Bryan Folger wants the Cataluna more than he's ever wanted anything. The sleek white car is all he can think about. And he'll do whatever it takes to get it. Steal. Even kill.
But Bryan is the one who could end up dead. For inside the Cataluna lives an ancient evil.
Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.
R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.
Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.
The first time I read this book I was in 7th grade (I'm now 26). I think I checked this book out of the library every chance I got. I would love to read it again. Even though its been a long time since I last read it I think its worth five stars.
I've read this series before, and I've always felt bad for Catherine. Poor girl couldn't control when she was born. That town made her into the killer she became, and I only wish that she'd taken out more of them.
And the modern protagonist, Bryan, is an idiot. I had a hard time feeling bad for him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I was very excited to read this series cause it just sounded so interesting! I mean, Christine, anyone? It had been on my mind for about a year and I finally got to it! And I gotta say, it wasn’t too bad.
The book is told across two different time periods. In the 1600s we meet a teenage girl named Catherine. The people in her village call her Bad Luck Catherine and Catherine of the Moon (among other things) because they think she brings bad luck to them and their crops and whatever. But all this poor girl wants is to go to school and learn! Of course she can’t because she’s a girl.
She literally sneaks away to peek into the classroom window to eavesdrop on the lessons! But the kids are so mean to her, and even adults, too! Wtf! And then her own parents there at the end... Ooof!
In the present day (aka the 90s lol) we have Bryan who is obsessing over a car... the Cataluna. He is super broke but desperately wants it and goes to extreme lengths to get the money to buy it. He is an idiot boy who goes insane over a dumb car. But the car is supernatural soooo... it’s the car’s fault? Idk. Lol.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I liked the kills and all the crazy injuries—these books always have really good, gory descriptions. Another thing I love about these books is that they take place in the 90s, but I actually preferred the 1600s story in this one. I just felt really bad Catherine and how she was treated for absolutely no reason. There’s a connection between Catherine and the Cataluna, but we still don’t know exactly how. I’m really excited to find out cause this concept is just so interesting to me! One thought that came to me as I was reading this book was that it would’ve been cool if this story was about the Fears and the Goodes. I love a good Fear vs Goode feud. Lol.
The Fear Street connection: Bryan drove down Fear Street in the Cataluna at one point. That's it 🤷♀️["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
I am keeping my five star rating for this book and probably the other two in this trilogy.
I remember that I found The Evil Moon as the start of this new Fear Street trilogy in the book section of some drugstore but can not remember which one it was but I am leaning toward Rite Aid since it was back in 1995.
How could I not grab it off the shelf with the cover art of a young woman sitting on top of some sleek sports car in the dark woods with a literal evil moon behind her and something sort of...off in her eyes?
I'm a child of the 80s and I'm not only getting evil Tawny Kitaen vibes from the girl but serious Christine vibes from the car.
If anyone has read my Heartsong Saga books, this is where I got the name for the band Cataluna and even shout out to that fact in one of them.
Now the back of the book only tells us half of what we are going to expect in these Cataluna Chronicles and it makes it a surprise to anyone who was only expecting some sort of teenage poor man's Christine.
The prologue tells the fate of two teenage boys named Matt and Chris who sneak on to the closed Denny's Car Lot and sneak a peek and a touch of a rare sports car called a Cataluna. Smooth, milk white body with blood red leather interior, racing stripes and chrome galore.
They find that the keys are inside in the ignition and the main gate is unlocked and wide open to get the car off the lot.
Matt and Chris head off thinking that this is their lucky night until they hear the voice of a young woman but it isn't coming from the radio. Her voice is low and teasing and then laughing evilly as Chris loses control of the car...it is driving on its own.
Speeding through lights as the two boys scream but they are able to dive from the car before it heads for a sharp curve up ahead. Their luck, however, runs out due to a big rig while the Cataluna...makes it without a single scratch.
We are told that an evil is within the car from an unknown narrator and it all dates back to 1698 and a girl named Catharine Hatchett.
Wow spoiler much?
Catherine is a fifteen year old girl in Colonial times so she is just expected to do housework and marry and have babies and not go to school like all of the boys in the village. As if that weren't bad enough, everyone in the town believes that Catherine is bad luck and that luck has spread to curse the crops and the farm animals to dying.
In this time it isn't hard to imagine all the fear but it is also because of the birthmark that Catherine bears on her temple. Even when her long hair is up underneath her cap it shows the mark of a crescent moon, the skin red and puckered.
Her mother and father do not shield her from the cruel taunts and declare she was born under a bad moon. The young boys and men of the village bring her to tears and trip her into the dirt while the adults bring their heads together the moment she passes by.
