Don't Look Behind You
by Lois Duncan
List Price:
Our Price: $1.90
You Save: $4.09 (68%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Lois DuncanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1990-08-01
ISBN: 0440207290
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Laurel Leaf
Book Reviews of Don't Look Behind You
Book Review: Ô boy.
Summary: 1 Stars
The problem with contemporary American fiction aimed at teenagers is simply that it is written for contemporary American teenagers. Anxious and restless and no wonder, for teenagers can expect to go through puberty at an earlier age than ever before and are expected to mature at a later age than ever before. What I find despicable, however, are the adults who exploit and profit from this banal teenybopper mentality by feeding and encouraging it with pulp fiction, and thereby perverting the teenager's tastes and discouraging them from reading great works of literature.
Lois Duncan is not totally incompetent, as the example of Killing Mr. Griffin makes clear. But if she actually understood--and that is itself questionable--the literary references and indictment of Americana high school pettiness inherent in that work, she should have known better than to churn such harmful tripe as Don't Look Behind You.
Let's start with the plausibility problem. Mr. Corrigan, a good citizen testifying against a drug ring who has infiltrated the airline where he works and evidently (from his name) an Irish-American from Virginia, has been secretly working for the F.B.I. When the secret comes out, he and his family are forced to flee the state and change names under the Witness Protection Program. This is ludicrous in the utmost. The Witness Protection Program was concocted to save the lives of members of criminal organisations--specifically, the Sicilian Mafia, also known as Cosa Nostra--who had fallen out with their bosses and wished to testify against them.
However, there is no evidence in the book that Mr. Corrigan was a former drug broker himself; most non-sovereign entities would not be likely to be so stupidly suicidal as to go after a F.B.I. agent with such fervour as to necessitate a name change for this latter. Duncan either did no research whatsoever, or she simply twisted reality to make a nice sympathetic story for modern teenagers who couldn't stomach or relate to the idea of a character's father being a Mafioso. In modern America, it is definitely more acceptable to ditch one's spouse or parent than to forgive a penitent, so the worst extent of Mr. Corrigan's sin would have to be his adventurism for playing "James Bond," as his wife puts it.
The book misses the mark on other historical and factual details of the Witness Protection Program, as well, but to reveal those would be to spoil the plot.
Then there is the writing itself. The "suspense" plotline does not ultimately detract much from the main theme, but it is still done in a very much Deus ex Machina fashion. As another has commented on these pages, the book is written in first person from the perspective of Mr. Corrigan's daughter, April, so you know that she survives. (So much for Duncan's famed "suspense.") April is rather bland (I like the reviewer who suggested that all she thinks about are "boys and tennis")--as are most of Duncan's protagonists--and as a matter of fact, she is so shallow both in personality and in development that the simple act of making her father a Sicilian goomba and at least giving her a more fleshed-out cultural heritage would have just about doubled the interest factor. And don't even think about telling me that April matures: leaving behind one shallow consumer-driven existence for another does not amount to maturity. Her maturation is too quick to be believable and definitely not deep enough to salvage the rest of the book.
We should not, of course, expect any less. Generally speaking, the more rooted and cultured Duncan's characters, the more evil. That said, Duncan does not discriminate culturally: her evil but rooted characters have included Anglo-Protestants (Behind the Gallows), Native Americans (Stranger with My Face) and Acadian Southerners (Locked in Time). The good girls are still California mall girls, even if they find themselves ostracised by their peers. Duncan may pretend to diss the popular cheerleaders, but she obviously prefers the McWorld to the real one.
What a shame, too. The idea--a teenager reacting to the loss of everything around her and being forced to discover something deeper and move beyond the banalities of contemporary American teenage life--could have made for a highly interesting and engaging tale. This is, alas, beyond the ability of Duncan, whatever meagre strengths she may possess. Pass this one up--and definitely don't look behind yourself as you walk out of the bookstore.
Summary of Don't Look Behind You
How can April give up her name, her friends, her boyfriend Steve, and everything she's ever known?April Corrigan feels like her life is over when she learns that her father has been working undercover for the FBI and the family must relocate under the Federal Witness Security Program.
No one can reach them now... or can they?
Horror Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Horror Books
Blood and Chocolateby Annette Curtis Klause
Delacorte Books for Young Readers; Published: 1997-08-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $60.59
Dark Charm (An Avon Flare Book)by Don Whittington
HarperCollins; Published: 1996-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $519.65
Call of the Deepby Linda Piazza
Avon Books (Mm); Published: 1994-01; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Evil in the Attic (An Avon Flare Book)by Linda Piazza
Flare; Published: 1995-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Weirdo (Avon Flare Book)by Theodore Taylor
HarperTrophy; Published: 1993-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.81
Price in other shops:
Restlessby Rich Wallace
Speak; Published: 2005-02-17; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.33
Price in other shops:
The Blue Girlby Charles de Lint
Firebird; Published: 2006-04-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Changeover: A Supernatural Romanceby Margaret Mahy
Puffin; Published: 1994-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $25.08
Boy Heavenby Laura Kasischke
HarperTeen; Published: 2006-08-01; Library Binding; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
Dangerous Girlsby R. L. Stine
HarperTeen; Published: 2004-08-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.63
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Twisted Window (Laurel-Leaf Suspense Fiction)by Lois Duncan
Laurel Leaf; Published: 1988-09-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.89
Price in other shops:
Gallows Hillby Lois Duncan
Laurel Leaf; Published: 1998-09-08; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.21
Price in other shops:
They Never Came Home (Laurel leaf suspense)by Lois Duncan
Laurel Leaf; Published: 1990-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.78
Price in other shops:
Who Killed My Daughter?by Lois Duncan
Dell; Published: 1994-02-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.23
Price in other shops:
Ransomby Lois Duncan
Laurel Leaf; Published: 1984-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.49
Price in other shops:
Summer of Fearby Lois Duncan
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Published: 2011-04-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
Killing Mr. Griffinby Lois Duncan
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Published: 2010-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.89
Price in other shops:
I Know What You Did Last Summerby Lois Duncan
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Published: 2010-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.77
Price in other shops:
Stranger With My Faceby Lois Duncan
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Published: 2011-04-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops:
Down a Dark Hallby Lois Duncan
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Published: 2011-04-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops: