**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. Please do not continue to read if you don't want to know who the “bad guy” is.
From the Back of the Book: Thrill Ride.... I mean, The Beast was one awesome ride! My cousin Ashley and I had never been on anything like it. And then we heard about the ghost that was supposed to ride it at night after the park closed. A ghost on a roller coaster? Yeah, sure. I didn't believe it, of course. Then one night after the park closed, we found ourselves on The Beast. Was I shocked when it started to move! But that was just the beginning. Because, you see, we weren't alone...and the guy with us wasn't exactly human!
This book was published in 1994 and this is my first time reading it. I really have no idea why Stine wrote a book about a roller coaster at Kings Island, but he's from Ohio so maybe it was one he enjoyed riding. I looked all over the internet trying to see if I could find something that would tell me how this book came about, but there wasn't a lot out there on it. I did find accounts from people who were initially confused when they went to Kings Island and recognized the logo of the coaster, only to later realize they'd seen it on the cover of a Stine book when they were children. I don't remember ever seeing this book in bookstores but I was out of my Stine era by then and reading less YA horror in general. Some covers of the book advertised a contest to win tickets to Kings Island so Stine must have been working with them in some capacity. I don't know if they approached him or he approached them.
Just a tiny bit of background on the coaster itself....it opened up in 1979 as the longest wooden roller coaster in existence. I'm pretty sure it still is. The ride time is a little over four minutes. I found a YouTube video if you want to experience a ride on it for yourself before we begin. The Beast
We begin with our protagonist James and his cousin Ashley riding The Beast. Stine describes “jolting turns”, two dark tunnels, sudden spins, sharp dips, trees whizzing by and “deafening roars”. They both really enjoy the ride but they're dizzy when they get off. James makes sure to tell us that The Beast is the longest roller coaster ever and runs for over four minutes but since I already told you that, it's old news.
Keep up, James.
James considers himself an expert on roller coasters so I guess my manager has a little competition. This is his third visit to Paramount's Kings Island and his sixth or seventh ride on The Beast so he feels like he's got it all figured out. He and Ashley are both 12 and they don't see each other often because they live far apart but they get along pretty well. Ashley is described as blonde and pretty while James tells us he's dark and serious.
James is giving off strong 'not like the other guys' energy here. I love that for us.
It's getting late and the park is about to close but Ashley wants to ride The Beast one last time. James doesn't think they should bother because the line is super long and there's no way they'll actually make it to the front before the park shuts down but Ashley drags him over. They make it right before the operator closes the line for the night.
Ahead of them are two older teens named Gary and Ernie. They end up talking to Ashley and James as they wait. Ernie tells them that The Beast is haunted and Gary immediately backs up the story, saying he saw it on the news. Apparently a ghost rides the roller coaster all through the night after everyone leaves. Security guards have reported hearing the coaster roaring along the track even though nothing is really moving.
Ashley and James pretend like they're too cool and mature to believe in ghosts but they're both a little rattled. When they make it to the front of the line, they're put into the middle row of the last car. James ends up closing his eyes so he can just feel the ride. Midway through, he realizes he can no longer hear the screams of the other riders but figures it's just because he's so lost in the moment. When the ride comes to a stop, he opens his eyes to find Ashley gone.
I really thought something supernatural happened here but, no, James just had his eyes closed and didn't see his cousin get off the coaster.
James panics a little but assures himself that she'll be waiting outside the gate for him. It's past 11:00 now and the park is closing for the evening. Everyone starts walking toward the front exit as James looks frantically around for Ashley. He can't find her anywhere.
The lights overhead flicker a few times as if to encourage people to leave and then they go dim. There's no way this is accurate. They wouldn't turn out the lights until they knew everyone was out of the park. It's too much of a hazard to have a crowd of people bumping around in the dark. Plus, the workers wouldn't be able to see if anyone was lingering where they shouldn't be.
James starts walking to the front with the rest of the people leaving the park. He passes The Vortex and tells us that it spins you upside down six times. He and Ashley rode it earlier in the evening and it made them both feel a little sick. James wonders if it scrambled Ashley's brains. He figures something must have happened to make her disappear on him and he refuses to believe the ghost got her.
(((Note: My manager has informed me that this is the incorrect name for this roller coaster. It is simply Vortex and not The Vortex.)))
