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The Substitute
First came The Principal--now there's a new vampire at school. The substitute is the only one who believes Talli's story of driving a stake through the principal's heart. The substitute knows all about vampires, and he wants to be Talli's favorite teacher. He wants Talli to stay at school with him forever. . . .
- GenresVampiresParanormalHorror
220 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1994
36 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 16, 2022
Sooo much better than the first one.
June 8, 2025
I read The Principal a while back and it was really good so I'm glad someone decided to drop the last two books of the trilogy at Half Price Books.
Weird how people just drop off the beginning or the end or even the middle book of a series isn't it?
Spoilers for The Principal but the blurb on the back will do that too so it's really no big deal.
The events that happened at Westerberg High are only clear to a few people, but Talli McAllister knows the truth. Most the kids who have gone missing in town didn't run away...they were killed by a vampire. The principal, Volker, turned others and Talli had to kill them while others were finished off by Volker.
Talli's best friend Lisa is dead and gone and her boyfriend Alex is missing but Volker won't hurt another soul...Talli staked him through the heart. All of that was before Christmas and she hasn't been back to school since and most people think Talli is crazy, the vampire's influence no longer on the adults of the town like her own parents, her father the chief of police believing everyone involved to be "missing".
Talli doesn't know if anyone could be another vampire and on such high alert that she hears voices in her head. When a fresh, new, out of college teacher comes to town with her brother to be a substitute for the old history teacher and take over the drama club, Talli is on guard.
Donna Delany and her brother Chris don't know why they got their new home so cheap or why missing posters plaster every telephone pole in this small town. They don't know that only months ago, a vampire was stalking the halls of Westerberg High. Chris sees Talli in the yard of the house a few doors down and is taken by her red hair...he wants to get to know her.
His newest friend at school, Casey, doesn't believe Talli is crazy but tells Chris to take his time with her after such traumatic loses. The mystery of Talli spurs Chris on to do his own investigation of just what happened...
Talli and Chris don't know that one person escaped town...one of Volker's victims is now a vampire yet with no memory of how he came to be this way. All he knows is the name of the town Westerberg is familiar and that he is very hungry...
Fifteen pages in, second chapter, we all learn that it is Alex.
More deaths come around, Talli struggles with serious PTSD, Chris is doing some detective work like he is Sam Spade, and we also learn his sister Donna is a pretty cool teacher. Talli use to love horror but now she's a little more into trying to survive in a town filled with bad memories.
We learn that Donna and Chris came to Westerberg from Chicago and that their parents were murdered and the person responsible was never found. Might be why Chris is trying to figure out how he can help Talli out of his own trauma, but Chris is a well-read and smart guy. Donna is able to get Talli out of her funk by getting her to write an original play for the drama club after the school counselor informed her about Talli's "problems".
Alex has the unfortunate place of being the villain and you don't really know if you want to feel sorry for him...at first. Once he starts getting in touch with his dark side, however, we have no more sympathy for the devil.
All of this leads to a harrowing climax and a very depressing ending to lead into the very last book.
I'm curious to see how Sumner brings Talli's story to a close...
Weird how people just drop off the beginning or the end or even the middle book of a series isn't it?
Spoilers for The Principal but the blurb on the back will do that too so it's really no big deal.
The events that happened at Westerberg High are only clear to a few people, but Talli McAllister knows the truth. Most the kids who have gone missing in town didn't run away...they were killed by a vampire. The principal, Volker, turned others and Talli had to kill them while others were finished off by Volker.
Talli's best friend Lisa is dead and gone and her boyfriend Alex is missing but Volker won't hurt another soul...Talli staked him through the heart. All of that was before Christmas and she hasn't been back to school since and most people think Talli is crazy, the vampire's influence no longer on the adults of the town like her own parents, her father the chief of police believing everyone involved to be "missing".
Talli doesn't know if anyone could be another vampire and on such high alert that she hears voices in her head. When a fresh, new, out of college teacher comes to town with her brother to be a substitute for the old history teacher and take over the drama club, Talli is on guard.
Donna Delany and her brother Chris don't know why they got their new home so cheap or why missing posters plaster every telephone pole in this small town. They don't know that only months ago, a vampire was stalking the halls of Westerberg High. Chris sees Talli in the yard of the house a few doors down and is taken by her red hair...he wants to get to know her.
His newest friend at school, Casey, doesn't believe Talli is crazy but tells Chris to take his time with her after such traumatic loses. The mystery of Talli spurs Chris on to do his own investigation of just what happened...
Talli and Chris don't know that one person escaped town...one of Volker's victims is now a vampire yet with no memory of how he came to be this way. All he knows is the name of the town Westerberg is familiar and that he is very hungry...
Fifteen pages in, second chapter, we all learn that it is Alex.
More deaths come around, Talli struggles with serious PTSD, Chris is doing some detective work like he is Sam Spade, and we also learn his sister Donna is a pretty cool teacher. Talli use to love horror but now she's a little more into trying to survive in a town filled with bad memories.
We learn that Donna and Chris came to Westerberg from Chicago and that their parents were murdered and the person responsible was never found. Might be why Chris is trying to figure out how he can help Talli out of his own trauma, but Chris is a well-read and smart guy. Donna is able to get Talli out of her funk by getting her to write an original play for the drama club after the school counselor informed her about Talli's "problems".
Alex has the unfortunate place of being the villain and you don't really know if you want to feel sorry for him...at first. Once he starts getting in touch with his dark side, however, we have no more sympathy for the devil.
All of this leads to a harrowing climax and a very depressing ending to lead into the very last book.
I'm curious to see how Sumner brings Talli's story to a close...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews