Warning: Contains Spoilers!!! This is a recap blog which means I read the book and tell you everything that happens so you don't have to read it yourself. Do NOT continue to read unless you want to know who the bad guy/girl/literary work is.
Tag Line: The library was silent as the grave.From the Back of the Book: Book Drop. It was after hours. Kathleen was preparing to close the library when somebody returned five grisly books about death. One was slashed. All were overdue. Then Kathleen found the bookmark with the deadly warning. Now people close to her are falling victim to tragic accidents. Someone is out for blood. Is it Robin, silent, shy, withdrawn? Is it Alexander, the dark handsome stranger who haunts the library stacks and says he only wants to help? Kathleen can count on only one thing: the killer will strike again - and her death is overdue....
When I finished that stupid Zodiac
Chiller book I had this awful premonition that my manager was going
to hand me the second one in the series to do next so I quickly made
a rule that she couldn't make me do them back to back. I like to
pretend I still have some authority over this blog. What followed
that rule induction is remembered two different ways. Her version
has me asking her for a Cusick. My version has her handing me two
books – one of which was a Cooney – and I took the lesser of two
evils. Whichever version is true, I'm now reading a Cusick. I've
lost all faith in her. Maybe I'll get it back.
This book was published in 1995 and
this is my first reading. I have to say I love the cover. Point
Horror (ish) covers are just so delightfully campy. That person on
the ID looks WAY too old to be a high school student, though.
We begin with our protagonist Kathleen
whining about how much she hates working in the library. It's old
and dusty and it smells like mildew and it's in a bad part of town.
Not only does she hate the library, she hates the librarian Miss
Finch. I was really finding her super annoying until Robin
showed up. Robin is her age and he works as a janitor. He's small
for his age (17) and he is unwilling or unable to talk. Kathleen is
super nice to him and talks to him as she shelves the books and I
forgive her for her first two pages of bitch.
Odds of Robin being the bad guy: 60% I
know it's early but it seems like the kind of dick move Cusick would make.
Kathleen is just babbling away as they
work. She talks about the new girl Monica who is tall and blonde and
gorgeous and about how much she hates Vivian and her popular clones.
She talks about her parents' divorce and how her mom is still mad
that Kathleen stayed with her dad. She talks about how she's not
sure she can go to college anymore and how awful it's going to be to
work through Spring Break. Then she looks up and realizes at some
point in the conversation, Robin wandered off. She sees a tall
shadow slip around a corner – Robin's short so it's not him – and
she frets that someone from school might have overheard her whining.
Kathleen looks around a bit and then
returns to where she was shelving. To her surprise, Robin is there
again sweeping as if he'd never left. She asks him where he went but
he doesn't respond in any way. Miss Finch yells that she wants Robin
to load some books for an auction into her car and he and Kathleen go
to the back room where they're stored. There are several, heavy
boxes and the rain is pouring down outside, so Kathleen volunteers to
to move Miss Finch's car closer so Robin doesn't have so far to go.
She's about to step outside when Robin
suddenly grabs her arm. He holds her in place while staring at a
tree outside. Then, without warning, he shoves her back. A second
later, lightning strikes the tree and it falls into the driveway.
Kathleen is shaken. She tries to get Robin to come back inside but
he is motionless, still holding onto her and staring out into the
rain. Kathleen scans the area trying to figure out why Robin is so
on edge. She thinks she sees someone standing out there in shadows
but she can't be sure. She asks Robin if he saw someone and he
firmly steers her back inside.
Miss Finch comes out of the office and
tells Kathleen that she's just been invited to some kind of librarian
conference and she'll have to leave the next day. She wants Kathleen
to take care of the library for her. This seems pretty far-fetched.
Who would leave a teenager in charge of an entire library for a week?
Kathleen doesn't particularly want to do it, but she ends up
agreeing for reasons Cusick doesn't bother to share with us.
Adult shipped off to some random,
nonsensical place? Check
Miss Finch tells Kathleen that she'll
have to meet her in the morning to get the keys (why doesn't she just
turn them over now????) and that she's bought paint for the renovation of the Children's Room and expects Robin to make significant progress on it while
she's away. Kathleen points out that the shelves will have to be
moved, the floor pulled up, the ceiling fixed, the walls patched and
the mildew cleaned before Robin can paint at all so there's no way he
can make significant progress in a week. Miss Finch isn't hearing
any of that noise.
Neither Kathleen or Robin have cars and
both must walk home in the dark and the rain. Kathleen starts out
for home and is startled when a car pulls up alongside her. We're
treated to our first meeting with the resident mean girl of the book,
Monica.
Hot girl who has it out for our heroine
(most likely over a boy)? Check
Monica and Kathleen trade barbs for
awhile. Monica is the undisputed champion of passive-aggressiveness
and, in just a few paragraphs, she manages to make fun of Kathleen's
job, call her a slut and tell her she's a boring hag with no life...all
with a smile on her face. The heart of this little exchange seems to
be some guy named Bran. Bran and Kathleen are friends, though
Monica insinuates several times that they're having tons of sex.
Bran apparently used to date Vivian who
happens to be Monica's best friend. Monica claims to want Bran for
her own but it comes off as her just trying to stick it to Kathleen.
Kathleen doesn't take the bait.
PS: Why is his name a grain? I assumed it was short for Brandon but Cusick never says that.
