The Hidden Evil

Fear Street Sagas #5

by R.L. Stine

Timothy Fear recounts the chilling tale of his childhood, which was marked by an evil force that threatened to destroy him and gives him the power to control other people and summon the dead. Original.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Childrens, Thriller, Paranormal, Fiction, Supernatural

160 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1997

About the author

Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.

Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...

Reviews

[Courtney Gruenholz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to go ahead with five stars just because it has the Gothic tone on point and sometimes it is actually hard to do without it being over melodramatic.

The cover is completely accurate to what you are going to get: A woman in white and a creepy child and fire with horses fleeing for their very lives.

We start in Boston of 1858 where Timothy Fier decides to tell a ghost story to his fellow college friends as the sun begins to set on a cold, winter night. He says he will change names and have no interruptions until he has finished telling the story...

It starts in New York of 1847, almost ten years ago, and begins with Maggie Alston and her older sister Henrietta mourning the death of their father. Maggie had a fight with him and later that evening...he just dropped dead while she was home alone with him. You can already tell where this is going before the constables even show up but it is because the doctor confirms Mr. Alston was poisoned!

Both girls can not believe such a thing and Maggie tries to keep her naturally fiery temper while Henrietta just keeps digging a hole bigger and bigger to bury her sister in with details. It doesn't help when they search Maggie's room and find a half-empty bottle of poison. Maggie is arrested and taken to the prison to await her trial and her first night is terrible.

Not just the humiliation but her cellmate seems a nice enough old lady until she thinks Maggie stole her ring, swallowed it and threatens to cut her open while she sleeps to get it back...yikes.

It seems that Maggie has been there for two months at least and there has been nothing to prove her innocence. It has gone to trial and they plan to hang her for murder the following morning and have cut all of her long, red hair off to almost her scalp. This is when her sister Henrietta finally decides to visit...to rub it into the face of her younger sister that she was the one to kill their father.

Maggie was always the favorite, Henrietta heard her fighting with their father and decided to poison his wine glass and leave the rest in her sister's room. Henrietta has had the lawyer changing the will to transfer the entire inheritance to her name since Maggie is a convicted murderer and won't be needing the money.

Maggie knows that none of the guards will believe her when Henrietta leaves because her temper was able to convince the jury that she had real reason to kill their father. When the executioner shows up at her cell to lead her to the gallows, Maggie finds that it is the younger of the two constables who arrested her.

A while back, Maggie gave help to his family when their home burned down and they have remembered that kindness to help her escape. He has never believed that Maggie was guilty so they will help Maggie leave and even though she knows she is innocent, Maggie can not put these decent people in danger and leaves...

Not long after, enough for Maggie's hair to grow back out to decent length, she has a new last name of Thomas. It is to honor the man who helped her escape and his parents were able to find her a new home and a job to go with it as the governess to the two sons of a Mr. Malbourne. She finds that the estate of Tanglewood is a house of turmoil and still in mourning of Mr. Malbourne's wife after a year.

The youngest, Andrew, is seven and cheerful despite his sadness but his older brother Garrett...is in a complete mental state of craziness. He does not like Maggie being there, Andrew is afraid of him, the house cook thinks he is a demon and there have been three other governesses before Maggie...that Garrett claims to have killed.

He has sketches drawings of dead women in coffins with terrible expressions as different creatures eat them alive and claims that he hated his mother. The boys' father is away on business at the moment and seems to be on business...a lot so Maggie is sure that they act the way they do out of loneliness.

In her first week at the house, all Maggie knows of her employer is that he is incredibly handsome by his portrait and that there is a strange wailing during the night. Snooping around in Harrison Malbourne's empty rooms, Maggie is caught by a furious Garrett.

He tells her to never touch his father's things again because it makes his mother angry and Maggie comes to find that both Garrett and Andrew believe that their mother's spirit is up in the tower room.

It was the sick room where she died after a long illness...

In the spirit of Jane Eyre and Turn of The Screw, The Hidden Evil is one of the better entries in the Fear Street Sagas series worth reading.

[Paula Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maggie Alston is framed for the murder of her father, found guilty and sentenced to hanging! However, before she can meet her fate, she is rescued and smuggled to safety, and winds up getting a position as governess to two young boys who recently lost their mother. What is the crying that Maggie hears at night? Why are the boys convinced that the spirit of their mother resides in the tower? And just who seems determined to drive Maggie away by trying to harm her?

I never got into the Fear Street Sagas back in the day, but if they're like this (which I got on Kindle), I might give a few more a try! I read this in about 90 minutes. It's harmless YA horror fluff, but it moves at a fast clip and I was never bored. Of course, I comfortably predicted everything that would happen, but that didn't detract from the enjoyment!

