**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: New neighborhood. New Nightmare. Don't live in the past. That's what they say. So Jenny's trying. Trying to forget all of the horrible baby-sitting experiences that landed her in the hospital last year. But now Jenny's in a new house. In a new neighborhood. And Jenny's new neighbor, Mrs Warsaw, wants her to baby-sit. Poor Jenny. If only she could “just say no” to sitting. Because someone is watching Jenny. Waiting for her. Someone who hates baby-sitters. Someone who wants her...dead.
That was a lot of choppy sentence fragments.
This book was published in 1996 and it's my first time reading it. I've recapped the other three book in the series on this blog and you can go back and find them if you're really interested but I'll give you a quick rundown here.
Book One: Jenny goes to babysit for the Hagens and starts getting weird phone calls. Meanwhile, babysitters all over the city are being beaten half to death. It turns out Mr Hagen has a vendetta against babysitters since one let his child die. He nearly kills Jenny at the end of the book but ends up going over the side of a quarry instead. Mr Hagen dies. For real, for real, depsite Stine trying to convince you otherwise for two more books.
Book Two: Jenny goes to therapy because her near-death experience and witnessing Mr Hagen's for real death have her a little traumatized. For some reason she starts babysitting again and starts getting creepy calls that mirror the calls from the first book. In this case, it's the receptionist from her therapist's office. She's in love with the therapist and jealous of the attention said therapist is giving Jenny. Jenny almost dies at the end of this one too.
Book Three: Jenny's mom ships her off to stay with a cousin and we end up following that cousin for most of the book. Cousin is a babysitter and starts to get weird calls that mimic the calls from the first book. Meanwhile, Jenny sees dead Mr Hagen everywhere she goes. Turns out, Jenny is the bad guy in this book. Her untreated PTSD has gotten so bad that she has a mental break and ends up in a psychiatric hospital at the end of the book.
That should get us caught up.
This book takes place one year after the events from the last book because none of these people exist in any other season than summer. We begin with Jenny having a nightmare about Mr Hagen being back from the dead. Again. In the dream she beats him to death with a baseball bat, defeating him for the very first time.
Just kidding. It wasn't a dream at all – it was a therapy exercise. Jenny really has a bat and she's just murdered an innocent pillow in her therapist's office. Jenny has been receiving inpatient care for a year but she's finally ready to be released. The therapist believes that Jenny is well enough to go home and that she's finally put Mr Hagen in the past.
I don't know how wise it is to give patients baseball bats. That could have gone horrifically wrong.
We skip from there to Jenny hanging out at the mall with her friends Rick and Claire. Rick has a job at the mall again this summer but Claire will be working at the local pool. They ask Jenny what her plans for the summer are and Jenny says she'll just be hanging around their new house and relaxing. Her mom moved and got herself a boyfriend named Winston while Jenny was hospitalized. She also has a new job, so Jenny doesn't need to work over the summer.
I'm instantly suspicious of Winston because he's a new adult character in our story.
Odds Winston will turn out to be the bad guy: 50%
When Jenny gets home, Cal is there. Cal first appeared in book two to replace Chuck from the first book. Jenny has a thing for the letter “C” and for dudes with uncontrollable tempers. She probably should have worked on that in therapy too. Jenny tells us that Cal wrote to her the entire time she was hospitalized and that the two of them are closer than ever.
I do have to say that it's nice Cal, Rick and Claire stuck by Jenny while she was getting help and they aren't treating her differently now that she's been released. You don't usually find support like that in these books.
True to form, Cal goes into a rage over his boss at the gas station not giving him time off to date Jenny now that she's home. Jenny tells us that she's afraid of Cal when he's like this.
You should never be afraid of the person you're dating.
Jenny calms him down with a kiss and sends him on his way. She goes inside to find her mom has already gone to bed. The phone rings and she has some pretty understandable PTSD about answering it but eventually does. It's Claire calling to make sure Jenny made it home safely. Jenny tells her about Cal being at her house and Claire acts so weird about it that I wondered if Cal was really there. It was a bizarre moment that NEVER gets explained.
Jenny goes to bed but then hears a strange howling sound from outside. She goes to look and thinks she sees a little boy with white-blonde hair running around. It reminds her of the Hagen kid and now I'm wondering if Jenny is really okay. That's two weird things right in a row.
