Everyone believes Tom to be a strange, but otherwise okay, teenager, despite his white hair, gauntness, and disturbing eyes, but a group of kids begins to suspect that Tom is not really who--or what--he claims to be. Simultaneous.
Christopher Pike is the pseudonym of Kevin McFadden. He is a bestselling author of young adult and children's fiction who specializes in the thriller genre.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
McFadden was born in New York but grew up in California where he stills lives in today. A college drop-out, he did factory work, painted houses and programmed computers before becoming a recognized author. Initially unsuccessful when he set out to write science fiction and adult mystery, it was not until his work caught the attention of an editor who suggested he write a teen thriller that he became a hit. The result was Slumber Party (1985), a book about a group of teenagers who run into bizarre and violent events during a ski weekend. After that he wrote Weekend and Chain Letter. All three books went on to become bestsellers.
Again Pike takes what seems to be a simple story and makes it incredibly creative. The back blurb unfortunately makes it seem like the story is focused on some stranger to town, Tom, but that is definitely not true. In fact he only plays a small role in the story later on - what actually happens is the book opens where Mary is consumed with grief and guilt over the death of her boyfriend Jerry. She attends a party and seance, and from there it just gets weird. Twisted, but delightfully weird.
Hard to put down like most of his stuff, the writing style shines as brightly as the pacing does when it goes through the twisted and surreal plot. Not possible to guess everything that goes on here, but it's dark and demented in the end. The characters offer interesting contrasts to each other, with Mary being too beautiful to be true, the long-time friend who acts like a man after all, and the upset brother who still stands by his friends as long as the truth comes out. Tom is a minor role in a much larger story.
It's grim and a little depressing but it's definitely worth reading. Another winner from the Pike library.
Tom was not like a normal teenager. First off, he looked weird. He was too tall, too thin, and his hair was practically white. Also, he had incredible eyes. Some thought he was from outer space.
The Visitor by Christopher Pike
Sadly, this one was not for me.
I-cannot even really say much about it. I do not want to give spoilers but I will say this is a supernatural horror and it really was not for me.
I am a fan of the author but this one was-on the bizarre side to say the least.
That issue is I had no idea what was going on at any point all through the book. I'm not kidding. It is a very strange book that seems to have no beginning. middle or end. It is all just one long, very winding, extremely bizarre story of deeply strange people but the plot is almost impossible to understand.
Yes, it is about teenagers and would fall into the YA Thriller category. Yes, it has a bit of history including about Egypt which I love because I am very into reading about Ancient Egypt.
SPOILERS:
The book was running on bizarre though. The character mentioned in the outline of what the story is about really is not in it for a long time although his role is significant. The plot which involves bringing people back from the dead was not for me and the whole story was so out there, I had no idea what I was reading most of the time.
I still do not know. I loved Mr. Pike's writing but this one was one of my least favorites by him.
The synopsis on the back of the book is irrelevant. It discusses a character that appears for about one chapter of the entire book. He has a purpose and he's incredibly likable, but this is not his story. He's a rarely-visible sidekick and it makes aboslutely no sense to focus the synopsis of the entire book on him.
The pacing feels sporadic throughout the book. All told, I have no idea how many days went by. Maybe two? The book begins during the aftermath of a tragic event and it's quite a while before we get the whole story about what happened to cause this tragedy. Eventually it all did come together, but it took a while to get into the groove.
I despised the main character. Her behavior was erratic and her personality was obnoxious. She was an emotional void and so disgustingly selfish that her end-game turn-around did nothing to me but make me feel it was all somehow just a ploy to make her look good, that it was insincere, that it was one last cry for attention. The main character was also the villain in most respects...
God-moding was a huge flaw in this book. The main character was literally the homecoming queen, an alien commander, a self-proclaimed goddess, and a reincarnated queen of Egypt. There were also many instances throughout of her being in just the right place at just the right time and knowing more than was possible with no rational explanation.
The backstory of the reincarnated characters' previous lives made the book for me, and is the sole reason I am keeping my copy. It could have--should have--been a book in itself. The love story is super tragic and exciting. The actual plot of the book--which I guess was supposed to be a whodunnit?--is far less interesting.
This is my first Christopher Pike book I've ever read. I just found it yesterday, lying on a bookcase in the living room. I'm glad I was bored out of mind to actually go to the bookcase (that I don't ever bother looking at) and find a random book to read(it's my brother's book he never read).
The Visitor is a short and fast read . . I think it's a pretty good book, considering it's my first so I'm not familiar with his writing so I'm not sure if this is his best work. He reminds me of R.L. Stine's Fear Street stories.
My next book for The Poeming! And it is so deliciously bad, I don't know where to start on subverting the text, but rest assured - in October, found poems are cominggggg. :DDD
Preface to review: FIRST OF ALL: The back of this book has very little to do with the story within. It says this book is about Tom. Tom only appears HALFWAY through the novel, and he's not even one of the main characters. This book is about a girl named Mary who's love for her dead boyfriend is, well, stronger than death. It is NOT about Tom, who may not be from this world. I read a ton of Chrisopher Pike books in middle school. They were the link between Fear Street and Stephen King in my love of all things creepy. Recently while talking to a friend, she mentioned that she also read these books and was scandalized by the sex and drug use in his novels. I didn't remember being at all scandalized, or even that the books contained these elements. I don't think sex and drugs were very scandalous to me as a child. I just thought all teenagers partied hard. My opinion hasn't changed much over the years! However, as an adult reading these books, I could see why they would be scandalous to a ten-or-twelve year old! The girl in this book gets naked and asks a guy to massage her butt and 'other places.' Yes, that's what it said, lol. I didn't bat an eye when I was younger, but now I was a little shocked that I read this stuff as a kid! Anyway, the story of this book was pretty original, although the 'scary' scenes were just the kind of cheap corpse-laden horror I remember. Not at all scary to me then or now. I remember only one of his books that scared me. This one has a fairly cool story, though, so I'm glad I read it. The writing is very choppy and I had a hard time getting into his writing style. I'm not sure if all his books are like this, but they seemed very elementary in the sentence structure. No major pet peeves or anything, just not the kind of flow I'm used to. Overall, a good book about love and what we'd do for it. The epilogue thoroughly confused me, though, and I wish they'd left it off because it made no sense with the rest of the book. I think it's supposed to be clever, but I missed the relation to the book. In other words, I just didn't 'get' it. I'd recommend this book to young horror readers who don't notice sex & partying as anything other than the norm.
5/5 stars. This book had it all, great plot, amazing characters, a shocking plot twist, a "Egyptian goddess", aliens, Egypt, seances (never do those, they always end badly), the stereotype blond, head cheerleader bitchy rival to the main character, and reincarnation. I loved this book from cover to cover, I will read anything Christopher Pike writes. My two favorite characters were Savey, and Tom (klaxor). Savey was hilarious and always joking and making hints about wanting to sleep with the main character, Mary, and always being rejected. Tom is a loyal, fierce friend to Mary, he did everything to please her. Overall, I would highly recommend this book, and it is a definite reread and a favorite of mine.
Almost gave this book 2 stars, until the ending... What a terrible ending!! Christopher Pike is really going to pull the whole, "and it was all a dream"?
Other than the ending, the rest of the book was also not particularly great. There were too many dream and hallucination sequences. Many portions of the book dragged on and felt pointless. I know Christopher Pike isn't "high literature" but I've read better books of his and I expect more out of him!
Love this metaphor though: (pg 11): "Ken was not as handsome as Jerry. Jerry had been cut from marble. Ken was papier-mache-- a little droopy."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This book is almost identical to another one I read many years ago, though off the top of my head I can't remember the title. And as Christopher Pike books go, this one is really pretty bad. The main character is completely unlikeable, and all the rest are pretty shallow and one-dimensional. The good-natured cheesy teen "horror" is almost non-existent, and cliche sci-fi is not a good fit for this author. I was pretty disappointed, since I've been a fan of his books since childhood and very seldom find one I don't like.
First of all, the book summary is pretty off. Tom is a minor character, this isn't about him. This is about Mary, a typical high school girl with an amazing body and stellar allure and overall completely hot and all the hot guys want her. In other words, she is the quintessential CP main character. The story is generic CP as well: the plot is out there and odd, and the story is fast. It was just a little choppy and not as good as the others.
Did you know that ouija boards aren’t just for contacting spirits and demons? Did you know you can contact ancient Egyptian aliens? Who are also gods?
Did you also know that the cure for being a reanimated corpse is 6 Tylenol?
This book was weird to say the least. It felt oddly familiar like I read it when I was young and forgot I read it…. Which shows that if left an impression….
Aliens. Reanimated boyfriends. Smoking reincarnated girls from other star systems. Akashic records and prayers to a false god. Drinking and seances and bad decisions. All in all, a pretty groovy YA novel.
Aliens. Necromancy. Horny teenagers. What's not to love? This is not my favorite offering from Pike, and it has one of his more aggravating protagonists, but I have a soft spot for the guy. Nevermind the plot holes. This is a short ride. Enjoy it.
I have never been a fan of rollercoasters but this book was one heck of a ride...so much genre whiplash.
The blurb on the back of this book is so misleading and a spoiler in disguise.
Mary Weist is a very depressed teenage girl. She may be young but she has lost the love of her life, Jerry Rickman. He was shot in the head and found dead at their high school along with the night guard.
It hurts Mary to even be alive. She's going about with her life on autopilot, taking up smoking and sleeping can't keep the dreams away...the nightmares.
Jerry's best friend Savey Barker tries to give her comfort, in love with his deceased buddy's girlfriend, but Mary can't feel anything for him. His band is playing at a party hosted by Pamela Poole, the head cheerleader Mary beat out for Homecoming Queen and the late Jerry Rickman's ex-girlfriend before he and Mary fell in love.
Jerry's brother Ken is at the same party. He looked up to his older brother and he's been wanting to talk to Mary since his brother's death. Mary knows what he wants but she can't tell anyone the secret that haunts her of that night...because she saw Jerry die.
