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Summer of Fear
Why is Rachel the only one to sense the evil that surrounds Julia?From the moment Rachel's cousin Julia arrives that summer, she seems to seep into Rachel's life like a poison. Everyone else is enchanted by her--including Rachel's boyfriend. But what does Julia really want?
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First published January 1, 1976
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About the author
Lois Duncan
68 books2,002 followersLois Duncan (born Lois Duncan Steinmetz) was an American writer and novelist, known primarily for her books for children and young adults, in particular (and some times controversially considering her young readership) crime thrillers. Duncan's parents were the noted magazine photographers Lois Steinmetz and Joseph Janney Steinmetz. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but grew up in Sarasota, Florida. Duncan started writing and submitting manuscripts to magazines at the age of ten, and when she was thirteen succeeded in selling her first story.
Duncan attended Duke University from 1952 to 1953 but dropped out, married, and started a family. During this time, she continued to write and publish magazine articles; over the course of her career, she has published more than 300 articles, in magazines such as Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, McCall's, Good Housekeeping, and Reader's Digest. After her first marriage, which produced three children, ended in divorce, Duncan moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to teach journalism at the University of New Mexico, where she also earned a BA in English in 1977. In 1965 she married Don Arquette, and had two more children with him.
Duncan was best known for her novels of suspense for teenagers. Some of her works have been adapted for the screen, the most famous example being the 1997 film I Know What You Did Last Summer, adapted from her novel of the same title. Other made-for-TV movies include Stranger with My Face, Killing Mr. Griffin, Don't Look Behind You, Summer of Fear and Gallows Hill.
In 1989 the youngest of Duncan's children, Kaitlyn Arquette, was murdered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, under suspicious circumstances. Who Killed My Daughter? relates the facts and conjecture about the still unsolved case.
Duncan's second book about her daughter's murder, ONE TO THE WOLVES: ON THE TRAIL OF A KILLER, picks up where the first book leaves off and contains all the new information Kait's family has uncovered from private investigation.
The 1971 children's book Hotel for Dogs was released as a theatrical movie in 2009, starring Emma Roberts. That book has now been republished by Scholastic along with two sequels, News for Dogs (2009) and Movie for Dogs (2010).
Duncan's Gothic suspense novel, DOWN A DARK HALL, is being filmed for the Big Screen and will probably be released in 2016.
Follow Lois on Twitter: http://twitter.com/duncanauthor
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?i...
http://www.kaitarquette.arquettes.com
Duncan attended Duke University from 1952 to 1953 but dropped out, married, and started a family. During this time, she continued to write and publish magazine articles; over the course of her career, she has published more than 300 articles, in magazines such as Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, McCall's, Good Housekeeping, and Reader's Digest. After her first marriage, which produced three children, ended in divorce, Duncan moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to teach journalism at the University of New Mexico, where she also earned a BA in English in 1977. In 1965 she married Don Arquette, and had two more children with him.
Duncan was best known for her novels of suspense for teenagers. Some of her works have been adapted for the screen, the most famous example being the 1997 film I Know What You Did Last Summer, adapted from her novel of the same title. Other made-for-TV movies include Stranger with My Face, Killing Mr. Griffin, Don't Look Behind You, Summer of Fear and Gallows Hill.
In 1989 the youngest of Duncan's children, Kaitlyn Arquette, was murdered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, under suspicious circumstances. Who Killed My Daughter? relates the facts and conjecture about the still unsolved case.
Duncan's second book about her daughter's murder, ONE TO THE WOLVES: ON THE TRAIL OF A KILLER, picks up where the first book leaves off and contains all the new information Kait's family has uncovered from private investigation.
The 1971 children's book Hotel for Dogs was released as a theatrical movie in 2009, starring Emma Roberts. That book has now been republished by Scholastic along with two sequels, News for Dogs (2009) and Movie for Dogs (2010).
Duncan's Gothic suspense novel, DOWN A DARK HALL, is being filmed for the Big Screen and will probably be released in 2016.
Follow Lois on Twitter: http://twitter.com/duncanauthor
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?i...
http://www.kaitarquette.arquettes.com
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September 15, 2016
My Lois Duncan jag concludes with Summer of Fear, a supernatural thriller first published in 1976 and revised by the author in 2011 to account for changes in communication that would deflate much of her plot if the story took place in the present. I'm not wild about the trend to update Young Adult thrillers published in the 1970s or '80s for readers of today. Duncan's books are scarier when her teenage heroines can't rely on smartphones, the Internet or helicopter parents to help them overcome evil. In the '70s, you were on your own (think of Jamie Lee Curtis' babysitter character in Halloween). That said, Duncan knows how to craft a taut tale of primal fear and unsettle the reader regardless of the era.
The story is the account of Rachel Bryant, a nineteen year old troubled by a newspaper article of a family who disappeared on a hiking trip. Rachel has questions about who could've photographed the family before their hike and whether this person of interest could be someone she knows. Moving back in time to the summer of Rachel's sweet sixteen birthday, the Bryants are a family of five living in suburban Albuquerque. Rachel's father Tom is a government engineer and her mother Leslie is a freelance photographer. Her older brother Peter is eighteen and plays bass in a rock band. Her younger brother Bobby is eleven and a pest. Rachel's dog Trickle rounds out the loving household.
Set for a summer of repose, Rachel awakens to the news that her mother's sister Marge has been killed in a car accident near her Ozark Mountains home in Lost Ridge, Missouri with her husband and housekeeper. Rachel's Uncle Ryan was a novelist whose work kept Marge isolated and Rachel never met her surviving seventeen year old cousin, whose name is Julia Grant. While her parents are dispatched to the Ozarks to bring Julia home to live with them, Rachel discusses her apprehensions with Mike Gallagher, a childhood friend and lifeguard who has become something more than a friend. Rachel remains uncertain about sharing her room with a complete stranger.
Julia. It was a pretty name. I tried to remember the things I'd heard about Julia over the years. I knew, of course, that she went to a boarding school in New England because there were no good public schools in the area of her mountain home. I had a feeling she was supposed to have a talent of some kind. What was it she did--sing? Paint? Write poetry? To tell the truth, I had never been interested enough to make note of it, or of anything else from the dull family chitchat in Aunt Marge's annual Christmas letters. But now I did want to know. I wanted to prepare myself.
Meeting her cousin for the first time, Rachel detects a dialect that awkwardly transitions from hillbilly to proper English and clothes that don't quite seem right for her. Julia peppers Rachel with questions about the family while shying away from answering many about herself. Meeting Trickle, Julia reacts with hostility to dogs and the feeling seems to be mutual. The next day, Rachel introduces her cousin to her friend Carolyn and the girls go shopping. Rachel is struck by how instantly taken Carolyn is with Julia. This phenomenon extends to her parents and even to her shy older brother Peter, who is positively googly-eyed over his first cousin. Impervious to Julia's charms is their neighbor Professor Jarvis, a retired professor of sociology at the University of New Mexico.
Strange things are afoot in the Bryant household. When Trickle sinks his teeth into Julia's ankle, Rachel's father demands the family dog be leashed and kept outside; the poor mutt's health deteriorates quickly which Rachel's parents blame on an illness of some sort. Rachel comes across an article in her father's National Geographic about witchcraft, but dismisses it. In lieu of a summer dance, Rachel makes herself a dress, puzzling at why she chose pink, a color she dislikes and would look much better on a girl like ... Julia. Rachel wakes the morning of the dance stricken with hives and asks Mike to take Julia, letting her cousin borrow her new pink dress.
