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Sweet Valley High #82
Kidnapped by the Cult!
The power of persuasion...
Jessica Wakefield's parents have grounded her, she's angry at her boyfriend, Sam, and her friends don't care what happens to her. Then, just when she's at her lowest, Jessica meets a magnetic stranger.
Adam Marvel is the leader of the Good Friends, a mysterious cult that pretends to help the poor and needy. Adam's slick talk wins Jessica over, and before long she's given up parties and cheerleading for group meetings and collecting money at the mail.
When Elizabeth hears rumors about a dangerous cult in Sweet Valley, she realizes Jessica has fallen under its spell. It's up to Elizabeth to save her sister from the grasp of Adam Marvel before Jessica helps commit a terrible crime!
Jessica Wakefield's parents have grounded her, she's angry at her boyfriend, Sam, and her friends don't care what happens to her. Then, just when she's at her lowest, Jessica meets a magnetic stranger.
Adam Marvel is the leader of the Good Friends, a mysterious cult that pretends to help the poor and needy. Adam's slick talk wins Jessica over, and before long she's given up parties and cheerleading for group meetings and collecting money at the mail.
When Elizabeth hears rumors about a dangerous cult in Sweet Valley, she realizes Jessica has fallen under its spell. It's up to Elizabeth to save her sister from the grasp of Adam Marvel before Jessica helps commit a terrible crime!
154 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
34 people are currently reading
371 people want to read
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,139 books1,844 followersFrancine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.
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August 6, 2016Don't ask me why I'm reading these. I don't know myself
June 28, 2018
I suppose to begin with I should state what my aims are here. First of all, I'm looking to learn about how to be an ordinary teenage girl. There might be some hurdles to that, but we'll deal with those afterwards, the important thing is the mindset. Secondly, dealing with mind control is an interest of mine (which is no doubt why the person who sent me this book chose it out), and so I'm going to be looking at what Pascal has to say on the topic of identifying cults and their methods. It's an ambitious combination, but let's see how we get on. Okay, so here I go. Gloves off, serious business only.
o-o-o
Jessica Wakefield is SO fed up. Her parents have grounded her for being stupid, and her incredibly shallow friends have decided to cram as much impromptu celebration as they can into the short period when she'll be safely locked up and unable to kill their buzz with her scowling fits. And to add further insult, one of her friends is going to London. She's so annoyed by the basic unfairness of this, that in cheerleading practice (of course she's a cheerleader), she's messing up the lines, leading to cutting insults like
which of course get a big laugh, because why wouldn't they?
But it's okay, because she gets to see her boyfriend Sam when he ferries her home from school. She's been hoping that Sam would spend more time with her and less time with his bike, now that she's grounded and totally unable to do anything other than sit in her room studying, and especially cannot go do bike-related things with him which she actually doesn't like doing at all. But oh no! Not only is Sam ten whole minutes late picking her up, but when she mentions it, he brings up that it was because of his bike, and he has to go home and spend more time doing bike things to fix his bike. Jessica feels there might be something wrong with this girlfriend:bike attention ratio, and Sam isn't exactly reassuring:
Nice smooth evasion, Sam. Get home and get greased up.
The other most beautiful girl in southern California is Jessica's identical twin sister Elizabeth, who takes her home the next day (the bridge was exactly like that, from one journey home to the one the next day, like there was no other way to write either of these scenes). Elizabeth and her boyfriend Todd are really excited about going "bowling", which Jessica considers "a sweaty sport, with absolutely no fashion potential". But they can't stop grinning, and talking about how they'll "improve our games" and "spend more time together", and "Just think of all the hours of practice we'll have to put in!" -- that last one with a mischievous grin. Okay, stop, we get it, geez. Jessica brushes them off, but Todd stays for dinner, during which Elizabeth has the temerity to suggest that maybe Jessica would like to join the randy couple for "bowling". Yeah, I'm sure Todd would love that, but Jessica is definitely not interested in propping up her sister's relationship in that way, even if her own boyfriend is probably lying under some bike right now.
Literally nothing else happens while Jessica is grounded, but immediately upon her release, she gets a huge blow: her boyfriend Sam is not interested in going shopping, because he has a huge bike race later today which he's only been telling her about all week apparently. Well, Jessica knows when she's being mistreated, and drives off in a huff to go cry in public at the mall. Suddenly, who should appear butHer Leprechaun God-Father some ginger kid, who demonstrates his deep emotional understanding of her particular crisis by reading from Top Ten Reasons a Teenage Girl Might be Crying. Jessica is impressed, which gives Ginger an opening to tell her about Adam Marvel and this group of-
Phew, that's reassuring. Well done Ted. Jessica's hooked into coming along to this not-an-organisation. She drives to their crack-den neighbourhood that evening (by the way, the most terrifying thing about this entire book is that all the characters can drive), and gets a sketchy vibe from things like that peeling paint, or that rusty car, prompting observations like
and
Which frankly I have no idea what to do with. She gets further distressed when they manage to bring her inside and her worst fears are confirmed. They have no TV, phone, or even curtains.
Worse than that, she's been in the house for ten whole minutes, and nobody has had a screaming argument or slammed a door. She's about to get the hell out of his poverty-stricken monastery, when who should finally come in the door but Adam Marvel, who is a really hot twenty-something guy, and not the Santa Claus figure she has for some reason been imagining. Of course, this changes everything, and she immediately agrees to sit down for dinner. There is an insightful cultural exchange in which Jessica manages to fool the gullible not-a-group into accepting that cheerleaders might be people, and they wrap it all up by sitting around and collectively admiring Adam.
Meanwhile, in twin-o-vision, the "bowling" club meets (yes, apparently it's a 'group' thing), and Elizabeth immediately picks out a hunk in the totally-fine-sort-of-group who smiles at her and says things like "The most important thing, though, is having a good time." There is absolutely no parallel between these two storylines about a twin being attracted to the leader of a 'group'. Nope. Jessica's evening with the Good Friends in their crack-den has totally changed her life, and she starts doing things like getting up in the morning and helping Adam clean a garage and noticing how boring her friends are. Whereas Elizabeth's evening with the "bowling" club has revealed her boyfriend's performance issues, and led to the hunky Justin putting his hands all over her to reposition her body. Todd is a bit miffed about this, leading to the single most hilarious line of the entire book:
And anyway, Elizabeth tells herself, Justin is 'only interested in you as a bowler'. What, who's that on the phone? Justin? And he wants to tell Elizabeth that he likes her? Boy, she had better tell Todd about this, right? Wrong. This is about where Elizabeth loses me in this story. Todd is quite correctly annoyed about the Justin thing, but trusts Elizabeth entirely, and Elizabeth repays that trust by going on a date with Justin behind his back, which is just a totally shitty thing to do to a guy who is willing to hang around in a dodgy neighbourhood to back you up against the cult you're investigating. Even though he can barely lift a bowling ball.
Anyway, in main-plot-land, Jessica is off doing things like collecting charity money with the it's-a-group-but-it's-okay folk. At one point she raises a protest about how they're spending the charity money on their own shopping, but a bit of the ol' Adam charm totally erases that qualm. Ditto for when she learns that the group aren't normally allowed to talk to outsiders. Her weird behaviour is attracting the attention of her boyfriend, who she keeps lying to about what she's doing, which is in no way parallel of anything else. Also her sister is wondering what's up with Jessica doing things like cleaning her room and developing an internal life. Elizabeth decides to ask what's up, but broaches the conversation with some exciting gossip: their lawyer dad is working on this case involving a 'group' in town, who are pretending to be delivering money to charities but actually just stealing it all, and also setting up a cult of some sort! Jessica seems less than receptive to this bit of news, and no sister-bonding moment occurs. In fact, Jessica's shaken, and immediately goes and confronts Adam about this, and he explains that really everyone's just out to get them, look deep into my eyes, it's all okay really. Which of course she swallows.
Elizabeth's now taken to stalking Jessica, and finds out all about her involvement with the group, but Jessica swears her to secrecy until there is 'proof' one way or the other about them being a cult. I mean, geez, they don't have curtains, what more proof do you want? Elizabeth wonders how she might get said proof, and hits upon the idea of just going around to the group and pretending to be Jessica, because we have to shoehorn the fact that they are identical twins into this plot somehow, damnit. She goes around and sees basically nothing other than this one girl who doesn't like Jessica looks worried and tells her to leave, and it seems like Adam overhears them and... nothing. She leaves, apparently, and agonises over telling people about the bad vibes she got. It was a really weird scene.
Anyway, it turns out that one of the other cult members has been re-un-kidnapped by his parents, as Mr. Wakefield tells his daughters over dinner, and they're closing in on Adam and the gang. Surely this is proof? Elizabeth tries that on Jessica, and gets jujitsu'd into believing that Jessica totally won't go back to see them. Jessica totally goes back to see them, and tells them where they can re-kidnap the other guy from, and Adam invites her to run away with the group to live in another spartan crack-den somewhere else, which for some reason is a compelling and exciting offer.
