Time elapsed in this book: 2 weeks
Length of their junior year: 1 year, 7 months, 1 week
Jessica’s love interest: Mitch Denson
Entertainment rating: 9/10
This book was so good! As a kid, I thought this book was so incredibly good that I raved about it to my mom and then proceeded to actually read the whole book to her over the course of a week or two because I just knew she’d love it. Did she? Probably not, although she never said anything to dissuade me of my assumption that anyone who read this book couldn’t help but fall in love with Sweet Valley the way I did. My 12 year old self was thrilled to share my love of Sweet Valley with her! Rereading as an adult, there are so many holes and it’s absolutely ridiculous, but it’s ridiculous fun. I loved it!
I also need to comment on the cover: I feel like this cover would have been more appropriate as a cover for Kidnapped!, with Liz as the cover model, since Liz actually was kidnapped with a chloroformed rag. Regina never had this situation happen to her. They should have switched the covers/cover models! But this cover is dramatic nonetheless and lets you know you’re in for a thrilling treat with this book!
We open with the twins discussing what’s going on with Regina. To recap: Regina is deaf and moved to Switzerland at the end of Head Over Heels to undergo miracle medical treatments to restore her hearing, but Liz recently heard from her classmate Eddie, who made a delivery to the Morrow’s mansion from the local supermarket, that Regina was back in town. Liz asked Bruce, Regina’s boyfriend, if Regina was back and Bruce rang the Morrow’s to find out, but the woman who answered the phone said Regina was sleeping and that she was Regina’s aunt. But Bruce knows enough about the Morrows to know that neither parent has any siblings! So who is this supposed aunt?!? And also, why would Bruce ring the house of his until-this-point deaf girlfriend? Jess doesn’t seem very concerned, but Liz can’t help getting involved, so she decides to drive over to the Morrows to check things out herself.
When Liz gets to the Morrows, a strange woman answers the door and says Regina isn’t there. But then Regina appears in the foyer! Liz waves at her happily and starts to talk, but the woman barks at Regina to stay upstairs and Regina disappears again. The woman tells Liz that Regina has been sick, then closes the door. Liz goes home and thinks about the situation. She considers telling her parents but figures they’ll tell her to stay out of it, so instead she calls the police about her suspicions and asks them to check it out.
The police call back that evening and said that they stopped by and that the woman who answered the door introduced herself as Claire, Skye Morrow’s stepsister. Claire told the police that Regina was upstairs and the police had no reason to suspect anything was wrong, so they didn’t investigate any further. They tell Liz not to worry the next time one of her friends can’t meet up with her. Liz and Jess discuss this, and Jess suggests that they ask Eddie when he’s going to make the next grocery delivery to the Morrows because maybe they can sneak in a message to Regina.
Liz calls Bruce, who confirms that neither of the Morrow parents have any step siblings. Bruce then mentions that he’s feeling a little tired because he got dragged into an argument at school earlier, when Mr. Collins was laying into Ken about flunking English. This sounds absolutely inappropriate to discuss in front of another student (Bruce was there because apparently if Ken flunks English, he can’t play on the football team and Bruce is head of the centennial committee so I guess it’s important for him to know this?). Anyway, they talk about Regina and Jess comes up with a plan: the grocery store is scheduled to make another grocery delivery to the Morrows the next day, so they plan to add a copy of Ingenue magazine to the order and hide a letter to Regina in it, since they figure Claire won’t be interested in a fashion magazine and will give it to Regina. Their letter asks Regina to write them a letter and throw it out her window for them to retrieve.
We cut to Regina’s perspective. She is indeed being held captive! Her hearing treatments have allowed her to start hearing things and she thought she was going to meet her family at an airport in Switzerland eight days ago. She was thrilled to hear their voices for the first time, but when she got to the airport, a woman kidnapped her and took her to Sweet Valley, saying that her parents, who are being held hostage elsewhere, would be killed if she didn’t comply! Apparently her dad, who’s in the computer business, finally perfected a prototype of a new computer chip and a man wants to steal it. His plan is for Claire to hold Regina hostage at the Morrow mansion while he holds her parents hostage elsewhere. They’re going to make Regina’s dad call his company and have someone at the company hand the computer chip over to Regina at an unknown future date. She’s thinking about the situation and wishing she knew more about the plan when Claire opens her bedroom door and throws a magazine in her room, saying it was included in their grocery delivery by accident. How wonderful that this plan worked so smoothly! Regina notices that there’s a letter in there! It’s from the twins and Bruce! She reads it and starts writing her response….
The twins and Bruce return to the mansion that night and retrieve the letter that Regina threw out the window. In it, Regina explains what’s going on and says that the only member of her family who is safe is her brother, Nicholas, since he’s at a friend’s house in San Francisco. She asks them to get in touch with him and let him know what’s going on. Regina says she doesn’t know when the chip is going to be stolen and that the only helpful thing she overheard was the cryptic phrase “Money is heaven.” She begs them not to call the police again, since after the police visited the other day, Claire was so mad that she locked Regina in her room and threatened to tie her up! I can’t believe Regina was previously roaming around the house freely until then.
Bruce calls Nicholas, who drives back to Sweet Valley. They fill him in on what’s going on. He wants to check out the estate, so Liz goes there with him and warns him to be careful. They park near the main gate to the mansion (it has more than one gate?!). A car starts coming down the front drive! Liz panics that the driver might see them, but Nicholas is quick on his feet and kisses Liz so anyone passing by will just think they’re out for a romantic drive. I remember I used to find this scene so incredibly romantic. Rereading it now, I’m not sure why. Nicholas says he got a slight view of the guy in the car and that he recognized the driver as Phillip Denson, a man who used to work for Mr. Morrow but got caught stealing so he was sent to prison. He just got out last year!