The curiosity of the others who knew and loved Jerry in their own ways want to hold a seance and see if they can contact him...Mary is by no means thrilled. Joined by the Chester twins, girls Radi and Tori, they use a Ouija board along with candles and incense and a crystal ball to make contact.
Pamela asks the questions and writes down the answers. It isn't Jerry who they are speaking to...it isn't even a ghost or a spirit or so it says.
It is drawn to this plane and even though not asked right out...the hints soon point to Mary. Drawn by her past and in fear of what she will do in the present...to the future.
The questions soon become out right indications that Pamela and maybe even Ken believe Mary shot Jerry but the presence doesn't answer straight forward...any answer not a yes or a no is instead one word: MYSTERY.
When the seance is done, Mary seeks solace at Jerry's grave. She dreams about that night he died, she has a dream about the past lying on the cold ground but what isn't a dream...is the white light in the sky.
A spaceship and not long after its arrival, which only Mary has witnessed, does Tom arrive.
A new boy, a young man with almost white hair and beautiful eyes, and Mary can't help but be drawn to him. She knows it isn't love, Jerry was the only one she loved, but she also knows that she and Tom are connected.
Connected through time...connected through space and soon this visitor will show Mary a gift that will turn into a curse.
A curse no human could ever fathom...
This is another Pike novel that deals with what is beyond our understanding but also touches on fate, reincarnation, karma, humanity, grief and sacrifice. Anyone who has lost someone will connect with Mary and, even in the face of going past the point of no return, understand.
The only reason I couldn't give a full five stars is that the ending of the book...gave me chills and they were not good ones. It made me feel confused and the angle it presented on a human level made me numb.
It was the only time the ride scared me like a real life rollercoaster.
If you haven't read The Visitor, I recommend it.
Your interpretation may vary...or maybe not.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
The Visitor by Christopher Pike is a book that I love and hate at the same time. I will go over the pros and cons but first what is the visitor even about? The visitor follows our main character of Mary and how she deals with the death of her boyfriend Jerry. And what better way to deal with death than summon him through an Ouija board. So yes they summon him through an Ouija board and sinister things begin to happen only problem is that it’s not Jerry who they contacted. That’s basically what the story is about, but it touches a lot more different horror elements. The pros of the book are quality over quantity, this book is very fun to read I would recommend reading it fairly quickly because it jumps from scene to scene. Another pro that is that there is a part that made me so incredibly uncomfortable because of how gross it was, it’s amazing. As for the cons there are many, for one all the characters suck, secondly the story is a bit confusing, and thirdly the ending comes out of nowhere and greatly messes up the whole story. So in all I would give the visitor a 4/5 star rating. If not for that one part that is highly disturbing part it would’ve been only a 3.
In ‘The Visitor’, a school shooting leaves a student and a security guard dead. The former, Jerry is dearly missed by his girlfriend, Mary who reluctantly participates in a seance. Shortly after, a new student unlike any other arrives.
Although the synopsis focused on Tom (aka the visitor), he did not feature much. This was not an issue though as the themes of death, grief, love and hope were beautifully interwoven and delved into.
I enjoyed the well-portrayed connections between the characters, their shared pasts and the twistedness of it all, plus the repartees between Mary and Pamela.
Overall, ‘The Visitor’ was a poignant read in which the real horror lied in irrevocable loss.
THIS is the book that best encapsulates Christopher Pike's interests. There's reincarnation, "love binds us together," ancient Egyptian goddesses, a truly morally gray main character, aliens... it's all there.
And there are truly horrifying horror elements as well - maybe not quite to the level of Whisper of Death for disturbing, but the
Well, this book certainly had an interesting premise! From the back I assume aliens, but the beginning almost seemed like it would be ghosts, but no it was indeed aliens! Mary struck me at first as a non-goth Lidia Deets and It's always a bit hilarious to read how promiscuous these old authors liked to make teenagers! And its always such unrealistic dialogue, good for a laugh at least! What Mary ends up accomplishing was a dark surprise, I enjoyed that much more than the alien angle. All in all, a fun, quick read!
My last pike read for this year and this book was weird to say the least. First of all the blurb on the back of this book is so misleading and a spoiler in disguise, the story is a bit confusing and the ending comes out of nowhere and greatly messes up the whole story and my mind too and It made me feel confused. The story have lot of depth and I really enjoyed it, and its intriguing as well but does the book always make sense? Not really. *************************************************************************** #VERDICT: (7/10)
Mary Weist became increasingly annoying around page 50. The book's synopsis didn't become relevant until around page 70. I'm a lover of all things Christopher Pike. However, I did not enjoy this story as much as some of his others. As always, there was a delve into Hindu mysticism, which I've grown to appreciate in Pike's works.
Grim and gross genre-bending novel about some of Pike’s favorite themes: reincarnation and redemption. Not bad but not my favorite Pike. Starts with a seance and ends with a seance. I never thought aliens and zombies would work in a story together but I guess I was wrong.