This leads finally to the big denouement, with Elizabeth and Sam realising just in time what Jessica is up to, and rushing over there just in time for Elizabeth to emotionally plead with her sister not to run off with Adam, and for Sam to reveal that the girl who worried about Elizabeth-playing-Jessica is dead! Oh, no, she's just tied up and unconscious. But still, dramatic! And then the police turn up and arrest Adam, so Jessica doesn't even have to express a decision on the matter. Everything goes back to normal immediately somehow. Oh, and the not-dead girl turned out to be a reporter who was infiltrating the group, and for some reason the Wakefields invite her around to their house several days later to explain this entirely unnecessary twist that had no bearing on anything that happened.
Oh, and on the very last page, we have Todd apologising to Elizabeth about the Justin thing (which she has somehow told him about), saying that it was his fault for not worshipping her enough. Poor guy's got an incurable self-esteem issue. You don't need that relationship, dude!
Maybe he should develop an interest in bikes.
o-o-o
So, kids, what did we learn?
How to identify when you're joining a cult
You want to get up in the morning; you can tell when people are boring or shallow; you start reading books; you're encouraged to think for yourself; you enjoy doing work; you're eating museli for breakfast. Actually, though, Pascal did a pretty good job with this bit, the various mechanisms (targeting the vulnerable, personal charisma, social pressure, isolation, vindicating narratives, collaborative enforcement) were all trotted out in a vaguely believable manner, and Jessica's justifications were all plausible given her infatuation and the context she was fed. One exchange between Elizabeth and Jessica in particular was pretty good:
This is a level of insight which I wasn't expecting from the book. Cults often profess a commitment to independent thought (to contrast with narratives 'everyone else' might have about the cult, if nothing else), which members can buy into quite happily without noticing that nobody ever disagrees (or, in more nuanced forms, that disagreement never goes anywhere or results in anything other than what the cult leader wanted).
How to be a "normal" teenage girl
One stand-out element seemed to be a certain level of comfort with deceit. Jessica lies plausibly and repeatedly about her location and activities, even though in some cases she had no particular reason to do so. Elizabeth engages in a violating level of deceit with Todd, and even Jessica's barely-in-it friends reflexively lie to Sam to cover her whereabouts.
However, the main answer seems to be that you should pretty much always do whatever guys suggest you do. This was quite deeply engrained into the book: Jessica comes to the group house even though she doesn't want to because Ted suggests it to her, and comes inside even though she really doesn't want to because he pushes her to, and even though she was about to leave she stays because Adam suggested she should. Elizabeth does initially turn down Justin's offer of a date, but somehow ends up going on one anyway, even though she has plenty of good reasons not to. Pretty much everything Jessica does in the cult is because Adam tells her to do it and she doesn't want to appear disagreeable and spoil her chances with him, no matter how dodgy the stuff is. About the only thing I can think of which involved one of our girls disobeying a guy was when Jessica stormed off from Sam in the beginning of the book, which started her whole downward slide into the brainwashing tragedy.
o-o-o
At just a shade over 150 pages, this wasn't a long and hard read, and I didn't really expect much from it. It's quite aware that it is pulp, and doesn't really try to apologize for that. My star rating should be taken as within the range of possible books, rather than within the range this book was actually targeting, amongst which it might be quite good (I'm hardly in a position to judge). I did find the book's pitch a bit weird, though: the be-smart-don't-do-cults element seemed a bit too blatantly educational for a genre targeted at rebellious teenage girls. Perhaps the buy-in is meant to be the romantic subplots of the Jessica-Sam and Elizabeth-Todd relationships? It seems like a lot of filler for very little movement on that front. Perhaps I still have more to learn about being a teenage girl.
o-o-o
Jessica Wakefield is SO fed up. Her parents have grounded her for being stupid, and her incredibly shallow friends have decided to cram as much impromptu celebration as they can into the short period when she'll be safely locked up and unable to kill their buzz with her scowling fits. And to add further insult, one of her friends is going to London. She's so annoyed by the basic unfairness of this, that in cheerleading practice (of course she's a cheerleader), she's messing up the lines, leading to cutting insults like
"Loosen up, Jess! You've got as much spring as a brick wall."
which of course get a big laugh, because why wouldn't they?
But it's okay, because she gets to see her boyfriend Sam when he ferries her home from school. She's been hoping that Sam would spend more time with her and less time with his bike, now that she's grounded and totally unable to do anything other than sit in her room studying, and especially cannot go do bike-related things with him which she actually doesn't like doing at all. But oh no! Not only is Sam ten whole minutes late picking her up, but when she mentions it, he brings up that it was because of his bike, and he has to go home and spend more time doing bike things to fix his bike. Jessica feels there might be something wrong with this girlfriend:bike attention ratio, and Sam isn't exactly reassuring:
"How could I compare a dirt bike to one of the two most beautiful girls in southern California? The one who goes out with me."
Nice smooth evasion, Sam. Get home and get greased up.
The other most beautiful girl in southern California is Jessica's identical twin sister Elizabeth, who takes her home the next day (the bridge was exactly like that, from one journey home to the one the next day, like there was no other way to write either of these scenes). Elizabeth and her boyfriend Todd are really excited about going "bowling", which Jessica considers "a sweaty sport, with absolutely no fashion potential". But they can't stop grinning, and talking about how they'll "improve our games" and "spend more time together", and "Just think of all the hours of practice we'll have to put in!" -- that last one with a mischievous grin. Okay, stop, we get it, geez. Jessica brushes them off, but Todd stays for dinner, during which Elizabeth has the temerity to suggest that maybe Jessica would like to join the randy couple for "bowling". Yeah, I'm sure Todd would love that, but Jessica is definitely not interested in propping up her sister's relationship in that way, even if her own boyfriend is probably lying under some bike right now.
Literally nothing else happens while Jessica is grounded, but immediately upon her release, she gets a huge blow: her boyfriend Sam is not interested in going shopping, because he has a huge bike race later today which he's only been telling her about all week apparently. Well, Jessica knows when she's being mistreated, and drives off in a huff to go cry in public at the mall. Suddenly, who should appear but
Jessica came out of her trance at the mention of the word group. Somewhere at the back of her mind she could see her sister looking skeptical. "Group?" Jessica asked "What kind of group?"
"Oh, it's not a real organization or anything like that," Ted explained quickly.
Phew, that's reassuring. Well done Ted. Jessica's hooked into coming along to this not-an-organisation. She drives to their crack-den neighbourhood that evening (by the way, the most terrifying thing about this entire book is that all the characters can drive), and gets a sketchy vibe from things like that peeling paint, or that rusty car, prompting observations like
It looked like the home of the Wicked Witch of the West.
and
"They're probably vegetarians,"
Which frankly I have no idea what to do with. She gets further distressed when they manage to bring her inside and her worst fears are confirmed. They have no TV, phone, or even curtains.
There was only one blonde in the room, and she didn't even have a tan.
Worse than that, she's been in the house for ten whole minutes, and nobody has had a screaming argument or slammed a door. She's about to get the hell out of his poverty-stricken monastery, when who should finally come in the door but Adam Marvel, who is a really hot twenty-something guy, and not the Santa Claus figure she has for some reason been imagining. Of course, this changes everything, and she immediately agrees to sit down for dinner. There is an insightful cultural exchange in which Jessica manages to fool the gullible not-a-group into accepting that cheerleaders might be people, and they wrap it all up by sitting around and collectively admiring Adam.
Meanwhile, in twin-o-vision, the "bowling" club meets (yes, apparently it's a 'group' thing), and Elizabeth immediately picks out a hunk in the totally-fine-sort-of-group who smiles at her and says things like "The most important thing, though, is having a good time." There is absolutely no parallel between these two storylines about a twin being attracted to the leader of a 'group'. Nope. Jessica's evening with the Good Friends in their crack-den has totally changed her life, and she starts doing things like getting up in the morning and helping Adam clean a garage and noticing how boring her friends are. Whereas Elizabeth's evening with the "bowling" club has revealed her boyfriend's performance issues, and led to the hunky Justin putting his hands all over her to reposition her body. Todd is a bit miffed about this, leading to the single most hilarious line of the entire book:
"Todd, I want you to know that even though Justin is incredibly handsome, smart, funny, and charming, I still love you."
And anyway, Elizabeth tells herself, Justin is 'only interested in you as a bowler'. What, who's that on the phone? Justin? And he wants to tell Elizabeth that he likes her? Boy, she had better tell Todd about this, right? Wrong. This is about where Elizabeth loses me in this story. Todd is quite correctly annoyed about the Justin thing, but trusts Elizabeth entirely, and Elizabeth repays that trust by going on a date with Justin behind his back, which is just a totally shitty thing to do to a guy who is willing to hang around in a dodgy neighbourhood to back you up against the cult you're investigating. Even though he can barely lift a bowling ball.
