Elizabeth and Kate are in love with the same boy. How can they know that they too are caught by the evil that will haunt this family forever?
147 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1993
About the author
R.L. Stine
1,440 books17.4k followersRobert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.
R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.
Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.
http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...
R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.
Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.
http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 192 reviews
July 6, 2021
The Saga continues! Further generations of Fier and Goode families aim to wipe out the other's entire bloodline. Even after a hundred years, the Fiers seem destined to be wealthy while the Goodes remain poor. They also seem compelled to fall in love with one another. This is a case of fatal attraction, however, as the curse wants what it wants, and it doesn't want marriage to break the spell. This is not a case of Good vs. Evil, but Evil vs. Evil. Where it lacks in characters who do the right thing, it makes up in creative murders, vengeful ghosts, foreboding prophecy and an awful lot of rage. The result is what I believe to be the most entertaining YA horror ever written.
Fans of the main Fear Street series will learn major details in this book, including backstory for how the Fier family became the Fear family and the origins of the oft-referenced Simon Fear patriarch.
The Secret is not as jaw-dropping as The Betrayal only because the premise is now fully established. It does suffer a bit from middle book syndrome, being largely a build-up for book three, but this makes it no less gripping. Instead of finishing it all in one sitting, it took me two or three. Never was I bored, however, and at least once I actually jerked with terror. My cat had made a loud noise during a particularly scary scene.
If you only have time to read a few Fear Street books before/after watching the Netflix movies, the Saga trilogy is where it's at! On to book 3—!
Fans of the main Fear Street series will learn major details in this book, including backstory for how the Fier family became the Fear family and the origins of the oft-referenced Simon Fear patriarch.
The Secret is not as jaw-dropping as The Betrayal only because the premise is now fully established. It does suffer a bit from middle book syndrome, being largely a build-up for book three, but this makes it no less gripping. Instead of finishing it all in one sitting, it took me two or three. Never was I bored, however, and at least once I actually jerked with terror. My cat had made a loud noise during a particularly scary scene.
If you only have time to read a few Fear Street books before/after watching the Netflix movies, the Saga trilogy is where it's at! On to book 3—!
September 30, 2020
This is much worse than
The Betrayal
. Just BORED the hell out of me! Nothing interesting happens for more than two-thirds. And the rest isn't even that good to bother talking about. Besides, the dialogues made me cringe!! Although I felt sad seeing all the tragedy that befell the innocents of the Fier family bcoz of the curse, I didn't really like any of the characters in this book.
Generally, I rate such books 1 star. But this one I'm granting another (full or) half star just for the sake of my Fear Street nostalgia.
Generally, I rate such books 1 star. But this one I'm granting another (full or) half star just for the sake of my Fear Street nostalgia.
November 23, 2014
More bodies for Stine!
He also has this thing for wanting to shove young characters together in marriage after, like, five days of knowing each other. I don’t know if he was trying to make it period-specific or if he was just fueling the plot (and it was part of the plot, you know, the only way to end the curse was to have a Goode and a Fier marry, duh) but there was a lot of WE MUST MARRY going on here.
And more bodies. Young bodies, too. Age is not a discriminating factor for Stine. Neither is gender, status as a protagonist or really anything else. No one is safe and eventually everyone ends up digging their own graves. I love it.
At this point in the series the bloodlust of the curse is growing to a fever pitch and making people rather useless to their families once they really get into it. Ezra, too, has a thing for bodies when he forces his family to squat in a house not-too-recently vacated by his mortal enemy in a town with only rotting corpses for neighbors (and they’re not even interned, rotting all over the place). He’s a little sick in the head. And then someone gets stabbed in the chest with a knitting needle. What a way to die.
And the Goodes just seem to the coming out of nowhere. I think they’re like frogs, spawning in a creek or something because for all appearances the line dies at the end of each book. Oh no! Sillies. That would be too easy.
He also has this thing for wanting to shove young characters together in marriage after, like, five days of knowing each other. I don’t know if he was trying to make it period-specific or if he was just fueling the plot (and it was part of the plot, you know, the only way to end the curse was to have a Goode and a Fier marry, duh) but there was a lot of WE MUST MARRY going on here.
And more bodies. Young bodies, too. Age is not a discriminating factor for Stine. Neither is gender, status as a protagonist or really anything else. No one is safe and eventually everyone ends up digging their own graves. I love it.
At this point in the series the bloodlust of the curse is growing to a fever pitch and making people rather useless to their families once they really get into it. Ezra, too, has a thing for bodies when he forces his family to squat in a house not-too-recently vacated by his mortal enemy in a town with only rotting corpses for neighbors (and they’re not even interned, rotting all over the place). He’s a little sick in the head. And then someone gets stabbed in the chest with a knitting needle. What a way to die.
And the Goodes just seem to the coming out of nowhere. I think they’re like frogs, spawning in a creek or something because for all appearances the line dies at the end of each book. Oh no! Sillies. That would be too easy.
October 14, 2020
The Secret continues the bloody rampage of the Fier family curse into a new century, but it starts to suffer from some classic middle-book problems. In fact, the 100-year jump in the middle of the book made it seem like maybe the saga was planned as two books and later got cut up into three. There were plenty of gruesome moments to enjoy, even though I was continuously frustrated by the motives of the characters. The love stories started to feel a bit stale. It seemed like the only thing that the women wanted was marriage, and the only thing that the men wanted was revenge. It detracted from the otherwise excellent and creepy stuff. Overall, it accomplished its goal of setting things up nicely for the last book. I just wish it felt as cohesive as the first.
Score: 3
Check out my full review & recap with spoilers, snark, and gifs:
https://www.danstalter.com/fear-stree...
Score: 3
Check out my full review & recap with spoilers, snark, and gifs:
https://www.danstalter.com/fear-stree...
May 9, 2015
I didn't have any serious problems with this book. I liked the way the feud is handled as it's passed down from generation to generation. In the beginning section of the book, the idea behind the curse seems to be more of a self-fulfilling curse, which would be a great layer to add. But then it seems to be that the Goode family can only find the Fiers if they are in possession of the necklace. I hope this becomes a little more clear in the last volume. Hopefully, since the final volume is Simon Fear's story, it will be worth it.
September 11, 2023
Part of a trilogy so of course spoilers ahead...
The first part of the trilogy laid out how the curse of the Fears came to be as well as their family feud with the Goode family. The ambitious Fiers pretty much brought this on themselves but I guess you can't fight your fate which has been set in blood and stone since 50 A.D. can you?
Edward Fier escaped with his six year old son Ezra and his seventeen year old cousin Mary into the Pennsylvania wilderness to escape the horror of the night it seemed that Matthew Fear defeated William Goode, laughing in madness. It drove his daughter insane and killed his wife Constance while Edward lost his wife and his own father.
Ezra Fier didn't get any answers until he was twenty-one and now in his early thirties, he drags his family about in a covered wagon seeking out William Goode's only living kin, his son George.
His wife Jane doesn't question her husband, little Rachel is only three, Abigail is six but she is the apple of her father's eye and Jonathan is almost twelve and only knows that getting revenge on the Goodes is the only other thing he cares about.
Ezra has returned to Wickham Village in Massachusetts but all that can be found are dead bodies from a mysterious plague, few survivors on the outskirts who curse the Goode name and not one single Goode in the town to feel his wrath!
The Fier family put down roots in the abandoned home of Ezra's enemies, to the horror of his wife and son, just in case they come back. Jonathan and wandering Abigail go into the town to bury all of the dead animals and even lay to rest the bones of a dead little girl but no good deed is a match for the curse and the one joy in Ezra's existence is stolen...
Six years later, Jonathan and his family are in a new town and a new house for the third time. His father is even more driven to get rid of the Goodes after Abigail was taken away from him and his mother Jane confuses Rachel for her lost daughter all the time. Jonathan only has one brightness because at almost eighteen...he has fallen in love for the first time.
Delilah Wilson, daughter of the local reverend, has welcomed the new neighbors and her beautiful smile and kindness and charity have won over Jonathan's heart. All of her good points eclipse her threadbare clothing and tiny house but Jonathan knows his father would never approve as somehow they always seem to be well off and that makes an impression of power.
Rachel takes a shine to Delilah as well and even though a sweet child, Ezra has filled her head with stories about the curse and the blood feud instead of fairy tale bedtime stories. She tells this to Delilah on their first meeting and it doesn't help that a portrait of Abigail as a child is a background to her terrible story.
Jonathan has tried to convince himself that his family isn't cursed but soon strange and horrifying things begin to happen before death takes a toll on his family once again...
After his father's death, Jonathan Fier buried the amulet in an iron box along with his ashes beneath the apple tree in the yard of their home in 1743. It seemed that the curse was over but 100 years later, one of Jonathan Fier's great-great granddaughters stumbled upon it when the tree finally died and she dug the ground for a new garden...
Sixteen year old Elizabeth Fier and her family have been living in comfortable peace not knowing anything of the curse but once she finds the amulet, it reawakens the curse.
A drifter comes to the door seeking a good meal for some hard work but the Fiers offer hospitality with no condition and ask him to stay for the night in a warm bed and have a hot bath. He accepts it and after borrowing some clothes from her brother, Elizabeth finds the drifter is younger and more attractive than he seems.
Her seventeen year old sister Kate seems to think so as well but unnoticed by her sibling...
The girls and their family learn the drifter's name is Franklin Goode and it sparks nothing in them but Frank is well aware of the ancient curse and the feud so he sets out on his plan of revenge using the Fiers' blind ignorance...through Kate and Elizabeth.
Two lovely sisters in love with the same man and only their older brother, eighteen year old Simon Fear, may be able to save one of them...
Part of me would be interested to learn in that one hundred year gap what was going on with both families but of course, there are other books but most are more Fier characters than Goodes.
A fair amount of gore and supernatural horrors but none as big as those in The Betrayal that are burned in my brain that are just...disturbing. The romance is still there in Stine's normal way of pretty girl falling for good-looking boy but Jonathan and Delilah's romance more from the male point of view seems less...vapid.
Again those class struggles of rich boy falling for poor girl or the opposite are still stupid and lead to people making bad choices which seem to be good loopholes for the curse to just slither through...
One thing The Secret has going for it is the fact that it has to be the only book in all of Fear Street...where you actually can feel sorry for Simon Fear.
At least until we get to the final book in the trilogy...The Burning.
The first part of the trilogy laid out how the curse of the Fears came to be as well as their family feud with the Goode family. The ambitious Fiers pretty much brought this on themselves but I guess you can't fight your fate which has been set in blood and stone since 50 A.D. can you?
Edward Fier escaped with his six year old son Ezra and his seventeen year old cousin Mary into the Pennsylvania wilderness to escape the horror of the night it seemed that Matthew Fear defeated William Goode, laughing in madness. It drove his daughter insane and killed his wife Constance while Edward lost his wife and his own father.
Ezra Fier didn't get any answers until he was twenty-one and now in his early thirties, he drags his family about in a covered wagon seeking out William Goode's only living kin, his son George.
His wife Jane doesn't question her husband, little Rachel is only three, Abigail is six but she is the apple of her father's eye and Jonathan is almost twelve and only knows that getting revenge on the Goodes is the only other thing he cares about.
Ezra has returned to Wickham Village in Massachusetts but all that can be found are dead bodies from a mysterious plague, few survivors on the outskirts who curse the Goode name and not one single Goode in the town to feel his wrath!
The Fier family put down roots in the abandoned home of Ezra's enemies, to the horror of his wife and son, just in case they come back. Jonathan and wandering Abigail go into the town to bury all of the dead animals and even lay to rest the bones of a dead little girl but no good deed is a match for the curse and the one joy in Ezra's existence is stolen...
Six years later, Jonathan and his family are in a new town and a new house for the third time. His father is even more driven to get rid of the Goodes after Abigail was taken away from him and his mother Jane confuses Rachel for her lost daughter all the time. Jonathan only has one brightness because at almost eighteen...he has fallen in love for the first time.
Delilah Wilson, daughter of the local reverend, has welcomed the new neighbors and her beautiful smile and kindness and charity have won over Jonathan's heart. All of her good points eclipse her threadbare clothing and tiny house but Jonathan knows his father would never approve as somehow they always seem to be well off and that makes an impression of power.
Rachel takes a shine to Delilah as well and even though a sweet child, Ezra has filled her head with stories about the curse and the blood feud instead of fairy tale bedtime stories. She tells this to Delilah on their first meeting and it doesn't help that a portrait of Abigail as a child is a background to her terrible story.
Jonathan has tried to convince himself that his family isn't cursed but soon strange and horrifying things begin to happen before death takes a toll on his family once again...
After his father's death, Jonathan Fier buried the amulet in an iron box along with his ashes beneath the apple tree in the yard of their home in 1743. It seemed that the curse was over but 100 years later, one of Jonathan Fier's great-great granddaughters stumbled upon it when the tree finally died and she dug the ground for a new garden...
Sixteen year old Elizabeth Fier and her family have been living in comfortable peace not knowing anything of the curse but once she finds the amulet, it reawakens the curse.
A drifter comes to the door seeking a good meal for some hard work but the Fiers offer hospitality with no condition and ask him to stay for the night in a warm bed and have a hot bath. He accepts it and after borrowing some clothes from her brother, Elizabeth finds the drifter is younger and more attractive than he seems.
Her seventeen year old sister Kate seems to think so as well but unnoticed by her sibling...
The girls and their family learn the drifter's name is Franklin Goode and it sparks nothing in them but Frank is well aware of the ancient curse and the feud so he sets out on his plan of revenge using the Fiers' blind ignorance...through Kate and Elizabeth.
Two lovely sisters in love with the same man and only their older brother, eighteen year old Simon Fear, may be able to save one of them...
Part of me would be interested to learn in that one hundred year gap what was going on with both families but of course, there are other books but most are more Fier characters than Goodes.
A fair amount of gore and supernatural horrors but none as big as those in The Betrayal that are burned in my brain that are just...disturbing. The romance is still there in Stine's normal way of pretty girl falling for good-looking boy but Jonathan and Delilah's romance more from the male point of view seems less...vapid.
Again those class struggles of rich boy falling for poor girl or the opposite are still stupid and lead to people making bad choices which seem to be good loopholes for the curse to just slither through...
One thing The Secret has going for it is the fact that it has to be the only book in all of Fear Street...where you actually can feel sorry for Simon Fear.
At least until we get to the final book in the trilogy...The Burning.
September 30, 2022
The 2nd In this trilogy. Was interesting to read a story set back in the past. Not a lot of scares in this though.
July 2, 2018
Meh. I liked the first one better. This one just felt like filler. They were trying to get the characters from A to B and it ended up being a bit all over the place.
July 27, 2021
Fear Street Saga
Book Review
The Fear Street Saga trilogy (The Betrayal, The Burning, and The Secret) basically is about love, marriage, a death curse spanning over 200 years, and a rivalry between two families, (the Fier’s & the Goodes’).
In all honesty these books have been collecting dust on my bookshelf about 7 years, and if it wasn’t for the new Fear Street films on Netflix, these books would still be forgotten on the shelf. I fell in love with the first movie and the love affair continued all the way through to the end credits of the third movie. The idea was about bringing the old formula back to the horror movie genre, which worked incredibly well, so I was really excited to jump on board with the novels. Unfortunately, other than the mention of the Goode’s family name and the town of Shadyside there were no other notable similarities between the films and the books, which was a letdown.
R.L Stine however does bring some excitement to the story by creating very imaginative, scary death scenes that at one point sent a shiver down my spine (a little goosebumps reference right there for you sports fans). What really frustrated me to my very core (and maybe because I’m a cynical divorcee), but I feel like there is more to life then pledging your undying love to a complete stranger by promising marriage. Seriously if this happened once out of the 200 years okay, but this happens in every generation and it made my stomach recoil in revulsion. It essentially made the characters appear weaker, and deviated from the horror element of the novel.
In the end what saved this book from receiving a poor rating was the story of Simon Fear and his wife Angelica, as their part in this trilogy of horror is what made me smile wickedly. They were the perfect fearsome couple.
3/5 ⚰️⚰️⚰️.
Book Review
The Fear Street Saga trilogy (The Betrayal, The Burning, and The Secret) basically is about love, marriage, a death curse spanning over 200 years, and a rivalry between two families, (the Fier’s & the Goodes’).
In all honesty these books have been collecting dust on my bookshelf about 7 years, and if it wasn’t for the new Fear Street films on Netflix, these books would still be forgotten on the shelf. I fell in love with the first movie and the love affair continued all the way through to the end credits of the third movie. The idea was about bringing the old formula back to the horror movie genre, which worked incredibly well, so I was really excited to jump on board with the novels. Unfortunately, other than the mention of the Goode’s family name and the town of Shadyside there were no other notable similarities between the films and the books, which was a letdown.
R.L Stine however does bring some excitement to the story by creating very imaginative, scary death scenes that at one point sent a shiver down my spine (a little goosebumps reference right there for you sports fans). What really frustrated me to my very core (and maybe because I’m a cynical divorcee), but I feel like there is more to life then pledging your undying love to a complete stranger by promising marriage. Seriously if this happened once out of the 200 years okay, but this happens in every generation and it made my stomach recoil in revulsion. It essentially made the characters appear weaker, and deviated from the horror element of the novel.
In the end what saved this book from receiving a poor rating was the story of Simon Fear and his wife Angelica, as their part in this trilogy of horror is what made me smile wickedly. They were the perfect fearsome couple.
3/5 ⚰️⚰️⚰️.
