So, I read this book when it was first released. I was 15 and I blame the fact that I thought this book was romantic and terrifying on my young age. Upon re-reading, this book was neither of those things.
We start out with our main character Belinda. She has lots of regret, y'all. She can't believe she let her friends Hildy and Frank talk her into going to this April Fool's Party two hours away from home. Are April Fool's Parties a thing? They weren't a thing when I was growing up. There were big kids there (college students)! And drinking! I'm clutching my pearls right along with Belinda. Frank named himself King of Fools and got completely drunk. Hildy is responsibly driving home but they left drunk Frank in the front seat and he keeps grabbing the steering wheel and being stupid. A car comes up and passes them and this just infuriates Frank and he sets out to teach them a lesson....somehow. The road is twisty and there are cliffs or something and it's raining of course. Frank thinks they should run the other car off the road. And then the other car goes off the road.
Oops.
Belinda races down and realizes there are people trapped inside the burning car. She can hear them screaming. Frank and Hildy are coming down the hill behind her screaming her name. She sees someone standing up at the top of the hill just staring and it creeps her out. The car blows up and the three teens go back up the hill. Belinda finds footprints and a handkerchief where the man had been standing. She puts the handkerchief in her pocket.
Now it's two weeks later. Hildy and Frank are "concerned" because Belinda just hasn't been acting the same since that day they ran someone off the road and the car exploded with people in it. I mean, really. Get it together Belinda. We learn some additional information. Belinda's mom works all the time and isn't home much (no surprise for Point Horror fans because we know the parents are never around in these). We also learn that after the accident, the kids stopped at a gas station to call for help but the gas station was closed and the pay phone (remember those?) didn't work. I guess that was the only place with a phone that exists in this area. Hildy doesn't seem to care that they might have seriously injured or killed someone. She's more worried about Frank getting kicked off the swim team if someone finds out and reminds Belinda that neither of them were supposed to be at this party in the first place.
Belinda tutors people for extra income and has fliers with her contact information all over town. Doesn't seem all that safe to me, but whatever. Hildy tells her that some random guy was asking about her at the library so the librarian helpfully showed him a picture of Belinda from the yearbook. Does this lady never watch Dateline?
Belinda gets called into the office and there's a bruised-up lady dressed all in black in there. She needs a tutor for her stepson who has been ill and unable to go to school. Apparently she saw one of the fliers, called the school for a reference and the principal set up the meeting without even talking to Belinda first. Can he even do that? This is a weird place. Anyway, Belinda hesitates because the woman makes "the boy" out to be a real problem child but the principal says of course she'll take it. Who is this man? Belinda asks to meet the kid first and the woman is annoyed but agrees. Oh, and it turns out the boy is actually Belinda's age and he's been "ill" because he was in a car accident two weeks ago. Dun dun dun. In fact, she and her husband were in the car as well and her husband is in the hospital in critical condition and not expected to live.
Belinda finds Hildy to tell her about Adam Thorne. She thinks he's the one from that night but Hildy just laughs at her and makes fun of her for being a drama queen. Frank appears and he's even a jackass when he's sober. He has definite perv tendencies. They both push Belinda into accepting the job which makes no sense. Why would they even care? Then two seconds later, Hildy flips out because Belinda's meeting with Adam will cut into the time Belinda was supposed to help her with math. Make up your damn mind, Hildy.
Belinda arrives home to find the police at her house. They were called and told Belinda had been in an accident. And there we have another dramatic chapter ender. Point Horror is especially fond of the chapter cliffhangers I've noticed.
Belinda's mom calls and Belinda tells her about the job and how she doesn't want to take it. Her mom encourages her to give it a try. What is with all these people telling Belinda to take a job she's uncomfortable with? What is the motivation for this? It doesn't make sense to me. Mrs Thorne picks Belinda up and tells her along the way that Adam is hostile and won't want her there. She reveals that she hates Adam and wishes he was the one in the hospital dying from his injuries instead of Mr Thorne. Lovely woman.
The house is beautiful but Belinda is pretty much freaking out at this point. Mrs Thorne actually shoves her into Adam's room and closes the door behind her. Excuse me?? Am I the only one that sees a problem with this?
Adam won't come out of the shadows and tells her he doesn't want her there. Belinda gets all nervous and starts babbling and ends up telling him her mom works long hours and she's usually home alone. Good going, Belinda. She actually gets herself so panicked that she passes out. When she comes to, his hands are on her shoulders and she sees his slashed-up, stitched-up face and looks at him with horror. He's wounded by her reaction and retreats. Belinda feels bad now and goes all gooey inside and tells him she'll be back tomorrow. Oh, Belinda.
She goes downstairs to find Mrs T and instead ends up in a room full of aquariums. Just as she's about to lift the cloth on one to see what's inside, a tall man with a meat cleaver stops her and we have another dun dun dun kind of chapter ending.
