Tales Point Horror Book Club – The Accident by Diane Hoh
#PointHorrorBookClub was created by author Juno Dawson in 2013. Juno announced in 2015 that she was no longer able to carry on so, with her blessing, I took over the reins.
So why not grab a copy and join the discussion with this months #PointHorrorBookClub
The Accident by Diane Hoh
Are the Point Horror books we loved as a teenager still our favourites on a re-read? Have they not stood the test of time? After a hit of nostalgia? Or are you new to Point Horror and want to see what its all about?
Want to explore previous #PointHorrorBookClub posts? I’ve got you! Head to the main page here
Beware…….Spoilers Ahead
She appears in Megan’s mirror one day, a pale shadow. She is the ghost of Juliet, a young girl who tragically drowned in the lake. She makes a strange request – she begs Megan to change places with her, just for a week. Megan reluctantly agrees, but who is Juliet?
The Tagline
She has returned….from the dead!
Okay ….so…What’s It All About?
Oh the poor students of Philippa Moore Senior High School in Lakeside are suffering due to their school not being air conditioned! Oh the horror! So bunking off school is a must! Whilst Megan is planning her sweet sixteenth party her friends have a terrible accident!
An Accident?
Yep! A car loses control and three of Megan’s friends end up in hospital! Whatever could have happened to them?! And this is just the first of many strange terrifying accidents that occur! And when Megan find drawings predicting who will be next in true Final Destination style it gets serious!
Drawings that show the next victim?! Oh No!
Yep! Not any old drawings either! They were top notch sought after art….drawn in Crayola crayons don’t you know! Drawings that have the meanings of names! I present the evidence….a drawing with a cap and a pea = Cappie! And a drawing of a hill = Hill! And the crème de la crème of charade drawings a Bar and a Bee = Barbie! Just genius really! I’m just jealous!
*adds into my current wip!*
What kind of twisted mind would draw such a sick pictures about a tragic accidents?!
Oh maybe just the ghost that appears in Megan’s mirror and asks to swap bodies for a week! Just a day in the life of good old kind hearted Megan!
Ghostly apparitions and body swaps! Woah did Dove from The Perfume return?!
Dove from The Perfume would have had a field day with our ghosty in The Accident, Juliet. After dying in a accident many years previously she appears in Megan’s mirror as they share the same birthday! Poor old Juliet died before her sweet sixteen party and wants one last chance to live for a week so basically wants to use Megan’s body to do so!
WHAT?! IS SHE CRAZY! I bet Megan told her to go and visit the new Ghostbuster movie set instead of bothering her!
Ermmmm…nope….nope she didn’t….she kindly offers to help Juliet!
Dum dum dum!
The Girl
Oh Megan! Megan with her hair as dark as crows wings , oval face and sea green eyes…..but remember she is shy and quiet so apparently this means she should have plain straight brown hair!
*looks in mirror at my plain, straight brown hair and ponders if I’m shy and quiet……..no comments!*
Always feeling sorry for people got her in a bit of bother when she felt sorry for a ghost in her mirror! Yep that’s right…good old Megan felt that sorry for the cutey wooty little ghosty that she traded places with her for a week….with almost deadly circumstances!
I found Megan a little typical point horror girlish! She winged quite a lot and said Oh No in that Point Horror Girl way. And lets be honest she took being kind hearted a little to far really don’t you think?!
The Love Interest
Justin Carr! Mr tall and thin like one of the reeds in the shallower coves of the lake. With gorgeous sandy wavy hair and his grey eyes behind his wire-rimmed glasses! With a kind heart and open mind….they don’t make these point horror love interests like they used to you know! A not so typical point horror love interest as instead of the jock we have a kind of funny, geek who is actually quite adorable. Just me? I mean being THAT in tune with Megan to be able to communicate with her when she was a ghost was impressive *swoon*. And personally on the audio book I listened to I thought he was lovely 🙂
He was born ready!
The Ghost!
Advert!
Are you exactly 15 years of age?!
Do you live near a lake?!
Are you open minded and have a kind heart?
Are you some with an imagination and belief that anything is possible?!
Then Juliet will appear in your mirror……poof!
What’s that wispy, shadowy plume appearing in that oval mirror! It’s so purple and scary and…and….and…..oh it’s only Juliet! Nothing to be scared of! She’s only a ghost from the 1930’s come back for a bit of revenge! Surely no one would fall for her butter wouldn’t melt routine! Oh Wait!
I kind of liked Juliet’s passion and patience! Imagine waiting all of those years for someone with the exact match to your advert to finally move into a house near the lake who just happens to be the granddaughter of the step sister who you hated and you drowned because of! Phew that was mind baffling! The perfect revenge!
PS….don’t quote me on this but I have an inkling that purple may just be Juliet’s favourite colour if you wanted to by her a dress…it suits her 😉
I also loved how Juliet wasted no time and got it on with Justin, who thought it was Megan and Megan had to watch….this sounds very dodgy indeed!
*Checks that this was a Point Horror I was reading*
The Gang
Drama loving Hillary Bench…..Silly Hilly! With her thick, straight short blonde hair which was square around her ears in a shining cap she gave me a lot of chuckles (especially on the audio tape!). I actually kind of liked her a lot…ESPECIALLY HER WARM MARSHMELLOW INSIDE! Ghosty Juliet trys to push Silly Hilly off the balcony, but I think Silly Hilly must have the best reflexes! She was wasted in Point Horror and needed in an action movie!
Lets not forget classic Point Horror named friends Jenny Winn, Barbie and Cappie Cabot! Oh bless them ….they end up in hospital by the end of chapter one missing out on their breakthrough starring roles in a Point Horror Classic! They had a nice yellow car though….well you can’t have everything can you!
Oh and poor poor short squat moustached, dead eyed Donny Richardson! Rejected by all the girls in school, Silly Hilly calls him a dweeb, his parents are divorced so apparently his home life stunk and basically was blamed for every accident in the book when he was innocent! They even accused him of having the personality of a hang nail (?)! I felt kind of sorry for him….although I did find the perfect picture of him in his pink shirt trying to pull all the ladies 😉
Also little mention has to go to sophisticated viper Vicki Deems, in her skin tight sexy red top and black spider eyes spotting men like spotting juicy flys….she’s try to hit on Justin! The hussy!
Fashion Faux Pas
Megan did love her blue denim shoulder bag…a lot! She took it everywhere! Seriously it crops up all over The Accident…I was tempted to give it it’s own category!
Dialogue Disasters
“Sitting in one of the classrooms was like being roasted over hot coals!”
Ouch! Hot!
“People didn’t laugh at Justin. People took him seriously”
Seriously?! The audio tape casting got this description very wrong then…I laughed at him many a time!
“Megan marches to a different drummer”
Which drummer?
“All creative people have their head in the clouds. Maybe she’ll write a great novel one day”
Yes maybe one day!
“I look like a melted daisy”
What does a melted daisy look like?!
“His alphabet might be missing some of its letters”
*chomps on an D and a Y – MMMM YUMMY!*
“The feeling of being watched slipped over her again, as chilling as a wet sweater”
*shivers*
“Mr Shattuck”
Just me who laughed at this…..yes okay I’m immature!
“Poof? She would go poof? And disappear? Forever?”
You are not getting rid of Juliet that easy Megan – who you gonna call? Surely they were around in the 90’s!
“You’re all over him like jelly on peanut butter”
Squishy!
“Little Miss Muffet in there pretended to be so sticky-sweet”
I thought little Miss Muffet ate curds and whey?
“Kind of like Cinderella” “Except that you won’t turn into a pumpkin. You’ll turn into…nothing”
That Juliet could be so mean! *eats pumpkin pie*
“It’s fat white knobs poking her rudely in the back”
Sorry I couldn’t resist! One of us was going to pick this up! All the lol’s!
Body Count
Does Juliet count as a dead body? Well she is dead I guess, but no dead bodies turn up throughout the book! Although there were a few “accidents”! 🙂
Is it scary?
Hmmmmm not really scary! But a lot of “accidents” happen to Megan’s friends and family including the normally elusive from Point Horror parents of Megan! Poor old Connie nearly drowns and Megan’s Dad Thomas falls off a ladder! And poor Tom, Megans little brother gets run over by a monster truck!
To be honest Juliet turning up in Megan’s mirror was quite comical rather than scary!
Did the best friend do it?
Nope! It was the crazy ghost lady who you swapped bodies with Megan! *wags finger*
Some Mild Peril?
I guess Megan’s mom nearly drowning and her brother being hit by a truck is defiantly mild peril! And Silly Hilly falling off the balcony! Wow! Thinking about it Megan got off quite lightly really!?!
Is it any good?
I actually quite liked this….although I found Megan a little whiney at times I just thought the story flowed well and I can forgive some of it’s loop holes and un used characters and predictable end!
Final Thought
Huge shout out to the mall with the hair salon called Cut It Again and the ice cream shop called Lickety-Split where you could order half a gallon of Triple Trouble ice cream!! #LifeGoals!
Over to you!
As well as your thoughts on the book I’ve added some fun questions to ponder!
- Give me your best description of a drawing of a name ie A Cap and a Pea = Cappie!
- What would your advert for ghostly body swaps be?
- What do you think happened at Megan’s sweet sixteenth?
- If you could swap bodies with some one for a week who would it be?
- Give me your best shop name to go in The Accident shopping Mall!
Also Point Horror Book Club member Billy has done it again! Summing up The Accident in emojis! And it’s awesome! Here it is!
Feel free to pop me a comment using the reply button at the top of the page.
Or
Use the #PointHorrorBookClub on Twitter on Instagram, follow PHBC on Instagram @talespointhorrorbookclub or even follow me @chelleytoy … lets have a good old Point Horror chat!
Want to explore previous #PointHorrorBookClub posts? I’ve got you! Head to the main page here
Thanks for joining in….
PHBC! Guys! We are being TERRIBLY slow off the mark this month. Apologies, Chelley, sometimes real life just gets in the darn way. You know, like when you’re trying to plan your birthday party, and some identity-swiping dead girl starts chatting to you through your mirror. Stuff like that.
Can I just say, I kind of LOVED The Accident. Sure, it was hokey and twee, but I felt like it had more going on than some of the super-templated PH offerings we’ve encountered. What with the ghostly body swap antics on top of the usual stalker-y threatening-notes-in-lockers gubbins, it was like we were getting two Point Horrors for the price of one. In fact, the crazy-on-the-loose element was actually the b-plot; making all the supporting characters fully aware that there was a psycho in town meant that we were spared the usual “I’M NOT CRAZY, SOMEONE’S TRYING TO HURT ME!” nonsense. So that got a thumbs up from me.
And speaking of supporting characters, Hoh pulled out all the stops with this one. Poor old Megan suffered from blanditis, with frequent bouts of dumb-as-a-box-of-hair-ness, but everyone else was a breath of fresh air, especially Vicki Deems and her penchant for halter top and leather miniskirt combos (because apparently, teenagers in the 90s dressed like middle-aged hookers). I wanted more of Vicki Deems. For a start, Vicki Deems would for sure have told Juliet where to stick her body swap idea. You might say I’m #TeamDeems. (Also, “In your dreams, Deems.” was my favourite line in the whole book.) Deems Deems Deems.
Hilary was great fun too, and I agree that Justin was the rarest of Point Horror commodities: an appealing love interest. As for poor old squat, mustachioed Donny… I like to think he ended up finding happiness with Slaggy Deems in the end. They were both just looking for love in all the wrong places.
