Christopher Pike

I think I kept going with this series mostly because I've so loved Pike's horror, and love fantasy in general. Unfortunately, this finale of the "trilogy" (more on these quotation marks later) goes downhill from the earlier books, and when/if the series continues, I don't see myself continuing with it. The characters and concept of the series are enjoyable, but unfortunately, the execution falls flat--and I hate saying that, given how much I adore Pike's other work.

The first issue is a lack show more of editing; simply put, the book is overwritten/wordy, and would probably be quite a bit stronger if the author or an editor had cut loosely 50 pages of wordiness and needless backstory, if not more. The beginning is so incredibly weighted down with backstory (as are some parts after it), that it feels like the writer/editor expected everyone would have completely forgotten what happened in earlier books. There's no nuance to how the backstory is presented, either. If they really did feel that such a refresher was needed, I would have loved to see them offer one of those 'what happened before/up to this point' early sections/prologues that some fantasy books do, to great effect.

The second issue is a lack of centering...technically, the book is YA Fantasy, but even though the concept fits YA Fantasy, it's more of an Adult genre fantasy than not, especially once the main character (a teenager) begins acting more and more like an adult, and less and less like a teenager. There are reasons why, and I won't go into them for fear of spoilers, but the effect is that the book feels torn between YA and Adult, and it simply doesn't work. Especially in this book, when we stay with the MC for the first half and then start bouncing around between POVs...to be honest, it feels as if the book is just sloppy/unedited.

I'd love to have more good to say about this work, but the truth is that it was a slog to get through, and I don't think I would have picked it up at all (since I felt only lukewarm about the series' beginning books) if not for Pike's name and feeling like he'd present a grand finale. Story-wise, I think it was on one hand. On the other hand...the reader should know that this isn't a proper trilogy.

The book finishes up with a promise of another book/continuation in the series to follow the main character further in her adventure (which is necessary--the conclusion gave us a conclusion to plot, but no resolution to character struggle)...but as of now, 14 years after the publication of The Yanti, that fourth work has still not been published.

I'd recommend Christopher Pike's horror. I would not recommend this series. show less

I read many Christopher Pike books in my pre-teen/middle school years. I remember taking at least two of them to college with me: Remember Me and Last Act. I wish I knew what happened to those books, but I don't and probably never will. They could be somewhere at my mom's house OR they were read-to-death by me and those that came after me (my nieces and nephew) OR they were all sold in a yard sale OR traded-in to a bookstore. I truly have no idea. So instead I turned to eBay and found about show more 20 of my favorites significantly overpriced for books that retailed at $3.99 and are not in the best condition. I kick myself every time I buy used books from eBay or ThriftBooks because they always have difficult-to-remove stickers and/or are not in a condition I would call good but eBay's definition of good loosely applies. In the lot I bought of 16 books, the first one I read (Slumber Party) has a piece of...cupcake, maybe...chillin' in the spine with some kind of growth that has spread to multiple pages in either direction. Definitely not a book condition I would call good or even acceptable, but this seller thought it worth selling.

So back to Last Act. This has a lot of elements that a young-me enjoyed: 1) my name! 2) a story within a story 3) a mystery 4) chocolate cake. The book centers around a new-ish-to-town teen, Melanie, that lands a lead (as Melissa) in a school play directed by new friend Susan and starring Marc, a boy Melanie has a crush on. Melanie's character, Melissa, shoots Ronda (played by Rindy) and the last act of the play is the characters discovering who killed Ronda. BUT (SPOILER ALERT) on opening night shit goes sideways and Melanie ends up arrested for murder. The second half of the book is Melanie's attempt to prove she did not kill Rindy -- either on purpose or by accident. I can remember making my own list of suspects along with Melanie when I was a kid and I remembered the anagram of Stan Russel/Susan Trels as soon as I saw his name on page 36. Interesting to note that, like in Slumber Party, someone is always ordering a chocolate cake, does Mr Pike like chocolate? Fortunately not as much weird focus on body image and negative self-talk in this one, although Melanie is a little insecure and compares herself to the beautiful Rindy an awful lot, especially when talking to Marc. I'd forgotten all about Clyde though so that was a twist I didn't see coming.

I am 99% certain that I read The Catcher in the Rye because it is mentioned in this book (the ducks!) and while young-me probably had no questions about it, adult me is wondering why the ducks wouldn't migrate? Wouldn't they be fine even if Sam didn't bundle them up in his barn? Unless they are domesticated Mallards and Sam brought them there in the first place thus should be responsible for them because their migratory instincts were bred out of them? show less

Jane Retton is a teenager who uses her diary to imagine a slightly better life for herself. In her diary, when Kirk, her friend Alice's ex-boyfriend, asked her out, it was super-romantic and perfect. She's in the process of writing about their perfect first time having sex (in reality, Jane has never had sex) when she's interrupted. She forgets to put her diary away, which, unfortunately, soon leads to Patty, a cheerleader who hates Jane's guts, getting hold of the most recent entry, making show more copies of it, and passing it around school.

Jane is deeply humiliated. It doesn't help that Kirk doesn't deny the events mentioned in the diary and adds fuel to the fire by confirming that the handwriting is Jane's. But then Jane has an idea, a way to temporarily get back at both Kirk and Patty. Except something goes horribly wrong. Now Alice, one of Jane's friends, is the only one who can say what really happened. But did she actually know everything, and is she telling the police the full truth?

Yes, it totally makes sense to deal with humiliation by faking your own death and making it look like those who humiliated you killed you. Absolutely. So yeah, the Christopher Pike banana pantsery is baked right into the premise of this one. It's still fairly mild, though, because additional revelations, while ridiculous in their own way, don't make things that much more outlandish. There are much wilder Christopher Pike books out there.

None of this gave me a sense of deja vu as I was reading, so either I never read this as a teen or it just wasn't memorable enough to stick in my brain. As a mystery/thriller, it had some nice pieces that readers could put together to figure certain things out, with zero supernatural elements to complicate things. Whether it was all believable was, uh, another thing entirely.

All in all, this was an okay read. Needed even more banana pantsery. And ugh, I hated that I could absolutely imagine the 33-year-old cop proposing to [redacted] after rescuing her in the end. They would have the world's most unhealthy and turbulent relationship, ending in either a messy divorce or murder.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

“She had driven herself within an inch of death, and perhaps the alien organism that flowed in her veins had even helped her so far. But the human part of her couldn’t bear it. She was only eighteen. She didn’t want to die.”


Rarely can you use the terms powerful and poignant about a thriller with science fiction and horror elements aimed at teenagers, but it’s a testament to how good Christopher Pike is that you can with Monster. Don’t let the cover fool you; this is in many ways show more very adult, and riveting. This is the norm for Pike when he writes stories for those in their late teenage years. This one is from 1992 and it is both involving and somewhat gruesome without becoming too graphic. The young adults in this one — and all of Pike’s books — have a worldliness to them; they have sex or want to, and relate to each other in a very real manner emotionally. It gives Monster a grit and heart one might not expect, and makes what happens quite moving, even memorable. How often can you say that about young adult fiction, in any genre?

Monster starts off with a literal bang as pretty Mary Blanc walks into a party and shoots Todd Green and head cheerleader Kathy Baker, before desperately trying to kill her boyfriend, football jock Jim Kline. The newer girl in town, her friend Angela Warner, prevents her from murdering Jim, believing she is doing the right thing. Her belief that her friend has gone insane is only reinforced when the Vietnam veteran cop from the town of Point where they live, Nguyen, allows Angela to get Mary’s story — as he secretly tapes their conversation. And what a story it is, because Mary claims that the kids she murdered were no longer human, but monsters of some kind. She also claims they are murderers; apparently the kind who eat people and dispose of their remains. And she is very insistent that Jim Kline must also be killed, before THEY spread, and it’s too late…

I want to be careful here and not ruin what follows, but it’s very involving, and executed so deftly that after a while you just can’t put it down. As Angela, for the sake of friendship, looks into Mary’s ridiculous claims, and Nguyen keeps an eye on her, something happens which makes the ending both thrilling and poignant. It all has to do with Point Lake, a meteor, and a take on an old trope so fresh you almost won’t recognize it. Pike makes you care about the people involved, especially Angela and the sweet boy named Kevin who is in love with her. But in Angela’s eyes he’s just a good friend. Star quarterback Jim Kline, however, is another matter, and he has a very plausible explanation for Mary’s behavior which, no matter how hard she fights it, thrills Angela’s heart.

An amulet given to Angela by an Indian who knows the lake’s secrets, which has ties to another in Chile, may be all that stands between her and a hunger which begins to swallow her up after she spends time with Jim. No one is safe, not even Angela’s little dog Plastic, and as Nguyen tries to find the warehouse where Mary says Jim and the others murdered people, Angela wages a war within herself. When Mary is finally released on bail, things take an even darker and more gruesome turn. Nguyen doesn’t want to believe Mary’s story, but he knows something is very, very wrong, and takes heed of Angela’s words to him:

“Quit following me. Let me do what I have to do. By the time you know enough to believe what is happening, you’ll already be dead.”

There is a tense and thrilling climax that has you hoping for a way out, followed by an epilog which is sad and resonating. This is absolutely wonderful, even though it is a bit violent and gruesome. It never gets so ugly you want to turn away, but a scene in a basement will certainly tug at the heartstrings. As good as any book in the young adult horror genre you’ll ever read, it has that magic quality of real people thrown into horrific circumstances, making for tremendously terrific entertainment. Don’t hesitate, just pick up this one as quick as you can. So awesome I’d give this ten stars if I could!!! show less