Sweet Valley High #110: Death Threat

 Let's recap again, just in case you missed any parts of this absolutely insane story!

Sweet Valley High #107: Jessica's Secret Love

Sweet Valley High #108: Left at the Altar

 

Sweet Valley High #109: Double-Crossed

 

 

Jessica throws herself at Jeremy because even though he literally just got caught making out with Sue, he came back for her! He has no time to celebrate though because, you know, Sue went missing. Jeremy shows them Sue's necklace as proof that someone took her. Jessica thinks the whole thing is ridiculous and that Sue probably made the whole thing up just to trap him. Come on, Jess, it's not like she took a page from your playbook.

Jeremy and the twins head out to the woods to look for her. He makes Jessica go by herself and sends Elizabeth in a different way. While they're out looking, he sneaks inside the cabin and pulls down a trap door to get into the attic where Sue is waiting. Jeremy then gives her a recorder and makes her promise that she'll call the Wakefield house at exactly 7:15 the next morning. It should surprise no one that this is all just a ploy to get her inheritance.

He shows up the next morning to inform Ned and Alice what happened. They all lie about the twins leaving in the middle of the night because they don't want to upset them. Sue then calls and plays the tape over the phone, which says that the kidnapper wants $500,000, conveniently the same amount that she got in her mom's will and will kill Sue if he doesn't get it. The voice also tells them not go to to the cops.

While Ned and Alice agree not to go to the cops, Ned calls his friend Sam, a detective. Jeremy obviously isn't happy with this development. The Wakefield parents also decide that the twins shouldn't go to school until everything is settled. Alice acts super weird when Lila stops to pick up Jessica, which sets off her Lila tingle. When she calls, Jessica keeps whispering to her. She can't hear everything but thinks that someone is holding the family hostage.

To get Robbie back for his nude modeling class, Lila lies and says that an artist wants her to model for him nude. Robbie gets pissed and storms off. When she hears from Jessica, she rushes to his side and then gets Todd to help. They go over to the Wakefield house and see a dark shadowy figure inside and assume that it's the kidnapper and not Jeremy. Robbie luckily has a cousin who works for the power company who can get them everything they need for a scheme to save their friends.

The cousin takes them to the power company and pretends that they're workers. Lila sneaks in to steal uniforms and almost gets caught, which causes her to hide under a bunch of clothes. They then borrow a power company van and get all dressed up. The best part is that Todd doesn't put his coveralls on right and trips getting out of the van, revealing to everyone his boxers. At one point, Robbie tells Lila to keep her eyes forward while he changes in the back, and Todd jokes that she needs to keep her eyes off him, too.

Jessica really hates that Jeremy is so involved in Sue's disappearance. She keeps trying to get his attention, but he keeps ignoring him. When she wears her new swimsuit and does a perfect dive, she finds that he fell asleep. He doesn't seem interested in taking her out on dates or spending any time with her either. To get his attention, she gives him a wedding band, the same wedding band that Steven bought when he was going to marry Cara. It doesn't fit his ring finger but does fit his pinkie. He agrees to always wear it and think of her.

At the same time, he decides that anyone could catch Sue, especially when he finds that she left the attic to get warm. Jeremy ties her to a chair with just enough free space to call the house again and puts a bandanna over her face. This message says that since they called for help, the kidnapper now wants $600,000 and he wants the twins to deliver the cash. Ned agrees to take the money out of their bank account and pay it.

Sam turns out to a super hot detective named Samantha. She seems shocked and let's be honest, a little disgusted, when she hears the story of what happened to Sue, especially with Jessica's part. Jeremy keeps bringing up Stu, Sue's stepdad, as the likely kidnapper and claims that he was upset at losing the money. Sam then points out that Stu has lots of money on his own. Jeremy also gives his whoa is me story about randomly falling in love with Jessica and how Sue was only like a sister to him, despite the whole making out with her multiple times.

Ned comes home with the money. The twins will take it to a gas station and drop it off, after which they can pick up Sue. Liz notices that Jeremy is infatuated with the money and literally keeps smelling it as they count it. Lila and the gang put their plan into motion. Jeremy rushes out of the house after the twins. They see him and think he's the kidnapper. Todd and Robbie jump on him from opposite directions until they see it's him. He then takes off in his car, while Alice wonders what the hell is going on and why the teens are dressed as power company workers.

Jeremy deliberately stopped Sam's car from working to keep her from chasing the kidnapper. He gets to the cabin and drags Sue to the gas station with plans to meet later. While Liz drops off the money, Jess uses a camera to film the whole thing. They see the kidnapper grab the money from a phone booth and then pick up Sue, who seems both tired and sad. When they get back, she eats everything in sight but claims that she can't remember anything about the kidnapper.

They then sit down to watch the video. Sam reveals that Ned arranged to get fake money, which causes Sue to smile for the first time. Despite watching the video multiple times, no one sees anything that will help them catch the guy. Well, except for Jess. See, she can't help but notice that the kidnapper has a very familiar gold ring on his pinkie finger...

*In the last book, Jessica saw Jeremy holding Sue's face in his hands while basically grinding on her as they made out against a tree. In this one, she totally believes him when he says that Sue asked him to go for a walk and then threw herself at him.

*Jessica wears a purple string bikini while hanging out in the backyard with him. This, Ned and Alice, this is why your daughter needs professional help and shouldn't date anyone ever.

*Lila kind of apologizes to Robbie about the whole nude modeling thing but tells him they have more important things to deal with since someone has the Wakefield family held hostage.

*Sue only realizes that Jeremy played her when she wakes up in the middle of the night at the Wakefield house and he never came for her.

*Is it just me or if this a lot of crap to go through for $500,000? That wasn't even a super ton of money back then.

*Jessica imagines herself getting the inheritance when she turns 22 and using it to buy a huge mansion in Beverley Hills. If you ever needed proof that she has no concept of money, here you go.

*Liz tries telling her multiple times that Jeremy is no good. She points out all the times he lied to her, but Jessica just claims that he would never treat her the way he treats Sue. Jessica literally says this right after he claims he's going back to his hotel for a conference call and never answers the phone when she calls.

*I find it really weird that a ring designed to fit Steven's ring finger would only fit on Jeremy's pinkie. I guess it was a way of explaining how big and massive he is or something.

*Sue confessed in the last book that she lied about her rare blood condition to trap Jeremy. She only tells Liz though who never tells anyone else. When talking to Sam, Jessica is the one who reveals the secret to Alice.

*Robbie says that he only knew Jeremy for a week or so before they met Lila and Jessica on the beach. That answers one of the questions I had when reading the last book.

*Jessica is a major bitch in this book. The whole time Sue is missing, she keeps making snide comments about how she probably set the whole thing up. Even where there are hints that Jeremy was in on it, she puts the blame on Sue.

*Ned and Alice let Jeremy hang out at the house all of the time and leave him and Jess alone for hours. That will teach your teen daughter not to get engaged to a grown man!

 

And, just in case you want to know how this crap show ends: Sweet Valley High #111: A Deadly Christmas.