Home alone, Rachel finds discarded matches in her bedroom and suspecting that her cousin might have a stash of cigarettes or marijuana nearby, rifles through the room. She discovers a waxlike sculpture shaped like a dog she can't make anything out of. Peter returns from the dance despondent and reports to his sister that Julia spent the night chatting with Mike. When Rachel confronts her boyfriend about this, he admits that he fell in love with Julia and hopes he and Rachel can still be friends. Cursing her cousin under her breath as a witch, Rachel goes for a chat with Professor Jarvis, who happened to just return from lecturing a women's club about witchcraft.
"We know that the mind has powers that often go undeveloped. Scientific tests conducted in laboratories have proved that certain people have more control over their mind forces than others. There are people who can predict the turn of a card or tune their minds in on events that are occurring in other places. Why then is it unreasonable to believe that there might be other people who can channel this mind force outward and create happenings instead of just know about them?"
"And people who can do that are witches?"
"Some of them call themselves that."
Summer of Fear is not a great novel. The other titles I've read by Duncan (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Down a Dark Hall, Daughters of Eve, The Third Eye) are not great novels and I've gone on record here about how I feel about the special editions. Duncan struggles to suspend disbelief not because her books deal with psychic phenomena or criminal conspiracies among teenagers, but because the psychic phenomena and teenagers tend to be developed in the most generic and sanitized terms that qualify them for placement in the Young Adult category. On many levels, the characters think like adolescents might imagine adults think.
Duncan is a much better writer than her rudimentary prose suggests and with this novel in particular, plugs into the sort of existential dread that a reader of nearly any age should be able to relate to. The fear that a charismatic individual no one else wants to see for what they are might take over and destroy your life is primal and exploited between the lines here beautifully. Every strange event that Rachel experiences is glossed over with a rational explanation by her parents and escalates another one of Duncan's themes: adults refuse to take teenagers seriously and want to control them. There isn't a wasted character or prop; every element Duncan introduces pays off by her climax, which on the page, are as exciting and unexpected as those favored by Alfred Hitchcock.
Lois Duncan's work laid a foundation for the high school horror revival in American film in the mid-1990s, beginning with Scream. Wes Craven directed and twenty years earlier he directed the most faithful adaptation of Duncan's work with Stranger in Our House, a made-for-TV version of this novel that premiered on NBC on October 31, 1978. Linda Blair played Rachel, Lee Purcell played Julia and Fran Drescher played Carolyn (each of these actresses co-starred in an iconic movie of the '70s: The Exorcist, Big Wednesday and Saturday Night Fever. The Craven movie isn't remembered so fondly). The tiny perfection of Duncan's novels is that they table graphic depictions of violence and even profanity and are able to generate dread and unease with suggestion.
The story is the account of Rachel Bryant, a nineteen year old troubled by a newspaper article of a family who disappeared on a hiking trip. Rachel has questions about who could've photographed the family before their hike and whether this person of interest could be someone she knows. Moving back in time to the summer of Rachel's sweet sixteen birthday, the Bryants are a family of five living in suburban Albuquerque. Rachel's father Tom is a government engineer and her mother Leslie is a freelance photographer. Her older brother Peter is eighteen and plays bass in a rock band. Her younger brother Bobby is eleven and a pest. Rachel's dog Trickle rounds out the loving household.
Set for a summer of repose, Rachel awakens to the news that her mother's sister Marge has been killed in a car accident near her Ozark Mountains home in Lost Ridge, Missouri with her husband and housekeeper. Rachel's Uncle Ryan was a novelist whose work kept Marge isolated and Rachel never met her surviving seventeen year old cousin, whose name is Julia Grant. While her parents are dispatched to the Ozarks to bring Julia home to live with them, Rachel discusses her apprehensions with Mike Gallagher, a childhood friend and lifeguard who has become something more than a friend. Rachel remains uncertain about sharing her room with a complete stranger.
Julia. It was a pretty name. I tried to remember the things I'd heard about Julia over the years. I knew, of course, that she went to a boarding school in New England because there were no good public schools in the area of her mountain home. I had a feeling she was supposed to have a talent of some kind. What was it she did--sing? Paint? Write poetry? To tell the truth, I had never been interested enough to make note of it, or of anything else from the dull family chitchat in Aunt Marge's annual Christmas letters. But now I did want to know. I wanted to prepare myself.
Meeting her cousin for the first time, Rachel detects a dialect that awkwardly transitions from hillbilly to proper English and clothes that don't quite seem right for her. Julia peppers Rachel with questions about the family while shying away from answering many about herself. Meeting Trickle, Julia reacts with hostility to dogs and the feeling seems to be mutual. The next day, Rachel introduces her cousin to her friend Carolyn and the girls go shopping. Rachel is struck by how instantly taken Carolyn is with Julia. This phenomenon extends to her parents and even to her shy older brother Peter, who is positively googly-eyed over his first cousin. Impervious to Julia's charms is their neighbor Professor Jarvis, a retired professor of sociology at the University of New Mexico.
Strange things are afoot in the Bryant household. When Trickle sinks his teeth into Julia's ankle, Rachel's father demands the family dog be leashed and kept outside; the poor mutt's health deteriorates quickly which Rachel's parents blame on an illness of some sort. Rachel comes across an article in her father's National Geographic about witchcraft, but dismisses it. In lieu of a summer dance, Rachel makes herself a dress, puzzling at why she chose pink, a color she dislikes and would look much better on a girl like ... Julia. Rachel wakes the morning of the dance stricken with hives and asks Mike to take Julia, letting her cousin borrow her new pink dress.
Home alone, Rachel finds discarded matches in her bedroom and suspecting that her cousin might have a stash of cigarettes or marijuana nearby, rifles through the room. She discovers a waxlike sculpture shaped like a dog she can't make anything out of. Peter returns from the dance despondent and reports to his sister that Julia spent the night chatting with Mike. When Rachel confronts her boyfriend about this, he admits that he fell in love with Julia and hopes he and Rachel can still be friends. Cursing her cousin under her breath as a witch, Rachel goes for a chat with Professor Jarvis, who happened to just return from lecturing a women's club about witchcraft.
"We know that the mind has powers that often go undeveloped. Scientific tests conducted in laboratories have proved that certain people have more control over their mind forces than others. There are people who can predict the turn of a card or tune their minds in on events that are occurring in other places. Why then is it unreasonable to believe that there might be other people who can channel this mind force outward and create happenings instead of just know about them?"
"And people who can do that are witches?"
"Some of them call themselves that."
Summer of Fear is not a great novel. The other titles I've read by Duncan (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Down a Dark Hall, Daughters of Eve, The Third Eye) are not great novels and I've gone on record here about how I feel about the special editions. Duncan struggles to suspend disbelief not because her books deal with psychic phenomena or criminal conspiracies among teenagers, but because the psychic phenomena and teenagers tend to be developed in the most generic and sanitized terms that qualify them for placement in the Young Adult category. On many levels, the characters think like adolescents might imagine adults think.
Duncan is a much better writer than her rudimentary prose suggests and with this novel in particular, plugs into the sort of existential dread that a reader of nearly any age should be able to relate to. The fear that a charismatic individual no one else wants to see for what they are might take over and destroy your life is primal and exploited between the lines here beautifully. Every strange event that Rachel experiences is glossed over with a rational explanation by her parents and escalates another one of Duncan's themes: adults refuse to take teenagers seriously and want to control them. There isn't a wasted character or prop; every element Duncan introduces pays off by her climax, which on the page, are as exciting and unexpected as those favored by Alfred Hitchcock.
