The Rich Girl (Fear Street)

Emma and her best friend Sydney always share their secrets. And now they have a big one. They found a duffel bag filled with cash and swore never to tell anyone. But Sydney broke her promise - she told her boyfriend, Jason. Now Emma is terrified. She doesn’t trust Jason. She knows he would do anything to get the money for himself. Even if it means killing someone who gets in his way…

The Rich Girl (Fear Street) Book Cover

GOT U COVERED 📗

Author: R.L Stine

Published: 1997

Series: Fear Street

Tagline: Would you kill to be rich?

Description: A girl sitting on a bench, clutches a red and blue duffel bag filled with cash.

“He said he was just kidding! But was he kidding? she wondered with a shiver. Did Jason really try to kill Emma? - pg. 38

SYNOPSIS 📖

When best friends, Sydney and Emma, find a duffel bag in the dumpster filled with money they have no choice but to take it right? Well, it seems like this choice came with consequences. Deadly consequences.

After Sydney confesses to Jason, her boyfriend, about what she and Emma found. It seems he wants a cut. But is he planning to murder Emma for her share?

Emma seems to think so. Why else was she pushed down the stairs? Why else were her car breaks tampered with? She’s convinced Jason is after her and the money. She has to get Sydney to believe her before it’s too late…before she’s buried and hidden. Just like the money.

“Nooo! the scream rang out again. Sydney gasped. It’s Emma! She realised. With a cry, Sydney spun around. Ignoring her pounding heart and rubbery legs, she tore down the path. - pg. 66

THOUGHTS 💭

My gosh! This book is on some Days of our Lives shit. Who needs friends when you have enemies like these?

Firstly, let’s talk about the money because that is the reason for the whole debacle. I’ll admit that finding a duffel bag👜 in a dumpster, filled with stacks of cash 💵, would be life-changing so I’m with the characters for wanting to keep it and getting excited about the possibilities it could bring, especially since one is struggling financially. However, why did they not take a closer look at it? Especially when a pronounced detail 🧢 would send this whole operation in flames. 

The story should have been called The Gullible and The Gaslighters, because we are reading how a character is gaslit the entire time and then driven to literal insanity. By the end of the book, I thought “I might have just read the most ridiculous plan known to mankind.” And the funny thing is…it worked😲. The characters got what they wanted and were able to pull it off. Although someone with half a brain would’ve smelt bullshit and the jig would be up long ago.

Spoiler Alert⚠️: This is the second book by R.L. Stine I’ve read where a boyfriend pretends to be a dead zombie. The Boyfriend was the first, and now this one. These special effect skills and makeup choices by these guys must be extremely well done if they can look that realistic to the point where these girls are scared shitless and believe that zombified ex-boyfriends can be raised from the dead🧟‍♂️.

This book pulled off a few twists every couple of chapters. It’s like a Russian doll 🪆, one surprise within another surprise. Although predictable, it helped to inject some thrill into an already thin plot. 

You could easily zoom through this book in a single afternoon. At only 132 pages, it is shorter than most books within the Fear Street series, or at least it felt that way. Due to its length, it was fast-paced and didn’t waste much time getting into the story points that were being set up. We also didn’t have the typical fakeout chapter endings as is signature with R.L. Stine, instead the next chapter built upon the previous cliffhanger to continue the story. That was deeply appreciated. 

A lot of suspension of disbelief is required from the reader and while that is par for the course in most vintage YA, this book asked me to stretch my imagination and roll with it. And roll with it I did, I just continued to read one gullible girl’s descent into madness all while shaking my head at her choices and rationale. 

This isn’t the strongest book in the bunch but it made for a quick silly YA fix. If you like soap opera schemes and plot twists, then this may be the book for you.

I’d grade this book a C+. 

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