A return to the return

As part of the relaunch of Fear Street, they evidently bundled the first four novels in the series by R. L. Stine into an omnibus edition titled The Beginning. Of which, I remembered the first one, but the other three I didn't.

We start with The New Girl, in which one Cory Brooks falls madly in love with the blond he keeps catching glimpses of named Anna. He eventually discovers Anna lives of Fear Street with her brother. (As a side note, these early books show that much of the background developed later. There's no mention of the Fear family, Fear Island is undeveloped, the only mansion mentioned on the street has been recently renovated...) Anyway, as I said, I remember reading this one, so the big twist about who's who at the end wasn't particularly shocking to me. 

Then we start The Surprise Party, in which Meg learns quickly that several people actually did think they knew who murdered her friend, but even they were wrong. It's kind of silly, and there's a touch of Mazes and Monsters condemnation of role playing in there, even if the geek does end up saving everyone in the end. 

In The Overnight, the Shadyside outdoor club takes an unauthorized trip to Dear Island for an overnight after their faculty advisor cancels it at the last minute. Della gets attacked by a stranger on the island, pushes him in a ravine, and buries him under leaves. Then she and everyone else get notes from the dead guy, leading to a few reveals once the advisor takes them on the sanctioned trip out to Fear Island. 

Lastly, we have Missing, wherein Mark and Cara's parents don't come home from work for several days, their cousin who lives in the attic does his best gothic wife impersonation, the place where the parents work has no record of them working there... While I agree with one review I read of this which stated this ending of the one came out of left field, I will say that it rings closer to reality in the modern age than any of the other three in here. 

One thing I caught reading the omnibus that I now wonder if it continues in the rest of the series is the minor character continuity. Cory, who shows up in book one, and Lisa, his neighbor show up at various points in the other books, as do a few other cameos. 

The books are a lot dated, having been published before the internet and mobile phone boom, and the plots are kind of corny, but they remain kind of fun. A bit of comfort food for the soul.