I thought the Juliet stuff was less successful. Juliet herself was a nifty villain, but it took way too long for her to show her true colours, and the rules of the body swap itself were hazy at best. I mean, I don’t wanna accuse D-Hoh of making it up as she went along, but there was a definite whiff of reaching-for-the-wordcount waffle in those later chapters. I still don’t understand the mechanics of why ghost-Megan was seemingly able to traipse all over town at will, while Juliet was confined to her mirror. Did Megan have access to ghost-transport of some kind? A spectral bicycle? Haunted roller skates?
But as steeped in melodrama as the novel is, NOTHING prepared me for the histrionics of the audiobook, which sounded like it had had as much as four or five entire dollars spent on it. Astonishing. Being apparently narrated by Troy McClure from the Simpsons (“It SHOULD have been as easy as brushing her TEETH, but THIS time… it WASN’T.”) was one thing (and if you get a chance to Google narrator William Roberts, please do, becase he looks exactly how I imagined). But once the lady-actors were let loose on the mic, things went to a whole ‘nother level, y’all. Juliet was my especial favourite – man, she delivered those lines like the future of humanity depended on it, my personal highlight being “Right now I’m off to the BATHroom to take a WONderful BATH!” And as for that opening pre-car crash scene… Well, I guess now I know what it would feel like if my ear canals were set on fire. Seriously, Cappie Cabot (best name ever, hands down), give me a break.
Obviously the audio version was heavily abridged, but did anyone else notice the random bonus character of Alan, who was nameless in the book, but got to utter a single word in audio format (“Quick, Alan! A ladder!” “Right!”). Bravo, Alan. Bravo.
Okay, q&a time.
1. A box of hair dye. A picture of Princess Anne. A garden hoe. Dye Anne Hoe. Diane Hoh! Geddit?
2. ‘Hey, are you dumb and gullible? Like chatting to ghosts in your mirror? Let’s swap bodies or whatever!’ (fyi, this probably would have worked on Megan).
3. Megan got absolutely shitfaced on White Lightning and ended up cry-vomiting into the lake while long-suffering Hilary held her hair back.
4. Cappie Cabot, definitely.
5. It’s not an original, but Curl Up And Dye hairdressers will always be my favourite pun shop.
Woo, another one down! Sorry again for the delay. I WOULD say I’m looking forward to our Summerfest next month, but last time I looked, RTC was sneaking up on us and I swear to God I will cut a bitch 😉
See you in August, gang!
Hi Paul. Sorry for the very late reply. I had a hectic but enjoyable weekend at YALC! Fab comments as always! I’m so please you loved The Accident as I really liked it too! “In Your Dreams, Deems”! was a fantastic line especially on the audio book! It made me lol!
Just looked up William Roberts….omg he sounds like he looks! and yes Alan was the hero of the hour!
Loving your DYE ANNE HOE! Just brilliant!!
No need to worry about RTC – The Beach House won thanks to my hubby as the voting was tied when I looked so asked him to pick out of the two! Lucky escape for you Paul although I do remember you saying you kind of liked Teachers Pet y’all! 😉
PS – placing my order for some haunted roller skates as we speak
Thanks to the awesome interviews we’ve had with some PH authors I realise that the book titles were generally given out, but Scholastic probably needed to review things in this case. Clearly this book should have been called ‘The Mistake’. Megan mistake swapping bodies with Juliet was much more of the story than the accident was. Plus Diane made a mistake writing this and we made a mistake voting for it to be our PHBC book! Can’t say I got much from this book and I normally enjoy Diane’s work.
Anyhoo – where to start?
Cappie Cabot? What a name! Are there actually people in the US with these kinds of names? Tell you what: I really went to the wrong high school – there certainly weren’t any unpopular jazz loving, wild flower picking raven haired lasses with sea green eyes sitting in my class hoping to get noticed! Just Like Sabrina, The Teenage Witch was also uncool – whatever 90s!