Monica says she was on her way to
return some library books because she and Vivian are headed to the
beach for Spring Break the next morning. When Kathleen tells her the library is
closed, Monica throws the books at her and drives off. They land in
a puddle, naturally. When Kathleen bends to pick them up, she
realizes she's left her purse in the library. She immediately goes
back, hoping to catch Robin and Miss Finich before they leave for the
night.
There are still a couple of lights on
in the library so Kathleen knocks on the locked door to get one of
them to let her in. No one responds. She's turning away to go
around back when suddenly the door just clicks open. There's no one
there, though. Kathleen goes in.
You're fine. It's a mostly dark,
deserted library with a door that just unlocked and opened completely
on its own. Nothing to worry about here, girl. You go on and do
your thing. You're fine.
Protagonist ending up alone in a dark
creepy place? Check
Kathleen steps into the silent library
and realizes pretty quickly that Miss Finch and Robin are gone. She
starts for the kitchen where she left her purse but gets spooked
before she goes very far. She keeps seeing shadows moving around and
thinks she hears whispering among the stacks. She's shaking by the
time she reaches the front desk. In a panic, she grabs the phone and
calls Bran who has been home sick with the flu for days. She tells
him she's too scared to go back outside alone and begs him to come
get her. He understandably doesn't want to get out in the rain when
he has the flu but she's so freaked out that he gets worried about
her and decides to come get her.
Meanwhile, Kathleen hears something
moving behind her and she gets even more frightened. It turns out to
be books coming through the book drop though. She gathers them up
and takes them to the counter. I guess she's either forgotten about
her purse at this point or she's too scared to walk through the rest
of the dark library to get it. The stack of books is pretty big but
they all had papers due that day so she isn't surprised really. She
glances through them and realizes they're all about murder and
torture and executions. To top it off, the due date is months past.
When she checks the computer, however, she realizes that the books
had been taken from the library without being checked out at all.
Clearly someone didn't want a paper trail.
One of the books is an encyclopedia of
torture that used to have sections of illustrations. She discovers
that someone has removed all the pictures. The captions are still
there, so she knows the pictures were of horrific torture scenes.
She wonders why someone would want to cut out and keep pictures like
that. I don't think there's a good reason, Kathleen.
Inside one of the books is a bookmark
with a message scrawled across it: “Horrors await you. Beware.”
For some reason, Kathleen starts
yelling “Bran! Bran, get me out of here!” to a completely empty
library. First of all, Bran isn't even there yet, bitch, and he
can't get you out of anywhere. Second of all, you AREN'T TRAPPED in
the library at all. You could just walk your overreacting ass right
out of there. Third of all, you don't even know that message is for
you. The bookmark I'm using in this book has a note scrawled across
it about Mac and Cheese written by my dear friend Mona. If I
accidentally left it in a book and returned it, would the librarian
get all hysterical about being charged 47 cents for Mac and Cheese?
No. It's a bookmark. People use all kinds of weird things for
bookmarks.
Kathleen runs to the doors still
screaming and bumps into someone coming in as she's dashing out.
They get all tangled up and he ends up with his hand over her mouth
to stop her damn screaming. I don't blame him for wanting the sound to stop, but guys really need to stop resorting to this method. So not cool, men of the world. She
finally calms down and he introduces himself as Alexander from
California. He was passing by and heard all the screaming and
thought someone needed help. She acts like a complete bitch, telling
him that he has no business being outside of the library when it's
closed. How dare he be walking down a public sidewalk on a public
street in the middle of town!! Doesn't he know that you can't be in
the vicinity of the library when the library is closed?? He should
have crossed the street or taken a different street or moved to a new
town obviously. Sheesh.
It just occurred to me that it's raining. Why is he walking around in the rain? I think Cusick forgot it was raining. This is not a good sign, is it?
Kathleen asks him if he just put books
into the book drop and he tells her he hasn't even been to the
library before. He just got to town. He's dressed in jeans and a
black sweater and that's enough for to suspect him of being the
shadows she's been seeing everywhere. Because black sweaters =
sinister motives obviously. Keep up, y'all. She demands to know why
Alex was outside and he tells her that he's a student at the
University in the next town. He has a term paper due on history or
folklore or something and this particular library has the best
collection of books on the subject in the county. He didn't realized
it closed so early, not being from the town at all.
But....but.....didn't he just say he was aimlessly walking around and heard screaming? Which is it? There on purpose or there to be the white knight?
Kathleen thinks Alex is hot and now
she's all flustered and embarrassed which just comes off hostile and
abrasive. He tries to flirt with her and she snaps at him. Suddenly
Bran arrives looking like death warmed over. He isn't happy to find
Kathleen calm and fine and not about to be carved into minuscule
pieces by Michael Myers. Kathleen introduces Alex and Bran, all
the while telling us about how the whole school is jelly of her
because she's Bran's friend. Apparently he's the school stud and
every girl wants him. Except Kathleen. She just wants to be his
friend.
Hmmmm. Is it possible than Bran
doesn't like living in the friendzone and is bitter about it?
Odds of Bran being the bad guy: 25%
Alex leaves and Kathleen shows Bran the
books and the bookmark. He's very unimpressed. He tells her it's
just a bookmark. It's either some kid having a little bit of fun or
it's meaningless like my Mac and Cheese bookmark. She can't believe
he isn't leaping to the conclusion that someone is out to get her.
He tries to hurry her along because he's burning up with fever and
just wants to get back to bed but she takes her own sweet time
getting her purse and fussing with the books some more.