Anyway, in main-plot-land, Jessica is off doing things like collecting charity money with the it's-a-group-but-it's-okay folk. At one point she raises a protest about how they're spending the charity money on their own shopping, but a bit of the ol' Adam charm totally erases that qualm. Ditto for when she learns that the group aren't normally allowed to talk to outsiders. Her weird behaviour is attracting the attention of her boyfriend, who she keeps lying to about what she's doing, which is in no way parallel of anything else. Also her sister is wondering what's up with Jessica doing things like cleaning her room and developing an internal life. Elizabeth decides to ask what's up, but broaches the conversation with some exciting gossip: their lawyer dad is working on this case involving a 'group' in town, who are pretending to be delivering money to charities but actually just stealing it all, and also setting up a cult of some sort! Jessica seems less than receptive to this bit of news, and no sister-bonding moment occurs. In fact, Jessica's shaken, and immediately goes and confronts Adam about this, and he explains that really everyone's just out to get them, look deep into my eyes, it's all okay really. Which of course she swallows.
Elizabeth's now taken to stalking Jessica, and finds out all about her involvement with the group, but Jessica swears her to secrecy until there is 'proof' one way or the other about them being a cult. I mean, geez, they don't have curtains, what more proof do you want? Elizabeth wonders how she might get said proof, and hits upon the idea of just going around to the group and pretending to be Jessica, because we have to shoehorn the fact that they are identical twins into this plot somehow, damnit. She goes around and sees basically nothing other than this one girl who doesn't like Jessica looks worried and tells her to leave, and it seems like Adam overhears them and... nothing. She leaves, apparently, and agonises over telling people about the bad vibes she got. It was a really weird scene.
Anyway, it turns out that one of the other cult members has been re-un-kidnapped by his parents, as Mr. Wakefield tells his daughters over dinner, and they're closing in on Adam and the gang. Surely this is proof? Elizabeth tries that on Jessica, and gets jujitsu'd into believing that Jessica totally won't go back to see them. Jessica totally goes back to see them, and tells them where they can re-kidnap the other guy from, and Adam invites her to run away with the group to live in another spartan crack-den somewhere else, which for some reason is a compelling and exciting offer.
This leads finally to the big denouement, with Elizabeth and Sam realising just in time what Jessica is up to, and rushing over there just in time for Elizabeth to emotionally plead with her sister not to run off with Adam, and for Sam to reveal that the girl who worried about Elizabeth-playing-Jessica is dead! Oh, no, she's just tied up and unconscious. But still, dramatic! And then the police turn up and arrest Adam, so Jessica doesn't even have to express a decision on the matter. Everything goes back to normal immediately somehow. Oh, and the not-dead girl turned out to be a reporter who was infiltrating the group, and for some reason the Wakefields invite her around to their house several days later to explain this entirely unnecessary twist that had no bearing on anything that happened.
Oh, and on the very last page, we have Todd apologising to Elizabeth about the Justin thing (which she has somehow told him about), saying that it was his fault for not worshipping her enough. Poor guy's got an incurable self-esteem issue. You don't need that relationship, dude!
Maybe he should develop an interest in bikes.
o-o-o
So, kids, what did we learn?
How to identify when you're joining a cult
You want to get up in the morning; you can tell when people are boring or shallow; you start reading books; you're encouraged to think for yourself; you enjoy doing work; you're eating museli for breakfast. Actually, though, Pascal did a pretty good job with this bit, the various mechanisms (targeting the vulnerable, personal charisma, social pressure, isolation, vindicating narratives, collaborative enforcement) were all trotted out in a vaguely believable manner, and Jessica's justifications were all plausible given her infatuation and the context she was fed. One exchange between Elizabeth and Jessica in particular was pretty good:
"It's as if no one has a mind of her own. It gave me the creeps."
"That proves you don't understand," Jessica countered. "Adam always encourages us to think for ourselves!"
"How can you say that?" Elizabeth asked. "No one has any opinion that isn't Adam's."
This is a level of insight which I wasn't expecting from the book. Cults often profess a commitment to independent thought (to contrast with narratives 'everyone else' might have about the cult, if nothing else), which members can buy into quite happily without noticing that nobody ever disagrees (or, in more nuanced forms, that disagreement never goes anywhere or results in anything other than what the cult leader wanted).
How to be a "normal" teenage girl
One stand-out element seemed to be a certain level of comfort with deceit. Jessica lies plausibly and repeatedly about her location and activities, even though in some cases she had no particular reason to do so. Elizabeth engages in a violating level of deceit with Todd, and even Jessica's barely-in-it friends reflexively lie to Sam to cover her whereabouts.
However, the main answer seems to be that you should pretty much always do whatever guys suggest you do. This was quite deeply engrained into the book: Jessica comes to the group house even though she doesn't want to because Ted suggests it to her, and comes inside even though she really doesn't want to because he pushes her to, and even though she was about to leave she stays because Adam suggested she should. Elizabeth does initially turn down Justin's offer of a date, but somehow ends up going on one anyway, even though she has plenty of good reasons not to. Pretty much everything Jessica does in the cult is because Adam tells her to do it and she doesn't want to appear disagreeable and spoil her chances with him, no matter how dodgy the stuff is. About the only thing I can think of which involved one of our girls disobeying a guy was when Jessica stormed off from Sam in the beginning of the book, which started her whole downward slide into the brainwashing tragedy.
o-o-o
At just a shade over 150 pages, this wasn't a long and hard read, and I didn't really expect much from it. It's quite aware that it is pulp, and doesn't really try to apologize for that. My star rating should be taken as within the range of possible books, rather than within the range this book was actually targeting, amongst which it might be quite good (I'm hardly in a position to judge). I did find the book's pitch a bit weird, though: the be-smart-don't-do-cults element seemed a bit too blatantly educational for a genre targeted at rebellious teenage girls. Perhaps the buy-in is meant to be the romantic subplots of the Jessica-Sam and Elizabeth-Todd relationships? It seems like a lot of filler for very little movement on that front. Perhaps I still have more to learn about being a teenage girl.
August 6, 2019
The moral of this one is that if you ground Jessica she will undergo a personality transformation and join a cult. Honestly, it’s all pretty funny, because Jessica has those same cult leader traits that Adam Marvel does. I hope for a spin-off with Jessica as a cult leader.
Anyway, that’s the gist of the beginning. Jessica is grounded for two weeks, which is 98 years to her. She believes that everyone hates her and she feels unloved. But for fuck’s sake, even if Jess were God’s right hand she would still not feel loved enough.
Naturally in this state she is vulnerable enough to be taken in by a recruiter for the Good Friends, Sweet Valley’s first and only cult. He catches her at the mall while she’s crying. He offers her to come back to their house and hang out with “real people” who “care about” her. Jessica goes to what we are told is the worst part of Sweet Valley (and gets in a dig about Tricia Martin being the only person she ever knew who lived in this part of town). She almost turns back, but they spot her and invite her in. It’s quite possible that if Adam Marvel weren’t hot Jess wouldn’t have been taken in by him at all. But he is an Adonis of a cult leader with the stereotypical magnetic personality, and Jess is swayed at once.
And so, as you can imagine, and because there is no middle ground, Jess turns into Liz. She wears very drab clothes. She cleans her room. She reads books and collects money for the Good Friends. Once she is not grounded anymore she still continues to ignore Liz, Sam, and all her Pi Beta friends. She now thinks they are terribly shallow and not “total” people. When Jess catches Adam stealing from the money they collect to buy groceries one day, he charms her into shrugging it off. But then her dad talks about a new cult in town... the Good Friends. Jess is insulted he would dare call it a cult.
The heat is rising for Adam and his wicked ways, and so he wants to flee town as most cult leaders inevitably do. He tells Jess to leave town with them. She considers that she might miss Liz for about one minute, but then she packs up a duffle bag and leaves.
Prior to this Liz infiltrates GF while posing as Jess. She doesn’t get proof to bring to Jess though, only confirmation that everyone there acts like weird robots. Also, a girl named Susan whispers to Liz to get out now (she’s been watching Jordan Peele), and that’s all Liz needs to hear.
But she realizes she doesn’t really have any proof for Jess. She believes Jess when she tells her that she will stay away from GF. But of course she is lying and leaves with Adam. Sam and Liz realize that Jess has been lying - again - and they know they have to save her. Liz also enlists Todd for her plan and advises him to call the police.
Liz arrives right before Jess is swept away by Adam, who has just informed her that she cannot bring her Fiat, because “they” will be able to trace it. It begins to click for Jess that “they” means the police. Still, she feels torn. She can’t see how Adam can be lying. But Liz makes a genuinely sweet plea about being her twin sister and caring more than anyone. Right before Jess can respond, Sam comes out of the house with Susan, who was tied and gagged and left for dead.
It turns out Susan was a reporter infiltrating the group in order to collect inside information on Adam’s dark deeds. They have a nice little “wrapping up the plot” meeting in the Wakefield living room at the end of the book. Like the last page. And just like that Jess is okay and will be shallow again by morning. How refreshing. I was getting a little worried, ya’ll.
