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The Terror Trap
To Cillay Montand, the house on Hillside Street seemed a haven from a world suddenly grown large . . . and uncaring. The old world, of family love and safety, was gone forever with the death of her parents, and now this house and her Aunt Elsa were the only things left to Cillay, and her retarded sister, Pam. Aunt Elsa was expecting them, and here everything would again be all right. . .But Aunt Elsa was not expecting them at all, and her house was not a haven. . . not for Cillay, and certainly not for the strange collection of people who lived there. There was an unseen host — Death! But this Death wore a mask of friendship and kindness, and Cillay found herself trapped in a nightmare world where hate masqueraded as love.
237 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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About the author
Willo Davis Roberts
121 books136 followersWillo Davis Roberts was an American writer chiefly known for her mystery novels for children and young adults. She won Edgar Allan Poe awards in 1989, 1995, and 1997 for best juvenile and best young adult mysteries. Her books included The View from the Cherry Tree, Twisted Summer, Don't Hurt Laurie, Megan's Island, Baby-sitting is a Dangerous Job, Hostage, The Girl with Silver Eyes, The One Left Behind and Scared Stiff.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 21, 2011
Lesbians! Boarding house! Retarded sister! MURDER!
This book was AMAZING. Most gothic novels feature a poor girl tricked (or cornered) into marrying an evil (or homosexual, or secretly vampiric, or FOREIGN) count, and whisked away from her life of typing, bridge, and chicken salad sandwiches to become the unwilling Lady of Gothinghaven Manor, forever resigned to carrying a candelabra through the dusty halls, searching for proof that the last Lady Gothinghaven really is D-E-A-D. Words like "dark" and "forbidding" appear on every other page. It always ends with her running away from the dark, forbidding towers and her husband's devilish velvet clutch, into the arms of the local dumbfuck sheriff/folk singer/park ranger's big, dumb penis. (Yes, their penises have arms. OK?)
Anyway, this one's different. Because it's set in a boarding house in the middle of town. That's just about all that's different about it, because in the end she runs right into a local lawyer's penisarms, after he saves her from the lesbian murderess boarding house owners. He convinces her to put her retarded sister in a home, and then his mother informs her she's already planning the wedding. He doesn't even ask her! He's 30, she's 19. He calls her "Little Girl." Heaven! Just choke the life out of me, already, with your big, dumb penis arms.
This book was AMAZING. Most gothic novels feature a poor girl tricked (or cornered) into marrying an evil (or homosexual, or secretly vampiric, or FOREIGN) count, and whisked away from her life of typing, bridge, and chicken salad sandwiches to become the unwilling Lady of Gothinghaven Manor, forever resigned to carrying a candelabra through the dusty halls, searching for proof that the last Lady Gothinghaven really is D-E-A-D. Words like "dark" and "forbidding" appear on every other page. It always ends with her running away from the dark, forbidding towers and her husband's devilish velvet clutch, into the arms of the local dumbfuck sheriff/folk singer/park ranger's big, dumb penis. (Yes, their penises have arms. OK?)
Anyway, this one's different. Because it's set in a boarding house in the middle of town. That's just about all that's different about it, because in the end she runs right into a local lawyer's penisarms, after he saves her from the lesbian murderess boarding house owners. He convinces her to put her retarded sister in a home, and then his mother informs her she's already planning the wedding. He doesn't even ask her! He's 30, she's 19. He calls her "Little Girl." Heaven! Just choke the life out of me, already, with your big, dumb penis arms.
August 13, 2016
Entertaining, silly pulp. This one felt too YA for my taste, even though the 19 y.o. heroine ends up with a hero 10+ years older. The goofy plot kept my interest, but the hero was a douche (there was no legit reason he couldn't have told Cillay the Big Important Secret, rather than let her bumble around in so much peril -- WTG, Prince Charming), while Cillay herself was a rather limp dishrag (the grumpy ol' senior citizen lady showed 10x the spunky initiative against the villains -- not a good comparison for your heroine :P).
But it amused me for a few hours, so there you go.
But it amused me for a few hours, so there you go.
July 29, 2016
I really enjoyed this book. I didn't think I would--at least not in the way that I did. I thought it would be an overly dramatic and hokey read to fill an afternoon. Well, it filled an afternoon, and it was fairly drama-filled as most gothic mysteries are, but it wasn't hokey. I actually thought it was well plotted and paced, with realistic characters and reasonable reactions to the situations.