They finally leave. She never calls
Miss Finch to come lock the doors, so I guess the library is just
going to remain open for the night. That's responsible. I can see
why she's going to be left in charge for a week. As they leave,
Kathleen freaks out again, gripping Bran's arm painfully hard and
telling him that they're being watched.
Bran drives Kathleen back to his house
where his mother makes a big fuss over her. Bran goes up to bed
while his mom has a heart-to-heart with Kathleen. They talk about
her mom a little. We don't really get any new info from this except
that Bran's mom wants him and Kathleen to be a couple and Kathleen
doesn't see much of her friend Della anymore because Della is
dating college guys.
Kathleen goes home to find the house
empty. She gets right into bed and falls asleep. At some point in
the night she awakens to a room full of smoke. She runs to her
window and hears sirens approaching. Someone is in her yard but they
take off when she yells down to them. She decides she'll have to go
out the window. The chapter ends as she falls. Way to pull a Stine,
Cusick.
She's fine of course.
Kathleen comes to in Bran's house. She
can feel the lump on her head and everything hurts. She hears her
father, Bran's mom, Bran and the family doctor talking in another
room. Apparently the fire started in the basement laundry room from
an iron that was left on. There was minimal fire damage but the
place is filled with smoke. Her dad comments that they'll have to
stay in a hotel until the place can be “fumigated”.
That's.....not the right word. Maybe it's an alternate meaning, though. Google to the rescue.
So, I looked this word up and consulted
my husband who is a fount of all knowledge and, Cusick, that word
doesn't mean what you think it means, honey. Fumigate means to apply
chemicals in an effort to eradicate pests. Fumigate does NOT mean to
clear your home of smoke. I'm not entirely sure what word she was
going for there but I think “ventilate” would have been a more
accurate choice. At any rate “fumigate” was WAY wrong.
Bran's mom (we finally get a name! -
Rosa) says that Kathleen can stay there and then Bran throws
some major shade by saying this wouldn't have happened if Kathleen's
dad (we get this one too! - Tom) was home more. That's kind
of messed up, to be honest. It's not like the guy is out at bars or
playing the ponies or knocking boots with every bimbo he comes
across. He's WORKING. Because he has alimony to pay and a child to
feed, clothe and educate. I know Kathleen is important and family
time is important but so is food and a place to live and electricity.
If Bran wants to get pissed, he should be pissed at Kathleen's MOM
who is essentially taking Kathleen's college future away from her so
she can have alimony instead of working to support her own sorry ass.
Tom tells Rosa that he has to go away
for business the next day. It's crucial and he can't reschedule.
Send the parent of the protagonist off
on a trip early in the book? Check
Rosa says Kathleen can stay with them
until Tom gets back. Bran goes up to check on Kathleen and finds her
awake. She tells him that she definitely didn't leave the iron on and
that she saw someone running away from her house after the fire
started. Bran doesn't believe her and tells her to get some rest.
Kathleen is convinced that it has something to do with the ominous
bookmark left in Dante's Inferno. Because, of course, that
book is about hell and hell has fire. Ordinarily I'd say this is a
leap but it's Cusick and she's the Queen of far-fetched.
Della shows up at breakfast the next
day. Kathleen tells us that Della is “abundant” and then a
paragraph later Bran makes a fat joke at her expense. Charming.
Utterly charming. Then just two paragraphs later he tells his mother
he can't give Della a ride because his car can't hold that much
weight and then he calls her an elephant.
Bran should die, y'all. He better not
turn out to be the love interest in this book because this boy is
repugnant.
And why is Bran all of a sudden well?
He was practically on his death bed the day before and now he's up
and getting ready to run a day full of errands or something. Did
Cusick forget she made him sick or did the smoke smell wafting off of
Kathleen open his sinuses?
Cusick is really dropping the ball all over the place in this book. She can't seem to keep track of what she's writing.
Bran, Della and Kathleen pile into his
car. I have no idea where Della is going but Kathleen is headed for
the library. Bran manages to make another crack about Della weighing
two tons and.....I'm over this, Cusick. I'm fucking over this. Let
it go and move on. It's not cute and it's not funny. It just makes Bran obnoxious and unlikable and it's actually making me like you a lot less too.
Kathleen fills Della in on everything as they
drive. She tells her about the storm and the tree, the mysterious
shadows, the books in the book drop, the missing illustrations and the
bookmark. She repeats that she saw someone running away from her
house the night before and theorizes that someone broke in and turned
the iron on.
Della thinks that Kathleen should tell
the police but Bran tells them that they're both being ridiculous.
It's about that time that Bran notices the car is handling funny and
he tells them that they have a flat tire. All three of them get out.
Della, who is wearing headphones and jammin' out to some groovy
tunes, grabs the jack and starts jacking up the car. Kathleen
discovers a copy of Anna
Karenina in Bran's trunk and asks him if he's reading it.
He isn't and has no idea how it got there. Suddenly a driver-less
truck comes barreling down the hill headed right for Della. She
can't hear them scream because of the music playing in her ear. Bran
dashes forward to try to save her and the chapter ends in a crash of
metal and glass.
When the next chapter opens, Kathleen
is hysterical and a crowd has started to gather. Della is lying in
the street covered in blood. Bran is face down in the grass beside
the road bleeding from the face. Yeah, I don't know how he got over
there either. Paramedics arrive and take them both away. Kathleen
realizes the book was another sinister warning because the main character
of Anna Karenina throws herself in front of a train.
