Double Date (Fear Street)

No girl in her right mind would say no to a date with Bobby Newkirk. Not with those great looks, that easy charm, and the awesome way he plays the guitar. Of course, some people think he’s just a bit conceited. But when it comes to breaking hearts, that hasn’t slowed Bobby down one bit. At least not until the Wade twins move to Shadyside. And Bobby brags to his friends that they’ll both fall for him. And they do.

Too bad for Bobby the twins never learned to share. One of them is jealous, murderously jealous. Is it quiet, shy Bree? or bold, sexy Samantha? Bobby had better figure it out…or double fun will turn to double terror.

GOT U COVERED 📔

Author: R.L Stine

Published: 1994

Series: Fear Street

Tagline: Two’s company. But three can be murder.

Description: A guy and girl sitting on a park bench, with her twin looking from behind jealousy.

“Two’s company. Three’s a crowd,” the whisperer repeated. “You’ll pay.”

“Huh? What’s the joke?” Bobby asked, struggling to hear the words, listening hard for a clue to the caller’s identity.

“You’ll pay,” the voice repeated menacingly. “You’ll pay double.” - pg. 53

SYNOPSIS 📖

Bobby Newkirk is one conceited mofo. In fact, one would say he is proud of it. As long as it means he gets to date as many of the girls from Shadyside High School. But not for too long though. Afterall, he can’t have them catching feelings when he’s already moved onto the next conquest on the list.

One day during band practice, he notices two girls who grab his attention. The beautiful Wade twins, Bree and Samantha. Bobby thinks that dating twins at the same time will put him on a whole other level of legendary. He will be the ultimate stud at school - Bobby the Man. His friends Arnie and Paul will be so impressed.

Every player has their cards…but is Bobby about to show his hand?

When someone starts messing with Bobby, they aren’t playing any games. They want to teach him a lesson…a serious lesson.

Bobby may have taken on more than he can handle. But when you have a date with death, you better not be late.

“He recognised her at once. Saw the strange, amused smile on her face.

And guessed that she had been the one who cut his tires”. - pg. 78

THOUGHTS 💭

What comes to mind when I think of Bobby? Britney Spears’ Womanizer. That’s the perfect song to sum up this guy. And funny enough, if you look at the cover of the book, the guy in the music video could kind of pass for him. However, Bobby is such a conceited guy that he’d probably misinterpret that song as a love poem towards him 😅. Bobby is as thick headed as they come and that’s actually what makes him somewhat entertaining. As I was reading, I kept wondering why I found him so amusing? It’s surely not because of his actions. Every time he interacts with another female something misogynistic, cringey or insensitive exits his mouth…but I realised that I’ve actually known guys like this in real life. I think we all know or at least have been within a shoulder length’ distance around guys like this. All we can do is silently laugh at them, because we’ve caught onto the act they’re trying so hard to present. Bobby is the full embodiment of the terms “poser”, “man-child” and “sleaze-ball”. Everything he says and does is so embarrassing. As a reader, there’s no way to take him seriously or feel sorry for him.

Bree and Samantha not only pulled wool over Bobby’s eyes, but mine too. As more and more instances between the love triangle unfolded, I was admittedly very confused. The whole sister swapping and triplet sub-plot had my brain so frazzled that I began to think that I was being played just as much as Bobby was. Each time the butterfly tattoo 🦋 came into play, my brain🧠 turned into a bowl of porridge 🥣 because I couldn’t piece together what the hell was going on.

Once all was explained, I had to give the twins props for pulling off such an elaborate stunt. Now were the stunts and shenanigans ridiculous? Of course! This wouldn’t be a Fear Street book if it wasn’t, but it was just as wild of a ride as Samantha’ driving. The one flaw I had with the whole plan was that it could have easily been halted or foiled, should Samantha have been caught during the shoplifting scenes. What then?  Also, they both kissed him a lot. Did that cause any sort of awkwardness between the sisters behind the scenes or was that a “must-do” bullet point in their plan of action? The readers deserve to know!!! 

Also side note: Bobby’s bandmate, Arnie, is a complete moron too. Paul at least has some common sense.

This book isn’t scary at all. In fact, the mystery doesn’t even come into play till later. It mostly follows Bobby trying to balance his dating life between the Wade twins as he finds out little pieces of information about them that he finds quite odd. But because he is a doofus, he always plays it down for the shallow sake of keeping his bragging rights that he successfully has two girls at once. The mystery is pretty captivating because it takes twists and turns that the reader isn’t even privy to. Even if you have an inclination as to what could be happening, the book throws a few spanners in the works that have you questioning what you thought was true and from that point onwards, you’re so lost that you may as well just give up playing detective 🕵🏽.

Personally, I don’t think Bobby learned any lesson. Sure he felt played and duped. But I bet a couple months later, or even weeks, he’d be onto another girl and repeat his behaviour all over again.

I would recommend this book just to see the confusion on the readers face as things unfold 😅At 152 pages this short book meanders through a lot of events, resulting in mental whiplash, and the amount of times you’ll want to punch Bobby through the pages is infinite, but it is the perfect afternoon date between yourself and a comfy couch.

I grade this book a B-

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