The twins and Bruce skip school the next day and instead go with Nicholas to Fort Carroll, where Phillip Denson lives. Outside the house, a teen boy is mowing the lawn. Bruce says they’re in luck because if this is Denson’s son, Jess will be able to get answers out of him because her specialty is flirting!
Jess approaches the guy and says they’re taking a poll for their school newspaper. He looks a little nervous but introduces himself as Mitch Denson. He says his dad’s a computer consultant and then gets really nervous when Jess asks for a glass of water. He says she can’t come inside but that he’ll get her a drink. After he goes in the house, Jess looks through a window and spies Mr. and Mrs. Morrow in the living room! Apparently they’re not tied up either. Mitch returns and Jess says she was looking through the window to see how the living room was set up for the poll they’re taking. Mitch looks through the window but the Morrows are out of sight, so he assumes she didn’t see anything she wasn’t supposed to.
Saturday afternoon, the four amateur detectives are still trying to figure out when the chip is going to be stolen. They know it’ll happen soon, since it won’t take very long for someone to realize the Morrows are missing. Then Jessica breaks the code! She tells everyone to cover their ears and say, “Money is heaven” out loud. It’s a muffled version of “Monday at seven!” For whatever reason, this whole “Money is heaven”/”Monday at seven” bit has stuck with me for years. I think I used to consider this an absolutely brilliant tidbit.
Since Regina will be picking up the chip with Claire on Monday at seven, they decide that will be their chance to rescue her parents. Bruce and Jess are going to go free the Morrows in Fort Carrow exactly at 7pm while Nicholas and Liz go to the plant. Liz will stall Regina and Claire while Nicholas calls the police. The plant is guarded, so Claire won’t be able to hurt Regina without blowing her cover, and she won’t be able to find out if the Morrows are freed! Jess thinks they should call the police ahead of time, but Bruce says that if the police go back to the Morrow’s place, Claire will hurt Regina! You’d think they could just show the police Regina’s letter about what’s going on and provide Denson’s address where the Morrows are being held as proof that bad things are afoot, but I understand the skepticism about the Sweet Valley police, who haven’t shown themselves to be very competent.
The only hitch in this plan is that they don’t know where Denson will be Monday at seven, so Jess returns to Fort Carroll to get the info out of Mitch. Mitch is thrilled to see Jess but doesn’t let her in the house. Jess invites him to a party on Monday night. Mitch says it’s a bad night for him. Jess says that maybe she’ll just stop by on Monday night to see if he’s busy and if he is, she’ll go to the party by herself. Mitch agrees to this, and Jess leaves. She doesn’t have all the info she wanted and she’s a little disappointed by how Mitch didn’t open up to her about what’s going on, but she’s happy that they at least have a date!
Monday at seven, Jess shows up at Denson’s house as promised. Bruce sneaks up the driveway while Jess distracts Mitch at the front door. Mitch says it’s a bad time because he has plans. Then Denson’s car starts racing down the street toward the house! Everyone races inside. It’s chaos! Jess spots the Morrows and Bruce, and Mitch yells that his dad has a gun. Denson points the gun at everyone!
Denson threatens Jessica, so Mitch throws himself at his dad, knocking the gun out of his hands, telling him to leave Jess alone! Jessica, Bruce, and the Morrows race out of the house.
Meanwhile, Claire and Regina arrive at the plant. Liz, who got a badge to get past security from Nicholas, strides over to them and poses as a reporter who has some questions about the place. While Liz distracts Claire, Nicholas calls the police, who don’t believe him. The police tell him that a girl had previously called with worried about the Morrows but that the police found nothing out of order when they checked it out, so how are they supposed to believe his story now? Sweet Valley police are the worst. The police put him on hold to take another call and when they come back, the sergeant says the other call was from Nicholas’s father, who confirmed the story. The police now believe that something’s going on. They say they’re on the way to the plant, as is Mr. Morrow.
Knowing his parents are safe and the police are on their way, Nicholas races over to Regina. Claire tells him to stop. Bruce, Jess, and the Morrows arrive! Claire pulls out a gun, saying that she’ll fire it if anyone tries anything more. Then Denson and Mitch arrive! Denson points his gun at everyone too! Where is security?! Why did Liz need a badge to get through security when apparently everyone else can just easily enter with guns?! Mr. Morrow asks what Denson really wants. Denson says he wants Mr. Morrow to pay for sending him to prison for embezzling funds and that he expects to make a fortune off the chip prototype. Before anything more can happen, the police arrive! They arrest Claire, Denson, and Mitch. Jess begs them not to hurt Mitch, since he saved her life, and the officer assures her that although they have to take him to the station, nothing will happen to him if he’s innocent.
The nightmare is over! Everyone goes to the Morrow’s house for dinner and to discuss what happened. There’s more good news: Regina’s hearing is now 85% normal! Her Swiss doctor says it’s so good that she can finish her treatments in Sweet Valley and that she doesn’t have to return to Switzerland!
That weekend, the Morrows hold a party to celebrate because what occasion doesn’t deserve a party? All charges against Mitch were dropped and that he’ll be moving to New Jersey to live with an aunt. Jess says it’s just as well because she doesn’t want to think about the Densons again. Everyone has a great time at the party.
Next up: Suzanne Hanlon has her eye on Ken and wants to change him. Will she succeed?