Because.....you know......trucks hitting you by accident and throwing
yourself in front of a train are the EXACT SAME THING. Duh. When
she goes back to get the book, it's gone.
Bran has some cuts and bruises and a
broken wrist but he's going to be okay. Della is in a coma. The
doctor says she has serious internal bleeding and might have brain
damage or be paralyzed. It's too soon to tell. Technically I'm not
sure....whatever. It doesn't matter. It's not like I read a Cusick looking for accurate medical information.
Kathleen gets to work eventually and
finds Robin changing a light bulb way up high. She's nervous about
his safety on the ladder but peppers him with questions to distract
him anyway. She's a good friend. Through hand gestures and facial
expressions, Robin manages to communicate to her that he got there at
10:00 and there's one patron upstairs. She asks if Miss Finch was
furious that she wasn't there on time and Robin comes down the ladder
to write on a pad of paper. “She didn't come.” Kathleen
is shocked. She wonders how they'll manage to lock up the library
without Miss Finch's keys and Robin motions for her to follow him.
In the kitchen, he pries up a section
of floor and reaches into a secret cubbyhole. From that, he extracts
a set of keys. Kathleen asks if they are the keys to the library and
Robin nods. He writes “I had them made” on the pad of
paper. Kathleen is so emotionally overwrought at this point that she
steps close and puts her cheek against Robin's chest. His arms
remain at his sides but he doesn't step away. She starts to tell him
about the accident when someone shows up at the door behind them.
It's Alex and he assumes he's interrupting something romantic.
Robin darts away like the hounds of
hell are after him. Maybe Kathleen should take a hint and keep her
paws off him. Alex wants to know where the biographies are located
and Kathleen snaps that they're upstairs. She has such a darling
attitude. Alex takes a close look at her and realizes something is
wrong. She churlishly refuses to tell him at first but then fills
him in about the accident. He's sweetly concerned considering he
doesn't really know these people. He asks her if she wants to talk
about it but she gets oddly angry again and reiterates where he can
find the biographies.
After he leaves, Kathleen heads for the
room that Robin will be renovating into a children's reading room. I
think she's looking for Robin but Cusick never really says. The room
is empty and cold. Upon closer inspection, she realizes the glass at
the bottom of the barred windows has been broken. She immediately
knows that someone tried to break in.
Um. They didn't need to. You left the
front door unlocked. Plus, why would they choose the one room that
has bars on the window? It seems like an idiotic place to try to break in. She decides to stick her arms through the
broken glass because....well, she must have had some reason. Something unseen grabs
her hand and pulls, cutting her arm badly in the process. Then she's
thrown backwards.
How exactly? How did something that was pulling her through a narrow space in a barred window throw her backwards? This doesn't seem remotely possible. Get it together, Cusick.
Bleeding badly, Kathleen drags herself
toward the main room of the library to find Robin. She calls for him
a couple of times but he doesn't answer. Then Alex comes in from
outside. Cusick is trying really hard to make him look suspicious.
Too hard.
Odds of Alex being the bad guy: 20%
Kathleen demands that Alex go find
Robin. Alex wants to take her to the doctor instead but she insists.
He wraps his jacket tightly around her arm before he leaves. She
feels woozy and terrified. Alex returns with Robin and tells
Kathleen that Robin is going to borrow Alex's car to take her to the
doctor. Meanwhile, Alex will man the front desk because he has prior
library-work experience.
Convenient.
Kathleen asks Robin if he can even
drive since she's always seen him walking everywhere and Robin is
amused by this. On the drive to the doctor, she fills Robin in on
everything that's happened from the books in the book drop, the fire,
the accident and the window. He looks dubious and she wonders why no
one will believe that a maniac is out to get her.
When they get back to the library, Alex
tells Kathleen that he thinks he knows why she went through the
window. He takes her back into the Children's Room and shows her a
hole in the floor left by rotted boards in front of the window. His
theory is that the boards gave way and she stumbled, thinking someone
was grabbing her arm. Kathleen doesn't buy it. The floorboards were
fine when she was in there.
Alex volunteers to work the rest of the
day if she wants to go home and rest but she turns him down. The
doctor has given her pain pills and she figures she can make it until
the end of the day. Clearly she's never taken pain pills and has no
idea how sleepy they make a person. She shoos Robin and Alex away
and starts to look through the “To Do” lists Miss Finch left her.
She can't concentrate, though. Her mind just keeps reviewing
everything that happens and so we're forced to review it as well.
Sigh.
She looks for the mysterious books and
finds that they're not on the front desk where she left them. She
doesn't think either Robin or Alex reshelved them, but she heads to
the stacks to check it out. One by one she eliminates the
possibility that the books have been put away. The last one is
supposed to be way up high on the top shelf. She drags a step stool
over and checks out the spot. Instead of a book, she finds a very
dead bird with a pencil through it's heart and a page torn from a
book.
“Come hither, sweet
robin, and be not afraid.
I would not hurt even a
feather.”
Naturally, she screams the
place down and the boys come running. She tells Alex that this is
clearly a warning for Robin and he's in terrible danger.
Although.....it seems like an anti-warning to me. Dead bird
notwithstanding.