We just skip to the next day. Jenny is outside reading a book when her new neighbor Mrs W pokes her head over the fence. She asks if Jenny can watch her kids while she runs to the store real quick. This woman doesn't know Jenny and she's just asking her to babysit her children? As a mother I could never. Stine seems to imply that Mrs W knows Jenny's mom but still. Where does Mrs W think Jenny's been? Does she know Jenny just got out of a psychiatric hospital because of trauma from babysitting? Does she know Jenny kidnapped a child just a year ago and put that child in danger? I'm assuming not.
Jenny is understandably hesitant to babysit. Mrs W begs and Jenny eventually relents even though she feels a little panicky about it.
I mean this with love but Jenny should absolutely NOT be babysitting for awhile. She's still healing from her trauma and there's no way this can be good for her right now. She needs time.
Mrs W introduces her to Sean and Meredith. Sean has white-blonde hair like the boy Jenny saw running around the previous night. Jenny tells us that five-year-old Meredith isn't pretty. Wow, Jenny. Way to be a dick to a kindergartner. Sean and Meredith fight constantly – some of it turning physical. Jenny seems ill equipped to deal with it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: all other issues aside, Jenny isn't a good babysitter. She never has been.
A little while after Mrs W leaves, the back door opens and another child walks out. He looks just like Sean and is wearing identical clothing. It's weird that Mrs W never mentioned a third child and didn't bother to introduce him. Sean mutters “there's Seth” and that's the only way we know who this child is. Jenny assumes they're twins and instantly decides that she likes Seth better. Seth is quiet and polite where Sean is loud and a little obnoxious.
Odds Mrs W knows she has a third child: 50%
I know that sounds weird but it's truly bizarre that she never mentioned Seth at all.
Sean tells Jenny that their house is haunted and Meredith is quick to agree. I think it's the only thing these two agree on. Seth kind of rolls his eyes about it but the other two are convinced. Jenny thinks they're just being silly kids. To ward off another fight, Jenny teaches them how to play slap ball (she bounces a ball toward them and they hit it with their hand) and the kids have fun.
When Mrs W gets back, Jenny helps her unload the groceries. They're in the kitchen when another fight breaks out between Sean and Meredith. Mrs W goes to break it up, leaving Jenny alone in the kitchen. Jenny feels icy, wet fingers run over the back of her neck but, when she turns, no one is there. She leaves the house quickly. As she walks back to her own house, she turns and looks up at the W house. She sees the face of a very sad girl (who is too old to be Meredith) up in the attic window.
We skip ahead some time. I have no idea whether it's days or weeks. Jenny is at her therapist's office. She doesn't have much to say and jokes about being boring. The therapist responds that her last patient was worse because all she wanted to talk about was her ingrown toenails. Um.....THIS IS NOT OKAY. The therapist should NEVER mention something another patient talked to her about. Wow. Jenny always gets the bottom of the barrel when it comes to therapists.
When Jenny gets home, Mrs W is in her kitchen with her mom. Mrs W asks Jenny to babysit that evening for a few hours. Jenny's mom seems wary but Jenny accepts. I don't know why. I guess Jenny just can't say 'no' like the back of the book implies. They should have worked on that in therapy too. A real person with so much trauma around babysitting would most likely avoid babysitting again like the plague. A real mother would strongly discourage her traumatized daughter from taking another babysitting job. A real mother would tell Mrs W that Jenny isn't ready to babysit and she needs to find someone else. This is ridiculous.
Jenny goes over to the W house. Seth and Sean are playing video games and Meredith is whining about not getting her turn. It's a long evening for Jenny and for me who had to read about it. Eventually it's bedtime and Jenny gets them all tucked in. While she's in the twins' room, she hears footsteps walking overhead in the attic. Seth tells her that they hear it every night but it's just the house making noises and it's fine.
Jenny leaves them and goes to the attic door to investigate. The door is locked. Seth appears in the hallway and says his mom had to lock it because the stairs are rotting and unsafe.
Jenny gives up and goes downstairs. She gets a drink and tries to read but her mind won't focus. The phone rings and it's dead Mr Hagen whispering: “Hi, Jenny, it's me.”
{{{GASP}}}
{{{LOLZ}}}
It's just Cal who has developed a sudden case of laryngitis. He wants to come over but Jenny says 'no'. Cal asks if “no means yes”.
Seriously. And I can not stress this enough.
Jenny feels the cold, wet fingers again and screams. Cal freaks out because of course he does. I would too. Jenny looks around but she's alone in the room. She tells Cal that everything is fine but doesn't explain and just hangs up.
Jenny figures the twins are fucking with her so she goes upstairs to confront them but finds their beds empty. The twins are missing.
{{{GASP}}}
{{{LOLZ}}}
They're hiding in a closet to scare her. She gets them back into bed and then someone breaks into the house.
{{{GASP}}}
This is fucking exhausting.
{{{LOLZ}}}
It's just Cal who walked through an unlocked front door and accidentally knocked over a vase. He was worried after Jenny abruptly ended the call and he wanted to check on her. Despite the fact laryngitis can be contagious in some circumstances, they make out for awhile and then she sends him home.
The phone rings again but this time it's Mrs W who is calling to say she's going to be late getting home. She asks Jenny how things are going and Jenny tells her that Seth and Sean gave her a little trouble but they're in bed now. Mrs W responds with “What did you say about Sean?” and then immediately tells Jenny that she can't really hear anything over the background noise and she ends the call.
Mrs W has never once mentioned Seth. He doesn't exist, right?
Except Sean and Meredith can see him.
Sigh.
What are you doing here, Stine?
Whatever it is, I bet it's going to be annoying.
Jenny wanders around the house for awhile. She hears a whispered voice say: “Go away, Jenny, or you'll die too.” Jenny fears the voice is coming from her own head and she might be having another break.
We skip to the next night. Jenny is up in her room and she looks out the window toward the W house. Up in the attic she can see a dark haired girl looking back at her. The girl looks sad and mouths “help me” over and over. Then she disappears. Jenny tries to convince herself that it was just a trick of the light.
Somehow Jenny manages to get to sleep and immediately has a nightmare. She gets up and starts pacing around her room which wakes her mom. When her mom comes in to check on her, Jenny says she's been howling noises from outside. Her mom says someone has been vandalizing homes in the middle of the night. Jenny tells her about seeing the white-blonde boy running around a few nights ago and mentions that he resembled Sean.
We skip ahead to the next night. Jenny is home alone because her mom is on a date with Winston and Cal is working. She's doing the dishes when Mrs W just walks into her home without knocking or being invited in.
Does Jenny know how to lock a fucking door? You'd think someone who had almost been murdered a couple of times would secure her surroundings.
Also, what kind of psychopath just walks into a house uninvited? Is Mrs W the bad guy here?
Mrs W says her sister has been rushed to the hospital and she desperately needs Jenny to babysit for a few hours. Jenny agrees for some fucking reason. When she gets to the house, the kids are playing video games again. They play for awhile and then ask Jenny for some cake. She goes to cut it and immediately feels pressure on her arm, turning the knife toward her. She watches in horror as the knife plunges into her skin.
{{{GASP}}}
{{{LOLZ}}}
Despite literally using the words “the blade plunged into her chest”, the knife never actually touches Jenny at all. She ducks out of the way. The kids come in the kitchen and ask her what happened and she says she fell. She uses the haunted knife to cut the cake and the kids chow down. After their snack, Jenny puts them in bed and then goes back into the kitchen to do the dishes. The unseen force comes back and tries to push her hand into the running garbage disposal but Jenny manages to turn it off.
Sean appears behind her in the kitchen and says he has something very scary to tell Jenny. Before he can say anything else, Seth comes in and Sean decides he doesn't want to talk anymore.
Yeah, Seth is definitely not real. Sean mentioned the house being haunted at the beginning of the book and I'm guess Seth is the ghost.
I wonder why he looks exactly like Sean.
The next day Jenny tells Claire everything that's happened. Claire is understandably concerned that her friend is hearing voices and thinks haunted knives are attacking her and unseen forces are pushing her hand into garbage disposals. Claire begs Jenny to tell her therapist about these things, which is 100% the right response, but Jenny is furious. She screams at Claire for not believing her. To be fair, Jenny has a history of seeing and hearing things that aren't there. Claire isn't out of line here.
Claire ends up telling Jenny's mom about the conversation which, again, was 100% the right thing to do in this situation. She's worried about her friend who just got out of the hospital. Her friend who has a history of auditory and visual hallucinations. Her friend who kidnapped a fucking child one year ago. Claire is acting in good faith here based on the knowledge she has and her love and compassion for her friend.
Jenny is determined to prove she isn't crazy so she goes to babysit for the kids again the next night. I have no fucking idea why her mom is allowing this. At the very least, because Jenny has been a danger to a child before, she should be supervised in her agitated state. And she IS agitated. Whether the things happening are real or just in her head, she's agitated.
When she's putting Seth and Sean to bed, she asks them if they're the ones running around at night howling and vandalizing things. They both deny it. When she's downstairs later she hears a voice whisper: “Jenny you saw me. Now you have to die.” An icy hand grabs her as the voice continues to whisper. Jenny runs upstairs to the bathroom. She looks in the mirror and sees Seth in it but he's not in the room with her.
Jenny breaks the mirror and cuts her hand just as Mrs W returns home. Mrs W asks her what happened as she walks her home. Jenny says the twins have been playing tricks on her. Mrs W is alarmed because she doesn't have twins. Sean and Meredith are her only children.
Jenny goes upstairs to her room leaving Mrs W talking to her mom in the kitchen. She overhears Mrs W say that she's going to take the kids and visit her sister for a few days. I don't know if she's getting away from Jenny or if this was the plan all along. Mrs W confides that she finds the house a little creepy and she almost didn't buy it after hearing that a young boy died in it years ago. Apparently he was murdered by his babysitter.
I mean, it had to be a babysitter because Stine had to fit this book into the franchise somehow.
Jenny's mom wonders if Jenny heard the story about the murdered boy and made up Seth in her mind. She calls Jenny's therapist and leaves a message on the machine about what's going on. Jenny worries she might be hospitalized again and is more determined than ever to prove she's not crazy.
Jenny watches outside her window until Mrs W, Sean and Meredith drive off and then she sneaks out of her house and into theirs. She heads immediately to the attic door but ghost Seth grabs her arm and begs her not to open the door. He says the babysitter is trapped in the attic and if Jenny sets her free, she'll hurt him again. Jenny asks if Seth is the one who has been trying to hurt her and he apologizes. He says sometimes he gets mixed up because his babysitter killed him.
Also, we learn that he looks like Sean because he wants to be Sean's brother for real. It's lame.
Jenny tells him that she has to open the attic door because the ghost up there looks sad. You know, I don't think Seth is 100% innocent here but it seems like a crappy thing to tell a murdered little boy. “I'm sorry you were killed and all but your killer looks sad so I have to let her out so she can potentially harm you again.”
Jenny opens the door and the dark haired girl rushes out. She tells Jenny that her name is Monica and that Seth actually killed her. Seth yells that Monica is lying. Monica tells Jenny that Seth locked her up in the attic and then he fell down the stairs and died. I don't know how Monica died. Surely they would have let her out of the attic. Did the family keep her trapped in there as punishment? It makes no sense. Surely they'd realize that Seth was alive when she got locked in the attic. There's no way she could have killed him and then gotten locked in there.
For fuck's sake, Stine. You could at least make it make sense.
The ghosts argue about who killed who and it's exhausting to read through. Jenny's just watching when Monica suddenly grabs her and throws her down the stairs.
{{{GASP}}}
{{{LOLZ}}}}
Monica was just moving Jenny out the way so she could fight Seth. She thanks Jenny for setting her free and then she tackles Seth who turns into a demon. They fight for awhile and then they both just disappear into a puff of smoke. Jenny is satisfied that she's proven that she's not crazy.
Except she hasn't. She has no proof of any of this. If she tells anyone about this, they'll just lock her up for another grippy sock vacation.
Jenny goes home and tells her mom that she's fine and there's no need to go to the therapist. Her mom just agrees??? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.
The book ends with Jenny saying she might babysit again someday. I'm assuming she didn't because this was the last book in the franchise.
Why did Stine veer off into the paranormal for this book? He could have made Winston the bad guy. Hell, Mrs W would have been perfect. Seth could have been real but Mrs W was gaslighting Jenny into thinking he was a ghost. Maybe she was the sister of Mr Hagen or the sister of the crazy receptionist. Maybe she was the aunt of the kid Jenny kidnapped. Maybe she just hates babysitters. She wanted to drive Jenny crazy so she pretended that Seth didn't exist and put a doll up in the attic window to torment her. That would have been more in keeping with the rest of the books in the series. It's lazy to just drift off into the paranormal for this. Stine can do better. I know he can.
I'm just glad I never have to read another one of these. We did it y'all. We survived the Babysitter books!
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