Lois Duncan's work laid a foundation for the high school horror revival in American film in the mid-1990s, beginning with Scream. Wes Craven directed and twenty years earlier he directed the most faithful adaptation of Duncan's work with Stranger in Our House, a made-for-TV version of this novel that premiered on NBC on October 31, 1978. Linda Blair played Rachel, Lee Purcell played Julia and Fran Drescher played Carolyn (each of these actresses co-starred in an iconic movie of the '70s: The Exorcist, Big Wednesday and Saturday Night Fever. The Craven movie isn't remembered so fondly). The tiny perfection of Duncan's novels is that they table graphic depictions of violence and even profanity and are able to generate dread and unease with suggestion.
January 8, 2020
While yes, I did mildly enjoy Lois Duncan's 1976 young adult horror novel Summer of Fear when I read it as a teenager in 1982, revisiting Summer of Fear as an older adult has not at all been even remotely either a pleasurable or a rewarding reading experience for me. For sorry, but Summer of Fear is really so blatantly predictable that you not only are more than aware without even the shadow of a doubt right from square one that ALL of Rachel Bryant's fears with regard to her orphaned cousin Julia are one hundred percent justified and true (that Juila is an imposter and later turns out to be an an actual and bona fide witch), but also that while I found Rachel a positive and generally likeable character when I read Sumer of Fear as a teenager, rereading the novel now rather shows her as in many ways a bratty and nastily opinionated individual.
And while of course it is fake cousin Julia/Sarah who turns out to be the witch-like main villain of Summer of Fear, personally, I have been almost feeling a wee bit sorry for her this time around, as not only does Rachel from the very beginning act extremely negatively towards her supposed cousin, the author's, Lois Duncan's attitude towards the inhabitants of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri has indeed also made me personally very much annoyed and uncomfortable (because truly and in my opinion, Duncan with her text, with her narrative and especially with the main villain of Summer of Fear, seems to continuously insinuate and claim that if the established, the original long-term inhabitants of the Ozark Mountains are not uncouth, uneducated, superstitious hillbilly types, they are cold and calculating witches like Julia/Sarah who will even resort to murder and mayhem in order to obtain and keep their desires). So therefore, even though I do have to admit that Summer of Fear is well enough written and as a teenager, certainly kept me up all night reading with suspense and appreciation, I really can and will now only grant a one star ranking at best for Summer of Fear (and yes, Summer of Fear is thus also and sadly most definitely a novel that I actively regret having revisited, for what was mildly entertaining, suspenseful and readable in 1982 has now completely dissipated, and really, Lois Duncan's obvious authorial and personal disdain for the people of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri does majorly make me cringe and rub me the wrong proverbial way).
And while of course it is fake cousin Julia/Sarah who turns out to be the witch-like main villain of Summer of Fear, personally, I have been almost feeling a wee bit sorry for her this time around, as not only does Rachel from the very beginning act extremely negatively towards her supposed cousin, the author's, Lois Duncan's attitude towards the inhabitants of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri has indeed also made me personally very much annoyed and uncomfortable (because truly and in my opinion, Duncan with her text, with her narrative and especially with the main villain of Summer of Fear, seems to continuously insinuate and claim that if the established, the original long-term inhabitants of the Ozark Mountains are not uncouth, uneducated, superstitious hillbilly types, they are cold and calculating witches like Julia/Sarah who will even resort to murder and mayhem in order to obtain and keep their desires). So therefore, even though I do have to admit that Summer of Fear is well enough written and as a teenager, certainly kept me up all night reading with suspense and appreciation, I really can and will now only grant a one star ranking at best for Summer of Fear (and yes, Summer of Fear is thus also and sadly most definitely a novel that I actively regret having revisited, for what was mildly entertaining, suspenseful and readable in 1982 has now completely dissipated, and really, Lois Duncan's obvious authorial and personal disdain for the people of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri does majorly make me cringe and rub me the wrong proverbial way).
August 2, 2020
"It's been four years now since that summer. It's still with me. Maybe it always will be."
Summer of Fear
by Lois Duncan
This is one creepy story and it is perfect to read in the summer, particularly if you want something that will make your skin crawl.
For a YA mystery, Summer of Fear is genuinely scary and a bit haunting. Of all Duncan's books this maybe the scariest.
It is also one that I rated fairly low. Why?
Because I simply could not STAND the villain. I mean I had such issues with her I really..I mean it was just so hard to read about her. I wanted to punch her and that isn't a good thing.
I will warn you there is ANIMAL CRUELTY in this book which is another reason it gets such a low rating from me. I love Duncan. I grew up with her books. This one is a no from me but it isn't because it's not a good read. It is to creepy, I hate animal deaths in books and the villainess made me want to smack her.
This is YA. Rachel and her parents are horrified when they hear that the parents of Rachel's cousin Julia have died in a car wreck. This leaves Julia with no family and so Rachel's family takes her in.
Rachel is excited. Julia is her age and Rachel figures they can be friends. That is..until she meets Julia..
Julia is like nobody Rachel has ever met. She is mysterious and very creepy. Rachel can easily see this. So why does everyone else think Julia is such an amazing person...
Do not underestimate the creepy factor in this one. It's there. But it is not my favorite by Duncan but that is because of the reasons I mentioned above. In fact I so disliked Julia, it prevented me from really enjoying this book. That has not happened with many of Duncan's books.
SPOILERS:
I can't help it. Through the book, everyone turns on Rachel and it does not help that there is a brutal animal death in this book so I would automatically take points off for that. I hate that writers so often use this plot devise.
I did do a reread to see if I liked it any better in adulthood and I do not.
The bottom line is Duncan is probably my favorite YA author but this one gets a hard pass from me.
Summer of Fear
by Lois Duncan
This is one creepy story and it is perfect to read in the summer, particularly if you want something that will make your skin crawl.
For a YA mystery, Summer of Fear is genuinely scary and a bit haunting. Of all Duncan's books this maybe the scariest.
It is also one that I rated fairly low. Why?
Because I simply could not STAND the villain. I mean I had such issues with her I really..I mean it was just so hard to read about her. I wanted to punch her and that isn't a good thing.
I will warn you there is ANIMAL CRUELTY in this book which is another reason it gets such a low rating from me. I love Duncan. I grew up with her books. This one is a no from me but it isn't because it's not a good read. It is to creepy, I hate animal deaths in books and the villainess made me want to smack her.
This is YA. Rachel and her parents are horrified when they hear that the parents of Rachel's cousin Julia have died in a car wreck. This leaves Julia with no family and so Rachel's family takes her in.
Rachel is excited. Julia is her age and Rachel figures they can be friends. That is..until she meets Julia..
Julia is like nobody Rachel has ever met. She is mysterious and very creepy. Rachel can easily see this. So why does everyone else think Julia is such an amazing person...
Do not underestimate the creepy factor in this one. It's there. But it is not my favorite by Duncan but that is because of the reasons I mentioned above. In fact I so disliked Julia, it prevented me from really enjoying this book. That has not happened with many of Duncan's books.
SPOILERS:
I can't help it. Through the book, everyone turns on Rachel and it does not help that there is a brutal animal death in this book so I would automatically take points off for that. I hate that writers so often use this plot devise.
I did do a reread to see if I liked it any better in adulthood and I do not.
The bottom line is Duncan is probably my favorite YA author but this one gets a hard pass from me.
January 13, 2009
Still freakin' scary and still one of my best 7th grade booktalks. Lois Duncan knows how to work the fear nerve!
