The Bookworm: Can You Keep a Secret?

Can You Keep a Secret? by R.L. Stine. 264 pages. Thomas Dunne Books. April 2016.

“The attack occurred last night in Shadyside Park behind the high school,” a man was saying. “Delmar Hawkins of North Hills reported the attack to police. Hawkins said that he was walking his dog along the path toward the river when a large black wolf jumped out from the trees and attacked the dog. Police confirmed that the dog was killed in a most ferocious manner. Police have begun a search of the park for the black wolf, and a helicopter unit has been sent for. Meanwhile . . .” (p. 11)

Part Overnight, part American Werewolf in London, and part Silent Night, Can You Keep a Secret? is a fun, intriguing, and imaginative mystery that is a nice addition to the new series of Fear Street novels.

Secret tells the story of Emmy, who has been dreaming about wolves since she was a little girl. Her mother claims it’s because Emmy was bitten by a dog while visiting family in the Czech Republic when she was four. The dreams are extremely vivid, and Emmy wonders if there is any connection to the recent wolf sightings and attacks in Shadyside.

Despite fears of a blood-thirsty wolf on the loose, Emmy and her boyfriend, Eddie, plan to camp in the Fear Street woods with a group of friends. Annoyed by the childish antics of his buddies at the campsite, Eddie takes Emmy deep into the woods and carves their names into a tree. After finishing, he notices the tree is hollow, and finds a briefcase full of money hidden inside the empty trunk. Their friends find Emmy and Eddie ogling over the crisp stacks of bills. Who put it in the tree? Why? Where did the money come from? Nobody knows for sure, but since they all come from the wrong side of the tracks in Shadyside, each could benefit greatly from such a windfall. Despite suspicions and fears about the briefcase’s origins, and a newfound distrust for one another, the teens decide to bury the money at the pet cemetery where Eddie works until they know it is safe to divide evenly. Eddie and Emmy soon find out that the money is likely from the armed robbery of an armored truck.

As Emmy’s dreams continue, the group begins fighting over the case and where it should be kept. A member of the group is killed by the wolf, and Emmy and Eddie are tracked down by a man eager to recover the case. (It was very helpful their names were etched into the tree trunk. D’oh!)

What happens to the case? What the hell does the wolf and Emmy’s dreams have to do with the story? Will Emmy and Eddie live to find out? You’ll have to read Secret yourself to find out.

I really dug this book, especially the beginning with the overnight. I’m a sucker for camping stories, I guess. The one thing that did bum me out was the fact that the story takes place in the spring. In fact, I started Secret after reading 14 pages of another recent Fear Street release, The Dead Boyfriend, when I discovered that that book is set in the spring. Once again, I’m making way too big of a deal about the season the story is set; I should let it go and not care. However, since it’s autumn and Halloween season, it would be ideal to find a Fear Street book set during the same time of year. Alas, there are surprisingly few Fear Street books set around Halloween, and I think I have read them all.

(Speaking of Halloween-themed Fear Street books, the most recent episode of the We Know What You Did on Fear Street podcast features Halloween Party.)

The characterizations in Secret are pretty solid, especially in regards to Emmy and her younger sister, Sophie. I found it easy to relate to Emmy and empathize with her. Though those in Emmy’s group of friends, besides Eddie, are not characterized in-depth, Stine provides the necessary basics and makes sure we know exactly what we need to about each character and his or her personality. That is one thing Stine seems to do well, even in the old books: He is a master at boiling down each character to basic elements that propel the story, avoiding any unnecessary, page-wasting, superficial elements.

There is one character, though, that I wanted to see more of: Emmy and Sophie’s Aunt Marta from the Czech Republic. She is part of the backstory about Emmy being bitten by a dog, and even visits the family during the events of the novel. She’s a very mysterious, superstitious woman who is well versed in the ancient traditions of “the old country.” I expected her to be a very important part of the story, but her time at Emmy and Sophie’s house, and in the story, is fleeting. Sure, she does impact the plot in one way, but I expected her to be much more involved and important. She is not used to her full potential.

I took a special interest in how Stine used technology, especially cell phones, in the story. It is used minimally and effectively. Emmy receives texts and calls from other characters, all of which are related to the story. Google is also used, too. Overall, everyday tech did not have that much of an impact, but it was used realistically. One thing I did find suspicious was the fact that none of the teens, despite how connected they are in many ways, heard about the robbery of the armored truck. Emmy even mentioned the fact she had a breaking news app on her phone, and her father always has the radio tuned to news in the morning, but she somehow missed the story. Interesting.

The text is peppered with a number of typos and usage errors, which are all on the publisher and not Stine. Punctuation is missing in certain areas, closing quotation marks are used when there is no dialogue, and some characters have blonde hair (it should be blond). Also, the knife stuck into the tree trunk on the cover looks like a kitchen knife. In the story, I believe Eddie used a small switchblade to make the carving.

As the characters are about to descend into the Fear Street woods for their overnight, Emmy watches one of them unload “a case of Bud” (p. 43) from the back of an SUV. “You have to be eighteen to drink beer in Shadyside, but it’s not like I know anyone who obeys the law (p. 43)” Emmy explains. Again, this makes me scratch my head. Teen drinking is not uncommon, but why is the drinking age in Shadyside 18?