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one wasn't bad but doesn't pay off until the very end. Timothy is telling his friends a scary story. A story about a woman falsely accused of her fathers murder who gets thrown into a Jane Eyre plot that ends in murder. Scary children is usually a thrill for me but this one was such a dud. With gruesome deaths sprinkled throughout, this could have been a better book. But there wasn't even nuggets of fake outs, it was a rush job of characters making stupid decisions. And the ending felt like a cop out.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eine spannende Geschichte über Geister und das Böse in uns.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ⭐

Another creepy Fear Street Saga novel. Sad that Andrew killed the cat and the other governesses. Glad they were stopped from killing more people. Wonder if Andrew killed Timothy. Also wonder if the people hearing it knew it was true. Glad Maggie's sister was caught and Maggie was free.

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stine's books are always a pleasure to read. This was no exception.
His plots have become too easy to guess though although there is always the usual small twist I never get.
This has been one of the first books I've read since a LONG time.
Enjoyable :)

[Selvianty Yusuf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jadi karena beberapa hari ini newsfeed ku akan dipenuhi oleh Fear Street, sulit rasanya mengulas kisah2 horor ini karena intinya toh sama saja. Terkadang tema serupa diceritakan berulang-ulang dengan situasi yang berbeda. Stine memang kreatif. Dan ngana pribadi suka dengan yang satu ini.

[Ari Helaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Melodramatic fun! This was a favorite when I was in middle-school. I like a little gore and an old-fashioned ghost story, fueled by romance and evil-children.

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a huge R.L. Stine fan in my early teens! I loved all the fear street books! They are what got me into reading again! :)

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Usually nostalgia clouds my judgment on Fear Street books, but this one is actually legitimately good. There are few things in this world creepier than evil children.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the more unique ‘Fear Street’ books I’ve read. The focus was all on creepy kids and I was so into it. Scenes like Maggie finding the dead cat in her bed were messed up, but I thought the parts where Garret showed up in the background to be the best. This kid seriously just had to appear two seconds after someone tried to warn Maggie and I was terrified. There was just something so eerie about Garret.

The ending was absolutely horrible though. While the twist itself wasn’t bad, the execution of it was so half-assed. It all seemed to come out of nowhere that Andrew was the actual bad one and there were zero explanations given. Everything up to that point had given credence to Garret’s supposed actions and then I’m supposed to believe that it was all Andrew. Like, what was the deal with the ghost mother then? Andrew had said that Garret pushed her in the well and killed her, but if Garret was innocent than who killed her? Was she even murdered or did she truly die from some illness? I didn’t understand what was going on at all. I was just super confused at that point. It felt like the author just went for something that would be shocking instead of something that made sense.

[NalasBuchBlog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Das erste Buch konnte mich leider nicht ganz so begeistern, dieses hier mochte ich total und habe es innerhalb kürzester Zeit regelrecht verschlungen.

Diesmal geht es um zwei Brüder im jungen Alter, deren Mutter kürzlich verstorben ist. Da der Vater oft auf Reisen war, soll sich eine Gouvernante um die beiden kümmern. Doch anscheinend spukt es in dem Haus und man möchte versuchen sie loszuwerden. Wie wird die Geschichte ausgehen? Wird sie die Flucht ergreifen?
Die Geschehnisse finden nicht zum aktuellen Zeitpunkt statt, sondern werden vom jungen Timothy erzählt, der dies als Gruselgeschichte verkauft. Denkt er sich das alles nur aus? Was weiß er wohl wirklich darüber?

Die Handlung gefiel mir sehr gut. Gern hätte ich noch viel mehr über die Personen, deren Hintergründe und die Geschehnisse selbst erfahren. Aber bei Kurzgeschichten bekommt man bekanntlich nie einen kompletten Einblick.

Der Schreibstil ist in diesem Band um einiges besser. Es ist sehr flüssig und man hat nicht das Gefühl von Szene zu Szenen zu hetzen. Im Gegenteil. Es gibt eine zusammenhängende Geschichte mit einigen grusligen und verstörenden Aspekten. Dennoch nimmt die Handlung schnell fahrt auf und schon nach wenigen Seiten ist man Gefangen in der Welt und taucht komplett darin ab.

[Khurshid Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fier Fear time again and this is a ghost story. Get ready with a warm drink and marshmallows and lets begin.

Imagine it is your time to create a scary story.
Imagine your name is Fier then we would know it as a true story.

Imagine having to live in fear of your brother and mother as they want to hurt you.
Imagine being accused of murder.

Follow the story of an 18 year old
Read between the lines and you will discover

A Fier with a Fear

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was best so far continuing in the style of the gothic horror of book 3 I loved how we actually had a narrator telling the story like some tales from the crypt thing.

