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Fear Street Sagas #15
Door of Death
No one believes the Halloween legend about old Jake Fear. But Amy Burke does. In terrifying visions, she saw Jake Fear rise from the grave and kill her two best friends. She knows this is no tall tale. Jake Fear is coming tomorrow night. But Amy doesn't know that he plans to take her back to his grave... as his ghost bride.
181 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 1999
879 people want to read
About the author
R.L. Stine
1,680 books18.7k followersRobert 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...
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...
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 23, 2024
sis was really gonna excuse him cheating on her 🙄smh
January 14, 2018
Like all the other Fear Street Sagas books, this one takes place in the mid-1800s. This book is supposed to be for pre-teens or teens, but it is SO GORY. The ghostwriter (Eric Weiner) held nothing back. I think he was imagining all his enemies perishing with every death he wrote about.
The book opens with Jake Fear's journal. We learn that he was set to marry the woman of his dreams, but she ended up leaving him for another man and then slowly poisoning him until he died. Jake is an unoriginal ghost who haunts people by hissing "Cheaters never prosper!" He died on Halloween (or All Hallows Eve, as they call it in this book), and everyone knows the dead can come back to life on Halloween.
So we jump forward one year in time to a group of kids with seemingly no connection to Jake Fear. Amy is our protagonist. She is in love with Richard. Richard and his friend Giles are pranksters, and they are always scaring Amy and her best friend, Bridie. The pranks are pretty harmless. One involves letting horses loose at night to scare Amy and Bridie as they walk home. There is an upcoming dance for Halloween in the town, in addition to Amy and Bridie having their own Backwards Supper. This is based on a legend that says if you prepare a meal backwards you will see your husband at the end.
But amidst their daily lives comes the "door of death." A note appears on the rectory listing the names of Henry Gray, the blacksmith, Giles, Bridie, and Richard. It is signed by Jake Fear. Amy and Bridie immediately smell a prank from Giles and Richard. But Richard insists he has nothing to do with it. So Amy enlists the help of her other friend, Everett, to spook everyone (and the reader) into believing the "death list" is coming true. Everett even pretends to hang himself on a tree! That seems as if it would come with some safety issues...
Bridie also pretends to die. They wait until Richard is good and spooked and then Amy reveals to him that it was all a joke to get him back for the awful list. Richard still insists he had nothing to do with it, but he admits that he, the prankster, was out-pranked by his love.
Then Bridie and Amy have their Backwards Supper. Amy isn't worried; she knows she will see Richard's face. Only... she doesn't. Instead she goes into a trance on the floor and experiences unimaginable pain as she witnesses the first death of a cheater. Henry Gray's head is smashed to pieces in a vise in his shop. His brain matter splatters onto Amy's face. Yes, really.
Amy, naturally, is hysterical, but Bridie believes it is another trick like her prank on Richard. She is angry with Amy. Amy agrees that she was only kidding, only because she knows Bridie won't believe she saw the face of Jake Fear and heard him hissing, "Cheaterssss Never Prosssper!"
So she has Richard take her to the smithy so she can see, for herself, that it was all imagined and Henry Gray is alive. But all they find is blood on the floor under the vise. No body. Richard insists that Henry must have just cut himself, but Amy is reluctant to believe this. Then she finds out from Richard that Henry often cheated people out of money, including Richard's family. But she doesn't yet make the connection that everyone on the list has cheated someone in some way.
Giles is next on the list. We learn that he is teasing the pastor night after night by using an instrument to tap on his window from a tree. After he gets his jollies off, he climbs down on the ground. But this time... he doesn't get away. The tree strangles Giles to death; the final straw being that a vine comes out his eye socket and pops his eye out onto the ground. Again, little kids are reading this!!!
Then the dance is held, and Everett, Amy, Richard, and Bridie are still in a debate about Jake Fear having come back to life. Now All Hallows Eve has begun. Richard still promises that Henry and Giles must be at the dance somewhere and they just can't find them because everyone from Shadyside came to the dance.
After the dance, Amy is eager to prove her point. She refuses to go home until everyone believes her about Jake Fear. So Richard confesses it was him all along. He says he will take Amy to the rectory to prove it. She has a sample of his handwriting in the form of a love letter he gave her. They will match that with the "door of death" list.
Once they get there and all get upstairs, Richard finds the list. He beckons them over to show them the comparison in writing, but the candelabra gets too close to the love letter and it begins to burn. Then Everett and Richard decide it must be the pastor who is doing this to the kids. But then!
The list comes to life as the names of Henry and Giles are scratched out. In red ink. On its own. And, naturally, cold air blasts into the room and burns out all the candles. Amy knows Bridie is next so she must keep her safe. They lock themselves into a room with a door that is no match for a dead man. Jake Fear comes into the room, and nobody doubts Amy's visions from that point forward. Amy gives it the old college try, but she cannot defeat a ghost. Or save Bridie. She fights Jake Fear and manages to grab his knife from him at one point, but he gets it back and plays Joker with Bridie's stomach. He starts in her abdomen and rips up. The Ripper of Shadyside.
