Retro Book Review

In this Retro Review, I will be covering the first book in R.L. Stine’s original Fear Street series: The New Girl.

Originally published in 1989, this first installment of the Fear Street Universe introduces us to our main protagonist Cory Brooks, a somewhat goofy male gymnast that loves to joke around with his two best friends David and Arnie (who are also both on the gymnastics team) until one day while doing a handstand in the cafeteria, Cory sees the girl of his dreams. The first half of the book focuses on Cory seeing the new girl; a beautiful blonde, blue eyed young woman that has pale skin and seems to disappear almost suddenly as soon as Cory approaches her. No one in the school seems to notice this mysterious girl except for Cory’s female best friend and next door neighbor Lisa, who says that she shares a physics class with. Lisa tells Cory that this elusive new girl’s name is Anna Corwin.

Soon after Cory learns the new girls name he runs into her in the hallway and they hit it off very quickly. Cory is so smitten with Anna that he daydreams about her constantly which eventually becomes a detriment to his class work and his performance as a gymnast. He begins to grow distant from his friends Arnie and David and becomes so obsessed with Anna that he soon quits the gymnastics team.

Not too long after quitting the team he finds Anna’s phone number and calls her. Anticipating hearing Anna’s voice once the receiver is picked up, he instead hears a grumpy and aggressive male voice on the other end proclaiming that “Anna is dead” and “to never call back again!” Unsatisfied and disturbed by the voice on the telephone, Cory begins a series of late night visits to Anna’s house, which is located on Fear Street. Each book in the Fear Street series will in some way take place on or around this spooky street in the town of Shadyside. From this information we can deduce that there is something odd about Anna.

After an unsuccessful first late night visit to Anna’s house (Cory was more or less scared away by the creepy neighbor and dog of the Corwins) Cory uses his advantage of working in the school’s administration office to find Anna’s school file. However, upon digging through the file cabinets in his principal’s office he discovers no file on Anna at all. Becoming even more confused, Cory is then approached by Anna who begins to have small talk with him. Every time Cory tries to ask about the weird guy answering her phone and about the possibility of her being deceased, she literally runs away from him thus ending the conversation and leaving more unanswered questions.

The third act of this book is a typical teenage trope fest filled with school dances that end with someone getting hurt, jealous girls, and the girl next door catching feelings for her best guy friend. The third act is pretty short and the ending comes abruptly. To be honest, I was left wanting a little more and was surprised how fast the ending came right after the school dance. No ending spoilers here, however I will say that the ending was not one I was expecting.

All in all, this book was a strong start in the Fear Street franchise. It is very dated, but I don’t think that hinders the story. The outdated-ness of the story is what gives it its charm. I found myself being transported back to a time before modern cellphones and computers and it gave me a huge nostalgic overload. How different the story would be if Cory had access to a cellphone and the internet.

For this first installment of the original Fear Street series, I will give it 4 out of 5 stars. Strong start to a long and interesting series.

My next original Fear Street Retro Review will be the 2nd book in the series: The Surprise Party.