Fatal Attraction (Twilight #4) by Imogen Howe

Twilight: Where Darkness Begins #4

by Imogen Howe

Janet becomes convinced that the beautiful new student, Mirella, is really a witch determined to gain control of Janet's boyfriend.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Paranormal

Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1982

Reviews

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only was this series a favorite…this might be the best cover ever. This cover is Relationship Goals.

[Erica Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the writing in this one but it does not have much of a plot. With that said, if there’s one thing 80’s/90’s YA horrors have taught me, it’s to NEVERRR trust the mysterious hot new kid with the pale hair, pale skin, and unnaturally colored eyes.

Onto some notes…
- Favorite scene was when hot new girl Mirella dances sexily to some v ~sexy music described as “a discordant snarl of trumpets and saxophones” and everyone is so mesmerized that no one resists when she asks for a little bit of hair as a souvenir. And she proceeds to painstakingly package and label each one in a very organized fashion. Right there. In the middle of the house party.
- I know the diary is used as a tool to draw parallels between the past and present, but I found the entries boring to get through. I did appreciate the ~ghost side plot though.
- I love that this was centered around a paranormal being I’m unfamiliar with! Spectres sounded cool at first—kinda like a zombie with reincarnation abilities—but then we find out that getting rid of them is actually pretty easy. Like, a little too easy…
- Excuse me, but you’re telling me this evil undead creature that has been terrorizing generations in this tiny town can be outsmarted easily and destroyed with a bit of…TEA?? TEA. A tiny taste of tea and she is obliterated INSTANTLY. No struggle. But we do get a satisfyingly gruesome and gross ending scene, so I’d say the trudge was worth it.

Howe is great at setting the scene with her flowery, atmospheric descriptions, but this could’ve used some more action and conflict to shake things up a little!

[Paula Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Janet doesn't like the new girl at school, Mirella. It's clear that Mirella has designs on Janet's boyfriend, David. But that's not the half of it! Mirella has some sort of supernatural influence on everybody around her, and the only people who aren't falling for it are Janet, and David's younger sister Cindy. Cindy has the diaries of a man who used to live in her house 75 years earlier, and his tragic history points to the possibility that he had someone just like Mirella in his life as well.

Fun, imaginative and spooky YA 80s thriller. This holds up remarkably well today, some 37 years after it was published! Sometimes it's the books that don't try and feel trendy and modern (referencing the current modes of technology and pop culture) that retain a timeless quality. You could easily tell this story today. The author doesn't go into too much detail about the supernatural events that created Mirella, and much like the earlier "Twilight" book I read, The Power, operates more on the level of a parable. The horror of Mirella is a reflection of Janet's paranoia and horror at losing David, or David's inexplicable attraction to a girl he isn't even sure he likes, when he does really love Janet.

There are some great scenes, the best being when Janet is at David's house, watering plants for his family while they are on holiday. She is sure somebody is in the house (a tower with a conservatory) with her, and ends up getting chased around the place by a creature in a black cloak! The author does a good job of drumming up an atmosphere of dread. The only real drawbacks of the story is the fact Janet is a bit of a pain to begin with, always crying and sobbing about everything, and the climax isn't as imaginative and spooky as what came before it.

Otherwise, this is exactly the sort of quick, fun read you should do at midnight to give yourself that extra little scare!

[SnowBite · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fatal Attraction was published when I was nine. I remember checking it out from the public library, so I must have been in my mid-teens when I read it. I've just finished rereading it. I found a copy on ABE books, and I thought I had lucked out and gotten an affordable copy (this book normally goes for around $40) but I think that my copy was so inexpensive because it's an errata copy. It's missing a chapter about halfway through. The missing chapter was replaced by a chapter from another book, I believe in this Twilight series, probably by the same author.

That being said, what drove me to seek out a book that was published when I was nine and that I read as a teen was the fact that it's an extraordinarily creepy and original story.

But the writing is just awful.

It's written in the third person POV. The author almost never shows us "the glint of light on broken glass" (Anton Chekov.) The characters go about their business "bravely" and "wryly," and one of the main characters, who is nine, speaks and acts like an adult. Older characters react in an inexplicable manner to odd happenings, and it has nothing to do with them being under a spell. It's just bad writing.

However, the root of the story is imaginative and well-written. A vampire-like creature feeds on victims, rather like Carmilla, and there's a lot to do with plants and gardens, abnormal plant growth and dead plants. It's almost Lovecraftian. I love the plot. That's what made me seek out a copy of the book and read through the mostly awful writing.

You'll like this book if:
You like YA from the 1980s
You like urban fantasy
You like a different take on the vampire mythos

This book has a unique plot that stays with you. And it really is creepy. I gave it a 3 star rating because of the bad writing and I do not advise paying $40 for a copy, but if you can fine one for less than $10, I say buy it.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was better than I expected. Howe is a decent enough writer; she's not the showiest writer, but she does better than other authors from this era, especially in this series. It has a rough start -- she introduces nine characters in the first chapter, and a lot of them have names that start with the same letter -- but it comes together well enough to keep track of them. It also feels like it has a hard time getting its premise together. Is it about ghosts, or reincarnation, or witches? Once everything gets together, though, it's a decent enough read (though the third act gets drawn out).

Am I damning this book with faint praise? Possibly. All things considered, though, it's not a terrible book.

[Madame Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, spooky ghost story.

[Terri LH · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Mirella shows up at school, everyone is floored by how hot she is. She's also an aspiring boyfriend stealer. Even though she acts incredibly weird, the boys don't care because she looks like a Playmate. Ex: asking everyone at a party to cut off a piece of their own hair and put it in her bag?? Nothing wrong here. No red flags.
I thought for sure this was setting the stage for Voodoo/Black Magic in the plot, but it did not. In fact I didn't know where they were headed with this, or what mythology they pulled this weirdness from, because I cannot tell what she is supposed to be: Vampire, ghoul, zombie, witch or a combo of them all? But as it turned out, you could repel this boyfriend stealing floozy by just throwing a plant at her. Yes, grab a plant and toss it at her. If only this could work in real life.
But no more spoilers. This story is silly and.... weird. Again, I don't know what mythology this was based on, if any at all. As an 80's teen horror, Twilight books are not meant to be top notch supernatural tales, but points for originality here. I'm giving it 4 stars only as compared to other Twilight books because it surely was less predictable than many others. It also made me laugh.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book starts off with cliches about the new girl Mirella throwing herself at Janet's boyfriend, but as you read on, Mirella turns out to be a fascinating and creepy character -- a manipulative, obsessive creature who thrives on consuming her victims of their lives and free wills. The mishaps of David's sister Cindy, who finds an old diary, unearths some clues of what Mirella is. As the story goes on Mirella seems like an unstoppable force, minus one or two weaknesses the good characters learn to put to use. Part of her intensity is her brazenness, when she enters David and Cindy's home uninvited, or, at a party, when she convinces everyone to let her cut a lock of their hair. At first, David feels inclined to feel sorry for her for living a lonely life (or so she tells him) but he eventually catches on that she has some supernatural manipulative power. The book ends with some truly skin crawling scenes as the main characters confront her.

None of the other characters are that interesting. (Cindy comes the closest.) Janet seems nice enough: though insecure to a fault, she is also empathetic and often puts other people before herself. David is not so schmucky, minus the parts where Mirella is overriding his free will. Both sets of parents get along with their children well and are supportive. When David's family returns from their mini-vacation and finds that the plant room in poor shape (Janet was hired to water the plants), their first concern is if something bad happened to Janet. (Something did.) David and Janet are a nice couple, but not necessarily a steamy hot romantic couple, so those readers who would want more romance in their romantic suspense story might be somewhat disappointed.

[Claire]

This reminds me of a Fear Street book meets a Night World book.
I'm all for this...

Can I just go back in time, so I can buy the books in this series in a much cheaper price? LOL. SOMEONE SHOULD WRITE THIS BOOK!