June 26, 2024
I thought this one was good too! The continuation of the family feud between the Fiers and the Goodes was so good. I still think a few things were rushed in this one as well. And the end of this one with the name change is what we know now. I am very interested to see where the last story in this saga goes.
December 17, 2019
Groan. Just groan. Seriously considering not even reading the third.
June 15, 2022
Loving these!
June 16, 2022
no because when they mentioned simon and kate, i jumped lmao
Read
November 22, 2020I like book one better. This one too fast! It`s nice to a bit slow down so the reader has a chance to feel more terror. But this book keeps entertaining me and success kick my reading slump.
August 17, 2024
This book started off strong but ultimately, wasnt as good as the first.
I’m hoping part 3 is a return to form.
I’m hoping part 3 is a return to form.
September 12, 2018
How does this plot hole ridden pile of shit have a 3.94 average?
November 24, 2016
Forty-five years have passed since Benjamin Fier had an innocent girl and her mother burned at the stake. Forty-five years have passed since Matthew Fier robbed the girl’s father of everything he had with false promises. Forty-five years have passed since a curse was cast from betrayal and a mourning father’s grief. Following his great uncle’s notes Ezra Fier seeks the last of the Goodes to have revenge for his family’s downfall. Another link in the chain of vengeance is forged.
The Secret is R. L. Stine’s second book in the Fear Street Saga trilogy. Sometime after the end of the first book Ezra Fier has dragged his family to Wickham village in search of vengeance, only to fine the village empty of all but the dead. That makes Ezra great material for a villain, but I feel like I want more of why he’s so driven for revenge. Guy has a family, including protagonist Jonathan, which he drags along on his quest. I think that’s a big part of where this one falls apart for me.
See a big thing with The Secret is that, while we’re left with an Ezra who is totally out for revenge at the end of The Betrayal, a ton is left out from point A to point B. If his whole life is revenge, then when did he stop and court his wife, Jane? What kind of notes of Matthew’s is he following that it’s taken him this long to get to Wickham? It’s just kind of weak writing because the plot requires it. Ezra has to have a wife and kids so that there’s room for both a body count and enough Fiers to get through to modern Shadyside. It has to take awhile so that Jonathan is old enough that we have a relatable protagonist. That kind of works out for me, I don’t like it because it feels weak, but it works.
The bit after the century long time skip is where that weakness just kind of goes off the rails for me. After a hundred years of the curse not acting up in any way that is important enough to show, it wakes back up stronger than ever. We get the actually completely innocent Fier family, living happily in their ancestral home, taking in a charming drifter. The drifter is, of course, a Goode out for revenge because the plot demands it. Not just a Goode though, the last Goode, who watched his entire family die of apparently nothing so the Fiers must be at fault. This whole section of the book gives me so many issues.
Frank Goode blames the Fier family for his family dying, but we haven’t seen enough from the Goode side of things to know their feelings on the curse or feud. We don’t even actually know enough to know that there are any Goodes still alive until Frank shows up, but we’re shown a bunch of times that he’s been planning this for a long while. I feel like this could have been so much stronger if we were given more from the Goode family perspective, especially since way back in the first book George wanted nothing to do with his father’s revenge scheme. I want to know what made Frank grab on to the curse as a reason for his misfortune so hard. I want this bearing in mind that over the course of a century the Fier family itself completely forgot about the curse. Either that or I’d have liked to have seen the curse angle pushed harder rather than it being suddenly a Goode out of nowhere.
As to what was done specifically well, I liked Jonathan as a protagonist. I liked that Ezra was cast in a bad light because of his obsession with revenge on people he’d never met. The end to Jonathan’s section I thought worked really well for his character. The post time skip Fiers being legitimately kindly people and the implied happy childhood for their kids was great.
Right, so that’s a lot of words. What’s the verdict though? Ulitmately I don’t think The Secret is as good a book as The Betrayal, and it doesn’t really work well enough as a standalone novel to not get that comparison. Where it’s weak, it’s really weak. Where it works well, it still tends to be kind of thin. That said, I did read it in a single sitting without forcing myself in the least. So that happened too. In the end, it gets a three out of five for not being a bad book but also being one that could have used a lot of expanding upon.
The Secret is R. L. Stine’s second book in the Fear Street Saga trilogy. Sometime after the end of the first book Ezra Fier has dragged his family to Wickham village in search of vengeance, only to fine the village empty of all but the dead. That makes Ezra great material for a villain, but I feel like I want more of why he’s so driven for revenge. Guy has a family, including protagonist Jonathan, which he drags along on his quest. I think that’s a big part of where this one falls apart for me.
See a big thing with The Secret is that, while we’re left with an Ezra who is totally out for revenge at the end of The Betrayal, a ton is left out from point A to point B. If his whole life is revenge, then when did he stop and court his wife, Jane? What kind of notes of Matthew’s is he following that it’s taken him this long to get to Wickham? It’s just kind of weak writing because the plot requires it. Ezra has to have a wife and kids so that there’s room for both a body count and enough Fiers to get through to modern Shadyside. It has to take awhile so that Jonathan is old enough that we have a relatable protagonist. That kind of works out for me, I don’t like it because it feels weak, but it works.
The bit after the century long time skip is where that weakness just kind of goes off the rails for me. After a hundred years of the curse not acting up in any way that is important enough to show, it wakes back up stronger than ever. We get the actually completely innocent Fier family, living happily in their ancestral home, taking in a charming drifter. The drifter is, of course, a Goode out for revenge because the plot demands it. Not just a Goode though, the last Goode, who watched his entire family die of apparently nothing so the Fiers must be at fault. This whole section of the book gives me so many issues.
Frank Goode blames the Fier family for his family dying, but we haven’t seen enough from the Goode side of things to know their feelings on the curse or feud. We don’t even actually know enough to know that there are any Goodes still alive until Frank shows up, but we’re shown a bunch of times that he’s been planning this for a long while. I feel like this could have been so much stronger if we were given more from the Goode family perspective, especially since way back in the first book George wanted nothing to do with his father’s revenge scheme. I want to know what made Frank grab on to the curse as a reason for his misfortune so hard. I want this bearing in mind that over the course of a century the Fier family itself completely forgot about the curse. Either that or I’d have liked to have seen the curse angle pushed harder rather than it being suddenly a Goode out of nowhere.
