Deathline

by Barbara Steiner

Erica, a volunteer on the Rapline, discovers that the job may have endangered her life when a caller becomes obsessed with her and she begins hearing his voice even when she is not on the phone. Original.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult

165 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1993

About the author

Also writes under the name Barbara A. Steiner.

Reviews

[Candace · Rating 2 out of 5]

My grandmother's cousin wrote this book (as well as several others like it) and both have passed away, so I almost feel obligated to reeeally like it. This story was fine, but I read it with the mindset that the point horror genre was never exactly literary or "deep." I read it knowing not to expect depth or earth-shattering themes.

These tiny books are fun, quick summer reads that you can breeze through between reading bigger, better novels. They're much too short to have fully-developed or even believable characters and plots. Once you have that in mind, you can probably enjoy them enough. I predicted the killer from the very beginning, but it was still interesting to see how Erica and the other characters figured it out. Point horror was written in the '90s and prominent among teen girls, so the story had a bit of a nostalgic feel for this '90s baby.

[Grace Chan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I typically enjoy Steiner's books, but this one was a doozy. We spend a lot of time at the detectives office (SNOOZE) and unlike many of our beloved vintage YAs where there are no parents present, this one has a very concerned and active mom hanging out 🤣 Giving so much of the narrative over to the adults takes away our protag Erica's agency, not to mention it taking away my attention lol.

Annnd I guessed the killer right away...I'm usually a dum dum and can never guess, but this one was clear as day 😆

[Unsolved ☕︎ Mystery · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry to say but reading this book was a complete waste of time.

- My Description -
Erica (Riki) works part time on the Rapline Crisis Center for teens.
She begins receiving calls from an unknown male who tells Riki he's murdered a girl.
At first, Riki brushes it off as a disturbing prank call, then she begins getting the calls at home.
The police are led to the first body, but there will be others....not yet dead.

- My Review -
The description makes it sound like a good read but it's not.
The author did not tap into the minds or actions of teens. It read like they were adults.

Also, When the killer is discovered, we find out the killer is someone Riki knows.
He has Split Personality Disorder.
That's not the confusing part.
What was confusing to me was how the author described it. She wrote in riddles.

This book had such potential. It just wasn't executed properly.
What a shame.

I really hope the author's other books aren't written in this kind of manner.