The only person to show Catherine any kindness is Gwendolyn Parrish, the old woman they call "Crazy Gwendolyn" with her long silvery hair and raspy voice and cat-like eyes. Coming back from a visit to Gwendolyn, Catherine is followed by the Parker Brothers (hah!...man am I old if you don't get the reference...)
Joseph and his younger brother William are some of the richest and respected members of the community alongside their father, Edmund Parker. Not as handsome as Joseph but just as blond and with his kinder face, William loses his venom on Catherine to take her aback while Joseph only watches silently.
Until he orders his little brother to leave so he can take care of Catherine that is...
Catherine's horror is turned into shock to have Joseph back her against a tree and kiss her passionately. He takes her in his arms and declares that he cares about Catherine and he even touches her birthmark gently, which makes Catherine tremble in both excitement and wariness at Joseph's words.
They meet in secret for a few weeks but soon Catherine's father Adam tells her that the town will have a meeting to discuss what to do about her as the blight on the crops continues. That night, a shocking confession is made but also a secret is revealed and Catherine is dealt one blow after another until what is left...is anger.
All she wants is revenge...
In present day Shadyside of 1995, Bryan Folger is not having a very lucky night. It is partly his own fault as he can't concentrate on his job flipping burgers, making french fries or running the register at Happy Burgers to his boss, Mr. Robbins, frustration.
Messing up a customer's order is the last straw and Bryan is fired. In a rage he throws french fry grease at his former boss but he couldn't even remember to turn the fryer on and the oil is blessedly cold.
What has Bryan so crazed?
The Cataluna, a white sports car, sitting on the Denny's Car Lot. Ever since he saw it, Bryan has had to have it but there's just one problem.
No cash for a down payment.
His father lost his job and they had to move to the less glamorous part of town while his best friend Alan Brown and his girlfriend Misty Clark live in the richest neighborhood in Shadyside. He's lost this part-time job and his other job as a flower delivery boy for the local florist isn't paying much because of the lack of hours.
Alan's dad could buy a car like the Cataluna for his son with no problem and Misty can easily go out and buy almost $200 worth of CDs with her own father's money. The thing about his best friend and his girlfriend is that neither one of them is stuck up about it but Bryan can't help but be bugged about it.
That is until the Cataluna becomes all Bryan cares about anymore.
Soon he's blowing off dates with Misty to save every penny he can but it isn't enough and Bryan turns to stealing to get that $1,000 dollars for that payment so the Cataluna can finally be his at any cost...even that of his own life.
There is some pretty intense and disturbing scenes in both 1698 and 1995 in the way Stine writes it and the modern story is the more tragic tale.
The story set in 1698 is good but since this is a trilogy, you can already expect it to be the one that continues as there is still quite a bit to discover...still a lot of questions that need answers.
Some of which will be answered in The Dark Secret...
The first book of The Cataluna Chronicles trilogy is an odd one. There was a lot I liked, and a few things that I wish had been more developed. I read all of these books as a kid, but remember very little aside from the fact that I named our family dog Misty after one of the characters. I hadn’t realized how much of the Netflix Fear Street movies, 1666 in particular, pulled from The Evil Moon. That was a fun discovery. I also really liked the narrative for Bryan’s character. It felt like a departure from the tried and true formula for a Fear Street protagonist, and that was refreshing. Catherine’s narrative on the other hand felt like a tired rehash of better books. I wish her story had been given more time to develop, and that she had been given more complexity and depth. It’s still not yet clear exactly how Catherine and the Cataluna are linked, but it’s clear that they are. Given Catherine’s humble beginnings as a village outcast, I would have hoped she’d turn out to be something more than an evil laughing voice in a haunted car that thrives on killing teenagers. Cartoonish villainy with a black-and-white notion of good and evil gets very tiresome. Lack of nuance aside, I still really enjoyed reading this one. The Evil Moon proved to be a solid kick-off to a new trilogy. Let’s see if the next two books can live up to it.
2 stars. I was not impressed with this one. I love the Cheerleaders series and thought this would be amazing. I liked Catherine's chapters, but her twist was ridiculous and the connection to the name Cataluna was DUMB. The 1995 chapters were not interesting and just followed a kid obsessed with buying a car. He threw grease on someone, stole money, and lost his mind. Christine is a bloody and scary car novel, but this one had low-level stakes because he didn't have the car for the entire book except for ten pages. Review to come.
This was quite an unusual story that gives a twist on Christine. Just picture it as the demonic force behind a car finally being explained. That evil force is a poor girl nicknamed "Bad Luck Catherine" and honestly her part of the story is the most interesting and sad. What happens to this poor girl makes me root for her more than the present-day characters.
