The Fear

“I nod, keeping my smile light as I pretend that he’s not driving me insane.”

Brief Synopsis:

It’s no secret that going viral is a huge goal for most people nowadays. When a meme is created in a small fishing town asking for the locals (mostly the teens, obviously) to repost what they’re most scared of when it comes to dying, people pretty quickly write it off as some joke or just another anonymous person’s attempt at finally getting their fifteen minutes of fame or a spike in followers. Izzy seems to be the only one that isn’t so sure of this, but her best friend Syd and her cousin Miyah assure her that nobody is really going to be willing to mess with the status quo.

Except that someone is willing, more than willing. When the three girls leave a party fairly early and end up finding the body of one of their classmates, followed by the discovery of another, it’s realized that both of them died the exact way that they said they were most afraid of according to the reposting of the meme. Unfortunately, since Izzy is the one that found the first victim, a lot of attention is being put on her right now, and it’s not all good. The resident bad boy Axel is pissed because she mentioned his name, Justin, the popular boy of her dreams is talking to her more, but it’s not always in a nice way, and even the sheriff seems not to really know what to do with her.

When Justin invites her to go to a sort of memorial for Debbie and Kason, the first two victims, she feels like she has to be there. When she gets there, she sees Axel arguing with Tristan, a boy that’s just a year older than her and knows her sister, who’s currently away at college. In talking with Tristan, she finds out that he and Axel are cousins. When Tristan wants to show Izzy his boat, she agrees, but they discover a piece of a flannel shirt floating in the water and are afraid it’s connected with the murders as well. It’s something else Izzy has to turn in that pretty much puts her at the scene of the crimes.

As the days progress, the two victims are the only ones that are murdered the way they said they feared, so far. Worried about her, Izzy’s big sister Lia comes home to visit, though Izzy begs her not to because she sees that she has also shared what her worst fear regarding death is. Somehow, Lia gets through the time in town unscathed, though things do get a little weirder as they go. While Lia is in town, Izzy starts to realize that Lia’s click and the popular click of her grade (aka, Debbie, Kason, Justin, etc) didn’t get along. Also, every once in a while, the book will be told from “fear”’s point in view, which is obviously whoever is pulling these awful deaths off. So, you know, the plot thickens.

Izzy is also seemingly becoming a target although she never shared her fear. Her tire gets slashed, and Tristan just so happens to be around to help out. She turns it in, but she feels like nobody is really taking her seriously throughout this. Justin also continues to pay more and more attention to her, even telling her that their friend Jessie would have a vendetta against Kason because they used to hook up but he never took her seriously. She meets Justin in the library early one morning to confront Jessie, but everything seems off and Jessie doesn’t show up for the encounter.

Literal seconds later, they find out that Jessie has been reported missing. As soon as Izzy gets to class, Axel seems like he’s in a ridiculously good mood and even pretty much says “yeah I know, but I didn’t do it” okay bud. That isn’t sus at all. Unsurprisingly, and unfortunately for Jessie, her body is found not much later, which officially puts the suspect into a serial killer territory. It kind of puts all bets off, and their little fishing town has become The Town That Dreaded Sundown at this point.

Axel is saying things that makes Izzy more and more suspicious, and she finally calls Tristan to ask him what the hell is up with his cousin. Tristan says this is an in-person conversation, which instantly freaks Izzy out. However, when she suggests he comes to her house instead of her meeting him out somewhere and he’s totally cool with it (so is her mom, like what? This is pretty much Scream out here, lady!) Izzy starts to once again feel comfortable around Tristan, who gives her some family insight.

Meanwhile, and after the Jessie killing, the killer himself (herself?) has been busy enough. This girl Julia’s fear was starving, and the killer figured they were going to go ahead and try it out. She goes to school with Miyah, so the killer waited around, captured her, and figured that they would wait for a while to see if they’d die from starvation quickly or slowly. However, Julia is a bad bitch and she breaks away. She… ends up at Izzy’s house? That part annoyed me, but maybe it’ll make sense later.