The scary man is actually an English butler named Cobbs who was cooking dinner and the aquariums are full of snakes. Cobbs won't take her home until she has tea and toast and Belinda forces him to join her even though it's clear he's not really comfortable with it. Cobbs has a dry sense of humor and he's my favorite character in this book. Of course, all the other suck so do with that what you will.
There are two sons in the family. Noel belongs to the Mrs and Adam to the Mr. They are both hotties in different ways. Belinda describes Adam's pre-accident face as being beautiful and evil all at once and is determined to "save" him.
Cobbs takes her home and Hildy and Frank join her. She tells them she thinks Adam knows things about her but they get mad and tell her she's crazy. Frank goes outside and comes back in with a box he says he found on the porch. There's an April calendar page inside with the 1st circled in blood. Yes, folks, it's another dun dun dun chapter ending.
The next day Belinda takes the bus to the Thorne's. She walks through the park and gets herself all spooked and jumping at shadows. She puts her hand in the pocket of her jacket and finds the handkerchief she picked up on that night. It has an "A" embroidered on the corner.
Mrs T is getting ready to leave on a business trip. Adam is as charming as ever. He seems to like unnerving her and eventually she runs from the room to head home. She collides with someone coming in the door before she can leave though. Master Noel has arrived and Belinda is just smitten pretty much from the start.
Noel offers to take Belinda home and then return to take his mom to the airport. On the way to Belinda's they talk about Adam. Noel does't really know him because Adam has always lived with his mom. Noel doesn't know where he's from but he thinks it's a town about two hours away. Belinda is about to wet her pants I think.
By the time they get back to the house, Belinda is practically drawing hearts around Noel's initials in her notebook. He drops her off and she goes to get the mail. Can you feel the cliffhanger coming around the corner? Sure enough, there's a doll in there. It's covered in entrails, the eyes have been gouged out and it's face has been slashed and sewn together.
For some reason, Belinda actually takes the disgusting doll to school the next morning to confront Hildy and Frank with it. They both deny any involvement and call Belinda crazy a few more times. Frank threatens her and tells her that if anyone finds out about the accident he'll swear Belinda was driving. Charming guy.
Belinda and Hildy make plans to get together that night to do bestie things although, for the life of me, I can't even figure out why these people are friends. They don't seem to like each other much. Belinda goes to the Thorne house but Cobbs tells her that Adam took a pain pill and is knocked out. Belinda tells Cobbs what route she'll be taking home for some reason I don't even understand. Guys, I really think Belinda is too stupid to live.
Belinda freaks herself out going through the park again. At one point she realizes there's a car behind her. It moves forward just a little and then stops and just sits there. She knows it's sinister though and starts to run away in a panic. You know what happens next. She trips and falls. Because suspense. The car doesn't move but the headlights come on. Scary stuff here. I hope you're not reading this alone in the dark. She starts screaming at the car because that's what any reasonable person would do to a car that's just sitting there with its lights on. No one answers but the lights go out again. Belinda gets up and runs all the way back to the Thorne house.
The door is locked but she gets in through the patio doors and Adam is in the kitchen. He has a snake around his neck because that's how all the hotties are accessorizing this season. Belinda tells Adam that a car was following her through the park. Oh, Belinda, the car barely moved. Adam decides to administer first aid to Belinda's scraped up face. She sees keys on the counter and gets all suspicious. He tells her that he knows a lot about her and is generally creepy.
Noel arrives and Belinda is saved from big bad Adam. Adam begins to taunt her with gory details of his accident and tells her that she looks so familiar like he's seen her before. Cue Belinda panic.
Noel takes her home. She asks him if it's possible that Adam was driving the car that "followed" her. Noel says his legs were crushed pretty bad in the accident and he can barely walk so there's no way he was driving. Hildy is at her house when they arrive. Belinda tells her all about her traumatic experience with the car that sat there and shined it's lights on Belinda in that terrifying way. The girls fight because Belinda says Hildy doesn't take her seriously. She has a point. Hildy is being awful but Belinda is pretty hard to take seriously at the moment so I call this one a draw.
Noel wants to talk to Belinda about Adam so Hildy goes outside. Noel tells her that Adam has a history of making things up and his newest delusion is that someone ran his car off the road and caused the accident. Belinda's in panic mode again.
Frank comes over and he and Hildy come inside. In front of Noel, Hildy asks if Belinda has a date for the senior picnic. Subtle. Noel plays his role and dutifully offers to take Belinda. She's so embarrassed and mad that she tells Hildy she's going to bed after Noel leaves. Screw all the bestie stuff, Belinda's out. That night, Belinda hears someone scratching at her window and whispering "murderer".
Belinda seems to remember what she's been hired to do and actually attempts to start tutoring Adam the next day but he's awful as usual and it finally seems like she's had enough. She tells him she's quitting and won't be back. On her way out, she drops the handkerchief on the floor and Adam seems alarmed to see it and demands to know where she got it. She tells him she found it somewhere and heads out. The car isn't available, so she picks up the phone to call a cab and hears Adam on the line talking to the doctor. He wants to know when his dad is going to go ahead and die already and says they've all waited long enough.