Re-read. Apparently this used to be a favorite but I do not feel that same attachment. The Cataluna Chronicles is a Christine rip-off in the Fear Street series. This first book is told in two time periods, New England 1698 and Shadyside 1995. During the 1600's, we have Catherine who was born under a bad moon and whom the town blames for all their misfortune. She is marked with a crescent moon birth mark at her temple. They decide to drive her out of town after a terrible storm blaming her again for bad luck. She discovers her true parentage and that she is a shapeshifter...so she murders some people and gets away. In Shadyside, Bryan isolates himself from his friend and his girlfriend because he's so obsessed with this Cataluna car that he can't afford. He even starts stealing money so he can buy it. The driver of the car hears a teasing female voice though and loses control and everyone who drives it dies.
So possessed car. Sound familiar? How about with a goofy, witchy twist? The prologue and epilogue imply another colonial townsperson is chasing Catherine through the centuries, what a twist.
Would you like to know more about Shadyside? Then look no further. I am excited to draw your attention to another series called the Cataluna Chronicles.
Have you read Christine by Steven King? Then this book is for you.
Imagine seeing a car that draws your attention Imagine becoming obsessed to the point that nothing seems more important that owning the car
This car comes with a special features? It drives itself You can hear a girl who talks to you The last known people who drove the car were killed
However
There is a back story to this car and this takes place in the 1800s.
A time where witches were hanged Evil was punished by townsfolk
I loved this book and will definitely recommend. This is one if my favourite Fear Street books.
3.5 stars - Set hundreds of years ago, Catherine learns that she was born to a shapeshifting cursed witch and has brought bad luck to her community. Set present day (1995), Bryan desperately wants a car, and his desperation leads him to cross some serious lines. At the end, we learn that Cataluna is not just the car model but also Catherine's birth name.
I was looking forward to reading more of the modern day Fear Streets, so I was surprised to see that this book is pretty evenly split between the past and present. The split narrative keeps it pretty honed in on the individual plotlines, and it was an enjoyable read.
Cataluna. The name all makes sense now because Catherine, the girl from the 1600s can shapeshift in to a cat and she was borned under the moon. And for some reasons, she's now possessing a car and whoever drives it dies a vicious death. That was pretty fun to read. Bryan reminds me of a guy on TLC who marries his car. I wonder how Joseph stays alive.
I will freely admit that 99% of this rating is nostalgia. I loved R. L. Stine when I was a kid, but this was filled to the brim with teenage angst. Especially Brian. Dude was an idiot and just a whiny little bitch. Catherine, on the other hand, had a tough go of it.
A nice and quick jaunt down memory lane, for sure.
I never read these books as a kid because the idea of a killer car never appeal to me. The book takes place in the 1700 and present day which is 1995. For me the heart set in the past were way better than the present day. The whole pass is about a girl who is a curse to her and everyone wants her to die. She finds out she has power to transform. It also has a big revenge plot that goes through all three books. The present day is about a random teen, Bryan who is obsessed with the titular car and will do anything to get it. The present day characters are pretty unlikable. Barely a three star book.
Patchy storyline - never pulled the plot together.
A second review, having read it again (I completely forgot that I'd ever read it originally, so obviously it didn't make much impression). The storyline didn't seem as dismal to me this time around - it's a simplistic RL Stine kids novel, in any case, but covers where a source of evil may have originated in a time long before ours, and then jumps to modern day where a boy is consumed by a desire to have this car, which eventually (SPOILER) kills him. Not everything matched up, but it was alright, and as it's part of a series, I guess that was intended.
Not my favorite of Stine's, so I would recommend a good old fashioned Goosebumps if you're feeling the urge, but if you eventually get to this one, it's fine for a quick night's read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
There are very few Fear Street books that I've never read but have always wanted to, and this trilogy is definitely included in that. So, I was absolutely thrilled to find all three books at Half Price Books!
The premise of this trilogy is ridiculously fantastic. I mean, a possessed car?!? That's right up my alley, especially considering Christine is one of my favorite Stephen King books. I love that I had no idea what was going to happen, since that rarely gets to happen for me with Fear Street books.
Quite honestly this book was pretty awful, but I had SO much fun reading it that I don't even care.
this book is about a boy named bryan. he sees this girl, and he falls in love. but its not the the girl he loves it is the car that she is driving. it was a white cataluna that he would do anything for. even kill. i think this is a good book for anybody who likes murder misterys. and it is one of my favorite authers.
Girls and a night out with the boys can mean so much more when you have a ride OR DIE. the nights I spent under the cover in the dark reading black fonts on white pages makes my eyes so much clearer when I imagine words with lost lives.