As to what was done specifically well, I liked Jonathan as a protagonist. I liked that Ezra was cast in a bad light because of his obsession with revenge on people he’d never met. The end to Jonathan’s section I thought worked really well for his character. The post time skip Fiers being legitimately kindly people and the implied happy childhood for their kids was great.
Right, so that’s a lot of words. What’s the verdict though? Ulitmately I don’t think The Secret is as good a book as The Betrayal, and it doesn’t really work well enough as a standalone novel to not get that comparison. Where it’s weak, it’s really weak. Where it works well, it still tends to be kind of thin. That said, I did read it in a single sitting without forcing myself in the least. So that happened too. In the end, it gets a three out of five for not being a bad book but also being one that could have used a lot of expanding upon.
December 11, 2015
Posted originally on my blog:
The Writer's Inkwell
I continued on with my favorite Fear Street trilogy in between other books this week. It was a nice break to relive the saga of the Fier/Fear legacy. Picking up with Ezra Fier’s son, Jonathan, we find the remaining Fier’s traveling from village to village in order to find the Goode family.
In the first part, they return to the small village of Wickham, where the horror first began. But they find the village in ruins and the last of the villagers remain only in their decayed corpses spread throughout the town. Obsessed with trying to find some sign of where the Goodes have gone, Ezra insists on living in the dead Wickham village. Of course, he gets more than he bargained for when a mysterious little girl invites his beloved daughter, Abagail to visit her house.
The second part returns to Ezra’s family. A few years have passed since their time in Wickham and the family is still haunted by the events that occurred there. No matter how damaged his family is, Ezra is more obsessed than ever. Meanwhile, his son, Jonathan finds himself falling for a poor preacher’s daughter. But as the two get closer, odd things began to happen at night. Someone fills the bucket to the well with blood and his mother begins walking around at night, swearing to hear the call of her dead, Abagail. As things continue to worsen, Jonathan begins to find himself wondering if perhaps the Fier family is truly cursed.
Part three takes place about a hundred years after Ezra’s death. A new generation of Fiers is thriving and no one in their family knows of the feud that once existed between them and the Goodes. This leaves them ignorant to the threat a young man, by the name of Frank Goode, poses.
Time is running out for Nora to finish telling her story…
The Writer's Inkwell
I continued on with my favorite Fear Street trilogy in between other books this week. It was a nice break to relive the saga of the Fier/Fear legacy. Picking up with Ezra Fier’s son, Jonathan, we find the remaining Fier’s traveling from village to village in order to find the Goode family.
In the first part, they return to the small village of Wickham, where the horror first began. But they find the village in ruins and the last of the villagers remain only in their decayed corpses spread throughout the town. Obsessed with trying to find some sign of where the Goodes have gone, Ezra insists on living in the dead Wickham village. Of course, he gets more than he bargained for when a mysterious little girl invites his beloved daughter, Abagail to visit her house.
The second part returns to Ezra’s family. A few years have passed since their time in Wickham and the family is still haunted by the events that occurred there. No matter how damaged his family is, Ezra is more obsessed than ever. Meanwhile, his son, Jonathan finds himself falling for a poor preacher’s daughter. But as the two get closer, odd things began to happen at night. Someone fills the bucket to the well with blood and his mother begins walking around at night, swearing to hear the call of her dead, Abagail. As things continue to worsen, Jonathan begins to find himself wondering if perhaps the Fier family is truly cursed.
Part three takes place about a hundred years after Ezra’s death. A new generation of Fiers is thriving and no one in their family knows of the feud that once existed between them and the Goodes. This leaves them ignorant to the threat a young man, by the name of Frank Goode, poses.
Time is running out for Nora to finish telling her story…
Read
September 12, 2016Nomadic SA Chick's Book Reviews
Review
I loved this series as a teenager. I probably read the trilogy a hundred times in my teens. I don't know what it was about these books, but I was hooked. Reading them 10 years later as an adult I gave myself a migraine from all the eye rolling I did. I couldn't believe all the cheesy romance lines and easy swooning these ladies did. I mean good lord, a man said hi to these ladies and they wet their knickers with the excitement of wedding planning. It's laughable, but I can see how teen Manda was swept up in this, because what teenage girl doesn't want to believe in love at first sight. While grown up Manda is bitter and critical of love and laughs in its face. Stine has always been one of my favorite authors, and while I don't read much of his works these days, I've kind of aged out of them, I still appreciate everything he's written and all the joy he brought me as a child, starting with my very first Goosebumps book.
These books aren't something I will probably ever pick up again, but they will always have a special place in my library, and I would encourage every young girl to read this series. While the ladies in this book fall foolhardy in love like it's going out of style, Stine also manages to write some very strong and fierce women in this book that will help bring courage to the young woman reading it.
Ratings (based on a 10 point scale)
Quality of Writing - 6
Pace - 6
Plot Development - 5
Characters - 6
Enjoyability - 5
Insightfulness - 5
Ease of Reading - 8
Photos/Illustrations - N/A
Overall Rating - 3 out of 5 stars
Review
I loved this series as a teenager. I probably read the trilogy a hundred times in my teens. I don't know what it was about these books, but I was hooked. Reading them 10 years later as an adult I gave myself a migraine from all the eye rolling I did. I couldn't believe all the cheesy romance lines and easy swooning these ladies did. I mean good lord, a man said hi to these ladies and they wet their knickers with the excitement of wedding planning. It's laughable, but I can see how teen Manda was swept up in this, because what teenage girl doesn't want to believe in love at first sight. While grown up Manda is bitter and critical of love and laughs in its face. Stine has always been one of my favorite authors, and while I don't read much of his works these days, I've kind of aged out of them, I still appreciate everything he's written and all the joy he brought me as a child, starting with my very first Goosebumps book.