January 19, 2021
This was really intense! And it was loads of fun reading this old teen thrillers from the 1970s.. I just love these sorts of books. Wicked fun.. truthfully I don't recall if I ever read this one before or not. I might have. I know I had read a ton of them back in the 80s and 90s. And this is definitely one of the better ones!
Poor Rachel is having a truly horrid summer when her cousin Julia comes to stay with them. And things very rapidly go from bad to worse.. suddenly everyone loves her cousin and it seems no one likes her anymore. And it's just so suspicious! And bad things start to happen too, deadly things!
And Julia has a big secret!
I admit I had guessed the truth about Julia about halfway through the book. And then I was very satisfied to see I was right!
I do feel a few details at the beginning of the story didn't add up. But those are just minor details. Or maybe it was because it had happened in a small town. Or things were a lot more lax back then? Anyway I did notice that right away. I'm talking about the accident at the start of the book. Just seems fishy.
Otherwise great book! Very entertaining!
Poor Rachel is having a truly horrid summer when her cousin Julia comes to stay with them. And things very rapidly go from bad to worse.. suddenly everyone loves her cousin and it seems no one likes her anymore. And it's just so suspicious! And bad things start to happen too, deadly things!
And Julia has a big secret!
I admit I had guessed the truth about Julia about halfway through the book. And then I was very satisfied to see I was right!
I do feel a few details at the beginning of the story didn't add up. But those are just minor details. Or maybe it was because it had happened in a small town. Or things were a lot more lax back then? Anyway I did notice that right away. I'm talking about the accident at the start of the book. Just seems fishy.
Otherwise great book! Very entertaining!
August 17, 2024
Our protag Rachel’s got it pretty good. She has a family and dog that love her, a cute boyfriend next door, and is totally just chilling this Summer, you know? All that is upended when her bitch-ass backwoods cousin Julia comes to live with them.
Julia’s parents (Rachel’s mom’s sister and the husband) have perished in a car crash, and having only Julia remaining, of course Rachel’s mom is gonna want to have this girl stay with them. There’s something weird about Julia, and Rachel feels it the moment they meet. And she’s gotta share her room with her, ugh!
Pretty soon Julia has just about bewitched everyone in Rachel’s circle and family and turned them against her. And of course, all the crazy things start happening. Pretty soon, Rachel is racing against time to save all that is near and dear to her before it’s too late.
Loved this one! Few random notes:
- I can’t wait to watch the 70’s made for TV movie of this, directed by Wes Craven and starring Linda Blair!!
- Uhh that backwoods trash Julia sure has some interesting backwoods slang. There is a naughty term she uses often that means to her…god knows what.
- Rachel’s mom is a cool mom because she once went on a double date with Elizabeth Montgomery from Bewitched 😆Love that reference!
- Trigger Warning: there is a pet death and i was so sad 😭😭😭
Julia’s parents (Rachel’s mom’s sister and the husband) have perished in a car crash, and having only Julia remaining, of course Rachel’s mom is gonna want to have this girl stay with them. There’s something weird about Julia, and Rachel feels it the moment they meet. And she’s gotta share her room with her, ugh!
Pretty soon Julia has just about bewitched everyone in Rachel’s circle and family and turned them against her. And of course, all the crazy things start happening. Pretty soon, Rachel is racing against time to save all that is near and dear to her before it’s too late.
Loved this one! Few random notes:
- I can’t wait to watch the 70’s made for TV movie of this, directed by Wes Craven and starring Linda Blair!!
- Uhh that backwoods trash Julia sure has some interesting backwoods slang. There is a naughty term she uses often that means to her…god knows what.
- Rachel’s mom is a cool mom because she once went on a double date with Elizabeth Montgomery from Bewitched 😆Love that reference!
- Trigger Warning: there is a pet death and i was so sad 😭😭😭
September 3, 2023
3.5 STARS!
++++++++++++++
For a YA supernatural thriller written in the 70s this was pleasantly surprising and a lot of fun to read. I guess my only issues were the ending feeling a little too rushed and the deaths/accidents could've been a lot more intense and scarier. I know there is already a film adaption, but I could definitely see Netflix turning this into a new teen thriller for their roster. All in all, this was a fun, spooky summer read.
___Spoilers Ahead____
I feel like the movie Orphan was heavily inpsired by this book considering the plot and twist in the story, which was actually pretty fun reading. I really enjoyed the twist. :)
++++++++++++++
For a YA supernatural thriller written in the 70s this was pleasantly surprising and a lot of fun to read. I guess my only issues were the ending feeling a little too rushed and the deaths/accidents could've been a lot more intense and scarier. I know there is already a film adaption, but I could definitely see Netflix turning this into a new teen thriller for their roster. All in all, this was a fun, spooky summer read.
___Spoilers Ahead____
I feel like the movie Orphan was heavily inpsired by this book considering the plot and twist in the story, which was actually pretty fun reading. I really enjoyed the twist. :)
February 21, 2017
This is a solid 3.5 star read for me. This book was originally written in the 70s and revised in the 2000s. I have no clue what all she changed but I noticed her referring to Harry Potter and cell phones to make the book more relevant.
When I bought this book I didn't connect to the fact that I had already seen the film that was based on this book. Yes, this book has a very, unknown film that stars Linda Blair and was directed by Wes Craven. The movie actually followed the book pretty decent. The movie isn't easy to find anymore but if you are really curious about it just check it out on Youtube.
I would've loved this book when I was at about middle-grade aged. It was still a fun read but I didn't find it remotely scary or even suspenseful.
I really hated the character of Julia, but I guess you are supposed to. It was almost unpleasant to read about her though because of how awful she was. I like to enjoy my villains a bit more, there was nothing good about this girl.
---- I will finish up this review soon.
When I bought this book I didn't connect to the fact that I had already seen the film that was based on this book. Yes, this book has a very, unknown film that stars Linda Blair and was directed by Wes Craven. The movie actually followed the book pretty decent. The movie isn't easy to find anymore but if you are really curious about it just check it out on Youtube.
I would've loved this book when I was at about middle-grade aged. It was still a fun read but I didn't find it remotely scary or even suspenseful.
I really hated the character of Julia, but I guess you are supposed to. It was almost unpleasant to read about her though because of how awful she was. I like to enjoy my villains a bit more, there was nothing good about this girl.
---- I will finish up this review soon.
October 12, 2015
Reread for the umpteenth time. This book is so. freaking. good.
May 24, 2020
Teenager Rachel's life is changed when her cousin Julia comes to live with her and her family. Everyone else seems to have fallen in love with Julia and whenever Rachel complains about Julia's behaviour she is treated like a brat. As the situation develops, Rachel starts to believe that Julia is a witch and is using witchcraft against her.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel! Well-written with some great suspense. I found Rachel to be a very relatable character and I loved how the story unfolded. I had already seen the film adaptation (directed by Wes Craven) so it was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the two. I enjoyed both but the overall I thought the book was the best. This was my first Lois Duncan but definitely won't be my last!
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel! Well-written with some great suspense. I found Rachel to be a very relatable character and I loved how the story unfolded. I had already seen the film adaptation (directed by Wes Craven) so it was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the two. I enjoyed both but the overall I thought the book was the best. This was my first Lois Duncan but definitely won't be my last!
January 15, 2016
Do you like books about magic spells or witchcraft well this is the right book for you! The genre to this book is fantasy fiction with a little bit of realistic fiction. My opinion to this book is that it is great it is creepy in a way and makes you feel like you are actually there in the experience. There will be SPOILER ALERTS in the book so be aware.