Quotes:
Jessica: Albert Einstein failed math too, you know.
I am completely shocked that Jess knows this.
Enid on Jessica: Good grief, she looks like a social worker.
So they say that and also that Jess looks like a librarian. This is the field I’m going into, so I take offense to that and the social worker comment. Plenty of those people are very fashionable! Good grief indeed.
Lila: Pi Betas are already perfect. How could any of us possibly improve?
Liz in her own mind: You’re not in a mystery novel, you’re in Sweet Valley, California. Things like that don’t happen here!
Liz is shockingly dumb sometimes.
Anyway, that’s the gist of the beginning. Jessica is grounded for two weeks, which is 98 years to her. She believes that everyone hates her and she feels unloved. But for fuck’s sake, even if Jess were God’s right hand she would still not feel loved enough.
Naturally in this state she is vulnerable enough to be taken in by a recruiter for the Good Friends, Sweet Valley’s first and only cult. He catches her at the mall while she’s crying. He offers her to come back to their house and hang out with “real people” who “care about” her. Jessica goes to what we are told is the worst part of Sweet Valley (and gets in a dig about Tricia Martin being the only person she ever knew who lived in this part of town). She almost turns back, but they spot her and invite her in. It’s quite possible that if Adam Marvel weren’t hot Jess wouldn’t have been taken in by him at all. But he is an Adonis of a cult leader with the stereotypical magnetic personality, and Jess is swayed at once.
And so, as you can imagine, and because there is no middle ground, Jess turns into Liz. She wears very drab clothes. She cleans her room. She reads books and collects money for the Good Friends. Once she is not grounded anymore she still continues to ignore Liz, Sam, and all her Pi Beta friends. She now thinks they are terribly shallow and not “total” people. When Jess catches Adam stealing from the money they collect to buy groceries one day, he charms her into shrugging it off. But then her dad talks about a new cult in town... the Good Friends. Jess is insulted he would dare call it a cult.
The heat is rising for Adam and his wicked ways, and so he wants to flee town as most cult leaders inevitably do. He tells Jess to leave town with them. She considers that she might miss Liz for about one minute, but then she packs up a duffle bag and leaves.
Prior to this Liz infiltrates GF while posing as Jess. She doesn’t get proof to bring to Jess though, only confirmation that everyone there acts like weird robots. Also, a girl named Susan whispers to Liz to get out now (she’s been watching Jordan Peele), and that’s all Liz needs to hear.
But she realizes she doesn’t really have any proof for Jess. She believes Jess when she tells her that she will stay away from GF. But of course she is lying and leaves with Adam. Sam and Liz realize that Jess has been lying - again - and they know they have to save her. Liz also enlists Todd for her plan and advises him to call the police.
Liz arrives right before Jess is swept away by Adam, who has just informed her that she cannot bring her Fiat, because “they” will be able to trace it. It begins to click for Jess that “they” means the police. Still, she feels torn. She can’t see how Adam can be lying. But Liz makes a genuinely sweet plea about being her twin sister and caring more than anyone. Right before Jess can respond, Sam comes out of the house with Susan, who was tied and gagged and left for dead.
It turns out Susan was a reporter infiltrating the group in order to collect inside information on Adam’s dark deeds. They have a nice little “wrapping up the plot” meeting in the Wakefield living room at the end of the book. Like the last page. And just like that Jess is okay and will be shallow again by morning. How refreshing. I was getting a little worried, ya’ll.
Quotes:
Jessica: Albert Einstein failed math too, you know.
I am completely shocked that Jess knows this.
Enid on Jessica: Good grief, she looks like a social worker.
So they say that and also that Jess looks like a librarian. This is the field I’m going into, so I take offense to that and the social worker comment. Plenty of those people are very fashionable! Good grief indeed.
Lila: Pi Betas are already perfect. How could any of us possibly improve?
Liz in her own mind: You’re not in a mystery novel, you’re in Sweet Valley, California. Things like that don’t happen here!
Liz is shockingly dumb sometimes.
August 3, 2024
This is a semi spoiler-y summary. In this installment, Jessica joins a cult called the Good Friends and proceeds to eat muesli and pretend to like it 😮 She also starts dressing like a social worker--and those are Enid's words, not mine, which between you and me is really saying something about Jessica's wardrobe choices! 😂
August 21, 2017
I'm 36 and I've spent my summer reading Sweet Valley High books. They're the perfect escapist fiction for the current climate. As far as cults go, this one was pretty tame.
July 30, 2023
Two stars because of how goofy it was, so over the top. Can’t resist a cult young adult book from the 1990s!
September 19, 2021
Okay, real talk for a sec.
When I was a kid, our local library had book sales where they'd sell off the books they didn't want any more for like 10p. The shelves were always chock full of Sweet Valley Junior High books, and I lapped them right up like a cat to water.
As an English child I probably didn't have much idea of what was going on in the series, but I fell in love with Salvador and still to this day am disappointed he isn't in any of the later (more YA) books.
In short, I never read those books in order and as this is the first ever Sweet Valley High book I've read and it's number 82, I'm not reading these in order either.
But honestly I expected this to be terrible, but I had SO much fun. The characters are strangely investable for 80s pulp YA and I loved the cult storyline.
Do I need to read the series in order, or will they all be as easy to understand as this one? I'm vaguely aware of the main cast of characters... I guess it just matters if someone dies.
When I was a kid, our local library had book sales where they'd sell off the books they didn't want any more for like 10p. The shelves were always chock full of Sweet Valley Junior High books, and I lapped them right up like a cat to water.
As an English child I probably didn't have much idea of what was going on in the series, but I fell in love with Salvador and still to this day am disappointed he isn't in any of the later (more YA) books.
In short, I never read those books in order and as this is the first ever Sweet Valley High book I've read and it's number 82, I'm not reading these in order either.
But honestly I expected this to be terrible, but I had SO much fun. The characters are strangely investable for 80s pulp YA and I loved the cult storyline.
Do I need to read the series in order, or will they all be as easy to understand as this one? I'm vaguely aware of the main cast of characters... I guess it just matters if someone dies.
Read
March 25, 2024Kidnapped By the Cult
Lila has had a series of three day parties (a slumber party on Friday, a pool party on Saturday, and a bbq on Sunday). Now she’s talking about having another slumber party and pool party, but Jessica is still grounded and thinking about how unfair it is and who’s to blame. Not o nly this Cara has said she’s going to London. They even go on and on about it during practice. Lila is going to have her cook serve fish and chips in honor of Cara’s trip at her sleepover. Jessica can’t focus on the cheers at practice, but the good thing is she’ll be seeing Sam afterwards. Sam tho is having bike problems and says he has to stay home and work on his bike. He has a big race Saturday and can’t come over for dinner. Jessica isn’t happy about this and plays the “what’s more important” card, but Sam knows what to say.
Jessica has to ride home with Todd and Liz. They say they’re starting a bowling club. Jessica has no interest in it. (Jessica by the way only has five more days of punishment and she knows she won’t make it). The week doesn’t get any better. Jess picks a fight with Liz, hangs up on Sam, and argues at school with Lila and Amy. On Saturday, Jessica walks up excitedly. She plans to spend the whole day with Sam. Jessica wants to spend thrning having breakfast and then shopping, but she’s forgotten about the race Sam’s having (not having paid attention to the short phone calls she’s had to restrict herself to and what he’s been saying). She asks what she’s supposed to do. He suggests she could come and cheer him on, but she says it’s raining and she doesn’t want to stand around in the rain watching him. Plus she thought they’d spend some time together without his bike. Then she marches out the door. He calls out to her, but she gets in the Fait and drives off. She decides to just go shopping by herself (taking her frustration out on Liz, Sam, and her friends-who aren’t there-). Also her parents. Before she knows it she’s at the mall.
When she gets there, she sees a boy that reminds her of Sam and girls that aremind her of her friends. Then she bursts into tears. There’s a red-haired boy on the bench she’s sitting at and he asks her if he can do something. She’s sarcastic with him but he tells her she doesn’t have to be defensive. He says he knows what she’s going through and guesses it’s a family thing. Then he also guesses there’s trouble in her relationship and she’s feeling betrayed by her friends. He says his name is Ted and she tells him her name. She’s curious to know how he knows so much about her and he says he’s been there. Then she tells him about Sam and he tells her about how he ot dumped by a girl he was with. She comments on him being so together and he says he found some friends that liked him for him. He ran away from home and then meet a man named Adam Marval and he introduced him to a group called “the Good Friends” and they changed his life for the better.
He invites her to come home with him, meet them, and have supper. Jessica likes the idea of making her family upset by not coming home and says she’ll come. When the bowling club meets, Liz starts to notice Justin Silver. He seems to have eyes for her as well. (Justin is over the club). Ted’s friends are located in a bad part of town. Jessica is already judging the place and the people. She thinks they’ll shop at the thrift store and be vegetarians. She’s about to leave, but Ted comes out and excitedly greets her. Ted gives her the tour and the inside of the house looks better than the outside. Jessica learns they’ve done all the decorating. They do macrame in there spare time because Adam says it makes them whole. He shows her Agnes and China (who are musicians). They also create their own entertainment. Adam doesn’t approve of television. He says it destroys conversation and he’d rather they be creative. They have a schedule of weekly chores. He says they have to pull their own weight. Jessica is starting to think Adam sounds like her parents. Jessica’s impression of the Good Friends is that they look homely. There Anna, Anita, Doug, and Brooke. They’re making chili and cornbread (Adams favorite). They say that he works so hard tho he might not be home to eat. Then they started talking about a book, but Ted takes her upstairs and shows her the bedrooms. They’re all net. None have phones.
There’s a closed door and Ted says it’s Adam’s room. He needs his privacy. Jessica notices there are twenty people there and it’s totally silent. Ted says they never argue. Adam says people who love each other don’t need to raise their voices. At dome sje ,eets Brian, Susan, Skye, and Mary (some of the others). Jessica tells them all about her issues and they all sympathize. They’re surprised she’s a cheerleader but then they know Adam has said everyone has problems and what makes people different is how they handle them. Its all about whether they share there problems are selfishly keep them to themselves. (I’m starting to think this guy is a hippie). They say they also help other people raise money for charities. That’s what Ted was doing at the mall. Adm says its not enough to *want* to help others. They have to actually do it. Jessica envisions him as either Santa Claus or the President. Susan asks if she’s going to join the group and Jessica makes up an excuse about needing her own room and her own privacy. Susan tells her that the only people who need privacy have something to hide (so Adam says). Overall, Jessica doesn’t think it went so bad. They’ve given her more attention than anyone she’s known. When she leaves they invite her back. She’s ready to get back to her real life and talk to Sam, but when she’s leaving, she sees Adam and he’s the most perfect guy she’s ever seen.
After being introduced, Jessica decides to stay. Jessica later at home, thinks about the evening and how he talked about forming Good Friends and all the places he’d been and people he meet. He invites her back the next day to help with the lawn. Liz interrupts Jessica’s fantasy about Adam just using that to get to know her. Liz tells her all about the good time they had and that she really should join. Jessica snaps at Liz there’s more to life than having fun. The next morning, Jessica surprises her mom and Liz by wearing old clothes and making breakfast. Sam has called about six times. After this she goes to the house on Ceder Drive. Adam wants her to help him clean the garage and Jessica enthusiastically says she’d love to.
As they work, Jessica notices Susan in the shadows. She’s jealous. He told her that she’d be helping him. He tells her he changed his mind and gets a lil irritated and tells her to work in the yard. After she’s gone, he apologizes. Jessica admits she doesn’t think Susan likes her and he says it’s not her. He tries to say she’s just new and hasn’t gotten use to their ways yet. But Jessica calls it for what it is and points out Susan’s crush on him. Adam calls her mature and special and Jessica ejoys working with Adam the rest of the day. Adam makes Jessica see belonging to a group isn’t about being popular or competing its about putting others first. He tells her they bring out the best in her because they accept her for who she is. The others just make her self-centered because they’re self centered. He says her nature is really generous and caring and he can tell she’s had more fun with him than she has in a long time.
Later at the movies, Jessica thinks about what Adam said when Sam orders popcorn for the umpteenth time and he knos she doesn’t like it but he always orders it and eats it all. People are selfish! At the Dairi Burger, she starts to take another lok at the shallow things the people around her talk about sports, clothes, muc, etc. She thinks about how Adam told her she had the potential to be exceptional. When he takes her home, Sam mentions how distracted Jessica is and asks if she’s thinking about what she’s going to wear to April’s party. She surprises him by saying she might not even go. At their first practice, Todd notices how much attention Justin is paying Liz, but she brushes it off and just says it’s because she needs so much help. Todd isn’t buying it. Liz tells Todd tho there is no competition. Still later she looks at the pink badge he gave her and tries to convince herself he’s just interested in her as a bowler. But she also starts to fantasize about being close to him.
On Saturday the family notices that Jessica is dressed again down and she’s eating (Muslin?) Liz invites her to go bowling with her and Todd but she says she has to go to the library. Although she’s been almost every day this week. Liz starts to think about how Jessica’s been acting and it hits her. Something is up! Jessica tho rushes off to help the Good Friends collect money for charitable causes. Jessica turns out to be good at it and really is able to appeal to the people. Adam is impressed. She collects more than anyone else. She finds out tho that when they stop at a grocery store that the money their collecting is for THEM. Adam tells her it’s legitament. They need the money to cover expenses and since they can’t work This causes tension between Susan and Jessica. Susan says if she’s going to argue with Adam maybe this isn’t the group for her, but Jessica assures her there’s no problem. She understands now.
When they get back, Jessica volunteers to cook. Anna helps her and she tells her the story of how her parents use to fight and so she ran away and then she meet Adam and he turned out to be the best thing in her life. Jessica finds out that Adam doesn’t let them out at all He says because people don’t understand them. He says it’s best not to tell people about them. Then he asks Annie if she’d rather go back to her parents. She says she’d rather go to jail. Sam comes by later with flowers wanting to take Jessica to April’s party but finds her not going. He’s also been to the library to pick her up for lunch. Jessica accuses him of spying on her. Then she makes him feel guilty by acting like she’s just trying to prove to her parents she can do better. Sam suggest they stay in and order pizza but Jessica tells him she doesn’t hang out with people who don’t trust her.
Justin calls and asks Liz out. Weirdly he says he knows about her and Todd but he had to shoot his shot. Liz turns him down but tells him she values his friendship. She doesn’t tell Todd because she likes the attention but Todd notices. Sam shows up at the school to pick up Jessica but she’s not there. He also finds out she hasn’t been doing the activities she said she had with her friends. Lila puts it in Sam’s head she has a past of being a player. Sam shows up later at her house and confronts her and it turns into an arguent. She quotes some of her “God Friends” talk to him and he tells her he’s going to find out what happened to her. Todd walks in on Liz trying to put an end to whatevers happening with her and Justin.
Jessica goes back to Adam to talk and he tells her she’s outgrowing the people around her and they find her a threat. Liz decides to tell Todd the truth. (She went to Justin with plans to quit the team but it didn’t happen). Todd on the way to run their errands tells Liz about a girl that he saw that looked like Jess who was collecting money. They run into Justin who Liz has been thinking about the whole time. Todd is annoyed and calls him out for trying to be after Liz (after he leaves). Todd tho says he trusts Liz and she says he can’t get her. But she thinks of the call. When Todd asks what she wanted to talk to him about -she said she did before- she says she forgot. That night, Ned mentions a group he heard about “The Good Friends” He says some of the charities aren’t legit and his law firm has been asked to investigate them. They are some charities that there just
using their name. Then Adam Marvel has been sett
ing up his group all over the place under different names and some say he’s starting a cult.
Sam runs into Liz and Todd at the Dairi Burger and tells them everything. Liz decided to use her father’s news to break the ice, but Jessica gets mad. Jessica tells them they aren’t a cult and they aren’t doing anything illegal. When Liz asks how she knows she says she’s heard about all the good they’ve done. Liz tries to put it all together and vows to get to the bottom of it. Jessica says she’s going to Big Mesa, but Liz finds out she’s lying. Jessica tells Adam and tells him what she heard but he takes the news calmly and tells her because their so honest and trusting people take advantage (like phony charities using their names). He says her father is misguided. As soon as he finds out charities aren’t good he severs connections. That’s what he’s been doing all morning. He says that some organizations pretend they haven’t been getting money and just keep it. Sam, Todd, and Liz finds where Jessica’s been going. Jessica just gets mad when Liz confronts, but then she does a complete switch and tries to explain how good her new friends are. J essica promises that if Liz doeesn’t say anything she’ll drop them if what Ned says trurns out to be true.
Liz goes at Jessica to a discussion the GFs are throwing but it’s not much of a “discussion”. They all agree with everything he says. Some others come in and say they’ve lost Ryan. Liz notices Adam’s rage. He tells one of the boys he’ll just have to find him. Then he sends some of the too the mall and tell them don’t come back without him. Susan tells her to get out of there and don’t come back while Adam is directing the others. But Adam comes back. While out shopping, Enid says she thinks someone is spying on them, but Liz doesn’t see anyone. Enid then thinks she sees a silver porche following them. She says he’s blond and good looking, Then he comes out of the kitchen of the Dairi Burger. They dive under the table but it’s Justin holding out flowers and pleading with Liz to come back to bowling.
Ned that night tells them about a boy named Brian and his parents thought he was brain washed. But he says he’s been talking to his parents and they’ve snatched him back. When he’s recovered Brian can testify against him and with all they have on him they can put Adam away. Liz then tells Jessica what she did and knows. Liz says if Jessica doesn’t stay away from them she’ll tell her parents and realizing what this would mean Jessi “agrees to until its proven they haven’t done anything wrong”. Adam tells Jessica that Brian’s parents did kidnap him and they have to get him back. Jessica says she can find out his parents address from her dad. Susan is now gone too because her mother is ill. Justin convinces Liz to meet for burnch but he turns out to be boring and comes on too strong. Liz tho recognizes Annie collecting money and she gets approached by security.
Adam tells Jessica when she gives him the address they’ll have to break Brian out tonight. Because they’ll go looking for them, they’ll have to relocate someplace else and he wants her to come with him. Ted, Annie, Adam, and Jessica are about to leave when Liz pleads with her to talk to her, but Adam shoves her in the van. Sam appears and says he found Susan upstairs tied up and gagged. Then the police and Todd come. It turns out that Susan is a reporter and Adam overheard her warning “Jessica”. Adam is thrown in jail.
My Thoughts
YEEEAH it kind of takes away from reading a book about a CULT when they’re doing CHARITY t WORK. Nothing “clutlish” happened until the VERY end. If your reading this expecting cult like activity you’ll be VERY DISAPPOINTED! There were possibilities there that could have turned this story around. How did he brainwash them? By just them repeatedly being around him and hearing his sayings long enough? Or was it something else? What did he do all the time in the bedroom where he had to keep the door locked? What was in the drawer Jessica heard being slammed? Why wasn’t the part written out where he captured the undercover PI since it WAS THE TITLE OF THE BOOK? But this just wasn’t what the title made it out to be. Not that what they were doing wasn't bad it just wasn't the cult activity I was thinking of.
Rating: 5
Lila has had a series of three day parties (a slumber party on Friday, a pool party on Saturday, and a bbq on Sunday). Now she’s talking about having another slumber party and pool party, but Jessica is still grounded and thinking about how unfair it is and who’s to blame. Not o nly this Cara has said she’s going to London. They even go on and on about it during practice. Lila is going to have her cook serve fish and chips in honor of Cara’s trip at her sleepover. Jessica can’t focus on the cheers at practice, but the good thing is she’ll be seeing Sam afterwards. Sam tho is having bike problems and says he has to stay home and work on his bike. He has a big race Saturday and can’t come over for dinner. Jessica isn’t happy about this and plays the “what’s more important” card, but Sam knows what to say.
Jessica has to ride home with Todd and Liz. They say they’re starting a bowling club. Jessica has no interest in it. (Jessica by the way only has five more days of punishment and she knows she won’t make it). The week doesn’t get any better. Jess picks a fight with Liz, hangs up on Sam, and argues at school with Lila and Amy. On Saturday, Jessica walks up excitedly. She plans to spend the whole day with Sam. Jessica wants to spend thrning having breakfast and then shopping, but she’s forgotten about the race Sam’s having (not having paid attention to the short phone calls she’s had to restrict herself to and what he’s been saying). She asks what she’s supposed to do. He suggests she could come and cheer him on, but she says it’s raining and she doesn’t want to stand around in the rain watching him. Plus she thought they’d spend some time together without his bike. Then she marches out the door. He calls out to her, but she gets in the Fait and drives off. She decides to just go shopping by herself (taking her frustration out on Liz, Sam, and her friends-who aren’t there-). Also her parents. Before she knows it she’s at the mall.
When she gets there, she sees a boy that reminds her of Sam and girls that aremind her of her friends. Then she bursts into tears. There’s a red-haired boy on the bench she’s sitting at and he asks her if he can do something. She’s sarcastic with him but he tells her she doesn’t have to be defensive. He says he knows what she’s going through and guesses it’s a family thing. Then he also guesses there’s trouble in her relationship and she’s feeling betrayed by her friends. He says his name is Ted and she tells him her name. She’s curious to know how he knows so much about her and he says he’s been there. Then she tells him about Sam and he tells her about how he ot dumped by a girl he was with. She comments on him being so together and he says he found some friends that liked him for him. He ran away from home and then meet a man named Adam Marval and he introduced him to a group called “the Good Friends” and they changed his life for the better.
He invites her to come home with him, meet them, and have supper. Jessica likes the idea of making her family upset by not coming home and says she’ll come. When the bowling club meets, Liz starts to notice Justin Silver. He seems to have eyes for her as well. (Justin is over the club). Ted’s friends are located in a bad part of town. Jessica is already judging the place and the people. She thinks they’ll shop at the thrift store and be vegetarians. She’s about to leave, but Ted comes out and excitedly greets her. Ted gives her the tour and the inside of the house looks better than the outside. Jessica learns they’ve done all the decorating. They do macrame in there spare time because Adam says it makes them whole. He shows her Agnes and China (who are musicians). They also create their own entertainment. Adam doesn’t approve of television. He says it destroys conversation and he’d rather they be creative. They have a schedule of weekly chores. He says they have to pull their own weight. Jessica is starting to think Adam sounds like her parents. Jessica’s impression of the Good Friends is that they look homely. There Anna, Anita, Doug, and Brooke. They’re making chili and cornbread (Adams favorite). They say that he works so hard tho he might not be home to eat. Then they started talking about a book, but Ted takes her upstairs and shows her the bedrooms. They’re all net. None have phones.
There’s a closed door and Ted says it’s Adam’s room. He needs his privacy. Jessica notices there are twenty people there and it’s totally silent. Ted says they never argue. Adam says people who love each other don’t need to raise their voices. At dome sje ,eets Brian, Susan, Skye, and Mary (some of the others). Jessica tells them all about her issues and they all sympathize. They’re surprised she’s a cheerleader but then they know Adam has said everyone has problems and what makes people different is how they handle them. Its all about whether they share there problems are selfishly keep them to themselves. (I’m starting to think this guy is a hippie). They say they also help other people raise money for charities. That’s what Ted was doing at the mall. Adm says its not enough to *want* to help others. They have to actually do it. Jessica envisions him as either Santa Claus or the President. Susan asks if she’s going to join the group and Jessica makes up an excuse about needing her own room and her own privacy. Susan tells her that the only people who need privacy have something to hide (so Adam says). Overall, Jessica doesn’t think it went so bad. They’ve given her more attention than anyone she’s known. When she leaves they invite her back. She’s ready to get back to her real life and talk to Sam, but when she’s leaving, she sees Adam and he’s the most perfect guy she’s ever seen.
After being introduced, Jessica decides to stay. Jessica later at home, thinks about the evening and how he talked about forming Good Friends and all the places he’d been and people he meet. He invites her back the next day to help with the lawn. Liz interrupts Jessica’s fantasy about Adam just using that to get to know her. Liz tells her all about the good time they had and that she really should join. Jessica snaps at Liz there’s more to life than having fun. The next morning, Jessica surprises her mom and Liz by wearing old clothes and making breakfast. Sam has called about six times. After this she goes to the house on Ceder Drive. Adam wants her to help him clean the garage and Jessica enthusiastically says she’d love to.
As they work, Jessica notices Susan in the shadows. She’s jealous. He told her that she’d be helping him. He tells her he changed his mind and gets a lil irritated and tells her to work in the yard. After she’s gone, he apologizes. Jessica admits she doesn’t think Susan likes her and he says it’s not her. He tries to say she’s just new and hasn’t gotten use to their ways yet. But Jessica calls it for what it is and points out Susan’s crush on him. Adam calls her mature and special and Jessica ejoys working with Adam the rest of the day. Adam makes Jessica see belonging to a group isn’t about being popular or competing its about putting others first. He tells her they bring out the best in her because they accept her for who she is. The others just make her self-centered because they’re self centered. He says her nature is really generous and caring and he can tell she’s had more fun with him than she has in a long time.
Later at the movies, Jessica thinks about what Adam said when Sam orders popcorn for the umpteenth time and he knos she doesn’t like it but he always orders it and eats it all. People are selfish! At the Dairi Burger, she starts to take another lok at the shallow things the people around her talk about sports, clothes, muc, etc. She thinks about how Adam told her she had the potential to be exceptional. When he takes her home, Sam mentions how distracted Jessica is and asks if she’s thinking about what she’s going to wear to April’s party. She surprises him by saying she might not even go. At their first practice, Todd notices how much attention Justin is paying Liz, but she brushes it off and just says it’s because she needs so much help. Todd isn’t buying it. Liz tells Todd tho there is no competition. Still later she looks at the pink badge he gave her and tries to convince herself he’s just interested in her as a bowler. But she also starts to fantasize about being close to him.
On Saturday the family notices that Jessica is dressed again down and she’s eating (Muslin?) Liz invites her to go bowling with her and Todd but she says she has to go to the library. Although she’s been almost every day this week. Liz starts to think about how Jessica’s been acting and it hits her. Something is up! Jessica tho rushes off to help the Good Friends collect money for charitable causes. Jessica turns out to be good at it and really is able to appeal to the people. Adam is impressed. She collects more than anyone else. She finds out tho that when they stop at a grocery store that the money their collecting is for THEM. Adam tells her it’s legitament. They need the money to cover expenses and since they can’t work This causes tension between Susan and Jessica. Susan says if she’s going to argue with Adam maybe this isn’t the group for her, but Jessica assures her there’s no problem. She understands now.
When they get back, Jessica volunteers to cook. Anna helps her and she tells her the story of how her parents use to fight and so she ran away and then she meet Adam and he turned out to be the best thing in her life. Jessica finds out that Adam doesn’t let them out at all He says because people don’t understand them. He says it’s best not to tell people about them. Then he asks Annie if she’d rather go back to her parents. She says she’d rather go to jail. Sam comes by later with flowers wanting to take Jessica to April’s party but finds her not going. He’s also been to the library to pick her up for lunch. Jessica accuses him of spying on her. Then she makes him feel guilty by acting like she’s just trying to prove to her parents she can do better. Sam suggest they stay in and order pizza but Jessica tells him she doesn’t hang out with people who don’t trust her.
Justin calls and asks Liz out. Weirdly he says he knows about her and Todd but he had to shoot his shot. Liz turns him down but tells him she values his friendship. She doesn’t tell Todd because she likes the attention but Todd notices. Sam shows up at the school to pick up Jessica but she’s not there. He also finds out she hasn’t been doing the activities she said she had with her friends. Lila puts it in Sam’s head she has a past of being a player. Sam shows up later at her house and confronts her and it turns into an arguent. She quotes some of her “God Friends” talk to him and he tells her he’s going to find out what happened to her. Todd walks in on Liz trying to put an end to whatevers happening with her and Justin.
Jessica goes back to Adam to talk and he tells her she’s outgrowing the people around her and they find her a threat. Liz decides to tell Todd the truth. (She went to Justin with plans to quit the team but it didn’t happen). Todd on the way to run their errands tells Liz about a girl that he saw that looked like Jess who was collecting money. They run into Justin who Liz has been thinking about the whole time. Todd is annoyed and calls him out for trying to be after Liz (after he leaves). Todd tho says he trusts Liz and she says he can’t get her. But she thinks of the call. When Todd asks what she wanted to talk to him about -she said she did before- she says she forgot. That night, Ned mentions a group he heard about “The Good Friends” He says some of the charities aren’t legit and his law firm has been asked to investigate them. They are some charities that there just
using their name. Then Adam Marvel has been sett
ing up his group all over the place under different names and some say he’s starting a cult.
Sam runs into Liz and Todd at the Dairi Burger and tells them everything. Liz decided to use her father’s news to break the ice, but Jessica gets mad. Jessica tells them they aren’t a cult and they aren’t doing anything illegal. When Liz asks how she knows she says she’s heard about all the good they’ve done. Liz tries to put it all together and vows to get to the bottom of it. Jessica says she’s going to Big Mesa, but Liz finds out she’s lying. Jessica tells Adam and tells him what she heard but he takes the news calmly and tells her because their so honest and trusting people take advantage (like phony charities using their names). He says her father is misguided. As soon as he finds out charities aren’t good he severs connections. That’s what he’s been doing all morning. He says that some organizations pretend they haven’t been getting money and just keep it. Sam, Todd, and Liz finds where Jessica’s been going. Jessica just gets mad when Liz confronts, but then she does a complete switch and tries to explain how good her new friends are. J essica promises that if Liz doeesn’t say anything she’ll drop them if what Ned says trurns out to be true.
Liz goes at Jessica to a discussion the GFs are throwing but it’s not much of a “discussion”. They all agree with everything he says. Some others come in and say they’ve lost Ryan. Liz notices Adam’s rage. He tells one of the boys he’ll just have to find him. Then he sends some of the too the mall and tell them don’t come back without him. Susan tells her to get out of there and don’t come back while Adam is directing the others. But Adam comes back. While out shopping, Enid says she thinks someone is spying on them, but Liz doesn’t see anyone. Enid then thinks she sees a silver porche following them. She says he’s blond and good looking, Then he comes out of the kitchen of the Dairi Burger. They dive under the table but it’s Justin holding out flowers and pleading with Liz to come back to bowling.
Ned that night tells them about a boy named Brian and his parents thought he was brain washed. But he says he’s been talking to his parents and they’ve snatched him back. When he’s recovered Brian can testify against him and with all they have on him they can put Adam away. Liz then tells Jessica what she did and knows. Liz says if Jessica doesn’t stay away from them she’ll tell her parents and realizing what this would mean Jessi “agrees to until its proven they haven’t done anything wrong”. Adam tells Jessica that Brian’s parents did kidnap him and they have to get him back. Jessica says she can find out his parents address from her dad. Susan is now gone too because her mother is ill. Justin convinces Liz to meet for burnch but he turns out to be boring and comes on too strong. Liz tho recognizes Annie collecting money and she gets approached by security.
Adam tells Jessica when she gives him the address they’ll have to break Brian out tonight. Because they’ll go looking for them, they’ll have to relocate someplace else and he wants her to come with him. Ted, Annie, Adam, and Jessica are about to leave when Liz pleads with her to talk to her, but Adam shoves her in the van. Sam appears and says he found Susan upstairs tied up and gagged. Then the police and Todd come. It turns out that Susan is a reporter and Adam overheard her warning “Jessica”. Adam is thrown in jail.
My Thoughts
YEEEAH it kind of takes away from reading a book about a CULT when they’re doing CHARITY t WORK. Nothing “clutlish” happened until the VERY end. If your reading this expecting cult like activity you’ll be VERY DISAPPOINTED! There were possibilities there that could have turned this story around. How did he brainwash them? By just them repeatedly being around him and hearing his sayings long enough? Or was it something else? What did he do all the time in the bedroom where he had to keep the door locked? What was in the drawer Jessica heard being slammed? Why wasn’t the part written out where he captured the undercover PI since it WAS THE TITLE OF THE BOOK? But this just wasn’t what the title made it out to be. Not that what they were doing wasn't bad it just wasn't the cult activity I was thinking of.
Rating: 5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2021
This was horrifically awesome. Jessica, feeling super sorry for herself once again, for zero memorable reasons, meets some boys at thr mall and decides to accept an invitation to their house. Which is over in the crack town part of Sweet Valley and she finds out just a bunch of teenagers live there together with one adult, a 20 something hottie named Adam Marvel. These teenage kids call themselves the Good Friends and spend all their time begging for money at the mall while smiling vacantly, but because that Adam guy is super hot, and because they totally love bomb Jess into thinking her problems matter (her boyfriend sometimes races dirtbikes on weekends, her parents grounded her because she was flunking math-- OH THE HUMANITY!), Jessica decides she loves the Goid Friends and her Sweet Valley world is shallow and she has found her people. So she starts dressing in plain clothes and spending all her time over at the flop house and keeping her room neat and doing her homework- to be fair, while everyone notices, nobody is that worried because Jessica is psycho amd does weird shit like this ALL the time. Literally whole books written about it. Also, Liz is busy getting hit on by a hot....bowler? Just go with it. And is preoccupied with that, so she's just not that into the idea of rescuing Jess from...doing homework and cleaning her room voluntarily. But dirtbike boyfriend Sam is worried, and then Mr. Wakefield starts talking about a cult in town at dinner because something about lawyering--what??? and everything starts to make sense. Except for ANY OF THIS PLOT. Meanwhile, Jess is getting in deeper. I mean, she spent a WHOLE day cleaning a garage. She is about ready to be whisked off by possibly-rapey Mr. Marvel amd his band of merry teens as they flee the cops-- will she leave Sweet Valley for the life of a beggar for a chance at an overaged hottie? Maybe. A fun, if awesomely stupid, SVH. 3 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2020
Good series
October 14, 2025
What a rushed and terrible ending. Jessica is a birdbrain as always.
January 5, 2012
Jessie realizes once more how she's considered to be the "bad twin" by almost everyone in Sweet Valley. She has to consider though that not everyone can stand to be compared to the almost-too-good-to-be-true goody-two shoes Elizabeth.
So Jessica falls prey to the seductive, albeit manipulative, charms of Adam Marvel. He easily plays into Jessica's insecurities and really does a brainwash. Brainwash you say? Well yes, since you wouldn't believe the changes in Jessica. C'mon, Ms. Party Girl giving up cheerleading meetings and hanging out with friends so she can ask for donations for the "charity group" Good Friends?
That's scary; plus Elizabeth's investigation of the cult-like group also leaves her feeling intimidated of how seductive they can truly be.
More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie
Book Details:
Title: Kidnapped by the Cult! (Sweet Valley High, #82)
Author: Francine Pascal
Reviewed By: Purplycookie
So Jessica falls prey to the seductive, albeit manipulative, charms of Adam Marvel. He easily plays into Jessica's insecurities and really does a brainwash. Brainwash you say? Well yes, since you wouldn't believe the changes in Jessica. C'mon, Ms. Party Girl giving up cheerleading meetings and hanging out with friends so she can ask for donations for the "charity group" Good Friends?
That's scary; plus Elizabeth's investigation of the cult-like group also leaves her feeling intimidated of how seductive they can truly be.
More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie
Book Details:
Title: Kidnapped by the Cult! (Sweet Valley High, #82)
Author: Francine Pascal
Reviewed By: Purplycookie
August 29, 2022
I read every SVH book as a young teen back in the late 80s/early 90s, and was keen to revisit as an adult after seeing a bit of a revival on a social media book group I belong to. This was the first I managed to get hold of, and I wasn't disappointed in my trip down memory lane!
Jessica is feeling very disgruntled - she has been grounded by her parents, and just not feeling appreciated by anyone. When she meets Ted, a member of Good Friends, she gets completely sucked into their mentality and way of life. Can Elizabeth, Sam and Todd stop her before she gets in too deep?
Superficial, yes, high brow literature, no - but so much fun for the hour or so it took to read! I'm not sure many of today's teens would relate too well to a life without mobile phones and the aforementioned social media, but I for one can't wait to locate and read more SVH books!
Jessica is feeling very disgruntled - she has been grounded by her parents, and just not feeling appreciated by anyone. When she meets Ted, a member of Good Friends, she gets completely sucked into their mentality and way of life. Can Elizabeth, Sam and Todd stop her before she gets in too deep?
Superficial, yes, high brow literature, no - but so much fun for the hour or so it took to read! I'm not sure many of today's teens would relate too well to a life without mobile phones and the aforementioned social media, but I for one can't wait to locate and read more SVH books!
December 31, 2020
I think that I read this sometime during the eighties, or maybe the early nineties. It seemed overly simplistic -- not bad. The main character meets a man and joins a sect (the cult) and gives up her ordinary high-school-girl lifestyle for modest dress (full-body covering, etc.), obedience, calm passivity, and possible submissiveness.
Meanwhile, her family hears about a dangerous cult appearing in the city.
Yes, this is a happy-ending story, and she does realize what she's caught up in and leaves.
Meanwhile, her family hears about a dangerous cult appearing in the city.
Yes, this is a happy-ending story, and she does realize what she's caught up in and leaves.
April 3, 2023
This was deliciously ridiculous. I don’t think I ever read this one as a kid…I liked SVH but wasn’t really religious about them. Anyway, the title of this one made me LOL, so I read it as a between book palette cleanser since it was on KU, and it was everything I knew it would be. You know when you join a cult because you’ve been grounded for three weeks and are depressed that people lived their lives without you? Well, Jessica does 🤣🤣🤣😂
January 22, 2020
Fabulous. The first book I ever, ever read was a SVH and I devoured the series. I cannot believe baby cult-obsessed murderino me never came across Jessica getting kidnapped by the cult (well, not exactly kidnapped- more like 'No one understands me and I got grounded so I'm going to join a cult, you guys I MEAN IT!).
Brilliant. And it ends with brownies. What more could a girl want?
Brilliant. And it ends with brownies. What more could a girl want?
December 15, 2021
Feeling uncharacteristically sorry for herself, Jess falls under the sway of the Good Friends cult, and starts behaving more like Liz than Liz herself (hysterical when Liz actually wonders if this is a bad thing😂)
Lovely BF Sam, Liz and TBTodd ride to the rescue, with Sam making a sparky remark that EVEN Todd has confused the twins before
Lovely BF Sam, Liz and TBTodd ride to the rescue, with Sam making a sparky remark that EVEN Todd has confused the twins before
January 1, 2019
Maybe it's about the cult you made along the way
May 3, 2020
This one reminds me a lot of the Boy Meets World episode where Shawn joins that creepy cult, and I love this book just as much as I love that episode.
June 2, 2023
This book has everything. Cults. Brown tweed skirts. Bowling.
February 8, 2019
I think these books are fantastic.
Spoilers in my review here: https://thingscarlalovesofficial.word...
Spoilers in my review here: https://thingscarlalovesofficial.word...
February 25, 2015
This book doesn't really match it's title, because she didn't get kidnapped. But this was a good book because it tells about how easily people can be won over, by good looks or smooth words.
Jessica was failing math, so she got grounded, and while all her friends partied and talked about nothing but stuff Jessica couldn't do. Jessica was beginning to feel left out and unloved. When she was finally done with being grounded, she went to the mall. There she saw friends having fun, girls with their boyfriends, and it made her feel even more unloved! Not just by her friends, but by her parents who grounded her and her sister, who got perfect grades.
While she was there, she dropped her purse and a boy named Ted helped her pick her stuff up. He told her about how he felt unloved once, and about the group that helped him. Jessica was instantly interested in the group, but when she got there, she began to have her doubts. The house was run down, and one of the kids was not nice to her. She didn't think she'd join the 'Good Friends'... Until the amazingly cute and smooth talking leader, Adam, shows up last second.
It wasn't long before Jessica started wearing boring clothes, skipping dances and parties, and going to WORK with the 'Good Friends'.
Elizabeth finds out that her sister's group is really collecting money for themselves, not for the charities like they say. All the kids in the group have been manipulated, and now are under Adam's spell. Nearly every sentence they say has 'Adam says' in it. Elizabeth turns to her boyfriend, Todd, and Jessica's boyfriend, Sam, for help.
After dressing up like her twin, Elizabeth goes to the 'Good Friends'' house, and it's just as she feared. Everyone does what Adam says, and agrees with him. They don't even seem to think for themselves!
That night, Adam and his group have to leave town. He begs Jessica to come to, and she goes home to pack some things. When she leaves, Elizabeth, Sam, and Todd hurry after her. After calling the cops, they try to get Jessica to understand what danger she's in.
Of course in the end, Jessica realizes what's happening, Adam goes to jail, and all the manipulated kids go home to their families.
It was good.
Jessica was failing math, so she got grounded, and while all her friends partied and talked about nothing but stuff Jessica couldn't do. Jessica was beginning to feel left out and unloved. When she was finally done with being grounded, she went to the mall. There she saw friends having fun, girls with their boyfriends, and it made her feel even more unloved! Not just by her friends, but by her parents who grounded her and her sister, who got perfect grades.
While she was there, she dropped her purse and a boy named Ted helped her pick her stuff up. He told her about how he felt unloved once, and about the group that helped him. Jessica was instantly interested in the group, but when she got there, she began to have her doubts. The house was run down, and one of the kids was not nice to her. She didn't think she'd join the 'Good Friends'... Until the amazingly cute and smooth talking leader, Adam, shows up last second.
It wasn't long before Jessica started wearing boring clothes, skipping dances and parties, and going to WORK with the 'Good Friends'.
Elizabeth finds out that her sister's group is really collecting money for themselves, not for the charities like they say. All the kids in the group have been manipulated, and now are under Adam's spell. Nearly every sentence they say has 'Adam says' in it. Elizabeth turns to her boyfriend, Todd, and Jessica's boyfriend, Sam, for help.
After dressing up like her twin, Elizabeth goes to the 'Good Friends'' house, and it's just as she feared. Everyone does what Adam says, and agrees with him. They don't even seem to think for themselves!
That night, Adam and his group have to leave town. He begs Jessica to come to, and she goes home to pack some things. When she leaves, Elizabeth, Sam, and Todd hurry after her. After calling the cops, they try to get Jessica to understand what danger she's in.
Of course in the end, Jessica realizes what's happening, Adam goes to jail, and all the manipulated kids go home to their families.
It was good.
April 4, 2016
This was quite an interesting read, because it was intriguing to see how they would go about altering the usually very true to herself and strong minded Jessica’s personality so drastically. I thought they did a good job of building towards this storyline in the previous books, how it got Jessica to the point where she didn’t feel loved and desperate and became vulnerable to the manipulations of the group.
It was a nice departure from the usual SVH drama, and I really enjoyed reading it.
It was a nice departure from the usual SVH drama, and I really enjoyed reading it.
July 24, 2007
This had to be my favorite of the hundreds of SVH books that filled my shelves during middle school. It really resonated with me because I too almost joined the Institute for Better Living (Hinsdale Cult) and it was really nice knowing that Jessica and Elizabeth had gone through similar confusions.
June 30, 2008
KIDNAPPED BY THE CULT! was a heart stopper and throb-ber. the cult leader was described so subtlety , I wonder how pascal did that that. I loved the way he seemed to be so enchanting and yet the plot could spell the reader feeling his insincerity. I felt like laughing and crying and jumping reading this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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April 22, 2015Jessica's saintly sister totally saved her manipulative and overly dramatic ass - again. No one learned anything. Hound puppy was super gassy and attached to me during the back half of this book though, so my focus was admittedly elsewhere.
November 8, 2016
i really can't remember reading this one. I don't think the librarians approved of it. I just had to 5star the title.
and I loved the Sweet Valley Twins.
and I loved the Sweet Valley Twins.
Read
August 8, 2007Look at that cover! Name says it all. The nineties were a good decade for my library.
June 21, 2013
I remember the cover just not the story.
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