These books aren't something I will probably ever pick up again, but they will always have a special place in my library, and I would encourage every young girl to read this series. While the ladies in this book fall foolhardy in love like it's going out of style, Stine also manages to write some very strong and fierce women in this book that will help bring courage to the young woman reading it.
Ratings (based on a 10 point scale)
Quality of Writing - 6
Pace - 6
Plot Development - 5
Characters - 6
Enjoyability - 5
Insightfulness - 5
Ease of Reading - 8
Photos/Illustrations - N/A
Overall Rating - 3 out of 5 stars
August 6, 2019
Stine sat down to write this one, and he was like, “Well, if they weren’t confused before, they sure as hell are now.”
It’s a tragedy in three parts. And, much like the first book, it is just Goodes and Fiers loving each other and trying to break the curse on their families and failing miserably at this task.
So Ezra from the last book is now a man. And he has a son, Jonathan, who can’t understand why his dad goes around being pissed about the Goodes 24/7. In fact, Ezra uproots their whole family to Wickham in order to find the last remaining Goodes and seek revenge.
You can tell how well THAT plan will work out. Jonathan has two sisters: Rachel and Abigail. Abi likes to go to the empty, ghostly town to bury dog bones left out in the open (that’s actually pretty sweet). So Jon stays with her and helps as much as he can. And then, strangely, Abi meets another girl to play with. Jon has a bad feeling about letting the two of them go off to play together, but he knows Ezra will give in, and he’s right. Which is stupid, because he knows by now how this whole curse thing works.
When Abi doesn’t come home, Jon (correctly) assumes the worst. He goes to town to find her but stumbles on a graveyard with the name of her friend written on a headstone. And beside it... is Abi’s freshly dug grave with Abi inside. She is blue and very dead.
Fast forward some years later to Jon as a teenager. A sweet girl named Delilah comes to town, and Jon is instantly smitten. His mom has begun to deteriorate since Abi’s death, and she starts sleepwalking at night. Jon confides in Dee about the curse upon his family and how he didn’t want to believe his father but he’s starting to have his doubts. Then the worst happens. Rachel goes to the well one day soon after... and sees blood in the bucket. And then, even worse, she sees their mother down below, lying lifeless in the well.
Things start to click into place for Jon. He loves Dee but confronts her all the same. He demands she tell him that she is a Goode, and she doesn’t deny it. But he loves her anyway. In fact, he knows if they marry they can end the curse upon their families. But Ezra (like all the Fiers) is vain and doesn’t want Jon to marry someone penniless.
Dee and Jon are at the altar anyway, about to finish off the marriage ceremony and end the curse. But when the minister gets to the part about anyone objecting, Ezra bursts through the door carrying his rifle. Dee stands in the corner shocked. Jon wrestles Ezra for it, but the rifle goes off... and into Dee’s chest. Jon watches in horror as his almost-bride dies.
Then Dee’s dad comes in, and Ezra is two seconds away from killing him. But the man insists he is not a Goode. The truth is he lied to secure his daughter’s marriage with a wealthy family. When Jon told Dee about the curse, Dee went and told her father, and he realized that if she pretended to be a Goode Jon would ask for her hand in marriage. They even (sickly) planted the blood in the well that caused Jon’s mom to fall in while trying to look at it. Ezra doesn’t want to believe he’s not a Goode and shouldn’t be shot, but Jon insists Ezra let things lie. He then tells Dee’s dad that he would have married her anyway because he loved her.
Then Ezra goes outside and gets trampled by horses. Good times from everyone all around.
Jon buries his family members and the wretched necklace his father always wore that Jon knew carried the stupid curse. He says the curse is over and buried.
Fast forward 100 years. We now have siblings Simon, Elizabeth, and Kate Fier. Liz is planting a garden one morning and stumbles upon a tin box. It happens to be the same box that Jon buried years ago hoping to destroy the curse. But unfortunately for him, Liz loves the necklace and puts it on.
Soon after a Frank comes to town. He presents to their family as a homeless beggar in need of food. The Fiers happily oblige. He tells everyone his name is Frank. They offer him a bath, and once he is done and Liz sees him clean she realizes he is hot and is instantly smitten. Which is super hilarious, because she met and wanted to marry him in the span of two pages.
Frank then talks to himself as all good villains do. We learn he is Franklin Goode, the last of the Goodes. And, like Ezra, he is ready to have his revenge on this one family. He plans to play the family and gain their loyalty and love and instantly rip them apart.
It turns out both Liz and Kate are in love with Frank, and he wastes no time in using this to his advantage. Kate bursts in one day and says she and Frank are getting married. Liz goes into a rage. She runs into the woods and drops her knitting needles along the way. But when she finally turns back she sees Kate... lying dead with a knitting needle through her heart.
Liz’s parents immediately suspect her. Even Simon does. Frank comes back over and continues his con game, insisting Kate killed herself because she was jealous and delusional. Of COURSE Frank was always going to marry Liz. She’s somewhat cheered at this news. She says they should leave together and get married.
But then something happens that I’ve honestly forgotten, maybe more woods shenanigans, and Simon comes home to find her parents slaughtered on the floor with Frank holding an ax high above his head. Liz is cowering in the corner. Oh yes, Simon has just been told by the resident witch that his family will perish by fire and that Frank is evil and must be stopped. She gives Simon a poisoned dagger that will kill someone instantly with only a prick.
Simon manages to barely cut Frank with the dagger, and Frank laughs at Simon’s feeble attempts to hurt him. He picks up the ax again and heads for Liz. But just when he’s about to kill her he drops the ax and falls over dead. Perfect timing.
Simon now sees that kindness gets you nowhere. His family opened their hearts and home to Frank, and he destroyed them all. Simon vows to fight evil with evil; it’s the only way. He also changes his name to Fear, as if that will prevent him from ever being consumed by a fire.
