Book #40: “Friday The 13th Part II” by Simon Hawke

 

Friday The 13th Part II

Simon Hawke

 Released: February 2nd, 1988

My 10th book for 2024 was Simon Hawke’s “Friday the 13th Part II” novelization.

I have been waiting for over 20 years to read this book.  Read that again.  Twenty.  Years.  Two decades.

I'm 35 currently.  20/35 means I have been searching for this book 57.14% of my entire life.

I have checked every used bookstore I have walked into from Maryland, to Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Florida, California, Virginia, Oregon, Washington...flea markets, yard sales, estate sales, antique shops, the Mile-Long Yard Sale, Powell's Books, Wonderbook & Video, Half-Price Books, Wee-Scot Book Shop, Borders, Waldenbooks, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble...the list goes on and on.  I have come to the conclusion that this is an extremely rare book to come by.  You would think a paperback book from 1988 would not be that difficult to find.

Amazon.com has a seller listing this book.  Just for sheer amusement alone, (and the horrified looks on all your faces) here is the going rate for this book on Amazon.

Granted, there are a few out there who have either secured this when it first came out or acquired it from local used bookstores or independent sellers at a micro-fraction of the cost.  Some have paid the full $2,000 for the book.  The is the single most difficult book I have ever set out to find.  I still don't have it.  I have a digital copy of the book.  It works for the purpose I intend to use it for, but I wish Barnes and Noble would collect all these old paper backs and publish them in one of their Leatherbound Editions.  (James Daunt, if you're reading this, please?  Pretty please?  Pretty please with sugar on top?)

Alright, now that I have my gripes out of the way, let's talk about the book itself.  Fair warning, a good bit of this review will infuse parts of the movie because that is what this book (and the series itself) were based upon.

Simon Hawke returns for another great novelization of the classic film series.  Part 2 is among the best in the series.  This is the debut of Jason Voorhees as the iconic slasher we have known him to be for the past 43 years.  Yes, I know that Jason actually appeared in Part 1.  He didn't kill anyone though.  Jason is a killing machine.  It's what he does.  He terrifies us and entertains us which is why we watch/read about him and then dress up like an evil Dominik Hasek every Halloween.  The only thing that sets Part 2 apart from the rest is that Jason dons a burlap sack over his disfigured face as opposed to the legendary hockey mask.  He doesn't obtain that until he encounters Shelly Finkelstein in Part 3.

I remember renting Part 2 when I was a teenager somewhere around 2003.  The image of Paul and the counselors sitting around the campfire is etched in my brain.  Such an iconic image.  The way it is described in this book, brings it to full literary effect.  Jeff and Sandra were my favorite characters.  They just seemed like your classic 1980's teenagers.  Jeff looked like a football player, and Sandra looked like a really cool person to hang out with.  They were the troublemakers, but then again, that's what you need in any good horror movie to advance the plot.  Their death scene is one of the most iconic death scenes in horror history (and interestingly enough, borrowed from another film).  

It was cool to learn more about the other characters as well.  The one that was really interesting was a segment at the bar that was not from the film.  In the film, Ted hits on the waitress, and then asks a gentleman for an afterhours place.  In the novel, there is an entire segment where the waitress likes him back, and he simply doesn't get the hint.  Paul has to work his magic by giving her the keys to Jeff's truck (that Ted was driving) in order to set them up.  It works like a charm, and ironically saves Ted's life.  How sobering to think that when he came back to camp the next day and found out that virtually all his friends and boss were now gone forever.

Paul is a cool boss.  He's smart, resourceful and savvy, but still young in his own ways.  He has a lot of guts to run a counselor training center next to the site of Camp Blood.  He can be firm when needed, but also has moments where he lets people go easy (no seconds on dessert for Jeff or Sandra).  It's still one of the greatest mysteries to this day (something the novel keeps true) wondering what ever happened to him.  We can easily assume Jason murdered him, but no body or trace of his whereabouts were ever found.

Ginny's character was a novel concept.  She infused the Friday storyline with a psychology twist, where she explains the different occurrences based on how the human psyche functions when different things happen.  The best part about the Ginny character is just how human she truly is.  She doesn't have superpowers.  Her car breaks down a lot.  She runs late to things.  Deep down though, she is an honest and true person.  She has a lot of heart and is quite understanding and curious when it comes to Jason.  You actually see her try to figure him out prior to going into survival mode.  She was portrayed in the film by the amazing Amy Steel.  She was brilliant in the role and went on to have other various parts in TV and movies before becoming a therapist in real life.  In addition to Ginny, I will always remember her as Alex P. Keaton's first major love in Family Ties.  

