Night Cries by Barbara Steiner

**This blog contains adult language.**

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!!!  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/thespian is.

Tag Line: There's no escape.

From the Back of the Book: Unlucky Thirteen.  A scream electrifies the night air...And then there were twelve.  A cry for help echoes across the lake...But there is no help for those stranded on the island...without electricity...without any way off - but one.  Ghostly voices call each of them by name.  And one by one they disappear.  Now there is only one.  And from out of the darkness, a voice beckons: COME...COME...COME TO ME.

((That is a particularly bad blurb.  Just sayin'.))

I kind of like the cover of this book.  It's a little on the dark side but it features the loon which opens and closes the book and looks desolate which fits the story. 

This book was published in 1993 and this is my first reading.  I've read Steiner before so I'm going into this with some trepidation but I only have a few days before the end of the month and this was my shortest book. 

We begin with a girl named Suzanne stepping off a boat and getting spooked by the sound of a loon cry. I have no idea if she's our protagonist. I guess we'll have to read some more to find out. Also present are Lucille, Tamara, Willis, Bitsy, June, Sol and Kathleen (drama teacher and field trip sponsor). They're all at a place called Thunder Island to do some kind of bonding exercise before the school play begins. They're doing that play that you can't say the name of and Suzanne is Lady You Know Who. I'm guessing that means protagonist because they always get the best of everything.

Odds of Suzanne being our protagonist: 65%

Shouldn't this play have more roles? Wait right here. I'm going to Google. I'll be back in a sec.

Time Passes in Real Life.

It looks like there are 16ish parts. Some could probably be doubled up by the same people but still....this cast seems REALLY small.

My manager just pointed out to me that there are at least 13 characters according to the back of this book. I rarely read the back before recapping and I had no idea. I'm never going to be able to keep track of that many characters.

Suzanne is new and feeling a little out of place. She's also uneasy because Thunder Island is so remote and empty. She feels like the atmosphere is warning her that something awful is about to happen. Well, you signed up for it when you agreed to be in this book, sweetheart. If you didn't want awful you should have appeared in a Sweet Valley instead.

Then again, that's awful too. Just in a different way.

Suzanne and Tamara have a bit of a gossip sesh. Suzanne apparently has it bad for Sol and thinks he likes her too but he's not the dating type. Maybe he's just not the dating you type, sweetie. Tamara tells her that Monica wasn't happy that the Lady You Know Who role went to Suzanne. Monica had landed all the previous leads but she's not our protagonist so fuck her. Monica's mom had actually come to the school and threatened to have Kathleen fired if the mistake wasn't rectified.

Oooooooh. Drama club drama. How completely and utterly unexpected.

Odds of Suzanne being our protagonist: 90%

Suzanne does mention that only the lead characters are on this trip so I guess that clears one thing up. Suzanne tells us that Tamara can practically read her mind and then Tamara makes a comment that seems to imply that she has some kind of mystical powers. It's not going to be that kind of book is it? I'm still scarred from that cat thing in the last recap.

The group has their first meeting soon after arriving at the lodge. We learn that Bitsy is small and bird-like while June is plump and deathly afraid of spiders. I'm not sure if either of those facts will be useful but I recap what I read. {shrug} Kathleen begins to talk about the superstitions surrounding “the Scottish play”. She mentions illnesses and deaths that have plagued cast members since the very first performance. She tells them that many actors have found their careers ruined after playing one of the leads and many claim that their worst performances ever were during this play. It's considered extremely unlucky to even say the name of the play which is why I've refrained from mentioning it thus far in my recap.

Not that I believe in that nonsense.

No, I don't! Take your judgey faces to some other blog, would ya?

Kathleen is annoyed that none of the cast seems to be taking her little speech seriously. Did she want them to freak out? That seems counter-productive to putting on a good play to me.

New characters continue to trickle in. There's Hank, a quiet student who writes weird poetry and Lucille and Clyde, fellow faculty chaperones who are rumored to be having a 15-year-long affair.

Their first ice breaker activity is to give an impromptu speech about the darkness within them. Suzanne reveals that she's afraid of being alone and will do anything to avoid it. June talks about her fear of bugs which doesn't really seem to fit the assignment at all unless she's killing people to avoid bugs. Hank reveals that he's obsessed with death. He collects death scenes from books and plays (how exactly?) and thinks about watching someone take their last breath.

Wow.

One eye on Hank, y'all.

Willis gets up and talks about how he uses humor to mask pain and loneliness. Bitsy and Monica both talk about how angry they are inside and how hard it is to contain.

