Friday the 13th Part II

Friday the 13th #2

by Simon Hawke

The horror continues when campers return to the camp across the lake from Camp Crystal Lake, five years after Jason's last attacks

Genres: Horror

176 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 2, 1988

About the author

Also published as J.D. Masters.

He was born Nicholas Valentin Yermakov, but began writing as Simon Hawke in 1984 and later changed his legal name to Hawke. He has also written near future adventure novels under the penname "J. D. Masters" and mystery novels.

Reviews

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with the previous installment in this series, I don't have much to say here except good things. I really appreciate Simon Hawke's willingness to explore the various characters in more depth than what they were given in the movies while sticking to the constraints of the movie plotline. He does an excellent job of getting me to care about them, rather than just making a surface level attempt at trying to recognize who is who.

Once again, I owe a huge thanks to the channel The 80s Slasher Librarian for having made a fan recorded audiobook that I could listen to in order to read this book! These books are impossible to find in print, and to my knowledge they've never been adapted to digital format otherwise. Once again, I highly recommend this to people who may want to give the novelizations a try before attempting to jump right in the movies. Hawke really does a good job, and the fan recordings are free resource to use (though I do recommend figuring out a way to support the channel to show appreciation for the effort they put in to make these available.)

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another pretty good novelization of a not particularly good film from Simon Hawke, whose previous slasher film novelizations include Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, which was published in 1986, and Friday the 13th, which was published in 1987. Overall this isn't quite as good as his novelization of the first film, which was a small masterpiece of trash fiction, but there is one striking scene, on pp. 68-69, that really stuck with me. Not only does it offer an explanation of why and how Jason Voorhees (or "Vorhees," as Hawke insouciantly chooses to spell it) is even walking around--something that was always a little sketchy in the film--but in one chilling sentence it also strongly evokes H.P. Lovecraft's classic short story "The Outsider." Is this a great book? No. Does it accomplish what it sets out to do and offer a few surprises along the way? Yes.

[Brett Littman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's certainly Friday the 13th Part 2, all right. I'm glad that Terry actually cared that Muffin was missing. Also, the Ted subplot is so much better, bless his heart. But the Jason "origin" that Hawke came up with, nah.

[William Cherico · Rating 2 out of 5]

I haven't read many movie adaptations, but I can't help but feel like the slasher film is an especially hard genre to transplant to page. SO many of the tropes are heavily reliant on the ability to see everything unfold on screen, and when it's moved to a book with very little change to the source material, it completely falls apart. With the first F13 book I was at the very least able to distinguish between characters. In this one that goes out the window, and about halfway through I gave up on recognizing anyone besides Ginny and Mark.The thing I enjoyed most about this otherwise completely faithful adaptation was that Jason was given something of an inner monologue. Nothing huge, but here and there we were given insight into the twisted way he saw the world through the lens of what his mother wanted. Unfortunately, the little time we get with Jason is sullied by extremely repetitive and poor word choice when describing the supposedly scary scenes (there isn't a single death in this book that doesn't describe the sensation of being murdered as a "flash" of "white hot heat").

[Irwin Fletcher · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the novelization for both this and the first film, just for old time's sake as I grew up on these movies. I wasn't really expecting much as my experience with the novelizations for the first two Halloween movies taught me that slasher movies don't translate into book form all that great. This was no different. They pretty much just stick to what you see in the movie which makes them just kind of boring to read. What little it adds is mostly attempts at character development for the councilors which don't develop them any at all. They mostly think about sex and birth control. The one thing this has going for it that the first doesn't is that it does dive into Jason's origins and motivation a little bit. Those parts were kind of interesting but they make up a tiny part of the book and no enough to really raise this one above a one-star rating, but it's better than the first one.

[christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simon Hawke's novelization of Friday the 13th: Part II is better than his first. There's a lot more characterization and a lot less filler. It even dives into Jason's mind for a little bit here and there. This novelization made me care about the characters more, and I think I might have had more fun reading this than I do when I watch the movie (which is still undoubtedly fun, might I add).

But again, Hawke overuses variations of "white-hot searing pain" when he refers to someone being killed. Much like the first novelization, it becomes very repetitive, along with the numerous paragraphs beginning with "suddenly."

Friday the 13th: Part II is not a bad novelization by any means and suffers from a few of the issues I had with the first, but it does bring more life to the characters, making it a swift read that's very hard to put down.