Ashley isn't waiting at the gate like he'd hoped. Now James worries that something bad might have happened to her. He decides to go back into the park to look for her. No one stops him. He's over by the food area when he hears her call his name. She comes rushing up, demanding to know where he's been and why he left her. She says she couldn't find him after she got off The Beast so she tried to find him and ended up getting lost.
The two of them run through the dark, deserted park as fog rolls in. When they reach the front gates, they're locked. They yell for help but no one answers. The parking lot is completely empty now and no one seems to be around. How the hell long did it take them to run to the front? I've been at {redacted local amusement park} until closing and it took forever for the parking lot to thin out afterwards. And {redacted local amusement park} was nowhere near as big as Kings Island. There's no way the parking lot cleared that fast.
Why am I expecting this book to make sense? I know what I'm reading.
James heads for the pay phones, intending to call his mom, but Ashley stops him. She wants to stay in the park all night. I understand the desire to do this. I'd probably have the same stupid thought. But their parents are going to come looking for them, right? I'm surprised they aren't already there. James mentioned earlier that he was supposed to call them if he and Ashley were ready to leave before the park closed, which clearly didn't happen. Surely the adults knew when the park closed and would be there waiting for the kids.
Can you park at Kings Island without having a ticket? I'm pretty sure we had to show a ticket at {redacted large not-so-local amusement park} before we were allowed to drive into the parking lot. Were the parents picking them up outside the lot? This all seems super unsafe considering the kids are just 12.
Ashley wants to try to find the ghost but James is freaked out about getting caught and he just wants to go home. Ashley can sense that he's not going to change his mind so she bets him that the ghost will appear. James tells us that he can NEVER turn down a bet so the shenanigans are on.
Ashley solves the parent problem. She tells James to call his mom and say that they're staying over a friend's house overnight. They concoct a story about running into a friend at the park and then going home with him for the night. This works and his mom doesn't ask a single question. It's like they're feral Gen X kids or something. (((I looked it up and technically they're at the very beginning of Gen Y but I'm guessing the lines were pretty blurry. Seriously, no one cared where the hell their kids were in the 80's and early 90's.)))
They walk back through the park, hiding from security guards and feeling like grand adventurers. Stine ends several chapters with his patented cliffhangers as the kids repeatedly almost get caught but they manage to evade the adults without too much trouble. They end up in the woods that surround The Beast. It feels like they shouldn't have been able to get there. Shouldn't there have been a fence or something? The woods aren't actually part of the park are they?
My manager and I did a bunch of research and it seems like there are, indeed, fences to keep people out of the woods. I can't guarantee this was accurate in 1994 but common sense tells me they wouldn't just let people wander around in the woods where their roller coaster runs.
As they leave the woods, Stine definitely has them crawl back through a hole in the fence so the fences exist. They just didn't seem to exist when the kids ended up in the woods in the first place.
Stine's already on his bullshit. Keep track of your story, dude. We're only 30% in.
The kids run up onto the platform and Ashley gets into one of the cars. She tries to get James to sit with her but he's too freaked out about getting caught. He keeps hearing a flapping noise overhead and tells himself that it's a bat because he doesn't believe in ghosts. Suddenly the cars start moving and Ashley screams for help. James reaches for her and pulls her out of the car. They turn to see an old man with a long white beard and old-fashioned coveralls at the control panel.
The ghost commands them to “come here”. Ashley obeys as if in a trance and James follows. The ghost introduces himself as P. D. Walters but I'm too lazy for initials, so he's just going to be P. P shakes their hands and he feels so solid that James starts to suspect that he isn't a ghost at all.
No, no, James. It's too late. You told me it was a ghost so I already used my ghost image. You can't change your mind now.
P tells them that he's been coming to the park for 60 years which confuses James because Kings Island hadn't been open for 60 years at that point. P says that there was another park on site before KI was built. That park was named Firelight Park because it was lit by torches. P spent a lot of time at Firelight Park when he was a young boy and was devastated when it was destroyed by a tornado. What didn't get damaged in the tornado itself, burned to the ground because of the fallen torches. Although how they stayed lit through the winds of a tornado is beyond me. Hundreds of people died.
P changes the subject and tells them that he tests The Beast every night and asks them if they want a ride. James is, again, reluctant but Ashley really wants to go. She wants to ride The Beast at night in the fog because it's an opportunity they'll never get again. James is refusing until the flashlights of the security guards start moving their way. He figures getting on the coaster will at least delay them getting caught so they dive into the first car.
The fog gets heavier as they ride along the track. It's so bad that James is even having trouble seeing Ashley beside him. He's freaked out about the security guards waiting for them and can't really enjoy the ride. When the coaster rolls up to the platform, the guards are gone. So is the fog.
They hear organ music and decide to check it out. As they leave the ride, they see torches everywhere and people crowding the boardwalk. They're all dressed oddly – men in suits and ties, women in dresses, kids in leather shoes instead of sneakers. It takes them longer than it should to realize they're at Firelight Park now.
Ashley takes it like a champ while James frets about never getting back to 1994. People are staring at them because their clothes are very out of place – particularly Ashley's. They go to an ice cream vendor and try to get frozen yogurt. The vendor thinks they're playing a joke on him. He only has chocolate, vanilla and tutti-frutti. The kids are amazed when they get two double-scoop cones for only 4 cents. They wander about, trying to find P so they can figure out how to get back home.
Eventually they decide to go back to The Beast. The only problem is, they can't remember where it is. They ask a security person and he has no clue what they're talking about. Duh. The Beast is a Kings Island ride, you spoons. It doesn't exist at Firelight Park. The guard sternly tells Ashley that she can't walk around the park in her underwear (she's wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top) and he's going to have to take her to the security office so she can call her parents to pick her up. Ashley bolts off through the park.
James quickly loses sight of Ashley and wanders the park aimlessly. The rides all seem so tame and silly to him. He walks around for awhile, looking at all the games and eventually ends up at the sideshow building. A hand reaches out to grab him and pull him inside!
{{{GASP}}}
LOLZ
It's just Ashley. They hide out in the building until they're sure the security guard has given up. James wants to continue to look for The Beast because he's an idiot. Ashley tells him that The Beast obviously doesn't exist in this reality but he's stubborn and won't listen. Suddenly a cold hand grabs him and a mysterious-looking boy starts sing-songing at them: “I'm the Jelly Boy. I'm a good boy. I'm the Jelly Boy.”
Well, that's terrifying.
James tries to get away but the boy grips him harder, repeating “I'm the Jelly Boy” over and over in his weird voice. Another boy appears – this one with two heads – and blocks their exit. He says that Ashley and James are staying there forever.
{{{GASP}}}
LOLZ
The barker shows up and yells at the boys for scaring kids again. Ashley and James are shoved out of the building and all is well. Well, for about five seconds. Four guards spot them and start running toward them. They're caught between the sideshow building and a brick wall. Ashley asks James to boost her over but he says they don't have time. Luckily, a man and woman run up to the guards screaming about their missing baby and the kids get over the wall in time.
Did I just say luckily a baby was missing?
Yikes.
They immediately run into a teenage boy and ask him for help. He looks at Ashley and asks if she's part of the circus show. She asks him for a place to hide and he tells her there's no way they'll hide as long as she looks like that. He offers to help them find some clothes and introduces himself as Paul.
Odds that Paul is P.D.: 90%
Paul leads them to a building where there's a used clothing drop. Paul says they collect things to help the needy since there's a depression going on. Ashley finds a skirt and blouse that fit over her clothes and James finds some shorts and a shirt. They tell Paul about their search for P and he offers to help. They scour the entire park and find no trace of him.
These kids are hella dumb, y'all. They've accepted that they're in Firelight Park which was destroyed back in 1931. P told them that he went to the park WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG BOY which means he should be a kid in this reality. Why are they looking for an old man?
They decide to stop for hot dogs but Paul tells them he doesn't have any money. He sneaks into the park every night through a hole in the fence just to be among the lights and the people. His father lost all his money in the stock market crash and they barely have enough to survive. James buys him a couple of hot dogs and then they decide to take Paul on some rides. I'll bullet point the rides for you.
*Human Whirlpool – a flat wood disc you sit on and it spins around.
*The Air-Flo Dodgem Cars – bumper cars but they're taller and don't move fast
*Shoot-the-Chute – a log flume. It's tall like a modern ride but there are no cars to take you to the top of the drop. You have to walk up there and then get into cars that look like logs. They drop along a chute to a pond below.
Paul doesn't normally get to go on the rides so he's having all kinds of fun. After Shoot-the-Chute, the wind picks up. A random newspaper blows past them and James checks the date – it's the day of the tornado that destroyed the park!
James and Ashley warn Paul that a tornado is on the way and they need to warn everyone to leave. He doesn't really believe them at first but he doesn't try to stop them when they run up to a security guard and demand the park be closed down immediately. The guards laugh and tell the kids to go play. Ashley is super frustrated about this. I don't think she gets told 'no' very often in her life.
James thinks the park office might have some kind of loud speaker and asks Paul to take them there. When they get to the office, it's dark and locked. A guard walks up and tells them that the office closes at 5:30. This seems weird to me. What if there's some kind of problem after that? I guess no one cared in the 30's. They try telling this guard that a tornado is on the way and he doesn't listen either. I'm not sure what they expected. They're 12 and they're claiming they know a tornado is on the way because they're from the future. I'm surprised they didn't get carted off to an asylum.
Giving up on clearing the park, James asks if the guard can page P to come to the front gate. The kids just want to get back to their time and avoid the tornado completely. Fuck the rest of the people in the park I guess. Honestly, I can't blame them. I'd probably do the same thing since warning everyone seems impossible.
Paul overhears James say P's full name and freaks out because that's his name. James finally realizes how dumb they are to be looking for an old man when P told them he was a kid in the 30's. Ashley demands that Paul send them back to their time immediately. Naturally he has no fucking idea how to do that. She gets a little aggressive with the poor kid who surely thinks she's completely nuts by now. James proves that he's still mostly dumb by demanding that Paul take them to The Beast.
IT DOESN'T EXIST YET, ASSHOLE!
Obviously Paul has no idea what The Beast is and the kids act like he's trying to ruin their lives on purpose. I really hate these two. Paul is the only likable character to be found.
Ashley goes back to the sideshow and jumps up on the barker's platform, wrestling his megaphone out of his hand. She screams that there's a tornado coming and everyone needs to leave the park but no one listens to her. Guards chase the kids away. Paul leads them to the opening in the fence that he uses to sneak into the park and the kids run off through the woods. Somehow they end up at The Beast.
WHAT?
💥💥💥💥💥💥STINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!💥💥💥💥💥💥
I'm going to remind you of something you forgot in your own fucking story, Stine. When the kids got off The Beast in 1930 it seemed to exist in the park itself. They exited right onto the midway. Then The Beast ceased to exist because it's 19-fucking-30-something and it hasn't been invented yet. At no point was this roller coaster in the woods. If it had been, the kids would have exited in the fucking woods and not in the park. THIS MAKES NO SENSE and you know you fucking cheated.
Ashley and James jump into one of the cars while Paul goes to the control panel and pulls some switches. Guards grab Paul and drag him away as the coaster starts to slowly move. Two more guards jump into the car behind James and Ashley. The coaster starts to climb, rocking in the strong winds of the approaching storm. This doesn't seem like the safest place to be in a tornado but whatevs. As the ride goes on, the wind dies down and the fog rolls in again.
The ride stops and the kids exit. They look into the car behind them and see that there are two skeletons sitting there. As they watch, the skeletons disintegrate and turn to dust. Guess we're back in the 90's now.
I wonder how much it fucked with the world's timeline when they yeeted these two guards out of existence. Maybe they would have died in the tornado so it didn't really change anything.
Kings Island guards run up and grab the kids. James and Ashley claim it was all an accident and they just got locked in the park after it closed. The guard tells them that they should have immediately come to the office and asked for help. I mean, technically you guys should have made sure the park was clear before you locked up but whatevs. The guard makes James call his mom to come pick them up. While they're in the office, they see a plaque remembering all the people who died at Firelight Park in the tornado. Paul's name is on the list.
They fucking killed Paul. He lived to be an old man before he died in the previous reality. The guards must have taken him back into the park where the tornado killed him this time. James and Ashley are murderers. There's probably an entire line of people who ceased to exist because of them. All of Paul's children and grandchildren were never born. One of them might of cured cancer, assholes.
James and Ashley suck.
The book just ends with James' mom pulling into the parking lot.
I want to send James and Ashley to jail. They're not even remorseful for killing Paul because they're too dumb to figure out that's what happened. And Stine can totally go with them because that was completely unnecessary. He could have let Paul escape. It added nothing to the story to have him die as a child.
There's a sequel to this book but I highly doubt I'm going to buy it. Unless Paul comes back. Then I might consider it.
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