Alex thinks it's a prank but
Kathleen really goes full-scale drama llama on them all. She's
ranting and raving and both boys are growing very concerned for her
mental health. She grabs Robin at one point to emphasize the danger
he's in and only succeeds in making him afraid of her.
Disgusted with them both for being too stupid to listen to her
conspiracy theories, she asks Robin to lock up the library at closing
time and asks Alex to stay with Robin to make sure he's okay and then
she leaves the library.
She knows she was acting a
little unhinged and she's embarrassed and wondering how she'll ever
face either of them again. She thinks things through a little more
and begins to wonder if the bird was actually left for Miss Finch.
Miss Finch is the one who usually reshelves the books after all and
her last name is a bird name too. She begins to feel really stupid
about assuming the bird was a warning for Robin.
Kathleen kind of stumbles
around town lost in thought. Which includes more review for
us because Cusick isn't sure we've been paying proper attention to
this masterpiece she's creating. (Note from Future Me: I'm starting to theorize that all this review was for Cusick. She really seems to be having trouble holding onto the thread of her own story.) It begins to get dark and she's
suddenly hearing all manner of sinister noises. She becomes
convinced that someone is following her and she begins to run. Then
Alex is there and he's offering her a ride home and she's relieved.
He says he didn't see anyone following her, but when she gets into
the car, she sees a shadow watching her from the sidewalk.
Kathleen must have had Alex
drive her to the hospital because suddenly we're there visiting Bran.
He doesn't remember the accident at all. In fact, he doesn't even
remember picking Kathleen up from the library the night before,
meeting Alex, or the fire. Kathleen is frustrated because that means
he doesn't remember the book in the trunk and no one else saw it.
Way to make it all about
you, Kath. Good friending you have going on there.
Kathleen leaves and goes
back to Bran's house. After they talk about Bran's amnesia and
Della's unchanged condition for awhile, Rosa encourages Kathleen to
call Della's parents. She does and Della's mom asks her to stop by. Kathleen reluctantly agrees to do so. Rosa isn't too
thrilled with the idea of Kathleen walking over to Della's house in
the dark but Kathleen turns down the offer of a drive, claiming that
the fresh air will clear her head.
On the way down Bran's
driveway, Kathleen is nearly flattened by a two-ton continuity error.
Monica's car pulls up and I'm puzzled to hear that Monica, Vivian
and two randoms named Patsy and Nicole are in it. It
would have made more sense if it had been unoccupied. You know,
because Monica and Vivian at least are supposed to be at the beach
for Spring Break. I mean, Cusick told us they were headed there.
And yet....here they are. With nary a beach in sight. Way to go
Cusick. Good job on this writing thing.
Monica asks Kathleen if Bran
was really in an accident as the rumor mill has claimed. Kathleen
confirms the information and makes sure to mention that Bran can't
have visitors right now. Monica says they're here to see Rosa to offer their support. Kathleen doesn't think Rosa needs to deal with
them so she lies and says that Rosa is asleep. Monica unexpectedly
asks if Kathleen wants a ride somewhere and Kathleen gets peer
pressured into getting into the car.
Vivian tries to sew up
Cusick's massive plot hole by telling us that they're going to the
beach on Saturday which ISN'T WHAT YOU TOLD US THE FIRST DAMN TIME,
CUSICK. They pepper Kathleen with questions about the accident but
she's saved from answering when Monica suddenly, worriedly announces
that they're being followed. Vivian isn't concerned. She thinks
it's Bobby being a pain in the ass as usual. I think Bobby
might be Monica's boyfriend but Cusick doesn't explain him very well
and I have no idea.
Monica tries to lose the car
behind them while Vivian insinuates that Kathleen is the reason that
Bran and Della got hurt. Kathleen is royally pissed and demands that
Monica pull over and let her out. Which Monica does with a parting
shot about how dangerous it is to be Kathleen's friend.
Not inaccurate.
The visit with Della's
parents is emotional and Kathleen feels drained when it's over. She
again refuses a ride and, for some reason, Della's parents just allow
her to go off by herself in the dark. Maybe I'm overly cautious, but
I wouldn't want a teenage girl to be walking all over the town in the
dark alone. Bad things happen.
Kathleen makes it back to
Bran's without incident. Rosa meets her on the porch and says that
Bran is on the phone wanting to talk to her. Unfortunately he's had
some sleep meds and it takes two pages for him to actually spit out
the one sentence that he called to say. Apparently someone called
his hospital room to tell him that Kathleen was in danger. That was
a VERY anticlimactic warning considering how long Cusick drew it out.
The next morning, Kathleen
and Rosa go to the hospital. Rosa stops to talk to Della's parents
in the ICU waiting room while Kathleen goes up to Bran's room. He's
crying when she gets there and tells her that the nurses have just
informed him about Della being hurt too. Kathleen gathers him up and
holds him tight while he cries. Then he tries to get his machismo
back by making sex jokes for a few paragraphs. It's gross but pretty
realistic for a teenage boy so I'm not going to bitch about it.
Kathleen asks him about the
phone call the previous night but he doesn't remember making it at
first. Then he tells her that the warning was a dream. She doesn't
believe him and presses but he keeps insisting that it was a dream.
Then he just falls asleep. I strongly suspect he was faking it to
get her to leave him alone. Before she leaves, an aide brings in a
basket of flowers. Kathleen reads the card because she has no
respect for Bran's privacy and no sense of boundaries whatsoever.
“Forgive me, I never
meant to hurt you. Love, Monica.”