It’s a tragedy in three parts. And, much like the first book, it is just Goodes and Fiers loving each other and trying to break the curse on their families and failing miserably at this task.
So Ezra from the last book is now a man. And he has a son, Jonathan, who can’t understand why his dad goes around being pissed about the Goodes 24/7. In fact, Ezra uproots their whole family to Wickham in order to find the last remaining Goodes and seek revenge.
You can tell how well THAT plan will work out. Jonathan has two sisters: Rachel and Abigail. Abi likes to go to the empty, ghostly town to bury dog bones left out in the open (that’s actually pretty sweet). So Jon stays with her and helps as much as he can. And then, strangely, Abi meets another girl to play with. Jon has a bad feeling about letting the two of them go off to play together, but he knows Ezra will give in, and he’s right. Which is stupid, because he knows by now how this whole curse thing works.
When Abi doesn’t come home, Jon (correctly) assumes the worst. He goes to town to find her but stumbles on a graveyard with the name of her friend written on a headstone. And beside it... is Abi’s freshly dug grave with Abi inside. She is blue and very dead.
Fast forward some years later to Jon as a teenager. A sweet girl named Delilah comes to town, and Jon is instantly smitten. His mom has begun to deteriorate since Abi’s death, and she starts sleepwalking at night. Jon confides in Dee about the curse upon his family and how he didn’t want to believe his father but he’s starting to have his doubts. Then the worst happens. Rachel goes to the well one day soon after... and sees blood in the bucket. And then, even worse, she sees their mother down below, lying lifeless in the well.
Things start to click into place for Jon. He loves Dee but confronts her all the same. He demands she tell him that she is a Goode, and she doesn’t deny it. But he loves her anyway. In fact, he knows if they marry they can end the curse upon their families. But Ezra (like all the Fiers) is vain and doesn’t want Jon to marry someone penniless.
Dee and Jon are at the altar anyway, about to finish off the marriage ceremony and end the curse. But when the minister gets to the part about anyone objecting, Ezra bursts through the door carrying his rifle. Dee stands in the corner shocked. Jon wrestles Ezra for it, but the rifle goes off... and into Dee’s chest. Jon watches in horror as his almost-bride dies.
Then Dee’s dad comes in, and Ezra is two seconds away from killing him. But the man insists he is not a Goode. The truth is he lied to secure his daughter’s marriage with a wealthy family. When Jon told Dee about the curse, Dee went and told her father, and he realized that if she pretended to be a Goode Jon would ask for her hand in marriage. They even (sickly) planted the blood in the well that caused Jon’s mom to fall in while trying to look at it. Ezra doesn’t want to believe he’s not a Goode and shouldn’t be shot, but Jon insists Ezra let things lie. He then tells Dee’s dad that he would have married her anyway because he loved her.
Then Ezra goes outside and gets trampled by horses. Good times from everyone all around.
Jon buries his family members and the wretched necklace his father always wore that Jon knew carried the stupid curse. He says the curse is over and buried.
Fast forward 100 years. We now have siblings Simon, Elizabeth, and Kate Fier. Liz is planting a garden one morning and stumbles upon a tin box. It happens to be the same box that Jon buried years ago hoping to destroy the curse. But unfortunately for him, Liz loves the necklace and puts it on.
Soon after a Frank comes to town. He presents to their family as a homeless beggar in need of food. The Fiers happily oblige. He tells everyone his name is Frank. They offer him a bath, and once he is done and Liz sees him clean she realizes he is hot and is instantly smitten. Which is super hilarious, because she met and wanted to marry him in the span of two pages.
Frank then talks to himself as all good villains do. We learn he is Franklin Goode, the last of the Goodes. And, like Ezra, he is ready to have his revenge on this one family. He plans to play the family and gain their loyalty and love and instantly rip them apart.
It turns out both Liz and Kate are in love with Frank, and he wastes no time in using this to his advantage. Kate bursts in one day and says she and Frank are getting married. Liz goes into a rage. She runs into the woods and drops her knitting needles along the way. But when she finally turns back she sees Kate... lying dead with a knitting needle through her heart.
Liz’s parents immediately suspect her. Even Simon does. Frank comes back over and continues his con game, insisting Kate killed herself because she was jealous and delusional. Of COURSE Frank was always going to marry Liz. She’s somewhat cheered at this news. She says they should leave together and get married.
But then something happens that I’ve honestly forgotten, maybe more woods shenanigans, and Simon comes home to find her parents slaughtered on the floor with Frank holding an ax high above his head. Liz is cowering in the corner. Oh yes, Simon has just been told by the resident witch that his family will perish by fire and that Frank is evil and must be stopped. She gives Simon a poisoned dagger that will kill someone instantly with only a prick.
Simon manages to barely cut Frank with the dagger, and Frank laughs at Simon’s feeble attempts to hurt him. He picks up the ax again and heads for Liz. But just when he’s about to kill her he drops the ax and falls over dead. Perfect timing.
Simon now sees that kindness gets you nowhere. His family opened their hearts and home to Frank, and he destroyed them all. Simon vows to fight evil with evil; it’s the only way. He also changes his name to Fear, as if that will prevent him from ever being consumed by a fire.
August 26, 2018
Reviewed on Lili Lost in a Book
And we continue on with Nora telling us the story about the Goodes and the Fears (aka Fiers).
The first story starts off with Ezra Fier, who has his own family now, as he continues to search for the Goodes to exact his revenge on them. Oh no, he has not forgotten how William Goode killed pretty much his entire family and drove his aunt Mary insane (see last book for more details 😉). He is now dragging his wife and kids around looking for the Goodes until they arrive at a pretty literal ghost town... where they find death instead...
I never liked Ezra. In the last book he was mostly just a kid, but he was such a brat—I seriously hated that kid. And he wasn’t much better as an adult either. I really liked his son Jonathan though! In this first story he was only 12 years old... and had more sense than a grown ass man. Ezra treated Jonathan so awful—he was just the worst!