The caretaker (Russell) and his son (doesn't get a name) interrupt to bring in firewood. Kathleen tries to talk to them but Russell isn't in the mood for chatting and he says his son doesn't talk to anyone. This is a super charming place.

TOO MANY CHARACTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The meeting breaks up because it's almost dinner time. Suzanne and Sol engage in some brutally awkward flirting. Steiner helpfully tells us that's what's going on and I'm glad because the actual dialogue isn't flirty at all. Luckily for us, it's spelled out: “Suzanne flirted, needing company right then” and “She flirted further...”. After this humiliating display, Suzanne goes out on the back porch to listen to the loons. Hank joins her and scares the crap out of her by saying that legend holds that the loon's cry foretell death.

Hank is just the life of the party.

Odds of Hank being the bad guy: 10% He's too obvious. Although this mindset has bit me in the ass before.

Suddenly a woman's scream pierces the night because it's the end of the chapter and that's how chapters end in PH land. It turns out June's bed is completely covered in spiders. Oh, Golly, that was completely unexpected.

Apparently Monica and Willis thought it would be funny to scare June so they've been collecting spiders for weeks for this plan. Suzanne is furious but no one else sees any problem with it. Bitsy even says it's June's fault because Monica wouldn't do it if June didn't react to it. What? They're going to make the victim responsible for the abuse? Who ARE these people? This is bad even by PH standards.

Sol is the only other person who gives June any sympathy. He doesn't say much but he gives her a little hug of support.  I have to say, Sol is shaping up to be the only likable character here.  At least we have one.

After dinner, they all go down to the beach to have their second meeting around a bonfire. Suzanne muses about the group a bit and we're forced to listen to it. She thinks about how much she changed the dynamic just by being there. Because the world stops when Suzanne walks into the room, y'all. She's a recent transplant from New York and all the simple suburban folk are mesmerized by her sophistication and urban glam. We also learn Tamara is fairly new to the school and the drama department having arrived the year before. The rest of them seem to have been together since diapers.

For their “bonding exercise” Kathleen has them tell a circular ghost story. You know....each person tells a little bit of the story and passes it on to the next person to add a little more. The story is about a girl named Catherine in a place much like the island who is lured into the lake because she is one of “the chosen” ones. It's kind of dumb but the kids seem really impressed with themselves. Suzanne notices the unnamed caretaker's son hiding in the trees listening to them. 

Lightning flashes and thunder rumbles and the kids run back to the lodge . Sol is walking beside Suzanne when he suddenly kisses the back of her neck.

Um.

How?

And why?

I can see him kissing the side of her neck from that position although it would still be a super weird thing to do and physically awkward to accomplish while they were both walking. The back of the neck seems pretty difficult from a logistics standpoint AND the fact that her hair should have been covering it. And who just kisses the back of someone's neck out of the blue? It's so weird.

Suzanne just kind of giggles but it doesn't go anywhere. June appears and asks Suzanne to walk her into her room because she's scared to go in alone. Suzanne asks June why she and Monica are friends since Monica treats her so awful and June replies that it's expected because their parents are such good friends. Then out of the thin fucking blue she says that she has nightmares sometimes and has to go get something to eat to calm down. (Can't miss this neon PLOT POINT HERE sign, can we?) Suzanne thinks that this might be why June is fat.

Suzanne leaves June's room and LITERALLY skips down the hall to her room.

Skips.

She skips.

I need to go make a new picture.

Time passes in real life......

Odds of me using that picture more than once in this book: 75%

A storm rages all night long and in the morning, the electricity and phone are both out.

That's awfully convenient. And not suspicious at all.

Somehow they make coffee in an electric coffee pot though. Keep track of your story, Steiner.

Everyone trickles in, snappish and complaining about the lack of power. They take digs at each other and I can tell what a raging success this bonding weekend is going to be. Monica mentions hearing someone moving around the lodge at around midnight the night before. No one cops to it and since they don't have roommates, no one can rat anyone out either. Gee, I wonder if it was June going to eat her feelings after a nightmare?

Suzanne notices June hasn't come into the kitchen which leads to fat jokes about how she's usually the first to a meal. I hate everyone in this book except Sol. June and Tamara go to look for her. Tamara looks like hell. She didn't really sleep the night before. You know, because she's mystical or something. June's bed was slept in but she's not in it. She's not in the bathroom either. Her shoes are still in her room so they think she must not have gone far.

Tamara reveals her parents were the *g* word that people use to refer to the Romani people and she's “pretty psychic”. She doesn't sense June in the room. Good thing she was there because how would we have ever known June wasn't in the room otherwise? Tamara says she has a bad feeling but she doesn't know what it is or what it means. Tamara's WAY gifted, y'all. SHE IS!

The decide to go back and report to the group that June is missing. No one seems alarmed. Monica says that she talked to June just after 1am. Monica had gone to the bathroom and heard June crying. June had a nightmare and Monica sat and talked to her until she calmed down. Monica was sure that June had gone back to sleep by the time she left to go back to her own room.

Sol again seems to be the only one who cares. He asks Hank and Willis to check outside with him. If June went for a walk (without her shoes natch), she might have gotten disoriented and lost in the thick fog that's blanketing the island. Kathleen tells them just to walk around the perimeter of the lodge because she gives zero fucks about June.

Do you think this is staged? Something she's doing to “bond” the group?

Odds that Kathleen is faking them all out: 50%

Their search turns up nothing but Kathleen says they'll just go about their day because that is how a teacher would normally react to a student going missing on a field trip. She begins an exercise called “Blind Trust” where they have to lead each other all over the place while one of them is blindfolded. I hope there aren't many stairs...or cliffs.

They draw names for partners. Tamara is with Kathleen. Bitsy is with Sol. Suzanne is with Hank. She finds it easy to direct him around while he's blindfolded but can't seem to trust him when it's her turn to be blind. He's really gentle with her, promising that he'll take good care of her. She totally shouldn't worry that he's obsessed with death or anything. You're fine, Suzanne. You're fine.

Eventually Hank and Suzanne make it back to the lodge where almost everyone has already gathered. Monica is pissed because Willis took off and left her blindfolded in the middle of nowhere.  Bitsy isn't there either. Sol says she did the same thing to him. He was blindfolded and all of a sudden she was just gone.  Suzanne is upset that now two people are missing but Kathleen still doesn't care.

Odds that Kathleen is faking them all out: 60%

Tamara says that she has that bad feeling again. The one she can't identify at all. She thinks Bitsy needs help. Then she passes out because all that was SUPER taxing, yo.

None of the other campers seem very concerned either (except Tamara whose “psychic” act may be the most elaborate fake of them all). Do you think everybody is in on this?

Odds of the entire cast minus protagonist being part of an elaborate hoax: 50%

After some prodding from Suzanne, they all decide to break up and search for the two missing girls. Sol and Willis are headed toward the lake, Lucille and Clyde are going to search the lodge, Kathleen is going to get Russell and his unnamed son to search the grounds, Hank and Monica are going off somewhere together (probably to make out) and Suzanne and Tamara (the newbies and potential prank victims) are paired together.

Suzanne and Tamara are nervous that Kathleen has gone off to get Russell and No Name. They are the only “unknown” people on the island and one of them could potentially be the killer. They decide to head that way to make sure their teacher isn't brutally murdered before they get class credit for the field trip. They get to the caretaker's cabin just as the group is setting out. The son finally gets a name – Andy! - and he takes off alone to search the other cabins. After he's gone, Suzanne asks his father if Andy is autistic since he doesn't speak. That's a pretty ballsy assumption. Russell says he doesn't even know what that is and Suzanne asks him why Andy never went to a doctor to get diagnosed because she's a fucking expert and can just smell autism on him. It's the ONLY explanation as far as she's concerned.

Other explanations that Suzanne did not consider:

Maybe he has a hearing issue.

Maybe he has an issue with his mouth or tongue.

Maybe he was born without vocal cords.

Maybe he's mute because of a brain injury or some kind of psychological trauma.

Maybe he has anxiety and only talks to people he trusts.

Russell directs the girls to go down and search the stable area. When they get there, Suzanne makes some offhand comment about the horses being girls and Tamara wants to know how she knows. Suzanne replies that the horses have to be girls or “neutral” in order to be ridden.

Um.

Neutral?

Does she mean neutered? I mean, I think it's actually gelded when you're talking about horses but still.

Neutral. {{shakes head}}

Also, why did Tamara even question her. Doesn't she know Suzanne is an expert in absolutely EVERYTHING?

Odds of Suzanne being our protagonist: 100%

Suzanne and Tamara head back to the lodge. When they get there they find a distraught Willis. Sol is missing. Someone bashed Willis over the head (WALK IT OFF!!!) and when he came to, Sol was gone.

Damn it.  He was the only good person in this book.

Someone brings up the play Ten Little Indians and mentions that this scenario seems very similar to the play. It's actually based on a BOOK but I don't expect any of them to know this.  

Kathleen's solution is to lock up the lodge and stay inside until the weekend is over. Sounds perfect. It's not like June disappeared from the lodge or anything.......Oh. Right.

Everyone discusses what's going on. Suspicion naturally falls to Russell and Andy since they are the two outsiders. Suzanne asks Tamara to act as the Magic 8 Ball and put herself in a trance to communicate with the missing. Tamara is slightly insulted at the request to turn herself into a party trick and says that's not how these things work. Everyone gets annoyed with her for not being the kind of psychic they would like her to be.

Everyone goes to their rooms for a bit. Suzanne and Tamara decide they're going to bunk together for the remainder of the trip. When they gather back up for lunch, Clyde and Lucille have disappeared and there's a bit of blood left on Lucille's pillow.

Hank and Suzanne have been reading my recap and now they're suspicious that Kathleen is staging this entire thing too. They confront her and she denies it.

Suzanne begins to helpfully run down the list of suspects for us.

Willis. Maybe he is killing people because he finally ran out of jokes to cover his pain over his parents' divorce. Odds of Willis being the bad guy: 10%

Monica. Suzanne says she's a bully even though most bullies are male. (ON WHAT PLANET?) Odds of Monica being the bad guy: 10%

Kathleen. Suzanne doesn't suspect her at all. Odds of Kathleen being the bad guy: 20%

Tamara. Again, Suzanne doesn't think she has a motive OR the personality to commit a crime. Odds of Tamara being the bad guy: 10%

Hank. He has an obsession with death. Maybe he's finally gone off the deep end. Odds of Hank being the bad guy: 10%

Russell. Despite telling Tamara earlier that he was the likeliest suspect, Suzanne has reversed her opinion and doesn't suspect him. Odds of Russell being the bad guy 5%.

Andy. Suzanne things he's gone psychotic from the isolation of the island. Odds of Andy being the bad guy: 5%.

I'm starting to suspect one of the missing people but I can't tell you why. Just trust me. I have reasons. Reasons that would spoil another book. Odds of Bitsy/June/Sol/Lucille/Clyde being the bad guy: 30%.

Kathleen drags out craft supplies and tells them to get busy making masks for the play. A third of your leads are missing, Kathleen.  I'm not sure you're going to be doing this play.

Later they decide to drag mattresses into the living room and sleep in shifts. They're just getting settled in for the night when Russell comes knocking on the door. Andy is now missing. He says he's going back out to search some more and Hank decides to go with him. Willis and Monica have first watch and the other three go to sleep.

The next morning, Tamara shakes Suzanne and Kathleen awake. Hank has not returned and now Willis and Monica are missing. Tamara seems to be in an altered state. She's speaking in weird little rhymes and scaring the piss out of Suzanne. They find a sign by Willis' mattress that says “Are we having fun yet?”

Guys. This is weird. I kind of like this book. I mean, I HATE all the people, especially Suzanne. I kind of like the premise though. It makes me want to write my own adaptation of that other book which I won't mention because SPOILERS.

Tamara decides she's going to ask the angels or universe or spirit guides or whatever (we aren't told) for information. Because that's how it works, yo. She instantly gets a vision of everyone. They're alive but scared. Well, one of them isn't scared. Suzanne is thrilled to hear everyone isn't dead. (((Note from future me: this is stunningly inaccurate.)))

Hank reappears which is just weird.

I really have no idea what's going on in this story.  I have no strong suspect other than Kathleen who is looking less and less likely.  At least we can say this book isn't predictable.  

Kathleen discovers the ghost mask she was making for the play has disappeared. None of them think it means anything. They all decide to search the island again since it's been so effective thus far. Hank is angry. He says he feels helpless and he doesn't know what to do. He's angrily stomping around the island when Kathleen slips on wet pine needles and falls. As soon as she goes down, Hank sees someone in the trees and goes racing off. The girls help Kathleen back up. Her ankle is swelling.

They decide to head back to the lodge. Kathleen needs to sit down on the way and Tamara takes off, saying she's going to get the first aid kit from the lodge. Either she's really dumb or this is all part of the plan.  (((Note from future me: it would appear that she's just really dumb.)))  Suzanne wants to go after Tamara but can't leave Kathleen alone.

All of a sudden a voice comes from out of nowhere. It asks Kathleen what she thinks of the performance so far. It identifies itself as the ghost of Macbeth and says that it's doing this because Kathleen has always hated them. Suzanne can't tell if the voice is male or female or where it's coming from. The voice disappears and then Tamara shows back up with an ace bandage. Suzanne begins to suspect Tamara.