Amy, Richard, and Everett get the fuck out of dodge. Amy loves Richard so much she knows she cannot lose him and her best friend. But after that entire spectacle, Richard is more resigned to his fate. He stops them on the way home and confesses why he and Bridie will be killed. Amy knows before he says it: they cheated on Amy behind her back for months. Richard and Bridie; what a pair. But Amy forgives them instantly. She doesn't want Richard to be killed, so she says she forgives him and therefore he isn't a cheater. She will not be so successful in convincing Jake Fear of this.
The trio runs back to the rectory, oh, I don't know, because it seems better than being open season in the road I guess. But Jake Fear returns again. Amy keeps wondering how to kill a ghost. Her stabs do nothing. She tries to set Jake on fire, but he uses this as a way to kill Richard. He hugs Richard to him and sets him on fire. Amy tries to save him but knows she will catch fire too. So instead she tries to "kill" Jake and thinks she has succeeded when she gouges out his eyeballs and he goes limp on the floor.
Because the list is complete, Everett and Amy think the horror is over. Everett walks Amy home. She goes up to her room, but realizes she still has the list with her. And, to her dismay, she hears a pen scratching on it again. Jake Fear begins to write Everett's name. It takes Amy a minute, but she realizes that because he helped Amy trick her friends that morning, he has to pay as a "cheater." Which makes Amy realize that since she orchestrated the whole thing, she will be next. And, sure enough, her name materializes after Everett's is crossed out.
Throughout the book Jake calls Amy his wife, which made me think that she was the reincarnation of that awful woman, and maybe that's what Jake thinks. But it seems that Amy is never aware that she is the reincarnation of his wife, only that she must pay for being a cheater. It would have been nice for some clarification on that point.
But clearly the ghostwriter exhausted himself after writing about rotting flesh and eyeballs popping out and tree strangulation and brain matter explosions.
The book opens with Jake Fear's journal. We learn that he was set to marry the woman of his dreams, but she ended up leaving him for another man and then slowly poisoning him until he died. Jake is an unoriginal ghost who haunts people by hissing "Cheaters never prosper!" He died on Halloween (or All Hallows Eve, as they call it in this book), and everyone knows the dead can come back to life on Halloween.
So we jump forward one year in time to a group of kids with seemingly no connection to Jake Fear. Amy is our protagonist. She is in love with Richard. Richard and his friend Giles are pranksters, and they are always scaring Amy and her best friend, Bridie. The pranks are pretty harmless. One involves letting horses loose at night to scare Amy and Bridie as they walk home. There is an upcoming dance for Halloween in the town, in addition to Amy and Bridie having their own Backwards Supper. This is based on a legend that says if you prepare a meal backwards you will see your husband at the end.
But amidst their daily lives comes the "door of death." A note appears on the rectory listing the names of Henry Gray, the blacksmith, Giles, Bridie, and Richard. It is signed by Jake Fear. Amy and Bridie immediately smell a prank from Giles and Richard. But Richard insists he has nothing to do with it. So Amy enlists the help of her other friend, Everett, to spook everyone (and the reader) into believing the "death list" is coming true. Everett even pretends to hang himself on a tree! That seems as if it would come with some safety issues...
Bridie also pretends to die. They wait until Richard is good and spooked and then Amy reveals to him that it was all a joke to get him back for the awful list. Richard still insists he had nothing to do with it, but he admits that he, the prankster, was out-pranked by his love.
Then Bridie and Amy have their Backwards Supper. Amy isn't worried; she knows she will see Richard's face. Only... she doesn't. Instead she goes into a trance on the floor and experiences unimaginable pain as she witnesses the first death of a cheater. Henry Gray's head is smashed to pieces in a vise in his shop. His brain matter splatters onto Amy's face. Yes, really.
Amy, naturally, is hysterical, but Bridie believes it is another trick like her prank on Richard. She is angry with Amy. Amy agrees that she was only kidding, only because she knows Bridie won't believe she saw the face of Jake Fear and heard him hissing, "Cheaterssss Never Prosssper!"
So she has Richard take her to the smithy so she can see, for herself, that it was all imagined and Henry Gray is alive. But all they find is blood on the floor under the vise. No body. Richard insists that Henry must have just cut himself, but Amy is reluctant to believe this. Then she finds out from Richard that Henry often cheated people out of money, including Richard's family. But she doesn't yet make the connection that everyone on the list has cheated someone in some way.
Giles is next on the list. We learn that he is teasing the pastor night after night by using an instrument to tap on his window from a tree. After he gets his jollies off, he climbs down on the ground. But this time... he doesn't get away. The tree strangles Giles to death; the final straw being that a vine comes out his eye socket and pops his eye out onto the ground. Again, little kids are reading this!!!