In the second story we fast forward a couple of years. Jonathan and his family have moved on... not from the vengeance, just from the death town. Jonathan is now a teenager and his insane father tells little sister Rachel about the awful Goodes every single night as a twisted bedtime story. Seriously, what is wrong with him?! Then Jonathan meets a girl, Delilah, and basically starts courting her. But then things take another dark turn. They begin to be haunted.
Again, I loved Jonathan in this story too! He wa just the most sane character, especially when it comes to the Fiers. Jonathan buries the Fier amulet and apparently that pauses the curse for 100 years. Jonathan is just the best! He didn’t want more vengeance and death. And it worked... for a while...
Until 100 years later when Elizabeth Fier finds a pretty amulet buried under a dead apple tree.
![[GIF] The](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1535241373ra/26199898.gif)
And then Franklin Goode appears. Seriously these guys take turns torturing each other. Lol. And now Franklin wants some revenge. More instalove, blah, blah, blah. Elizabeth is in love with Franklin, but her sister Kate is too. Sibling rivalry at its best... or worst. Depends how you look at it. Lol.
This third story had a random old lady known as Old Aggie and, just—who the fuck is she? She knows an awful lot of about the Fier/Goode feud/curse. And she is never brought up again or mentioned... she was just a rando exposition lady, I guess. Lol.
And you may be wondering, the series is called Fear Street, so where are the Fears? Well, they changed their name.
Yeah, 'cause Fear is so much better than an anagram of fire.
![[gif] Dean's Eyeroll :) #Supernatural #Sacrifice 8.23](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1535241372ra/26199897.gif)
I really enjoyed this book too! This trilogy is like reading one long story. It’s pretty cool. My favorite story in this book was the first story, but I also liked the third one with Elizabeth and Simon Fier and Franklin Goode. Just, so much craziness! And I love it!
And we continue on with Nora telling us the story about the Goodes and the Fears (aka Fiers).
The first story starts off with Ezra Fier, who has his own family now, as he continues to search for the Goodes to exact his revenge on them. Oh no, he has not forgotten how William Goode killed pretty much his entire family and drove his aunt Mary insane (see last book for more details 😉). He is now dragging his wife and kids around looking for the Goodes until they arrive at a pretty literal ghost town... where they find death instead...
I never liked Ezra. In the last book he was mostly just a kid, but he was such a brat—I seriously hated that kid. And he wasn’t much better as an adult either. I really liked his son Jonathan though! In this first story he was only 12 years old... and had more sense than a grown ass man. Ezra treated Jonathan so awful—he was just the worst!
In the second story we fast forward a couple of years. Jonathan and his family have moved on... not from the vengeance, just from the death town. Jonathan is now a teenager and his insane father tells little sister Rachel about the awful Goodes every single night as a twisted bedtime story. Seriously, what is wrong with him?! Then Jonathan meets a girl, Delilah, and basically starts courting her. But then things take another dark turn. They begin to be haunted.
Again, I loved Jonathan in this story too! He wa just the most sane character, especially when it comes to the Fiers. Jonathan buries the Fier amulet and apparently that pauses the curse for 100 years. Jonathan is just the best! He didn’t want more vengeance and death. And it worked... for a while...
Until 100 years later when Elizabeth Fier finds a pretty amulet buried under a dead apple tree.
And then Franklin Goode appears. Seriously these guys take turns torturing each other. Lol. And now Franklin wants some revenge. More instalove, blah, blah, blah. Elizabeth is in love with Franklin, but her sister Kate is too. Sibling rivalry at its best... or worst. Depends how you look at it. Lol.
This third story had a random old lady known as Old Aggie and, just—who the fuck is she? She knows an awful lot of about the Fier/Goode feud/curse. And she is never brought up again or mentioned... she was just a rando exposition lady, I guess. Lol.
And you may be wondering, the series is called Fear Street, so where are the Fears? Well, they changed their name.
I am no longer Simon Fier.
Now and forever I will be known as Simon FEAR.
Yeah, 'cause Fear is so much better than an anagram of fire.
I really enjoyed this book too! This trilogy is like reading one long story. It’s pretty cool. My favorite story in this book was the first story, but I also liked the third one with Elizabeth and Simon Fier and Franklin Goode. Just, so much craziness! And I love it!
January 30, 2015
Ah the nostalgia! Reading R L Stine again brought back memories. While it was refreshing finding out where the 'fear' in Fear Street all started, the narrative style did not enchant me, to say the least.
June 14, 2017
Tragis,kisahnya mungkin lebih seram dari saga pertama
kisahnya sangat menarik,disini akan dibagi tiga bagian,dimana yg bagian pertama
sedikit mengingatkan saya akan buku goosebumps selamat datang di rumah mati.
thriller,horror,drama dan misteri ada disini
kisahnya sangat menarik,disini akan dibagi tiga bagian,dimana yg bagian pertama
sedikit mengingatkan saya akan buku goosebumps selamat datang di rumah mati.
thriller,horror,drama dan misteri ada disini
April 29, 2021
I really liked this book, it was a good installment in the Saga and continues the story told in the first book. If you can, try to get the omnibus edition of this book like I did so you can read this story along with the others as one.
August 16, 2020
The saga continues with more betrayal, tragedy, and horror. This one was slightly shorter than the last, but it was just as engaging. Despite the often simplistic style of writing, I cannot put these books down.
April 12, 2013
The weakest of the trilogy...but it's no bore! Worth a read if you're reading the trilogy or if you love Stine.
March 18, 2016
Not as good as I remember. More like a bunch of short stories that would have been more interesting if they'd been fleshed out.
February 19, 2018
Beautiful art work on cover, doesn't have much to do with the story. Two stars for nostalgia's sake.
So cheesy at times I couldn't help but laugh. Baby me sure did love these books!
So cheesy at times I couldn't help but laugh. Baby me sure did love these books!
January 9, 2018
I miss this type of book.
October 10, 2020
I wrote a review of this book on my blog: The Real World According To Sam
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