| A New Fear | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | R. L. Stine |
| Cover artist | Lisa Falkenstern |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Fear Street Sagas |
| Genre(s) | Horror fiction |
| Publisher | Simon Pulse |
| Publication date | March 1996 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback and Hardcover) |
| Pages | 166 p. |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-671-52952-8 |
| Followed by | House of Whispers |
A New Fear is the first book in Fear Street Sagas series by R. L. Stine and is the sequel to the The Fear Street Saga trilogy. This book was written by R. L. Stine[1] and was published on March 1996 by Simon Pulse.
Contents |
The novel starts around the beginning of the 19th century, where a pregnant Nora Goode Fear is being questioned by authorities. She claims that the Fear Mansion was burned down after Simon Fear knocked over his birthday cake lit with candles after he found out that his grandson Daniel Fear married her, a Goode. She claims that the flames of the birthday cake candles quickly spread, and in result, burned down the house and killed everyone but Nora. Nora notes seeing faces within the fire. The official claims this as a hoax, and sends her to a mental hospital just nearby Fear Street.
Over a year has passed, and Nora is living in the mental hospital with her baby son Nicholas. One day, she finds out that her doctor is planning to sell Nicholas to a wealthy family wanting a male child. In desperation, Nora attempts to make a rope out of her long hair to escape, but is caught and shaved to prevent escape. On the day Nicholas is to leave, Nora attempts to fight for Nicholas, but Daniel Fear, coming back from hell, kills the doctor and scares away the guards. She escapes with Nicholas and stows away in a cargo ship with only her wedding necklace, a pendant with the latin of "Power through evil" engraved on it. A crew member catches her and attempts to take her necklace in exchange for secrecy, but rats begin to attack and eat him. The other crew members find her and deem her a witch, but a storm comes and Nora manages to save herself and Nicholas, renaming themselves Nora and Nicholas Storm, throwing the Fear Necklace into the sea.
Years have passed and Nicholas is now a young man in love with a woman named Rosalyn. They cannot marry because Rosalyn's father wants her to marry a wealthy and powerful person like himself. Nora soon dies and Rosalyn is about to be betrothed to a rich man, and Nicholas dreams of a man identical to him yelling "Shadyside". Nicholas decides to go to the town of Shadyside, but Nora gives him her favorite necklace before departing, which happens to be the same Fear Necklace.
Nicholas arrives in Shadyside and a voice convinces him to walk all the way to Fear Street, where he finds a woman who believes Nicholas is Daniel Fear back from the dead and tells him the story of his father's death. Nicholas realizes who he is and decides to stay here, renting a boarding home from a girl named Betsy and her mother. He goes to see Mr. Manning, the rich banker of Shadyside, where he is distraught to find out that there is no wealth left from the Fear Fortune. In pity, Mr. Manning give Nicholas a job in the lumbermill. Nicholas runs into Ruth Manning on the way out.
The next day, he befriends two co-workers: Ike, a wreckless worker, and Jason, an overprotective worker. Betsy arrives and gives Nicholas some lunch, making Jason look envious. Overhead, he sees Ruth looking enviously at Betsy, as she is a pretty blonde while Ruth is a pleasant-faced skinny black-haired girl. On the way home, an unknown person throws a rock at the back of Nicholas' head with the message "You don't belong in Shadyside."
Ike soon gets into an accident while cutting wood with Nicholas, losing three of his fingers in the process. Co-workers begin to avoid Nicholas because of his believed "bad luck". He soon finds out that Betsy is a Goode, but although she likes him, there are still a lot of Goodes who do not like Fears. One day, while speaking with Mr. Manning, who is trying to get Nicholas interested with his daughter Ruth, he notices Jason glaring at him while talking to Betsy, who brings Nicholas lunch.
When Nicholas arrives home, he finds Betsy dead with dough in her nose and mouth near the oven, suffocating her to death. The town blames Nicholas' Fear Name and deem him unlucky, and he moves into Mr. Manning's home with Ruth. The next day, the day of Betsy's burial, an angry Jason arrives at his door and says "You should have been the one buried instead of my cousin.", implying that Jason is also a Goode.
Mr. Manning is sick and soon dies. Nicholas discovers that Mr. Manning died of poisoning. He deduces that Jason is the culprit because he is a Goode and would do anything to make Nicholas leave Shadyside. Before he confronts Jason, Ruth tells him that it was her father's dying wish that Ruth and Nicholas marry. Nicholas tells Ruth that he still loves Rosalyn, and Ruth humbly accepts but requests he stay for her father's sake. Nicholas then confronts Jason, where he finds out that Jason never liked him because of his name. Jason admits to throwing the rock at Nicholas, hoping somehow it would kill Nicholas, but never killed anyone. Ruth then barges in and kills Jason by stabbing him in the throat with a poker.
Ruth then reveals she was the one who killed Betsy, poisoned her father with her sandwiches, and planned Ike's accident so that everyone would turn against Nicholas and so that Nicholas would depend on her. She reveals that she wanted to marry him ever since she saw him for the first time, and has always gotten what she wanted. She gives him an ultimatum: Either Nicholas marries her, or she will swear to everyone that it was Nicholas who killed Jason, as she has been known more better than he has. Nicholas decides to marry her, but he also plans to kill her so he can take the Manning wealth and then marry Rosalyn.
They have a private marriage, and while getting champagne, he slips rat poison into her drink. After giving Ruth the tainted drink, Ruth decides to do a wedding tradition and have him drink from her glass. Nicholas is about to drink the tainted drink but the doorbell rings. Nicholas opens the door and discovers that Rosalyn has arrived.
Ruth blatantly shows off her marriage to Nicholas in front of Rosalyn. While Ruth commands Nicholas to get more champagne, he returns and sees that both girls have already drank from both glasses, wondering which one he had already tainted. Rosalyn decides to leave, but the rat poison kicks in and kills her. In anger, Nicholas lunges to kill Ruth, but she shows him the necklace Rosalyn gave him and tells him it it the Fear necklace that holds all the power. Ruth tells him that if he wants to learn how to control the power, he would have to let Ruth live and that marrying Rosalyn would never have let him use the power. Nicholas begins to hand the knife to her to cut the cake, and Ruth tells him that she has a lot of plans for the both of them, to which Nicholas replies with "Power through evil."
Almost a year has passed, and Nicholas re-opens Fear Street to the public. Ruth approaches him and tells him that she is carrying his child. He promises to himself that his child will have what he never had as a child.
"Evil was his birthright."