Odds of Monica being the bad
guy: -70 bazillion. Nice try, Cusick.
Kathleen gets to work early
for once and calls out for Robin a few times but gets no answer. She
sets about actually doing her job but makes sure to bitch about it
the entire time. She also reviews things for us again because this
book is so complicated that we couldn't possibly keep up without all
this review. Robin turns up out of the blue and we get ANOTHER
FUCKING REVIEW while Kathleen fills him in on what he missed.
Robin makes a move at this
point. Literally and figuratively. Kathleen tells us that he moves
to stand directly in front of her. She can feel his stomach through
his shirt. Which is a damn weird thing to say, Cusick. Robin raises
his hands and puts them on her cheeks before sliding them down around
her neck. She sighs contentedly and tells him that she always feels
so safe with him.
Oh, and..... Odds of Robin
being the bad guy: 70%.
People come into the library
and Robin skitters away. The day passes pretty quickly. At five,
Kathleen does a lap through the library to see how many people are
still there. She's stunned to find Alex up in the special
collections room. She didn't even know he was there. She sneaks up
behind him, intending to scare him, but he scares her when he
suddenly slams his notebook closed and whirls around. After all the
heartbeats are back to normal, he asks for an update on Bran and
Della and she fills him in.
Kathleen invites him to come
downstairs for a coffee break and Alex is happy to take her up on it.
They settle in by the front desk and Kathleen asks him how his paper
is going. It's going well and Alex is impressed with the material in
the collection. She asks him why he slammed his notebook shut in
such a hurry early and teases him about hiding something from her.
He tells her he was just startled by her sneaking up on him and the
notebook merely contains research.
They flirt a bit and he
invites her out to dinner. She has to work until 7 and then she
wants to visit Bran for a few minutes. He volunteers to drive her by
the hospital before they get something to eat and the date is set.
Before he leaves, she asks him if he'd be willing to give Robin a
ride home too and he agrees.
After he leaves, Kathleen
begins to feel guilty about going out and having fun while Bran and
Della are lying in the hospital. She decides to call and cancel.
She calls the university and asks for his phone number. The girl who
answers the phone tells her that there's no Alex Whatever in the
student directory. Of course, this doesn't really mean anything
because he'd only be in there if he had his own phone and not every
student has a phone. She's suspicious but tries to talk herself
down.
Closing time finally comes
and Kathleen realizes that she hasn't seen Robin for hours. She
calls his name but there's no response. He's mute. Did she really expect one? She gets increasingly
paranoid as she goes through the library looking for him. Finally
she finds him in the kitchen, cleaning something red off his hands.
She's startled for a minute but then sees a can of red paint and a
paint brush on the counter beside him and realizes he's been
painting.
She tells him that Alex is
willing to give him a ride home but he shakes his head “no”. She
presses and eventually he just walks out the back door without a wave
or anything. Kathleen feels bad immediately. Robin is skittish and
uncomfortable around strangers and Alex is still a stranger to him.
She finishes whatever she has to do to close the library and leaves
the building. There's a car parked at the curb but she can't tell if
it's Alex, so she approaches cautiously.
It's not Alex. It's Monica.
She's holding a copy of Phantom of the Opera in her hands and
her face is covered in horrendous blisters.
Kathleen runs in to call
911. She's hanging up when Alex walks in. They go together to check
on Monica who is alive but gravely injured. To Kathleen's utter
horror, the book has once again vanished and she has no proof it was
ever there. Poor Kathleen. If only she had been written after the
advent of camera phones, none of this would be happening to her.
Oh, and way to make it all
about you again, missy.
We time-hop to a point later
in the evening after Kathleen has given her statement to the police.
She's telling Alex about the book and getting hella pissed when he
doesn't seem to believe her. Annoyed, she crosses her arms over her
chest and throws out that he's not listed in the student directory at
the university. He frowns and tells her that he's only a part-time
student and he doesn't live on campus which is why he's not listed.
The room he's renting doesn't have a phone anyway.
She feels bad for being so
suspicious and tells him that she's scared. He comforts her. She
asks him what kind of person would do such a thing and I'm stunned
when he says “one with no conscience” instead of
blaming it on a crazy person. Brownie points, Cusick. But just a
few. Don't get greedy.
They leave the restaurant
and spend a little time smooching under the street lights before he
takes her home. Kathleen stops and talks to Rosa a bit before she
goes up to bed. When she finally gets to sleep, she's plagued by
horrible nightmares. At 3am she wakes up and calls Bran's hospital
room. You know...because the fact she's upset is far more important
than an injured guy getting some sleep. It's Kathleen's world and
the rest of them are just living in it.
Bran is a little upset with
her because she didn't come visit him that evening. She blames it on
police reports and he says that he heard about Monica from Vivian
because Vivian actually DID come to see him. Kathleen ignores his
hurt over her neglect. She asks him about Monica's note in the
flowers but he tells her he never saw it. He tries to get her to
tell him why she woke him up in the middle of the night but she hems
and haws until he finally just falls asleep on the phone. Way to go,
Kath.
The next morning, Rosa is on
the phone when she goes downstairs. Rosa asks if Kathleen has seen
Vivian lately and Kathleen tells her about Vivian visiting Bran in
the hospital the night before. Apparently no one saw her after that
and she never came home. Kathleen brushes it off, saying Vivian
probably spent the night with some guy. Rosa says Vivian's parents
have called the police but the police can't do anything because she
hasn't been missing long enough.