I also made a note about Donny’s alphabet being short a few letters! Great insult; I’m sure it’ll find it’s way into future PHBC reviews!
I loved how Justin could tell from a crappy crayon drawing that it was a mule and not a horse!
I made some notes about how bloodless and anaemic this book felt; that the lack of death really detracted from the story. THEN I read A. Bates interview where she said she wasn’t allowed to kill people off in the early part of her PH career. Given that this book is very early PH too (1991) perhaps Diane just wasn’t allowed to “finish the job”?
Seriously though, this is the worst Hoh book I’ve read – no suspense, a flimsy premise and, let’s face it, crayon Pictionary threats aren’t exactly Hitchcock! I was more excited about the chance to win a $500 stereo – with both CD and cassette player – in the competition in the back of the book! Shame it closed on June 30 1991.
Interesting to see Diane use purple as a key colour again – remember the notes from ‘The Funhouse’ and the purple room in ‘The Silent Scream’?
The audiobook was a hoot! I’ve listened to a few of them (I’m lucky enough to have collected a few of them along the way) and I reckon the theme music they play when announcing the title is just great! Sort of an ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ kinda feel!
The questions:
1. A piece of paper ripped in half and a bent leg with an arrow pointing at the joint – Tawn (torn) – ney (knee)!
2. Cash only. Apply within.
3. Megan had two wine coolers and went to bed early. Meanwhile, sick of the continual slut shaming, Vicki Deems rolls up in an outrageously revealing outfit and convinces Justin to take her for a boat ride where due to some protection malfunction another ‘accident’ occurs…
4. I’d say Avril Lavigne, but I’d be over the – AHEM – self examination after a few hours, so maybe someone really athletic like Lebron just to experience the ability to do something I’d never be able to do.
5. Nice To See You Again – second hand mirror shop.
I’m voting for Stine for next month – let ‘The Accident’ sink to the bottom of the lake, I’m off to the beach!
Hi Mark! Such fab comments! I take it The Accident wasn’t your cup of tea then!? I forgot about Justin cracking the mule not a horse thing!
Such a good point! This was early point horror so yes would be really interesting to find out if the same rules applied re killing someone in the books and then why that changed later on in the books….hmmmmmm plots!
And yes what is with Diane Hoh and the colour purple!! Good Point Horror spotting and linking there Mark! Buttery Popcorn for you!
I notice your still lingering after Tawney! Your getting as bad as Billy with Jenny!! 😉
And we are indeed off to the Beach next month …yay!
ps – that competition sounds AMAZING! I’m enetering with my Crayola drawn mule!
Sorry for being so late with my write up on this one! I had read it in time but didn’t have a moment to sit at my computer (was doing a Netflix Marathon lol).
Anyhoo. The Accident. So, I remember this one as being one of the first Point Horrors I read. I was captivated by the cover. The metallic green title, the eerie sky, the hand coming out from the water… the fact that somebody managed to drown a) that close to the boat and b) that close to the shore and c) in what could only have been shallow waters.
But who am I? Never judge a book by the cover. Never. Judge. A book.
Can we spend a moment to put some love towards my most favourite-named of all PH minor characters, Cappie Cabot? If I ever have a daughter I will change my surname to Cabot so that I can call her Cappie. As I read the pages the memories came flooding back about the Crayola drawings and ‘cryptic’ clues around ‘accidents’ that were befalling Megan’s nearest and dearest.
Megan was your standard run-of-the-mill PH heroine to me. She wasn’t annoying like Martha in Trick or Treat or as annoying as Dove from The Perfume, but as naïve as they come and rather sweet with her whole ‘thing’ with Justin. Loved that he also wasn’t the stereotypical huge, tall, dark, handsome, ‘roid-taking football player most of the boys are in these stories (not sure about the rest of you, but when I was 16, rather than being the perfect specimen of a man the PH guys were, I had acne and played the recorder… but I digress). The fact Justin was a geek was a nice change of pace. I’m sure it gave the Billy of yester-year some vague semblance of hope back then lol.