[Mark R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

***1/2

With his "Friday the 13th Part II" novelization, Simon Hawke repeats what he did with the previous book, and transcribes the movie almost verbatim, but with added inner monologues and brief histories on some of the characters. I think that part of the book works better than in the previous one. But this time around he gets into the killer's head from time to time, and I'm not too sure how successful he is with that.

Since the book was written in 1988, and Jason had already [spoiler, if you're new to the series] become an undead zombie monster, Hawke alludes to his having supernatural healing abilities.

Which, when the movie came out in 1981, wasn't necessarily the plan; the filmmakers treated Jason Voorhees as a mysterious but (probably) human and mortal savage. I still like that version of him, and indeed, the second movie has always moved me a little more than the first.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time I've ever delved into the world of movie novelizations, and this was a pretty good one. Characters from one of my favorite horror movies have deeper development and backgrounds. There's even a chapter explaining Jason's birth, growing up, and how he drowned, but managed to survive. I was bummed that the other counselors who have no lines in the movie are completely left out. I always wondered what happened to them. And also, still no answer to the question, "Where's Paul?" Many thanks to the 80s Slasher Librarian for his reading of this book. The added effects really added to the experience.

[Calis Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying reading the novelizations of these classic movies. This one was better than part one due to the part that we don't get as much filler. Once again we go into more details of our victims before they get slaughtered we even get some things from Jason's perspective. It's a warped one but it's better than nothing. If you're looking for the answer that everything has been asking since this movie premiered "Where's Paul?" Sorry disappoint you You're not going to get the answer from this book.

[KAggie97 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty faithful to the movie, and it clears up a few ambiguities from the film, which I won't reveal here. Again, the extended inner dialogues seem forced and are too long, but they do provide more character depth. Not sure I liked delving into Jason's psyche; I think I prefer not knowing anything about him except he's a psychopathic killer whose motivation is avenging his mother. Still, a solid book that reads quickly.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new group of young people visits Crystal Lake. Is Jason still around? Will one of them survive out in the woods? You'll soon see a blade slashed in the moonlight cutting of the girls' screams. Well, Jason's mother is in his mind commanding kill them, kill them all... nice follow up with the typical ingredients you'd assume in the classic slasher. Nail biting one down more to go sequel. Really recommended!

[Dope Ghost Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even better than the Friday The 13th novelization also written by Simon Hawke!

The sequel movie has always been a slasher favorite of mine and the book is exquisitely faithful. Besides some drawn-out writing passages, everything else about this book rules. It maintains the elements that helped make the film great but delves into the feelings and mind of Jason Voorhees. It also includes a summary on how Jason is still alive after drowning as a boy.

Stabtastic! 🔪

[Lucas Dickinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool, fun read. A very good adaptation of the movie with some extra stuff thrown in, including some very nice insight into Jason’s deranged mind. As with Hawke’s adaptation of the first movie, there’s a bit too much inner monologue from the characters. Some of that is good, but too much slows the story down more than necessary.

[David Macpherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

a novelization of a slasher sequal. this is not going to b a masterpiece of subtle horror. this was pretty fun with Hawke doing a nice job f filling in details and character. The tension was ok but the sense of place was well done by this book.

[Stephanie]

I am looking to buy this book for my best friend! Does anyone have a copy they are willing to sell? I can’t find it anywhere. Thanks so much!!

[Daniel Frazier · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up out of sheer curiosity to see how anyone could adapt a slasher film into a novel. Not well, unsurprisingly.

[Scott Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again much like the first book this is an almost word perfect representation of the film with added parts to round out characters and scenes

Great

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Youtube

[Russell Holbrook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome, awesome, and more awesome!!!!!!

[Justin Gerber · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Not as character-focused as the preceding novelization in the series, but a LOT on what Jason was up to after he drowned decades earlier. Also a bit of what happened to Paul…kind of.

[John Geddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

My favorite if the movies so I was expecting more. There wasn’t much to it.

[Debi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had this book for a few years as it's a collectable item that I only paid .25 cents for at the library. I finally decided to read it since I love the movies. It was interesting having someone write the thoughts of 'Jason'. Even this book makes mention of the 'Manson Family' even though the dates are off....I also have the original movie book that I might read one of these days. Even the book does as the movie and never mentions all of the counselors who left to go drinking....like if they came back to find all of the gore. Hmmmm.