I loved the twist at the end where it’s revealed that its actually the Fiers that were suffering the ghost of the dead mother.

I’m happy that Maggie got a happy ending

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Habe die Bücher als Teenie geliebt und muss sagen, dass ich es immer noch spannend finde. Natürlich ist die Sprache etwas einfacher aber die Atmosphäre und der Spannungsaufbau sind super genauso wie die twists und oft ist das bei fear street vor allem am Ende noch mal. Möchte definitiv wieder mehr der Reihe lesen

[Amber "Epp" · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I liked the Fear Saga more than just plain old fear street the series just had more to it for me .... I really loved all the twisted tales from this series so much fun

I had an absolute blast reading all of these again in 2013 .... :)

[Hew La France · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot was somewhat predictable, but even so, it held my attention really well. I've read a few of the Fear Street Sagas now, and this one was certainly one of the better ones in this series. VERY much recommend.

[Jessica Forbes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done Gothic horror story for teens. I was actually a little surprised that Maggie's sister had set her up for murder, causing her to have to flee in the first place, but she managed to get herself a job as a governess, working for a family with two sons, one sweet one and one surly and angry. Three governesses have disappeared before her. Will she be the fourth?

[BRANDON · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghost written by Wendy Haley. I think Haley tried to do a little too much by including the ghost of the boy's mother, it was just a little too much and ended up costing the book in the end. Aside from that it was a perfectly serviceable gothic story.

[sarah sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put the book down. It was such an amazing twist and ending! 🥰🥰🥰

[Alesha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did not expect that ending, quite the twist.

[Isabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Rezension folgt, wenn goodreads nicht mehr spinnt]

[Vaishali Muzumdar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book enjoyed it & completed in just one day.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super creepy. Crazy end.

[Markus · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 Sterne

Der Anfang war sehr packend aber das Ende war eher unspektakulär. Schade

[Tabitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Fear tells a ghost story that ends up being about his childhood and his dead mother.

[Yoyomaus Die Büchereule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zum Inhalt:
Meggie nimmt auf dem Landsitz Tanglewood eine Stelle als Gouvernante an. Doch das alte, von Efeu überwucherte Herrenhaus birgt ein schreckliches Geheimnis. Die beiden Söhne Andrew und Garrett scheinen seltsam verstört, und nachts hallen unheimliche Laute durch die finsteren Gänge. Als Meggie ihnen nachgeht, stößt sie auf eine verriegelte Tür. Eine Tür, die zu öffnen ihr verboten wurde...

Cover:
Das Cover zu den Anfangsgeschichten der Fear-Reihe ist recht schlicht gehalten. Auf schwarzem Grund ist eine zerbrochene Flasche zu sehen, die scheinbar mit Gift gefüllt war - das kann man zumindest so aus dem Totenkopfaufkleber der Flasche entnehmen. Ansonsten ist auf dem Cover nur noch der altbekannte Schriftzug der Fear-Street-Reihe zu sehen sowie der Name des Autors. Eher unspektakulär, wer aber die Reihe kennt wird dafür sofort Feuer und Flamme sein, denn es verspricht jede Menge spannenden Lesespaß.

Eigener Eindruck:
An einem Winterabend treffen sich die Jugendlichen der Stadt im Hause Fear zusammen, nachdem sie den Tag draußen verbracht haben. Bei einem warmen Getränk beginnt ihr Gastgeber Timothy eine haarsträubende Geschichte zu erzählen, die die Freunde in ihren Bann schlägt. Selbst die Köchin der Familie scheint sich so sehr vor dieser Geschichte zu fürchten, dass sie vor Schreck fast das Tablett mit den Gläsern fallen lässt.
Timothy erzählt die tragische Geschichte von Meggie, einem Mädchen aus reichem Hause, welcher die Missgunst einer Person zum Verhängnis wird. Eines Tages wird ihr Vater ermordet aufgefunden. Immer mehr verhärten sich die Tatbestände, dass Meggie die Tat begangen hat. Nur sie selbst weiß, dass dies ganz sicher nicht so war, aber niemand will ihr glauben, weshalb man sie ins Gefängnis bringt und zum Tode verurteilt. Nur durch Glück kann Meggie fliehen und muss untertauchen. Auf dem Anwesen Tanglewood soll sie von nun an für die beiden Brüder Andrew und Garrett als Gouvernante arbeiten. Doch bereits bei der Ankunft in Tanglewood scheint einer der Brüder ihr nach dem Leben zu trachten, während der andere hilflos vor Angst nicht weiß, wie er gegen seinen Bruder ankommen soll. Und dann ist da noch die Tür zum Turm, die immer geschlossen bleiben soll, da es sich um das alte Zimmer der verstorbenen Mylady handelt. Doch Meggie ist sich sicher, dass sie nachts Stimmen aus diesem Raum hört. Das kann doch alles nicht mit rechten Dingen zugehen oder?