Silly Hilly should have got her own PH spin-off. As for Juliet… I guess it was quite a stretch of the imagination for a purple-hued thermostat-adjusting smudge in a mirror to be able to take over young Megan’s body and start trying to get to first base with Justin, but it again was a good change of pace for the usual unhinged teenager we usually encounter.
Onto das questions…
•Give me your best description of a drawing of a name ie A Cap and a Pea = Cappie!
I would draw a bumble bee (b), someone vomiting (ill) and a question mark (y?)
•What would your advert for ghostly body swaps be?
Lol, not sure on this one. Wanted: Naïve teenager required to spend eternity inside a mirror whilst I get jiggy with your significant other.
•What do you think happened at Megan’s sweet sixteenth?
Oh wow. What *didn’t* happen. I bet Cappie and the other girls in that car accident recovered and attended, showing Megan with gifts. Justin gave her a copy of Romeo and ‘Juliet’ for posterity purposes, Silly Hilly probably acted silly, and then as the party closed down, Cappie and her besties went off in their newly refurbished car, only to miss the corner again and crash into the newly repaired utility pole again. Turns out Barbie just ain’t that good a driver.
•If you could swap bodies with some one for a week who would it be?
CAPPIE CABOT (pre-car crash).
•Give me your best shop name to go in The Accident shopping Mall!
Rival hair salon ‘Curl Up and Dye’ and old record shop ‘The Vinyl Resting Place’
As for the audio book. Wow. I’ve never lolled so much at anything. The opening chapter with the chipmunks in the car was hilarious. I’m sure it was just Megan speaking in a higher tone as they probably couldn’t afford another voice actor haha. But yeah, so early 90s. Hear the Fear indeed.
I bet Paul votes for RTC again!
Oh Billy Goat! I have lol ed so much at – I would draw a bumble bee (b), someone vomiting (ill) and a question mark (y?) – lol lol lol lol lol
And wow you have really thought hard about what you think would have happened at the sweet sixteeth! I admire your dedication to this book! 🙂
So has Cappie Cabot replaced Jenny?!! Oh the horror Billy! The Horror!
For me the geek always wins hence why I liked Justin! I think this sums up my type and my school life and boyfriends! lol
PS – I think Paul was voting for RTC too….I bet he went on all different computers and was gutted Stiney won!
Billy, I think we might share a brain. Curl up and dye? Both choosing to body swap with C(r)appie Cabot? We are of one mind, my friend 😉
Except where RTC is concerned. You’re on your own with that one.
Paul you are gradually morphing into Billy Goat! If you reach for that buttery popcorn and pine for Jenny I will be worried!
I’m starting to think Paul and I are the same person. Like the book club’s very own Wing/Dove, Juliet/Megan combo.
Sorry for the delay everyone! I’m reading all your comments now! I’ve been a little busy this weekend …so tired! The next Point Horror Book Club read is The Beach House by R L Stine! xx
That is one scary combo!
Haha we even posted about writing the same posts lol.
I saw! You are joined at the Point Horror mind!
Back on James’ site we started writing ‘The Asylum’ – now we’ve got the mind melding…’The Blog’!
Ha ha ha ….I think we have a classic on our hands 🙂
Of course, at the end of the novel it would transpire that none of the PHBC members have ever existed. We were in Chelley’s head ALL ALONG…!
:-0…..I often worry about this! *sings and talks to self*
Don’t know re purple being a key colour, but author obviously likes it. Cappie Cabot makes me think of Laurie Cabot. Are there actually real people named this?? D-Hoh = brilliant. I love the train of thought in this book; Juliet’s from another time, she must be, due to her enthusiasm for everything.