|
|
(Larger Image)
|
Chain Letter (Avon Camelot Books)
by Christopher Pike
Product Group: Book
Publisher: HarperTeen (1986-05-01)
ISBN: 038089968X
EAN: 9780380899685
Paperback: 192 pages
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: 1986-05-01
SKU: 6332
Condition: Very Good
Comments: Binding: Softcover. Condition: Very Good.
|
Editorial Reviews
|
Product Description
When Alison first read the chain letter signed "Your Caretaker," she thought it was some terrible sick joke. Someone, somewhere knew about tha tawful night when she and six other friends committed an unthinkable crime in the desolate California desert. And now that person was determined to make them pay for it. One by one, the chain letter was coming to each of them ... demanding dangerous, impossible deeds... threatening violence if the demands were not met. No one out of the seven wanted to believe that this nightmare was really happening to them. Until the accidents started happening -- and the dying...
|
Customer Reviews
|
An Old Favorite
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-08-09
Chain Letter has a very similar premise to I Know What You Did Last Summer. A group of kids are involved in a hit and run accident that kills a man. A year later, the horror starts up again when one of the kids, Fran Darey, receives the first of many letters in the mail. Only in this book, the letter is a chain letter. The chain letters ask them to do shocking, horrible things and it all goes downhill for the characters from there. But some of the things they're asked to do are actually quite amusing. For example, one of them is asked to mouth off to her teachers. I won't say any more but that's just one example of the dark humor to be found in this book (it's also an example of why troublemakers probably shouldn't read this book :)). So yeah, I thought that having it be a chain letter was an interesting twist to what could have been a stale plotline. I felt the ending was really sad and really satisfying (in a tragic way). That is why I was so disappointed with the sequel. The sequel just seemed to exploit supernatural elements to make it more spooky. The first one had a humanity to it that impressed me. It can`t compete with Poe or anything, but as a teen horror book, it's pretty good.
It's good for 13 year olds. It's a little more mature than R.L. Stine books. The characters are more sexualized and the language is more harsh. But it's better written.
|
|
Not One of Pike's Best, But Still An OK Read
Rating  (2)
Date: 2006-02-18
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Chain Letter is one of Pike's earliest novels, written in 1986. Pike peppers this book with cultural references from the '80's, which make it a bit dated. How many teens in 2006 will have a clue who Natassja Kinski is and that she was in a sexy photo with a boa constrictor?
The story starts out strongly. A group of friends have covered up an accident - or a crime. An ominous person calling himself The Caretaker knows all about it. The Caretaker wants each of them to do extremely embarrassing things - or he will kill them one by one. Will the friends stick together or turn on each other? Worse, what if the Caretaker is one of them?
The best part of the novel was the setting of one of the character's homes, a deserted housing tract in the desert. Look at the cover and see the dark hills around the lonely house. Great setting and descriptive writing when talking about the tract! Good explanation as to why no one but this one family had moved in yet.
Pike develops the characters well. Unfortunately, most of them are not likeable. The end was not smashing in that it was not a surprise, and Pike left loose ends hanging. Many incongruities in the final resolution were not explained.
I was nauseated by the sickeningly sweet, sentimental, and totally implausible ending. Who cares about the budding romance between so and so? Oh, God, it was so Disneyfied! I also did not like the fact that Pike took the easy way out and had all the teens' parents away on long trips during all of the action.
|
|
Great book
Rating  (5)
Date: 2005-05-21
1 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
This was the first Christopher Pike book I read, and is still one of my favorite ever. If you want to read something good, than this is the bookl. I liked how the letter had the whole colom system, and Neil being not just one of them, you have to read number two to see the second Caretaker(Sasha). In short, this book is good. Read it.
|
|
Pike's best, very entertaining
Rating (3)
Date: 2005-02-24
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
Of the four Pike novels that I've read, Chain Letter is by far the best. Pike works within a strict formula that involves a whodunit, attractive young protagonists, and a thrilling sense of danger. In this particular outing, these elements are bolstered by a stronger-than-average set of characters, and above all the nifty idea that a chain letter is making demands that must be met.
This book could have served as the inspiration for "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and shares that movie's premise of a shared horrible secret that comes back to haunt the young beautiful friends who left a man for dead.
Pike has a knack for moving a story along in the manner of a conventional thriller novel, and this book is extra exciting because of the gimmick of overt threats and unspeakably horrible demands.
By playing on an Urban Legend, Pike has tapped into something that hits a little closer to home than most of his works.
If you're going to give Pike a try, this is the book to cut your teeth on.
|
|
Very realistic and edge of your seat thriller.
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-02-23
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book has a very good plot and very intricate twist. One of Christopher Pike's first books and also one of his best. If you can get a hold of this book read it for sure. It's about a group of kids who ecieve a chain letter telling them to do crazy things.To figure out this twist you'll need to pay attention to every clue and every message the Caretaker (the person sending the chain letters) leaves. Not a disappointment. A++
|
|
|
|
|