This is complete fiction and
I have no idea why so many writers subscribe to this false premise.
There is no time consideration for investigating the disappearance of
a child (and Vivian would still legally be a child at her age), an
adult who has medical or mental issues, or any time that a crime
might have taken place. Despite what we keep hearing in books and on
TV, police don't require a 24 or 48 hour waiting period to pass
before they start investigating. It's true that the instances I
listed above will prompt a faster paced investigation but there is no
waiting period. This is a case of us hearing something so often that
we just assume it's true.
SO STOP DOING THIS CRAP,
AUTHORS.
Vivian would be considered a
child and statistics show that if a child is not found within the
first 24 hours, they are usually not found at all.
Kathleen gets to work and is
surprised to find the doors already unlocked and Alex already at work
upstairs. She asks him how he got in and he tells her that Robin
pried open a basement window and then unlocked the front doors. She
smiles and says Robin can do anything. Alex astutely observes that
she has feelings for Robin that she's not acknowledging and that
Robin definitely has feelings for her too. She kind of brushes it
off but Alex persists, saying that he can tell by the way Robin looks
at her.
Kathleen changes the subject
and tells him about Vivian's disappearance. She starts to review the
whole fucking book again but luckily Alex shuts her down super fast.
He explains that Cusick's writing is not really that complicated and
we're all keeping up just fine thankyouverymuch. Thwarted, Kathleen
goes back downstairs to actually do some work.
The day drags on. Sometime
that afternoon the phone rings and a whispery voice asks for Vivian.
When Kathleen asks the caller to repeat the request, the caller says
“You know Vivian. You can read her like a book.”
Kathleen gets all hysterical
again because those words were just super scary, y'all. I know
you're frightened too, so I'll give you a moment to compose
yourselves.
*
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Are you together now? Good.
Kathleen goes screaming through the library for Robin but can't find
him anywhere. There's no mention of Alex hearing the commotion, so
either Cusick completely forgot he was there, or she forgot to tell us he left. Either way, sloppy. Very sloppy. Kathleen searches the
entire library in case Vivian actually is there somewhere and then
heads to the bathroom to splash water on her face. In the bathroom,
on the radiator, is the book Kidnapped.
You all know where this is
going.
((((((((((EPIC FREAK OUT))))))))))
Kathleen grabs the book and
runs to the front desk with it so she can call the police. She's
dialing the phone when a little boy comes up and demands she give him
his book back. He left it in the bathroom. ((gross)) Kathleen
returns it, feeling dumb for thinking it was a clue to Vivian's
disappearance. Can you imagine the police call on that one? “You
say you found a book? In the library? Good heavens! Whatever you
do, don't engage with it! We'll be right over!!”
Alex suddenly appears and
wants to know what's going on. Cusick doesn't tell us why Kathleen
didn't see him and explain during her allegedly thorough search of the library
just a few minutes ago. I think he's a superhero and he can turn
himself invisible. That's the only explanation that doesn't involve
Cusick being a sloppy writer. To lend credibility to my theory, Alex
mentions that he watched her run around the library with a crazed
look on her face but we were never told that Kathleen saw HIM.
Kathleen tells him about the
phone call, the search for Vivian and the book she thought was a
clue. He tries to make her feel better and she yells at him. He
tries to be logical and she yells at him. He tries to be a good
friend and she yells at him. For some reason, he STILL asks her to
dinner and she tells him she can't because Bran is supposed to be
coming home today and she needs to be there for that. You just
dodged a bullet there, Alex. Count your blessings.
Alex still thinks that
there's something between her and Bran (I thought he thought there was something between her and Robin) and it irritates her to the
point of rage. Then again, so does empathy and reason and
compassion. You can't win with this one.
Closing time finally arrives
and Kathleen still hasn't seen Robin. Maybe she should take a hint.
She goes around doing the closing things while seething about Alex
and worrying about Robin and Vivian. For some reason she decides to
call Vivian's house on impulse and finds Vivian's mother pretty irate
herself. Vivian's mom tells Kathleen that Vivian was supposed to go
to the library that morning before leaving for the beach to return
some books. She says this is the fourth (?) time Vivian has run away
and she's sick to death of it. Kathleen is stunned to hear that
Vivian might have been near the library that morning.
You want to know what I'm
stunned to hear? That NOW Vivian is supposed to have gone missing in
the morning at the library. Just a few short pages ago we were told
that Vivian WENT MISSING THE NIGHT BEFORE AND HER BED HADN'T BEEN
SLEPT IN. Now Cusick is completely forgetting this
knowledge......much like she forgot that these girls were SUPPOSED TO
BE ON THE FUCKING BEACH ALREADY.....and telling us something
completely different. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CUSICK, GET YOUR ISH
TOGETHER.
Kathleen yells for Robin a
few more times. WHY is she expecting him to answer her? Idiot. She's
about to lock up and leave when she notices the basement door is
ajar. It's normally kept closed and she wonders if Robin might have
fallen down the stairs or met with some other calamity down there.
She goes to investigate and, sure enough, finds herself locked in and
trapped.
Um. Now the Children's Room
is in the basement. Maybe it always was, but IF it was, why was
there a window she could walk up to and stick her arm through? Yes,
I know some basements have windows, but they are usually up by the
ceiling given that basements are UNDER THE FUCKING GROUND. Again,
some basements have very small areas that are on ground level or
slightly above ground level, but that still puts the windows up by
the ceiling. Not where she could walk up and stick her arm through.