So this book takes place in day and night in a house of this girl named Rachel. So what happens in this book is that what suddenly tragic just happened to the family is that Rachel's aunt and uncle just got killed in a car accident and their daughter named Julia needed to stay with a new family. And the family is Rachel's because there is no where else for her to stay with. What Rachel notices of Julia is that she is a little strange. She has a strange personality that Rachel is curious about. And as time passed on strange things started happening Rachel's dog died and her neighbor was in a coma sort of thing. What Rachel later knows is that Julia was the one who caused all of this and is a witch who wants to marry her father and kill anything that gets in her way. The conflict is person vs. person since it is Rachel vs evil witch JULIA. I think a major theme in the story is when Julia proves she is a WITCH.
The setting in the story adds to the end of the story because when Julia told Rachel that her mother will die when she hits the curve in the mountain Rachel hurries to the mountain to stop her mother from passing away and does save her. I think the author really did bring tension when Rachel and her ex boyfriend raced towards the highway to prevent her mother from falling to her death in the curve. Another thing the author used to bring tension was when the car had a gas leak and had to run toward the mountain but still made it.
I was very satisfied the way the author brought tension in the book, I really enjoy this author Louis Duncan because of how he always gets me hooked up in the book. I get so tense that I completely zone out on whats happening around me. I was surprised when I found out that little sweet Julia was actually a EVIL WITCH. I thought to myself that it can't be possible that a nice girl like her is evil.
I rate this book a 4 because I think Lois Duncan could've added more to the book because I felt like he could've added more to the book. So if you like books about crazy witches or something dramatic or fantasy fiction read THIS BOOK NOW.
So this book takes place in day and night in a house of this girl named Rachel. So what happens in this book is that what suddenly tragic just happened to the family is that Rachel's aunt and uncle just got killed in a car accident and their daughter named Julia needed to stay with a new family. And the family is Rachel's because there is no where else for her to stay with. What Rachel notices of Julia is that she is a little strange. She has a strange personality that Rachel is curious about. And as time passed on strange things started happening Rachel's dog died and her neighbor was in a coma sort of thing. What Rachel later knows is that Julia was the one who caused all of this and is a witch who wants to marry her father and kill anything that gets in her way. The conflict is person vs. person since it is Rachel vs evil witch JULIA. I think a major theme in the story is when Julia proves she is a WITCH.
The setting in the story adds to the end of the story because when Julia told Rachel that her mother will die when she hits the curve in the mountain Rachel hurries to the mountain to stop her mother from passing away and does save her. I think the author really did bring tension when Rachel and her ex boyfriend raced towards the highway to prevent her mother from falling to her death in the curve. Another thing the author used to bring tension was when the car had a gas leak and had to run toward the mountain but still made it.
I was very satisfied the way the author brought tension in the book, I really enjoy this author Louis Duncan because of how he always gets me hooked up in the book. I get so tense that I completely zone out on whats happening around me. I was surprised when I found out that little sweet Julia was actually a EVIL WITCH. I thought to myself that it can't be possible that a nice girl like her is evil.
I rate this book a 4 because I think Lois Duncan could've added more to the book because I felt like he could've added more to the book. So if you like books about crazy witches or something dramatic or fantasy fiction read THIS BOOK NOW.
September 24, 2013
Rachel is fifteen, has a great boyfriend and a great family. But one day they get horrible news: Rachel's mother's sister and her husband were killed in a car accident. Their daughter, Julia, is now all alone. But Rachel's mother and father get ready to go get their niece. They hardly know her, but she is family. And Rachel is fine with this. Sure, it will take some getting used to sharing her room with someone, but it will be like having an older sister.
Everything was going well. At least for a little bit, until Julia showed Rachel her true colors. The problem is, no one else seems to see the true Julia but Rachel and she's not sure how to convince anyone that her cousin is not the angel she pretends to be.
I know I stayed up later last night reading this than I should have, but I honestly couldn't put it down. It was definitely a page-turner and at the same time, so frustrating! Honestly, I felt very angry at times because of everything Rachel went through and no one believed her.
The story was suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my seat (or, uh, bed, rather). I wasn't really sure what was going to happen next and I worried for Rachel's safety. And her family and boyfriend just annoyed me because of the fact they couldn't see what was going on. Julia was always the victim and Rachel always the bad guy, the one they must punish.
What else can I say about this book? It was great, even if some of the characters frustrated me to no end.
Everything was going well. At least for a little bit, until Julia showed Rachel her true colors. The problem is, no one else seems to see the true Julia but Rachel and she's not sure how to convince anyone that her cousin is not the angel she pretends to be.
I know I stayed up later last night reading this than I should have, but I honestly couldn't put it down. It was definitely a page-turner and at the same time, so frustrating! Honestly, I felt very angry at times because of everything Rachel went through and no one believed her.
The story was suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my seat (or, uh, bed, rather). I wasn't really sure what was going to happen next and I worried for Rachel's safety. And her family and boyfriend just annoyed me because of the fact they couldn't see what was going on. Julia was always the victim and Rachel always the bad guy, the one they must punish.
What else can I say about this book? It was great, even if some of the characters frustrated me to no end.
April 30, 2020
A friend recommended this book. She read it as a teen and I wish I would have too back in the day. 8ve been reading books from the 70's lately and thought why not. Never to late and I'm glad I did. Kind of a mystery and a short read so I pumped it out in a day. It kept me hooked and I just had to know if one of the characters was a witch or not. Loved.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 18, 2018
Summer of Fear is a short, simple read that I enjoyed but that I didn't find special. Part of the issue is that I read this as an adult rather than as a young adult, so the "fear factor" and mystery did not really hit me. Aside from this, the book was predictable and, though I did not predict everything exactly, I definitely saw one or two things coming. I didn't really grow connected to any of the characters, unfortunately. Nonetheless, if you are looking for a quick read that will bring back some nostalgia, this could be a solid choice.
February 20, 2014
Have you ever felt overshadowed by a prettier, more popular relative? Maybe a sibling, or a cousin? Someone who you think is just the worst person in the world, but everyone seems to love and make excuses for? And no matter how much you protest, that person is always held in highest regard, and YOU'RE the hysterical and mean one?
Have you considered that perhaps your relative is a practicing witch? Because Lois Duncan sure has!
Rachel lives a fairly good life in Albuquerque. She's close to her parents, has a couple of pretty nice brothers named Peter and Bobby, a friendly dog, a fun best friend named Carolyn and a wonderful boyfriend named Mike. Summer has just started, and she's expecting it to be a good one. Unfortunately, her family gets the news that her aunt and uncle on her mother's side were killed in a terrible car crash in the Ozarks, leaving behind her cousin Julia. Julia, with no where else to go, is taken in by Rachel's family. They've never actually met Julia before, as the aunt and uncle lived a very solitary life due to the uncle's pretentious 'I'm a writer I need peace and quiet!' lifestyle. So meeting Julia is kind of scary for Rachel. While her family takes to her right away, Rachel thinks that something is very wrong with her cousin. The dog, Trickle, immediately dislikes her. And everyone starts to favor Julia. Mother starts to treat her like her only daughter. Peter seems to fall in love with her (this seemed a bit George Michael Bluth to me!). Dad is also quite taken. And soon, Julia has stolen both Carolyn and Mike from Rachel, becoming a new girlfriend, a new best friend. Rachel knows that something is very wrong, and when she finds a burning wax figure in teh room they share together, things go from bad, to much much worse.
Now, I get that there were extenuating circumstances here, in that Julia was a witch who was literally bewitching everyone. But my GOD, Rachel's parents are the worst parents ever. The frustration I felt for them was limitless, as even when Julia wasn't around (and it was implied that the power over them wasn't as great) they just had no interest in listening to THEIR OWN DAUGHTER at all. Granted, Rachel wasn't exactly the best player of the game of thrones (girl, don't act hysterical and accuse the girl of witchcraft willy nilly!), but she's their DAUGHTER for God's sake. Like, I would hope that if I said 'hey mom and dad, my cousin definitely stole my boyfriend', they would say 'well that's really awful of her, maybe we should all talk about this' instead of 'well boys fall in and out of love so fast and it's not Julia's fault that she's so pretty'. Cripes. But it was definitely the biggest frustration that Rachel went about this all wrong. You don't want to sound like the hysterical one, Rachel. Like, ever.
The book was a bit dated. It wasn't explicitly dated until the Mom said she had gone on a double date with Elizabeth Montgomery of BEWITCHED fame, and suddenly everyone was wearing Paisley and bell bottoms in my mind. It did build up a nice amount of suspense though, as I was tearing through the last ten pages to see what happened. I had a feeling that it would all work out relatively okay (Duncan's endings tend to do that for the most part), but I was still racing on through. Just in case it took a KILLING MR. GRIFFIN turn. Witchcraft and bitchcraft abound, SUMMER OF FEAR was a quick read and would definitely have been right up my teenage alley, what with my love for the FEAR STREET novels and all that.
Also, fun fact, Linda Blair starred as Rachel in a made for TV adaptation back in the 70s.
If that doesn't date this, I don't know what does.
Have you considered that perhaps your relative is a practicing witch? Because Lois Duncan sure has!
Rachel lives a fairly good life in Albuquerque. She's close to her parents, has a couple of pretty nice brothers named Peter and Bobby, a friendly dog, a fun best friend named Carolyn and a wonderful boyfriend named Mike. Summer has just started, and she's expecting it to be a good one. Unfortunately, her family gets the news that her aunt and uncle on her mother's side were killed in a terrible car crash in the Ozarks, leaving behind her cousin Julia. Julia, with no where else to go, is taken in by Rachel's family. They've never actually met Julia before, as the aunt and uncle lived a very solitary life due to the uncle's pretentious 'I'm a writer I need peace and quiet!' lifestyle. So meeting Julia is kind of scary for Rachel. While her family takes to her right away, Rachel thinks that something is very wrong with her cousin. The dog, Trickle, immediately dislikes her. And everyone starts to favor Julia. Mother starts to treat her like her only daughter. Peter seems to fall in love with her (this seemed a bit George Michael Bluth to me!). Dad is also quite taken. And soon, Julia has stolen both Carolyn and Mike from Rachel, becoming a new girlfriend, a new best friend. Rachel knows that something is very wrong, and when she finds a burning wax figure in teh room they share together, things go from bad, to much much worse.
Now, I get that there were extenuating circumstances here, in that Julia was a witch who was literally bewitching everyone. But my GOD, Rachel's parents are the worst parents ever. The frustration I felt for them was limitless, as even when Julia wasn't around (and it was implied that the power over them wasn't as great) they just had no interest in listening to THEIR OWN DAUGHTER at all. Granted, Rachel wasn't exactly the best player of the game of thrones (girl, don't act hysterical and accuse the girl of witchcraft willy nilly!), but she's their DAUGHTER for God's sake. Like, I would hope that if I said 'hey mom and dad, my cousin definitely stole my boyfriend', they would say 'well that's really awful of her, maybe we should all talk about this' instead of 'well boys fall in and out of love so fast and it's not Julia's fault that she's so pretty'. Cripes. But it was definitely the biggest frustration that Rachel went about this all wrong. You don't want to sound like the hysterical one, Rachel. Like, ever.
The book was a bit dated. It wasn't explicitly dated until the Mom said she had gone on a double date with Elizabeth Montgomery of BEWITCHED fame, and suddenly everyone was wearing Paisley and bell bottoms in my mind. It did build up a nice amount of suspense though, as I was tearing through the last ten pages to see what happened. I had a feeling that it would all work out relatively okay (Duncan's endings tend to do that for the most part), but I was still racing on through. Just in case it took a KILLING MR. GRIFFIN turn. Witchcraft and bitchcraft abound, SUMMER OF FEAR was a quick read and would definitely have been right up my teenage alley, what with my love for the FEAR STREET novels and all that.
Also, fun fact, Linda Blair starred as Rachel in a made for TV adaptation back in the 70s.
If that doesn't date this, I don't know what does.
December 3, 2012
The book Summer if Fear by Louis Duncan, in my eyes was one of the best books that I had ever read. The book is about a teenager named Rachel who had been looking forward to summer all year an when it finally arrives is overjoyed. She has a loving family, an amazing best friend, and the best boyfriend that a boy could ask for. All of they changed though when she came. When her family learned that their aunt and uncle had died they decided to adopt their cousin into their lives. This would be the downfall of Rachel's summer. When the girl arrived nothing was out of the normal and everything was fine, but then weird things started to occur an Rachel knew that her cousin Julia was the cause. Rachel's stubbornness drove away everyone she cared about but in the end they would all know she was right.
This book really was one of the best books that I have ever read. It was one of those books that captivated me to the point where I couldn't put it down and was reading it all the time. The mystery within the story was really the thing that kept everything going. You always fin out little things about Julia and that Rachel is right but it's never enough to satisfy your wanting for Julia to be evil. The way that Louis Duncan portrayed all of the characters was also amazing. He made Julia humble at first but then grow into the villain that everyone wants, and Rachel is the hero that despite nobody believes he she always gets up and tries again. This book was amazing in every way and I would recommend it to anyone looking to read a good book
July 28, 2013
3.5 stars
In terms of the atmosphere in the novel and the general enjoyment that I got from this story, this should probably get a bit more than 3 stars. I am well aware that this is an oldie and that I am probably not in the target audience of this book any more, but I was a bit disappointed by it. I found it way to simple and a bit too predictable, but I did enjoy reading it, aside from that jerk of a love interest and Rae's parents, who had no problem calling their own daughter a witch, pointing out her faults in comparison to her cousin and not protesting when people her brothers called her a bitch in front of everyone. All in all, this was a quick, somewhat creepy, fun and easy read. I think I will be checking out Duncan's other titles.
In terms of the atmosphere in the novel and the general enjoyment that I got from this story, this should probably get a bit more than 3 stars. I am well aware that this is an oldie and that I am probably not in the target audience of this book any more, but I was a bit disappointed by it. I found it way to simple and a bit too predictable, but I did enjoy reading it, aside from that jerk of a love interest and Rae's parents, who had no problem calling their own daughter a witch, pointing out her faults in comparison to her cousin and not protesting when people her brothers called her a bitch in front of everyone. All in all, this was a quick, somewhat creepy, fun and easy read. I think I will be checking out Duncan's other titles.
June 13, 2019
My 12 year old self is so happy I decided to reread this Lois Duncan novel. Oh my heart of hearts. When I read that first page I was immediately thrown back to the long, hot summers of my middle school years.
I couldn’t believe I actually remembered the plot and the characters. It’s been 35 plus years since I originally read this book. And let me say, I loved it just as much now as I did then. Rereading this was wonderful. I didn’t realize it was the modernized version of the book, however I have no problem with that since Duncan did the update. I’m hoping to pass it on to my daughters.
I would definitely recommend this book, as well as all her other books, to a middle grade reader. Scary, weird and just the right amount of romance! Still my favorite formula for a good novel at 50.
