4/20/2023 0 Comments The babysitter bookLuckily for us, it’s also a quadrilogy and I’m going to read them all. It felt like it could easily have been set in Shadyside along with them. The Babysitter was published in 1989, which is the same year as the first three Fear Street books. It probably would not have been a good horror story, but I’m not just going to overlook the shitty detective being written as a hero. Had he just identified himself and given Jenny his card on that first night, the two might have solved it together. He’s treated as a hero because he saves Jenny just in time, but it was his own negligence that allowed her to end up at the rock quarry in the first place. But no one ever addresses the really shoddy police work on behalf of Detective Ferris. Hagan is shot and falls over the edge, Jenny is brought home safe, and Chuck is cleared of all suspicions. But he is thwarted by Willers, who was secretly Detective Ferris investigating the babysitter prowler. The climax leads to a showdown in the rock quarry, where Mr. The fact that he was unhinged was believable the degree to which he was unhinged was not. But instead of seeking revenge on that babysitter, he starts a crusade against the entire profession? It would have made way more sense if Jenny had been the babysitter when his daughter had died and Mr. After the death of his daughter, he blamed the babysitter. Hagan’s motivations descend into some really bizarre villain logic. And now Jenny knows too much so he needs to kill her. He was the one going around beating up babysitters. Hagan reveals himself to be completely unhinged. There’s a life lesson in these pages: when someone creeps you the fuck out, trust your gut and get the fuck away from them. Hagan takes a turn going away from Jenny’s house, Jenny finally realizes that her suspicions were all true. Hagan knew, and despite her better judgment she gets in the car with him. She tries to cover up the fact that she saw the clippings, but she suspects that Mr. Among them is an article about the accidental death of Donny’s sister, who died while in the care of a babysitter. When she’s getting her coat from the closet, she accidentally stumbles on a collection of newspaper clippings about the babysitter prowler. Scared for her safety, that night Jenny invites her friends over to keep her company and thus one of Mr. That’s when the Hagans tell her they have no neighbor named Willers. Finally, Jenny is approached by Willers at the bus stop and runs from him. She also catches Willer’s poking around the yard again, and after a second threatening phone call she decides to call the police. But then Jenny gets a threatening note in her bag, which Chuck could have easily placed. Believable considering the awkwardness of high school romance. He confesses to the first phone call but knows nothing about the threats. Chuck has a good alibi, and Jenny wants to believe him. Seriously, what the fuck, Mom? Did moms just do shit like that back in the 80s? Would they have seen no potential problem with telling a strange boy from school where to find their daughter while she was babysitting alone? Or was this just particularly oblivious parenting? This would never fly in a book today, but I’m not sure it would have even worked in 1989.Īfter the phone calls, things escalate. Her suspicions are all-but-confirmed when she finds out that her mom, of all people, gave Chuck the address and phone number to the Hagan’s house. First, there’s the neighbor, Willers, who stops by to “check on things.” Then there’s a phone call of someone breathing, followed almost immediately by a threatening call that warns Jenny that “company’s coming.”Īt first, Jenny suspects that it’s Chuck, a practical joker from school who has a crush on her. But of course the creepy instances start on the first night, and then gradually escalate from there. Hagan, is very anxious and overbearing but his intentions seem good. It’s in a creepy old house and there’s been a prowler going around beating up babysitters, but Jenny needs the money and she genuinely likes the Donny. The Babysitter tells the story of Jenny, who takes a twice-a-week gig babysitting babysitting Donny on the far side of town. Overall, I really enjoyed this one in spite of its flaws. I’ll just say that sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between bad/oblivious parenting and things that were still considered OK in the late 1980s. I was also baffled by one particular action of Jenny’s mother, which I’ll save for the full review below because of spoilers. On the downside, I had some problems with the motives of the villain and there was some really shoddy police work that was presented as exceptional. Stine did an excellent job with the pacing, slowly building the tension with some genuinely unnerving scenes. Jenny was a relatable and endearing protagonist. Stine’s most notorious books outside of his Goosebumps and Fear Street titles, and rightly so.
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