THIS MAKES NO SENSE.
Anyway, she decides to check
the Children's Room for a phone since she's found herself locked down there. She
goes into the room and realizes the window is still broken. She can't
get out that way, though, because it's barred. So she puts her
forehead against the bars to think. People, this window is
definitely at eye level.
Under the ground.
{{{{{{{{{{{{throws hands up
in the air}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
She notices the drop cloths
around the room. Beside one, there's a growing dark puddle. She
goes to investigate and finds Robin's body with multiple stab wounds
and a metal file protruding out of his chest.
Cusick.
No.
I'm sorry.
No.
The drop cloth was just
laying in a puddle on the floor like all the other drop cloths.
That's why she didn't notice there was a body under it at first. If
he had a metal file protruding from his chest, it would have raised
the drop cloth in tent-like fashion. She would have noticed the
bizarre levitating drop cloth in the middle of the room as soon as
she walked in.
She hears footsteps and runs
to hide. But it's Bran and she rushes forward to fling herself in his
arms. Bran sets her aside to go take Robin's pulse. Robin suddenly
moves. He looks at Bran and says the word “danger”. From
this, Bran concludes that Robin is the one who called him in the
hospital the other night. Robin then collapses and Bran tells
Kathleen that he's dead. I'm sad. I liked Robin.
Bran tells Kathleen that
they need to leave right away but she's so hysterical that he has to
slap her. I admit....I enjoyed that. Kathleen calms down but wants
to know why Bran is there. He says he had his mom drop him off
because he wanted to see her.
Right. Like his mom would
do that. Just drop off her kid who was severely injured and just got
out of the hospital so he could WALK home with Kathleen. Nope.
Wouldn't happen. I know you're used to PH parents who don't give an
ish, Cusick, but you've written Rosa as an involved, concerned
parent. Wouldn't happen.
Anyway, in this whole
explanation it is revealed that they aren't IN THE FUCKING BASEMENT
AT ALL. Bran says he got in through a basement window and went UP
into the Children's Room. WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK,
CUSICK???????????????? PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR OWN DAMN BOOK.
AUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Okay. Sigh. Let's just
finish this before my blood comes gushing out of my ears.
Kathleen and Bran head for
the front desk to call the police but the lines have been cut.
They're headed for the back door (Why you ask? Why not the front
door that is RIGHT THERE? I don't know. Cusick didn't bother to
write that part.) when Kathleen suddenly realizes Bran isn't behind
her anymore. She's worried he got weak and fell. She starts to
rush....somewhere.....I'm not super clear on this.....and runs into
Alex who asks her where the fire is. She assumes that he's the bad
guy and she knocks him down. He grabs her ankle as she dashes past.
Then Miss Finch is there and Kathleen assumes everything will be
fine.
Something happens. Who the
hell knows what? Cusick just gave up I think. Kathleen comes to in
the Children's Room. Miss Finch is there and, surprise, surprise,
she's the bad guy. I'm not even being sarcastic here – I did NOT
see that one coming at all.
Apparently, Miss Finch was
in love with Kathleen's dad when they were young but he chose
Kathleen's mom instead. When the divorce happened, Miss Finch saw it
as her opportunity to reunite with her one true love. However, she
didn't want Kathleen as part of the deal. Can't blame her there. She
thought she could get rid of Kathleen if a rash of horrific accidents
started to happen to the teens in the town. Kathleen's father would
send her to live with her mother in order to keep her safe.
Miss Finch gives Kathleen a
cup of water that's been drugged with pain pills. She tells Kathleen
to drink it because it will be more humane this way. She holds a gun
to Kathleen's head until she drinks. Kathleen lets as much of it as
she can dribble out of her mouth but she swallows some and becomes
heavy and drowsy. Miss Finch tells her to find the clue and then
disappears.
Kathleen finds a book by
Robin. It's about blowing up coal mines. Then she smells gas. She
realizes Miss Finch is going to explode the library and that Bran and
Alex are probably in the basement where they'll be buried by the
rubble. She goes down to find them.
Bran and Alex are tied up in
the basement with thick ropes. Alex has clearly been battered but
Bran is mostly okay. Alex tells her to break the
window...............AGAIN, CUSICK??????? BASEMENT = UNDERGROUND =
WINDOWS UP HIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kathleen breaks the window and uses
a piece of glass to cut through Bran's ropes. Then Bran frees Alex
and they all escape the library through the window just as it
explodes.
Kathleen comes to in the
yard with her father and Rosa and a ton of emergency personnel
around. They see Miss Finch. The roof is collapsing and everyone is
screaming at her to get away from the library. But instead, she
calmly walks back in.
Time has passed. Cusick
doesn't bother to tell us how much. Della has recovered and everyone
else is more or less okay too. They all go to visit Della and she
flirts with Alex who has resigned himself to the fact that he's not
going to get the girl. I think he should be thankful that Hot Mess
Kathleen has settled on Bran instead. Bran who never should have been the love interest because he's very, very repugnant. Rosa is over the moon that
Bran and Kathleen are together and all the world is right again.
You know.....except for
Monica and Vivian and Robin. But fuck them, amirite?????
The End.
Final Thoughts: You
know.....I've decided to retire “Final Thoughts”. You guys know
how I feel. You read the blog.
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