Some time has past. I have no idea how long. Belinda and Noel go to the senior picnic, share a kiss in the car and then decide to go out for Mexican food. On their way home, a car rams into them and runs them off the road. They're okay but Noel decides she needs to come home with him and stay at the house rather than staying home alone again. She doesn't want to go because it might have been Adam in the car that ran them off the road but Noel tells her that Cobbs and Adam are out seeing a movie.
Somehow Belinda ends up in Mrs Thorne's white silk nightgown being held in Noel's manly arms and she sobs out the entire story. She tells him that she now thinks that Adam caused the accident on purpose to kill his father and stepmother and the handkerchief she found with the "A" proves it. Noel looks a little freaked out about the handkerchief.
The next morning Cobbs tells Belinda that he and Adam saw different movies the night before. He sits down with Belinda and tells her the story of how Adam was sent to live with relatives at the age of 10 because of the nasty divorce. Adam ran away several times and accused the aunt and uncle of abusing him but no one believed him. Then one day they were driving on a steep winding road in the rain (sound familiar?) and the car went off the road. The uncle died right away. Adam had a horrible head injury. The aunt survived for a short time and kept trying to tell someone something about Adam and the steering wheel. After that, Adam's whole personality changed.
Noel comes in and Belinda tells him that Cobbs and Adam saw separate movies the night before. Noel says he checked the car and there's not a scratch on it, so Adam couldn't have done it. Cobbs tells Noel that Mrs T never showed up at the hotel but Noel doesn't seem too concerned about his flighty mother. Before she leaves, Belinda sees Adam searching through papers in his dad's study and laughing maniacally.
Belinda meets Hildy at the mall and tells her that she thinks Adam caused the accident. Hildy gets mad at Belinda for dwelling on this and making mountains out of molehills. Belinda confesses that she told Noel about the accident and Hildy isn't happy. She admits that Frank did the calendar and call to the police to mess with Belinda. Belinda decides to confront Frank and heads for the school where they find Frank's jacket floating ominously in the pool but no Frank.
Hildy and Belinda get into a huge fight. Belinda (rightly) thinks Frank is a jerk but Hildy defends him and says Belinda is just jealous. In a very awkward way Hildy tells Belinda that sometimes she could just hurt her. It's a pretty dumb and transparent attempt to make Hildy look sinister and it made me hate this book just a little more. Hildy tells Belinda that they aren't friends any more. Were they ever really?
Belinda goes home to take a nap. Noel comes over to tell her that Mr T is critical and not expected to live through the night. He's headed to the hospital but agrees to take Belinda to Hildy's first so the girls can make up. Before they can leave a man delivers an envelope that contains one of Hildy's braids.
Noel and Belinda go to Hildy's house and then to Frank's but no one has seen them. For some reason Noel takes Belinda back to his house. Cobbs has gone to the hospital. Adam calls and tells Noel to come right away so Noel leaves Belinda alone in the house. Why? Why didn't you just go home, Belinda, in case your friend Hildy-with-the-one-braid needs to find you?? Belinda decides to snoop around the study to see if she can figure out what paper Adam was looking at the other day. It was a will and it leaves everything to Noel and Adam if Mrs T dies before Mr T.
Now Belinda is convinced that Adam killed the missing Mrs T and is going to kill Noel too. Cobbs calls and Belinda finds out that neither Noel nor Adam are at the hospital. Belinda sees Adam at the house and runs off, straight into Noel. She's relieved until she realizes they're in on it together. In fact, it was Noel she saw standing at the top of he cliff that night and his handkerchief she found (his last name is Ashby). Our romantic hope are dashed, folks. This was all Noel's idea.
They force Belinda into the car and take off with her. Along the way, they tell her how they found her through the tutoring ads because Noel heard Hildy and Frank screaming her name that night and saw the high school sticker on her car. I guess there's only one girl name Belinda in that school. I can buy that since I've only ever known one Belinda in my entire life but if her name had been Heather I would have called shenanigans.
They drive her to Suicide Point where they've hidden a car, Frank and Hildy. The plan is to put them all in the car and push them over the side. At the last minute, Adam tries to double-cross Noel. They scuffle. Noel ends up saving Frank, Hildy and Belinda from going over the side. The police show up. It turns out Cobbs returned home to see Belinda being kidnapped and he followed the car to save the day. I like Cobbs.
In the end, Hildy and Belinda make up. Cobbs was given enough money in the will that he no longer has to work but he's bored so he volunteers to be Belinda's butler because these things happen in real life.
So, I loved this book at fifteen. I thought it was creepy and that Adam and Noel were both romantic heroes. Oh, to be 15 again. Re-reading, I was just struck by how improbable it all was. No reasonable person would have taken that tutoring job. No reasonable person would have kept going back to the Thorne house after the first time. In no way were Hildy and Belinda friends. How did Adam and Mrs T blow up in that car without being burned? On what planet does a teenage girl get a free butler? This book makes no sense.
Final verdict: skip this one unless you just like dry, witty, English butlers. Cobbs is awesome.
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