Then the dance is held, and Everett, Amy, Richard, and Bridie are still in a debate about Jake Fear having come back to life. Now All Hallows Eve has begun. Richard still promises that Henry and Giles must be at the dance somewhere and they just can't find them because everyone from Shadyside came to the dance.
After the dance, Amy is eager to prove her point. She refuses to go home until everyone believes her about Jake Fear. So Richard confesses it was him all along. He says he will take Amy to the rectory to prove it. She has a sample of his handwriting in the form of a love letter he gave her. They will match that with the "door of death" list.
Once they get there and all get upstairs, Richard finds the list. He beckons them over to show them the comparison in writing, but the candelabra gets too close to the love letter and it begins to burn. Then Everett and Richard decide it must be the pastor who is doing this to the kids. But then!
The list comes to life as the names of Henry and Giles are scratched out. In red ink. On its own. And, naturally, cold air blasts into the room and burns out all the candles. Amy knows Bridie is next so she must keep her safe. They lock themselves into a room with a door that is no match for a dead man. Jake Fear comes into the room, and nobody doubts Amy's visions from that point forward. Amy gives it the old college try, but she cannot defeat a ghost. Or save Bridie. She fights Jake Fear and manages to grab his knife from him at one point, but he gets it back and plays Joker with Bridie's stomach. He starts in her abdomen and rips up. The Ripper of Shadyside.
Amy, Richard, and Everett get the fuck out of dodge. Amy loves Richard so much she knows she cannot lose him and her best friend. But after that entire spectacle, Richard is more resigned to his fate. He stops them on the way home and confesses why he and Bridie will be killed. Amy knows before he says it: they cheated on Amy behind her back for months. Richard and Bridie; what a pair. But Amy forgives them instantly. She doesn't want Richard to be killed, so she says she forgives him and therefore he isn't a cheater. She will not be so successful in convincing Jake Fear of this.
The trio runs back to the rectory, oh, I don't know, because it seems better than being open season in the road I guess. But Jake Fear returns again. Amy keeps wondering how to kill a ghost. Her stabs do nothing. She tries to set Jake on fire, but he uses this as a way to kill Richard. He hugs Richard to him and sets him on fire. Amy tries to save him but knows she will catch fire too. So instead she tries to "kill" Jake and thinks she has succeeded when she gouges out his eyeballs and he goes limp on the floor.
Because the list is complete, Everett and Amy think the horror is over. Everett walks Amy home. She goes up to her room, but realizes she still has the list with her. And, to her dismay, she hears a pen scratching on it again. Jake Fear begins to write Everett's name. It takes Amy a minute, but she realizes that because he helped Amy trick her friends that morning, he has to pay as a "cheater." Which makes Amy realize that since she orchestrated the whole thing, she will be next. And, sure enough, her name materializes after Everett's is crossed out.
Throughout the book Jake calls Amy his wife, which made me think that she was the reincarnation of that awful woman, and maybe that's what Jake thinks. But it seems that Amy is never aware that she is the reincarnation of his wife, only that she must pay for being a cheater. It would have been nice for some clarification on that point.
But clearly the ghostwriter exhausted himself after writing about rotting flesh and eyeballs popping out and tree strangulation and brain matter explosions.
October 7, 2018
This was my first time reading this one! It was really cool to have no idea where the story was going or what to expect, because even when I only vaguely remember a Fear Street book it usually all comes back to me while reading it.
This one was actually legitimately good, and definitely got me in the Halloween spirit! The only thing I don't understand is why this is called "Door of Death", but I guess they were running out of ominous-sounding names by this point in the Saga series.
This one was actually legitimately good, and definitely got me in the Halloween spirit! The only thing I don't understand is why this is called "Door of Death", but I guess they were running out of ominous-sounding names by this point in the Saga series.
March 20, 2021
I was reading this book when I was really young, definitely too young to be reading these kinds of books. But this one always stuck in my mind as my top 5 books ever. The story is awesome and I love the romance between the main characters. I just wish for once Stine's book could have had a happy ending ♡
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2025
My library finally secured this book for me, so I went back and finished Fear Street Sagas #12 after reading #13-15. Amy's visions of Jake Fear rising from the grave come true as he goes on a quest to seek revenge against cheaters. It was hard to connect with any of the main characters or the plot, so it definitely wasn't my fave in the series.
June 4, 2017
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 .... :)
I had an absolute blast reading all of these again in 2013 .... :)
May 23, 2025
Eric Weiner delivers to us another gruesome slasher (his book Deadly Detention is great, by the way). And this one's set on Halloween and in the mid-1800s, and features an unrelenting, sanctimonious killer risen from the the grave. A quick and wickedly delicious read.
October 13, 2014
Sooo boring
November 18, 2014
Again proof that some ghosts lose all sense of what's right and wrong. The people the ghost killed did nothing as horrible as the people who cheated him.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews