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Fall Into Darkness

Christopher Pike

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Apr 20, 2012 Kate rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1993-to-1997, horror, mystery, 2012

I'm not sure why I hadn't already put this on my 1993-1997 read shelf, because as soon as I started reading I remembered this book. This will be a lot spoiler-y, given the scant description of the plot on the back of the book.

A summary of the plot based on the back of the book: Sharon stands accused of murder. While on a camping trip, she and her best friend Ann hiked to the top of a cliff. Their friends heard Ann scream "Don't" and heard her screams as she fell over the side of the cliff, but h I'm not sure why I hadn't already put this on my 1993-1997 read shelf, because as soon as I started reading I remembered this book. This will be a lot spoiler-y, given the scant description of the plot on the back of the book.

A summary of the plot based on the back of the book: Sharon stands accused of murder. While on a camping trip, she and her best friend Ann hiked to the top of a cliff. Their friends heard Ann scream "Don't" and heard her screams as she fell over the side of the cliff, but her body was never found. No one, not even Sharon, thinks Ann was suicidal, so that leaves Sharon as the only suspect.

Okay, so that was the PROLOGUE. Almost immediately we are taken back to Ann plotting how to frame Sharon for her murder - with a nod to Gimme a Kiss as a book Ann read which gave her this idea. Why does Ann want to make Sharon suffer? It's all because of her brother Jerry's suicide a year ago. Jerry had liked Sharon, and all he left behind was a note that says, "I loved her." Ann believes Sharon was the reason.

Ann gives boyfriend Paul her villain monologue about how she is going to attach a rope/bungee cord to a hidden harness when Sharon walks away, then jump off the cliff after screaming "Don't!" The only thing Paul needs to do is remove the pin Ann is going to place in the cliff face. It's a risky plan, and things go wrong almost immediately. She hits the side of the cliff and barely survives the fall.

The novel moves back and forth between Ann's predicament and the trial, where Sharon's lawyer deftly gets Paul to admit his part in the plan. But Ann hasn't contacted him yet... so where is she? Here's where I'm going to have to block the spoilers...

(view spoiler)

So... lots of twists and turns. I definitely had no clue who the real killer was. I think rock climbing is a bit more complicated than all this... honestly I have no idea how Sharon managed to do anything she did at the very end (most girls - or guys - can't climb up a rope like I can, especially not when they're hanging over the edge of a cliff). Over all, it was an interesting murder mystery even though through half the book I wasn't even sure a murder had occurred.

Funny name things: seriously, Christopher Pike picks the most boring names ever. In fact, having recently read Gimme a Kiss, I noticed that a character from that book was also named Sharon. And Ann's last name was Rice. As in Ann Rice. Which made for some interesting sentences... But Paul, Chad, and Fred (who was Fred? Honestly, no one that mattered)... so cookie-cutter. And yet I know Christopher Pike is capable of naming his characters after ancient Sanskit goddesses, etc., so I am at a loss for the blandness of these characters' names. ...more

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