I couldn’t believe I actually remembered the plot and the characters. It’s been 35 plus years since I originally read this book. And let me say, I loved it just as much now as I did then. Rereading this was wonderful. I didn’t realize it was the modernized version of the book, however I have no problem with that since Duncan did the update. I’m hoping to pass it on to my daughters.
I would definitely recommend this book, as well as all her other books, to a middle grade reader. Scary, weird and just the right amount of romance! Still my favorite formula for a good novel at 50.
July 5, 2021
I absolutely love this book because its one of the first to use these tropes. It has been copied so many times. The message is a perfect one for young women. Don't offer friendship that hasn't been earned, and don't let anyone, not even your own parents push someone on you that makes you uncomfortable. Not even if they seem perfect. ESPECIALLY if they seem perfect. Trust your instincts.
February 28, 2022
This book is absolutely amazing. It keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the full story and includes several different examples of foreshadowing, symbolism, and irony.
September 5, 2018
This book was very...meh for me. It was interesting, though predictable. I truly hated that it was revisited in 2011 to include frivolous details to make it more timely. I think I would have appreciated the book more if the author just let the story simmer in that 1970s time period. Throwing in cell phones and Harry Potter didn't make me enjoy or relate to the book more- it just annoyed me. I also felt that the ending (or maybe it was just the "resolution?") was very anticlimactic. It was a quick read, and I'm kind of glad about that.
June 9, 2011
Summer of Fear is one of several stories written by noted author Lois Duncan (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Hotel for Dogs) famous for her young adult novels. It is told in the first-person from the perspective of Rachael, a teenage girl living an idyllic life in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the late 1970's.
Rachael enjoys a loving, close-knit family (including two brothers), a best friend, and a dog named Trickle. Despite her hangups about her curly red hair, Rachael also has a cute boyfriend named Mike, who is literally the-boy-next-door.
Things begin to change for Rachael when her older cousin Julie comes to live with her family after Julie's parents are killed in a car accident in the Ozarks where they had been living. Whereas before Rachael enjoyed being the only young female in the household, she now has to learn to share everything with her cousin, including her clothes, her bedroom, and her friends. At first, Rachael and Julie get along well but Rachael slowly begins to notice strange things about her cousin. First, her southern accent inexplicably comes and goes and then Trickle, who had always been a gentle dog, takes a strong dislike to Julie to the point of biting her which results in his banishment from the house.
As Julie becomes more outgoing, Rachael draws into herself straining her relationships with her family, her best friend, and even her boyfriend Mike, who takes more than a liking to Julie. When it seems that Julie is going to take everything away from her, Rachael investigates her cousin further and finds some surprising inconsistencies as well as evidence that Julie may be practicing black-magic on her, her family, and her loved ones. As the mystery unfolds, Rachel discovers Julie's horrific plan for her and her family.
There really isn't a lot to not like about this book. The characters were all believable and I really felt that the author captured the feel of the late 1970's (which was actually the present when Summer of Fear was written.) The plot was mysterious enough to hold one's interest, although the observant reader will figure out the twist way ahead of Rachael. I liked that the mythology of the story drew upon real-life beliefs and practices found along the Appalachian Trial and that Rachael alluded to the works of Vance Randolph in her research, although it is not explicitly stated. At just over 200 pages, Summer of Fear is a quick read perfect for whiling away a lazy summer day.
Like some of Duncan's other novels before, Summer of Fear was renamed Stranger In Our House and made into a film in 1978 directed by Wes Craven and starring Linda Blair as Rachael and, a then unknown, Fran Drescher as Rachael's best friend. Stranger in Our House first aired on Halloween night in 1978 and later aired regularly on TBS along with other 70's occult movies such as The Spell (1977). In 2003, it was made available on both VHS and DVD.
Rachael enjoys a loving, close-knit family (including two brothers), a best friend, and a dog named Trickle. Despite her hangups about her curly red hair, Rachael also has a cute boyfriend named Mike, who is literally the-boy-next-door.
Things begin to change for Rachael when her older cousin Julie comes to live with her family after Julie's parents are killed in a car accident in the Ozarks where they had been living. Whereas before Rachael enjoyed being the only young female in the household, she now has to learn to share everything with her cousin, including her clothes, her bedroom, and her friends. At first, Rachael and Julie get along well but Rachael slowly begins to notice strange things about her cousin. First, her southern accent inexplicably comes and goes and then Trickle, who had always been a gentle dog, takes a strong dislike to Julie to the point of biting her which results in his banishment from the house.
As Julie becomes more outgoing, Rachael draws into herself straining her relationships with her family, her best friend, and even her boyfriend Mike, who takes more than a liking to Julie. When it seems that Julie is going to take everything away from her, Rachael investigates her cousin further and finds some surprising inconsistencies as well as evidence that Julie may be practicing black-magic on her, her family, and her loved ones. As the mystery unfolds, Rachel discovers Julie's horrific plan for her and her family.
There really isn't a lot to not like about this book. The characters were all believable and I really felt that the author captured the feel of the late 1970's (which was actually the present when Summer of Fear was written.) The plot was mysterious enough to hold one's interest, although the observant reader will figure out the twist way ahead of Rachael. I liked that the mythology of the story drew upon real-life beliefs and practices found along the Appalachian Trial and that Rachael alluded to the works of Vance Randolph in her research, although it is not explicitly stated. At just over 200 pages, Summer of Fear is a quick read perfect for whiling away a lazy summer day.
Like some of Duncan's other novels before, Summer of Fear was renamed Stranger In Our House and made into a film in 1978 directed by Wes Craven and starring Linda Blair as Rachael and, a then unknown, Fran Drescher as Rachael's best friend. Stranger in Our House first aired on Halloween night in 1978 and later aired regularly on TBS along with other 70's occult movies such as The Spell (1977). In 2003, it was made available on both VHS and DVD.
February 17, 2014
I didn't like this book. At first, I didn't understand why. I mean, it isn't too fundamentally different from Duncan's other books, which I typically enjoy.
It was boring.
Our main character is typical American teenager Rachel, who's living the good life. She gets along with her family, she has a boyfriend whom she loves, she's well-liked, etc. One day, her cousin Julia is orphaned and brought in to live with them. Strange things begin to happen, and Julia slowly begins to take away Rachel's friends, boyfriends, and family love for herself.
It's a sound concept, but I didn't particularly like the way it was written. Nothing particularly exciting happened until the end. Julia would do something like cozy up to Rachel's boyfriend. Rachel would get jealous and suspect something's up. Rachel would discover some strange item in the trash. Rachel complains to her parents, who basically ignore her. Rinse and repeat.
Another thing was that I didn't find our main character very interesting. I mean, she was written to be Ordinary Teenage Girl, so her personality fell rather flat. She likes doing teenage stuff like shopping for swimsuits. She likes her boyfriend. And so forth. Again, she wasn't bad or offensive - just very boring.
In fact, I found the character of Julia to be way more interesting, particularly the twist at the end. I wish the story was more about her and less about Rachel.
Incidentally, I found something very hard to believe.
It was boring.
Our main character is typical American teenager Rachel, who's living the good life. She gets along with her family, she has a boyfriend whom she loves, she's well-liked, etc. One day, her cousin Julia is orphaned and brought in to live with them. Strange things begin to happen, and Julia slowly begins to take away Rachel's friends, boyfriends, and family love for herself.