Tamara suddenly takes off again, not telling anyone why or where she's going.

Suzanne and Kathleen decide to head back to the lodge to wait for help. Kathleen says they all need to be ready and Suzanne wonders who the “all” is since it's just the two of them left. Then Suzanne loses it a little and starts screaming about there being no flowers in the woods.

Why do I like this book when it makes NO SENSE?!?!?!?!?!?!?

The lodge is empty when they get back. Suzanne helps Kathleen get settled onto the couch and then she goes to look for Tamara. When she returns to the living room, Kathleen is gone. Suzanne decides the wisest course of action is to go out and search for everyone. She searches a couple of buildings and then the caretaker's house. Andy's room is full of Stephen King novels so she concludes he's disturbed.

Hmmmm. Guess I am too.

But we knew that already, didn't we? Only a disturbed person would recap all these damn books.

Suzanne leaves the caretaker's house and then the voice is back, calling her name and begging her to follow it. She does because why the hell not? She follows him all the way down to the lake congratulating herself on getting the upper hand.

HOW IS THIS THE UPPER HAND?  You're walking right into a trap and feeling smug about doing it. Sheesh.

She's led to a boat house and as she confidently steps inside, she's bashed over the head and knocked out.

All together now......................

WALK IT OFF!!!

Kathleen comes to on a makeshift stage. The four adults are restrained and sitting in the audience. Monica is acting out "The Scottish Play" on her own. Everyone else is restrained/unconscious/possibly dead and dressed up as a character. Sol has a bloody shirt and Suzanne worries that he's dead. She takes a quick count and realizes someone is missing. It's Hank.

Suzanne gets her gag off (neat trick since she doesn't have use of her hands) and begins to plead with Monica. She quickly realizes that Monica has had a break with reality though and she thinks she's performing the play for a huge audience. Suzanne decides to play along, telling Monica how much the audience is loving her and how wonderful her costumes and props are and what a wonderful actress she is. It seems to keep Monica placated. Monica begins to slip back and forth between the play and reality. She recites a couple of lines and then tells Suzanne that her mother expects her to be perfect. It's actually pretty well done as much as I hate to say it.

Monica says something about her mother not loving her anymore and Suzanne concludes from this that Monica is going to kill herself because Suzanne just fucking knows everything, y'all. Stop trying to fight it. Suzanne pleads with her not to kill herself and then she feels someone's hands on hers, trying to free her. She decides it's Hank despite having no actual proof that it is.

Her hands are freed and she uses them to free Hank's. I guess we're just accepting this is Hank because Suzanne told us so. They both pretend to still be bound, though. Monica tells them that she'll have to kill everyone so there aren't any witnesses. Which means Suzanne was wrong about her killing herself. Finally she's wrong about something.

Monica goes into a huge speech about how Suzanne must die and I'm not really arguing with her at this point. She goes to plunge the dagger into Suzanne's black heart and Hank leaps to the rescue, pushing Suzanne out of danger. Monica stabs him in the arm instead. There's a poorly written fight scene and then Hank manages to restrain Monica for good.

Hank goes to free the “audience” while Suzanne goes to free the “cast”. June is dead. Tamara is alive. Sol is in shock, having lost a lot of blood. Bitsy is fine, but suffering from the effects of whatever drug Monica gave her. Willis is unconscious but alive. They never really tell us how Andy is but I assume he's alive too. Out of thin fucking air, Suzanne proclaims that Monica did all this because her father “abused” her.

WHAT?

NOWHERE IN THIS BOOK DID IT SAY THAT MONICA'S FATHER ABUSED HER. In fact, it said quite clearly that this was all about her MOM. WT actual F, Steiner? KEEP TRACK OF YOUR STORY!

They all go down to the dock just in time for the cavalry to arrive. Actually it's just Kathleen's husband coming to pick them up. Suzanne tells them they need a helicopter for Sol but Hank gently informs her that it won't be necessary. Sol has died.

Body Count: 2

Kathleen decides they should do a different play and they all get in the boat to go home as they hear the cry of the loon one last time.

Wow.

So....I liked the IDEA of the book. I liked the premise of the creepy island and the lodge and the kids disappearing one at a time. I hated every single character except Sol....who DIED. Steiner couldn't seem to keep track of her own story in a couple of places which makes me wonder if she went back and edited something out and forgot to change other areas to match. I've done that. But she gets PAID for this so she really shouldn't. Still, for a PH, this wasn't all bad.

I can't believe I said that.

What is my life?