19-year-old Cillay Montand and her mentally disabled 15-year-old sister Pam arrive at their aunt's boarding house one night after their mother dies in a distant city. They have no one else to turn to and their Aunt Elsa had agreed by letter to take them in should the worst happen. When they arrive, however, they are treated strangely, not like the warmth and welcome of the letter at all. Things begin to devolve as Cillay begins to suspect that all is not right in the house. When a murder happens, all the evidence points to Pam, but Cillay knows it couldn't have been her. Can she solve the mystery and prove Pam's innocence in time?
I haven't read a lot of teen horror or gothic or whatever you want to call this. It was a refreshing change of pace and now I kind of want to go find other books like it. It was also nice to see an older work by Willo Davis Roberts. She writes so many of the kids books that I enjoy (though as of this review I've only reviews one of them), I like to see not only her earlier work but her take on an older audience.
And listen, I'm a feminist all day every day, but don't listen to some of the other "feminist" twaddle about the ending. Was it upbrupt? A little. Could Sam have done a better job of __________ before his mother got involved? Yes, but to be fair he was busy SAVING HER LIFE. Would I have preferred she save herself instead of a man coming to the rescue at the last minute? Absolutely. Is there a slightly squiggy age difference? Sort of. But as she is nineteen and therefore legally an adult it's fine. My grandparents were 10 years apart. I have one set of friends that are nine years apart and another that are twenty. Love is love as long as you're an adult. Get over it.
19-year-old Cillay Montand and her mentally disabled 15-year-old sister Pam arrive at their aunt's boarding house one night after their mother dies in a distant city. They have no one else to turn to and their Aunt Elsa had agreed by letter to take them in should the worst happen. When they arrive, however, they are treated strangely, not like the warmth and welcome of the letter at all. Things begin to devolve as Cillay begins to suspect that all is not right in the house. When a murder happens, all the evidence points to Pam, but Cillay knows it couldn't have been her. Can she solve the mystery and prove Pam's innocence in time?
I haven't read a lot of teen horror or gothic or whatever you want to call this. It was a refreshing change of pace and now I kind of want to go find other books like it. It was also nice to see an older work by Willo Davis Roberts. She writes so many of the kids books that I enjoy (though as of this review I've only reviews one of them), I like to see not only her earlier work but her take on an older audience.
And listen, I'm a feminist all day every day, but don't listen to some of the other "feminist" twaddle about the ending. Was it upbrupt? A little. Could Sam have done a better job of __________ before his mother got involved? Yes, but to be fair he was busy SAVING HER LIFE. Would I have preferred she save herself instead of a man coming to the rescue at the last minute? Absolutely. Is there a slightly squiggy age difference? Sort of. But as she is nineteen and therefore legally an adult it's fine. My grandparents were 10 years apart. I have one set of friends that are nine years apart and another that are twenty. Love is love as long as you're an adult. Get over it.
April 24, 2014
This book was really good, but then again, Willo Davis Roberts is an amazing author! It's one of those old Gothic type stories of helpless young women in terrible situations with nowhere to turn. Many of these things wouldn't fly today since we have become more assertive and technology is better.
Nineteen year-old Cillay Montand and her fifteen year-old mentally retarded sister, Pam, who has the mental age of six, have traveled by bus to the home of their father's sister after their mother's death. They had never met the woman but in a letter to their mother three months before, she had said that she would welcome them. But when they arrive at the large Victorian mansion, not much is what they expected. It's a boarding house with several old tenants and two young male tenants. Aunt Elsa is an obese uncaring woman who eats chocolates constantly and her help, Beatrice, is a cruel woman. Cillay begins to expect that something evil is going on when someone begins searching rooms and drugging the boarders at night. When a murder is committed Cillay is helpless and on her own as the two women try to pin it on placid innocent Pam.
Nineteen year-old Cillay Montand and her fifteen year-old mentally retarded sister, Pam, who has the mental age of six, have traveled by bus to the home of their father's sister after their mother's death. They had never met the woman but in a letter to their mother three months before, she had said that she would welcome them. But when they arrive at the large Victorian mansion, not much is what they expected. It's a boarding house with several old tenants and two young male tenants. Aunt Elsa is an obese uncaring woman who eats chocolates constantly and her help, Beatrice, is a cruel woman. Cillay begins to expect that something evil is going on when someone begins searching rooms and drugging the boarders at night. When a murder is committed Cillay is helpless and on her own as the two women try to pin it on placid innocent Pam.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews