**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. Do NOT continue to read unless you want to know what cold-hearted-bitch move the twins made this book.
From the Back of the Book: A living nightmare... Elizabeth Wakefield never imagined that her evening of volunteer work would turn into the most horrifying night of her life. <REDACTED DUE TO CONTENT> Somehow Elizabeth must escape before it's too late.
Blogger's Note: I know that the subject matter of this book will trigger one of my readers. I also know that she will read this recap anyway to “prove” that she can. ((You don't need to prove anything, beautiful girl. I know how strong you are.)) But because I love her very much and I refuse to be the instrument that harms her, I am choosing NOT to recap this book in the usual way. I will be giving you all a very bare bones bullet list of plot points. We will pick up the regular recap in the next book.
Meet the Cast
*Elizabeth Wakefield – identical twin of Jessica and massive fucking martyr.
*Jessica Wakefield – identical twin of Elizabeth with narcissistic and histrionic tendencies
*Ned Wakefield – neglectful patriarch of the clan and successful lawyer
*Alice Wakefield – neglectful matriarch of the clan and an interior designer
*Steven Wakefield – older brother, university student and general asshole
*Enid Rollins – Liz's best friend and generic good-girl type
*Todd Wilkins – Liz's douchebag boyfriend and star of the SVH basketball team
*Lila Fowler – Jessica's self-absorbed best friend and representative of SV new money
*Bruce Patman – school dick and representative of SV old money
*Ken Matthews – star quarterback and resident jock stereotype
*Winston Egbert – stereotypical school nerd
There are more but these are the main characters that plague us book after book.
This book was published in 1984 and this is my first time reading it. The cover is nothing special but at least I don't have to redact that too.
In the last book, we had WAY too many plots to keep track of and none of them were executed well. People moved to town. TV stars were injured in skiing accidents and then repeatedly victimized by Jess. Tricia was diagnosed with fatal leukemia and tried to hide it by breaking up with Steven so he wouldn't get hurt when she died. Which was dumb for so many reasons. The twins volunteered at the hospital (mostly so Jess could stalk that TV guy) and Liz met a creepy orderly who decided to kidnap her at the end of the book.
Commence bullet points.
*The book literally starts with Jess running into Steven's room to ask him to zip up her dress and he's dressed only in a towel. He tells us that even a burlap sack couldn't hide Jess' “perfectly proportioned figure” I know it's not necessarily problematic but the fact that he'd thinking about her “figure” while she's literally half-dressed just makes me feel icky. Was that really necessary, Pascal?
*Jess decides Nicholas Morrow will be her next conquest. Predictable. She's supposed to ride to his party with Liz but decides not to wait for her and goes with Cara instead.
*Jess meets Regina Morrow and finds out she's deaf but can read lips. Jess responds by calling her a “poor thing” which is just super gross.
*Nicholas is apparently “Adonis personified”. Which.....I mean, I know Adonis was described as beautiful but the only physical representations we have of him are marble statues so does this guy look like a marble statue? Because he might want to get that checked out.
*Max (that guy from the band who needed Liz to tutor him) is grounded from his guitar until he brings all his grades up. If he fails English in particular, he can't play with the band ever again so stakes are high.
*When Liz doesn't show up for their tutoring session, Max goes to the hospital to look for her.
*When Todd asks Jess where Liz is, she lies and says Liz is babysitting for the questionable Mr Collins. I have NO idea why she does this. None.
*Liz realizes that Carl, the creepy orderly from the hospital, is the one who is hosting her.
*Todd waits for half an hour and then calls Mr Collins' house to check on Liz. He's told she isn't there. He confronts Jess who finally realizes something is wrong.
*Liz and Todd leave the party and drive along the route Liz should have taken in case her car broke down.
*Carl tells Liz he loves her because she was nice to him and he wants her to live in his house forever.
*The Wakefields check with Max and find out that Liz never came by and now Max is gone too. Ned calls the police.
*Meanwhile, Max has located Liz's car in the hospital parking lot. He sees the door is partly open and investigates. Her purse is under the driver's seat. I have no idea why. Surely she didn't put it there. He dumps it out to find some kind of clue. I have no fucking idea what he thinks he's looking for. It makes no sense. He's going through the glove box when the cops show up. He's arrested because they think he was trying to steal her car. They don't even seem to know she's missing at this point.
I guess Pascal is just going to ignore the fact that Max probably destroyed evidence. Do you think she knows????????
*Max is held for four hours before being released to his parents. Eventually he IS questioned about Liz but he doesn't know anything.
*The police decide Liz probably ran away. I have no idea how they came to this conclusion but I guess statistics or something.
*Carl tells Liz that he plans for them to change locations the next day.
*The entire school suspects Max. For reasons I guess. I mean, everyone loved him a few books ago when he was playing with the band. Now everyone thinks he hangs with a “rough crowd”. Like....the band? I'm confused. Pascal really doesn't believe in continuity.
*After school the next day, Todd, Jess and Max go to the hospital to see if they can find some clues. Suddenly everyone is Nancy Drew.
*Carl has been going into work to avert suspicion. When he sees Jess walking around, he panics and runs over to ask “Liz” what she's doing there. He asks her how she escaped and Jess realizes that he knows where Liz is. She plays along to get him to talk. He doesn't reveal much but what he says reassures Jess that her sister is alive.
*Carl is arrested and tells the police where Liz is. She's rescued in a very anti-climatic scene that only takes two paragraphs. Sigh.
*Over the next few days, Liz resists any attempt anyone makes at getting her to talk about what she's been through. She wants to forget about it and insists on throwing a party.
*Out of nowhere, we get two paragraphs from Alice thinking that she's afraid Liz might be getting too serious with Todd and that they might have sex. She wishes Liz would date other people and not commit herself so young.
That was weird.
*Nicholas comes to the party and it's pretty clear that he's immediately enamored with Liz. The book ends with these ominous words...... “Will Elizabeth leave Todd for Nicholas? Find out in Sweet Valley High #14.” So we have that to look forward to.
This book was.....disappointing. There was never any tension or sense of danger because Liz was never in any peril and Carl wasn't really very threatening. I know what happened to her was awful but Pascal wrote it as the most mild crime in the history of the world. I get that these books were aimed at fairly young readers and maybe Pascal didn't want to scare them, but if you weren't going to do the story justice, why bother writing it at all? There was no real reason to include this story in the line up. Another one could have easily taken its place. I don't understand why she chose to take us on this journey only to have Liz spend two days reading books about making investments and caring for farm animals while Carl feeds her fast food and buys her cardigans so she isn't chilly. The story was so bland that it was ultimately useless and a waste of time. I'm not saying I wanted anything bad to happen to Liz even though I mostly hate her. I'm saying I can't figure out why Pascal wrote this particular story at all. The same could be said for the weird second book in the Canby Hall series. Did publishers just insist on this kind of story back then? I'm going to have to check out other series and see if they included something similar as well.
