Sweet Valley University #17: Deadly Attraction

Liz comes home and throws a stack of pictures at her sister, barely noticing that she’s crying her eyes out. Jess finds that all the pictures show her and Louis wrapped up together and accuses Liz of spying on them. Liz explains that the dean of students gave them to her and told her to leave the points shaving story alone or he’ll release the pictures. Liz then gives into her sister yet again and lets her cry about Louis being married. I guess you should know someone more than 2 days before falling in love. Try it sometime Jess and see how it works!

Lila and Bruce both find out that their credit cards are maxed out or canceled, but don’t tell the other one. They decide to go home and spend some time with their parents and both are afraid to tell the other one that they don’t want to leave or live together anymore.

Louis catches up to Jessica on campus and tells her about his wife Chloe. Basically she was a loner, they got married and then he found out she was a psycho. Shouldn’t he be a little more cautious about falling in love? Chloe killed two of his friends and he’s been on the run ever since.

You’d think he’d pick a different job if he’s hiding from her, since college professor isn’t the most inconspicuous job, especially when he doesn’t stray too far from the west coast. Apparently Chloe also ran off when he filed for divorce and periodically pops up to ruin his life, which explains why he’s still married. Yeah, I’m pretty sure he can get a divorce, even if she doesn’t want it to happen.

Louis tells Jessica that he’s going on the run again and she decides to go with him. Liz shows up and tries to change her mind, but eventually realizes that it’s the right thing to do. It will keep Jessica safe until the story’s done and also keep her away from Chloe. Jessica tells him that he’s all she wants, which would be kind of sweet if she hadn’t already fallen in love with a dozen guys this semester alone.

Liz then gets kidnapped by Chloe, who thinks she’s Jessica, but lets her go with a warning to her twin. She runs to Todd and they borrow Bruce’s apartment by letting him think they’re back together, not knowing that Gin-Yung saw the whole thing. Liz gets chased by some bad guys and ends up being rescued by Gin and she tells her the truth about what’s going on.

Winston sucks at ROTC and it doesn’t help that Denise joins and becomes the model recruit. She has a small crush on their lieutenant, who makes her work with Winston. He also invites her to some big party. She makes rude comments that Winston overhears, but doesn’t feel guilty. Then she goes to the party, sees the lieutenant call him a bunch of names and suddenly decides that she loves Winston again.

The book then divides into two big storylines: Jessica and Liz. Liz finds out that the bad guys paid Craig to take a dive, Craig being the wrestler in the center of a big deal event in Las Vegas. She introduces him to Darryl and Darryl tells him that it’s not worth it to give in just because of what they say they can do. It turns out that Craig took steroids and the guys threatened to make it public, just as his dad runs for office.

They call in the FBI and major government offices, promising proof of the points shaving. Darryl plans on going on camera, but then backs out and sides with the officials. Liz learns that his little sister was threatened if he turned on them. Tom hears the whole thing and just before his big interview with Craig, he tells him what happened. Craig confesses everything on camera and the officials arrest a bunch of people. I love how there’s no evidence, but somehow everyone buys it.

Jessica and Louis stay in a bunch of small hotels and cabins and one night he tells her that he wishes they could have a perfect day. She decides to make it happen and keeps his mind off his murderous wife. They get in the car at the end of the day and discover that she broke in and stole some stuff, which sets them off again.

They end up at an old farmhouse, but Louis wakes up in the middle of the night and smells Chloe’s perfume. He follows her outside before realizing that she’s still inside with Jessica and the house is on fire. He manages to get inside and get her out, just as the police arrive and the house explodes. They assure him that she died in the fire, but then she shows up at the hospital. Louis goes with her and decides to kill them both, rather than risk Jessica’s life again. He drives the car over a cliff.

Jessica wakes up in the hospital, with a fuzzy memory of hearing Louis talk to her before he left and telling her that he loved her. She finds out he died to save her life (moron, she’s not worth it) and the book ends with Liz and Tom taking her to his house to say goodbye. Liz tells Tom that since Louis had no next of kind, the estate will sit for seven years before being sold and only then can Jess get some memory of him. Trust me, Jess will be long over Louis by then and probably on her 400th boyfriend.

Oh and there’s a nod to the old books. Louis buys her a charm in the shape of a unicorn because he loves hearing about her days in the unicorn club. Too bad they keep screwing up the rest of the continuity!