It's a sound concept, but I didn't particularly like the way it was written. Nothing particularly exciting happened until the end. Julia would do something like cozy up to Rachel's boyfriend. Rachel would get jealous and suspect something's up. Rachel would discover some strange item in the trash. Rachel complains to her parents, who basically ignore her. Rinse and repeat.
Another thing was that I didn't find our main character very interesting. I mean, she was written to be Ordinary Teenage Girl, so her personality fell rather flat. She likes doing teenage stuff like shopping for swimsuits. She likes her boyfriend. And so forth. Again, she wasn't bad or offensive - just very boring.
In fact, I found the character of Julia to be way more interesting, particularly the twist at the end. I wish the story was more about her and less about Rachel.
Incidentally, I found something very hard to believe.
August 30, 2010
Summer of Fear
was written in 1976 for young adults and has won several book awards:
California Young Reader Medal for Vermont Young Readers Award, Vermont Young Readers Award and the New Mexico Young Readers Award. I chose to read this book for my "Lifetime of Books" challenge. If I hadn't had that challenge, I'm certain I never would've read this book. That being said, it was an entertaining read. I borrowed the audio version from the library and, although the narrator's voice didn't fit, IMO, the book was easy to listen to.
Rachel is a 17 year old girl living with her two brothers and her parents in Albuquerque, NM. She's dating the boy next door and ready to enjoy the summer. But, one day the family receives devastating news, Rachel's aunt and uncle have been killed in a car crash leaving her cousin, Julia all alone. Her parents decide to have Julia live with them. When they return with Julia, Rachel is determined to make a good impression and help her feel at home with her family.
Julia is not what she expected though. She's quiet, has "piercing eyes" and "talks funny". Julia and her family were living in the Ozark Mtns while her father wrote a novel.
Rachel starts to notice very odd things about Julia. She tries hard to get her family and friends to see them too, but they begin to think that Rachel's just jealous of all the attention her cousin is getting.
The story moved quickly and soon the readers find themselves rooting for Rachel and her plans to expose Julia for what she really is. It was interesting reading a story that was written 34 years ago. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
California Young Reader Medal for Vermont Young Readers Award, Vermont Young Readers Award and the New Mexico Young Readers Award. I chose to read this book for my "Lifetime of Books" challenge. If I hadn't had that challenge, I'm certain I never would've read this book. That being said, it was an entertaining read. I borrowed the audio version from the library and, although the narrator's voice didn't fit, IMO, the book was easy to listen to.
Rachel is a 17 year old girl living with her two brothers and her parents in Albuquerque, NM. She's dating the boy next door and ready to enjoy the summer. But, one day the family receives devastating news, Rachel's aunt and uncle have been killed in a car crash leaving her cousin, Julia all alone. Her parents decide to have Julia live with them. When they return with Julia, Rachel is determined to make a good impression and help her feel at home with her family.
Julia is not what she expected though. She's quiet, has "piercing eyes" and "talks funny". Julia and her family were living in the Ozark Mtns while her father wrote a novel.
Rachel starts to notice very odd things about Julia. She tries hard to get her family and friends to see them too, but they begin to think that Rachel's just jealous of all the attention her cousin is getting.
The story moved quickly and soon the readers find themselves rooting for Rachel and her plans to expose Julia for what she really is. It was interesting reading a story that was written 34 years ago. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
April 7, 2011
After Rachel's aunt and uncle die in a car accident, her orphaned cousin, Julia, comes to live with the family. Rachel tries to be welcoming, but there's something about Julia she doesn't quite trust. It may be the fact that everyone is Team Julia all of a sudden and Rachel feels left out, but she's pretty sure there's more to it than simple jealousy. After a little research, she starts to suspect that Julia's actually a witch (and it's a little more like The Craft than, say, Sabrina the Teenage Witch). But how can she prove it? And how can she get anyone to believe her?
This book was really entertaining. I felt almost trapped with Rachel (although I also spent some time yelling at her because she left a key piece of evidence unguarded and really, REALLY, RACHEL?!), knowing that she was right and nobody believed her. It reminded me of that scene in the Blair Witch Project where Josh (or was it Mike?) was yelling at Heather and repeating "There's no one here to help you!"
That was probably the creepiest part of this book, actually, watching this really close family falling apart and seeing Rachel try to figure out what was going on with no help. (And also, watching Julia just completely co-opt her life---and isn't that something we're all a little afraid of? seeing someone else live our life and doing it better and us not even being missed? No? That's just me? Okay, never mind.)
I am so happy that these books are being reissued and I'm going to read them all. :) (I think you should, too.)
This book was really entertaining. I felt almost trapped with Rachel (although I also spent some time yelling at her because she left a key piece of evidence unguarded and really, REALLY, RACHEL?!), knowing that she was right and nobody believed her. It reminded me of that scene in the Blair Witch Project where Josh (or was it Mike?) was yelling at Heather and repeating "There's no one here to help you!"
That was probably the creepiest part of this book, actually, watching this really close family falling apart and seeing Rachel try to figure out what was going on with no help. (And also, watching Julia just completely co-opt her life---and isn't that something we're all a little afraid of? seeing someone else live our life and doing it better and us not even being missed? No? That's just me? Okay, never mind.)
I am so happy that these books are being reissued and I'm going to read them all. :) (I think you should, too.)
January 3, 2017
I promised myself I would finish these tiny books as quickly as possible. So, with nothing to do on my day off, I sped through this one.
I called the ending by page 24. Sure, they added a supernatural aspect to it, but my hypothesis was still the same and I was right on all counts. It was kind of a predictable story line when you think about it. All the supernatural element did was make the choices and actions of some of the characters more easily forgivable.
Seriously, though... Did teenagers really talk like that back then? I mean, really? Is there evidence of this somewhere? Some bit of unscripted film footage that I could look at and finally know for sure if people from the 60's really did talk like that? I would really like to know.
Yeah, these books are fun if you just want something short to read and you can finish them really quickly before forgetting all about it and start on something completely different.
I'm thinking of it as a kind of mind-sorbet. Cleanses the mental-pallet.
I called the ending by page 24. Sure, they added a supernatural aspect to it, but my hypothesis was still the same and I was right on all counts. It was kind of a predictable story line when you think about it. All the supernatural element did was make the choices and actions of some of the characters more easily forgivable.
Seriously, though... Did teenagers really talk like that back then? I mean, really? Is there evidence of this somewhere? Some bit of unscripted film footage that I could look at and finally know for sure if people from the 60's really did talk like that? I would really like to know.
Yeah, these books are fun if you just want something short to read and you can finish them really quickly before forgetting all about it and start on something completely different.
I'm thinking of it as a kind of mind-sorbet. Cleanses the mental-pallet.
February 14, 2013
This was a fast, simple read. It was the type of book I would have picked up when I was 15, but regardless I enjoyed it! I originally wanted to see the film starring Linda Blair and when I saw that it was based on a book by Lois Duncan i figured I'd check the book out first. I'm glad I did because it was a fun tale of good vs. bad, and how the bad people can usually convince everyone that they are the good person. I was flipping pages very quickly to see how this one was going to be resolved. I dug the ending, and I look forward to watching the movie now.
February 5, 2018
This is the Lois Duncan book that I remember the most from my childhood, as I owned a beat up paperback of it (complete with missing cover), that I probably read at least 25 times. I'm not going to lie, even after the re-reads (or first reads in the case of some) this one is still in the lead as my favorite.
July 10, 2018
A damn solid book that has plenty of great jaw dropping moments. You feel the main characters frustration and it’s not a difficult task to put yourself into the main characters shoes, despite the occasional fantasy moments.
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