Die Auftaktgeschichte rund um die FearStreet-Reihe aus der Feder von R.L. Stine hat mich wirklich sehr begeistert. Die Geschichte beginnt damit, dass ein Unbekannter aus Rachegedanken einen Dämon anruft und dieser sich scheinbar in einem Amulett manifestiert. Dass der Unbekannte damit aber all seine Nachfahren dem Verderben ausgesetzt hat, das scheint er zu spät zu bemerken. so legt sich der Fluch und das Übel über die Familie der Fears, die fortan die ganze Familie quälen soll. Mit der Geschichte "Bruderhass" hat R.L. Stine in die sonstig recht fantasyarmen Fear-Street-Bücher eine magische Ader mit eingebracht. Denn hier geht es nicht nur darum, dass jemand aus Rachegedanken jemanden umbringt, sondern es tauchen auch Geister sowie Dämoenn auf, was für die Fear-Street-Geschichten völlig neue Dimensionen sind. Da ist einfach neu und macht vor allem auch Spaß.
Die Geschichte von Meggie allein ist schon spannend genug, aber was dann folgt, setzt dem Ganzen dann noch einmal die Krone auf. Stine beschreibt die Abgründe die einen Menschen bewegen können sehr jugendgerecht, weshalb mir persönlich die Spannung gefehlt hat und auch der Gruselfaktor auf der Strecke geblieben ist. Ich kann mich aber nur zu gut erinnern, wie mich die Geschichten als Teenie in ihren Bann gezogen haben und kann mir gut vorstellen, dass es bei den heutigen Teenagern noch genauso ist. Die Geschichten rund um die Fear-Street aber auch andere Genres des Schriftstellers sind meistens recht zeitlos und lassen sich so in jedem Jahrzehnt interessant lesen.

Fazit:
Wer Fan der Fear-Street-Reihe ist, der sollte die Anfangsgeschichten auf keinen Fall auslassen! Freunde von spannender Jugendliteratur sollten hier ebenfalls zugreifen. Es macht einfach Spaß zu lesen!

Idee: 5/5
Charaktere: 5/5
Spannung: 4/5
Emotionen: 4/5
Gruselfaktor: 3/5

Gesamt: 4/5

[Aina Hilmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

saya sangat suka buku ini semasa di sekolah rendah.
penceritaannya banyak unsur mengejut.
ceritanya ad seorang pembantu rumah yang baru digajikan oleh si ayah yang mempunyai 2 orang anak kembar lelaki. si ayah selalu tiada di rumah kerana "out-station"..

seorang sangat baik dengan pembantu rumah ini tetapi berbeza dengan seorang lagi yang selalu membuat perangai dan seolah-olah tidak suka dengannya.

ada sebuah bilik di loteng (kalau x silap saya) yang memang tak pernah dimasuki oleh sesiapa.
entah bagaimana (saya lupa) pembantu rumah ini boleh sampai ke bilik itu.

rupa-rupanya barulah diketahui di bilik itulah ibu sebenar kembar ini duduk (roh @ hantu ibu) dan setiap pembantu rumah yang bekerja di sini akan mati. semuanya berakhir dengan pembunuhan,(mgkn sebab roh ibu tu cemburu)

dalangnya ialah kembar lelaki yang baik dengan pembantu rumah tu dan roh ibunya. kembar yg lagi seorang tu sebenarnya nak menyelamatkan pembantu rumah ini daripada mengalami nasib yang sama tetapi tak difahami tujuannya oleh perempuan itu. dipendekkan cerita, karakter jahat ini berjaya dihapuskan dan budak lelaki yang baik ini hidup bahagia bersama ayah dan pembantu rumahnya yg akhirnya menjadi ibu tirinya.

tetapi, pada satu musim cuti, kawan2 bdk lelaki ini datang berkumpul di rumahnya dan dia menceritakan kisah benar ini kepada kawan2nya. tanpa diketahui rupa-rupanya ceritanya ini mengundang semula "kedatangan" kembar lelakinya yg jahat itu..apa yg berlaku seterusnya? bagaimana dia nak menghadapi semua itu? bagaimana keselamatan ibu tirinya?..

[YellowBlackKing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mir persönlich gefallen die normalen Fear Street Bücher mehr, da diese meist nicht übernatürlich sind, aber es war trotzdem ein gutes Buch. Meggie fand ich sympathisch. R. L. Stine konnte mich diesmal auch wieder hinters Licht führen. Das Ende hatte ich so gar nicht erwartet. Es war auch sehr spannend. Ich fand dieses Buch auch besser als „Bruderhass“

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

#5 in the Fear Street Saga Series.