Terry, Scott, Vicki, and Mark all have some interesting backstories and thoughts about life as well.  Just on a more minor scale.

The book follows the film very well.  I even threw the movie on to check and verify when I came upon certain parts that felt different, and sure enough, there were different lines used, or something was described a bit different in the novel.  

I really love that the novel expands upon the F13 mythology.  We have callbacks to Steve Christy.  We spend Alice's final moments together.  We learn more about Crystal Lake, and how it suffers from severe economic downturns.  We learn a ton about Jason and his mental state of mind.  We learn about how he survived.  The book goes into detail about his supernatural abilities, his silent demeanor, and what drives him to commit his horrendous acts.  Pamela and Jason both suffer from traumatic events that occurred in their lives.  As a result, it set them both on course with their destinies.  Jason's is a bit more advanced as he suffered mental events that puts severe pressure on his mind until he commits murder.  The book goes into great detail about this, and we learn why Jason seems so angry all the time.

Part 2 is really interesting, because short of Part 6, it was the last story to feature the true mythology surrounding Camp Crystal Lake and its infamous "Camp Blood" moniker.  Parts 3, 4, 7, and 8 are about teenagers.  Part 5 features a halfway house with no direct ties to Jason himself, short of the legends surrounding his legacy.  The New Line films are an entirely different conversation.  In my personal opinion, Part 2 was the real Friday the 13th story.  In retrospect, Part 1 seems as though it has become a retroactive prequel.  The story is really solid, and I feel it holds up well.

I read a digital copy of this book on my Kindle.  As with Part 1, the transfer did not go over so well, and thus words and phrases are messy at times.  

Here is what I learned:

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• In Summer 1979, Alice Hardy is suffering nightmares from her experience at Camp Crystal Lake 2 months earlier.
• The novel refers to Annie as Alice’s friend prior to her death, yet there has never been an implication that they had ever met.
• Alice’s mom must have remarried at some point in the months between the first two novels.  At the end of the first one, Sgt. Tierney mentions her “folks” coming up, which confuses Alice.  In this novel, she mentions her mom and dad being worried about her.  We know from the first novel that her father passed away due to a heart attack, so outside a plot hole, she must refer to the new father figure as Dad.
• Camp Crystal Lake had been shut down, and all the cabins condemned.
• In the first novel, Alice absolutely detests Steve’s idea of staying in Crystal Lake until they are able to sell the camp and property.  Since that time, she went home to Los Angeles, but due to her bond with Crystal Lake, she feels obligated to live there to confront her demons.
• Jason apparently knows how to use a telephone and has somehow obtained Alice’s number.
• Jason knows how to use a gas stove.
• Part II takes place 5 years after the events of the original film.
• Jeff Dunsberry drives a midnight blue 4x4 with a raised body he purchased for his 18th birthday.
• He and his girlfriend Sandra Dier have gotten jobs working the summer together.
• Ted Bowen’s parents own a summer home in Crystal Lake.
• Paul Holt is the director of the counselor training center in Crystal Lake.  He runs his training at the Packanack Lodge next to the remains of Camp Crystal Lake.
• In addition to the general store and the diner, Crystal Lake’s bare bones economy features a Gulf fueling station, a Dairy Queen, and a hardware store called “Harlan’s”.
• Max owns the Gulf station, and was the driver who towed Jeff’s truck to Ted’s place.
• Ted tells Jeff and Sandra he is going to be the 2nd assistant for Paul.  In the movie he tells Sandra she is going to be the second assistant.
• Best joke: A bear and a rabbit are in the woods.  Both are taking a dump.  The bear looks down at the rabbit and says “Excuse me Mr. Rabbit, do you have any problem with shit sticking to your fur?”  “No, Mr. Bear.  I don’t.”  Says the rabbit.  So the bear wiped his ass with the rabbit.
• Animals are creatures of habit, and typically use the same trails and runs to get food and water.
• Paul is 25 and runs the camp counselor training as a side business.
• He is saving extra money for grad school.
• Mark Jarvis was 18, and handicapped due to a motorcycle accident.  He and Paul have work a season or two together in the past.
• Vicki Perry is 17, and has feelings for Mark.  She worked upstate the previous summer.
• Terry McCarthy is 18, and has a dog named Muffin.  She is from the city.  She worked upstate the previous summer.
• Scott Cheney is a young adult who has a thing for Terry, and jokingly needs counselor training according to Paul, implying a mischievous side.
• Paul had seen German Shepherds killed by raccoons.
• Ginny Fields is Paul's assistant at the training center.
• She majors in psychology.
• She drives a beat-up red VW Bug convertible.
• The phone lines at Packanack are not working yet.
• Paul claims that Pankanack is located in Bear country.
• Never walk down Canal St in NYC at 1am.
• Paul tells the legend of Camp Blood around the campfire.
• According to legend, Jason Voorhees never drowned and lived a life of a hermit in the woods.
• Paul tells the story so well, that all of the counselors get caught up in the horror of it.
• Ginny is stirred because she knows parts of Paul’s story are facts and not myths.  She read about it in the papers.
• Ginny considers Pamela Voorhees to be a classic case of Transference.  She confused the modern day counselors with the ones 20 years ago when Jason drowned.  She exacted her revenge on innocent people.
• Paul teases Ginny with a warning “Beware of Bears” for having her menstrual cycle.
• Terry cooked “Scrambled Denver Omelette” for breakfast.
• Ted and Jeff joke with Ginny about tying up unruly younger campers and holding them hostage until they behave.
• Jason was born prematurely.
• He was born in Pamela’s bedroom.
• Jason’s childhood was eerie.  He never made a sound, never indicated he was ever in pain, and locals avoid him after meeting him.  Some went clinically insane from the encounters.
• Pamela never recovered from the shock of Jason’s “drowning”.
• Jason possesses superhuman abilities.  Quick healing and other powers.  
• He seemed to have drowned but actually ended up farther out in the lake.  
• Jason returned to camp out of season.  He broke into come cabins for food and clothing.
• He began wearing a sack over his face with eyeholes cut into it to hide his grotesque appearance.
• Jason would take shelter in the cabins during the winter.
• He burnt several down before he mastered fire building.
• He always wondered why his mother never came back for him.
• He watched Alice behead his mother.
• He found out where Alice lived by tracking down her car when she came to the lake one day.
• He took Alice’s body with him.
• After killing Alice, Jason felt at peace.  But once more teenagers and counselors returned to Crystal Lake, he vowed to kill them all.
• Nothing was known at the time about Jason’s father.
• After Alice, Jason develops a lust for killing people.
• Sandra’s older brother had gone to school in Los Angeles.
• She equates her walk to Camp Blood to her brother’s experience at Charles Manson’s Ranch.
• Jeff and Sandra’s punishment for wandering into Camp Blood is not being allowed seconds on dessert.
• Deputy Winslow is angry at Paul for disrespecting his authority but relents that what he is doing is good for the local economy.
• Due to the poor economic conditions in Crystal Lake, 3 merchants were already looking to leave Crystal Lake for the new shopping mall in the next town over.
• The hope was if Paul’s training center was successful, tourists who came to visit would return in the fall for hunting and fishing season sparking more business for the dying town.  They also hoped they would move there to get away from the Big City.
• Deputy Winslow was getting out of shape from too much beer at the roadhouse every night.
• Homicide detectives in a major city typically smoke cigars or cigarettes before visiting a room that held a dead body for several days because the burning tobacco masked the smell.  Winslow felt it would take an entire field of tobacco to mask the smell of Jason's shack.
• Ted drove Jeff’s truck into town for the counselor’s night out.
• Ted flirts with Maggie the bartender.
• Ted is able to knock down 8 beers due to his fast metabolism and maintain reasonable composure.  He stops at 12.
• Terry decides to skinny dip in the lake.
• Jason’s mental disorder caused him to have pounding in his eardrums urging him to kill.
• He constantly heard his mother’s voice in his head as it was the only one, he truly recognized.
• The book features Ted’s struggles to ask women out.  It features a scene where Paul sets Ted up with the bartender who clearly likes him.  In the movie, Ted is seen asking an older gentleman about after-hours places.
• At the time, VW had not produced their Bug model since 1979.

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Overall, a good read.  If you're not into horror, probably pass on it.  I have a special affinity for Part 2, so that makes me very biased in recommending it to people.  If you're into the Friday the 13th mythology, I highly recommend you read it.

If you don't enjoy horror, skip it.

Recommended if you're into Horror.

Highly recommended if you're into Friday the 13th mythology.

On to Book #41: “My Girl” by Patricia Hermes