Pissed that one of the victims got away, “fear” isn’t playing around anymore. The winter weather ends up working out in the killer’s favor one evening when Izzy and Axel get stuck at the school and have to wait the storm out. However, Izzy ends up pretty much telling Axel she isn’t sure that he isn’t a killer and so he isn’t really wanting to be around her, and hunkers down in his car. When he doesn’t come in after a while, everyone gets a little nervous and one of the guidance counselors wants to attempt to coax him back inside. Izzy goes to change into her gym clothes so that she’s at least in something dry, and on her way back to the cafeteria she could swear that someone chases her.

The guidance counselor asks Izzy to text Axel about coming inside, and he pretty much responds and tells her he’s inside. They go looking for him and the lights go out (because of course they do) and Izzy gets pushed by someone pretty hard. When the lights come back on, it’s discovered that Justin’s locker was broken into and there’s a photo inside of him and Debbie (one of the first victims, remember?) smooching. Later on, Izzy’s been sequestered into her bedroom and Justin sneaks in her window to tell her that a burner phone that used to belong to Kason, who dealt drugs on the side sometimes and got into some heated arguments with Axel, was taken from his locker when it was broken into.

He also explains the pretty messed up dynamics between his friend group: he and Debbie hooked up, but it was casual. Kason kept Jessie strung along even though he didn’t want her, and Jessie had once hooked up with Axel. Also, one of their other friends that hasn’t really been very important to the story this whole time was really into Justin. It’s an interwoven web on teen angst and hormones and pretty much makes a lot of them suspects and gives a lot of motive, because of course. Then, being stupid teenagers, Izzy and Justin decide that they’re going to go and… break into Axel’s apartment? Sounds solid.

When they get there, Justin goes inside and Izzy acts as lookout. When the killer inevitably shows up there, they chase Izzy out onto some frozen water, but then disappears. She makes it back to Justin and they get the hell out of dodge, but when they get back, two things happen: Izzy notices a pink notebook in his car, which seems kind of out of place, and she also noticed tire tracks with what appears to be blood in the middle of the tracks going down the road. There was only one person that she knew of that shared that their fear of dying was being dragged by a vehicle: Miyah.

The town goes on a search for Miyah and Tristan kind of corners Izzy, telling her that she shouldn’t give up on Axel even though he’s been missing and his car has been at the school since the day they got snowed in. She’s not really putting up with his bs, though. The search ends quickly when the cops take off on a tip. Unfortunately, poor Miyah’s body was found in a field and Izzy, her parents, her sister and poor Miyah’s parents are completely devastated. It’s more than personal now and Izzy is done playing around: whether this is Axel, Justin or whoever else, she’s finishing this shit.

Justin becomes a suspect on Izzy’s list (which she conveniently can’t find anymore) when she discovers that someone broke into her room and took her PINK notebook full of things that have happened since the murders began. She asks Justin, framing the question like maybe someone planted it in his car, and he pretty much just says he’ll get back to her. Okay, bud. At least Izzy is realizing what a waste of a good face a guy like Justin can be. The killer also decides it's time to finalize things, and texts Izzy, asking her to meet him at the docks. She sneaks out again and heads to just what may be her doom.

When she gets there, she finds a pretty abandoned town and… Tristan. Who claims that Axel also texted him and asked him to meet there so they can talk. Tristan and Izzy decide that they’re going to team up at this point and figure out what the hell is going on, did Axel do this, and can they fix it?

Honestly… I can’t say another word about this book without really just giving the ending away. But I will say that the literal last sentence ends with a plot twist, so there’s that for you folks.

My Rating:

8/10. It was a quick and easy read but I really enjoyed the premise. Thus far, Preston has been an author in whose thrillers definitely have not disappointed me yet.

Creep Rating:

7/10. Though I’ve definitely read others that made the hairs on my neck rise more, there was certainly more than one scene that was making me uncomfortable. Especially how some of the deaths really played out.

A Similar Vibe:

Mmm. Remember the episode of Supernatural, Yellow Fever? A lot of this book reminded me of that for various reasons. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, man, you are truly missing out on the good things in life.

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Until next time <3