Fear Street Flashback (31)

Why? Because FEAR STREET was like, my favorite series growing up.

Originally released in January, 1990.

This is a rare Fear Street title in that it is not one I have revisited since the first time reading through it. Not sure why, except that I remember thinking the plot was dumb, and then I spilled a little coffee on my copy and I was terrified of damaging it further. Silly, irrational kid thoughts. So I was both excited and apprehensive about reading Missing again.

Turns out this is definitely one of the weaker Fear Street installments. Mark and Cara are having a major house party on the night their parents disappear and it immediately seems weird for them to have so much concern so quickly. It also seems very unlikely that parents would just disappear without a trace and their two teenaged kids wouldn't quickly call the police.

And then with the addition of the out-of-place cousin Roger, there were too many elements that didn't line up. Still, I appreciated the slow build-up with tension until the final climax. And then final reveal was a big relief, almost, in it's very plausible explanation. I felt myself thinking "oh, it was just that??" and being very done with the book. As the fourth book ever in the Fear Street series, it shows how much better the lineup got over time.

Fear Rating: 1 out of 3 Screams