Duncan, L. (1976). Summer of Fear. New York, NY: Laurel-Leaf Books.
ISBN-10: 044098324X
•Plot Summary
When Rachael (Rae) loses her aunt and uncle in an auto accident, her parents immediately leave their home in New Mexico to pick up the remaining family member, Rae's cousin, Julia. Julia's father had moved the family to the Ozarks to live, a writer that didn't want interruptions, and so the family didn't even possess a phone. From the very beginning, however, there is something strange about this plain, oddly speaking girl. Julia's language goes back and forth between the rural dialect of the Ozarks, and the sophisticated phrasing of a the girl Rae knew Julia to be, one that attended boarding school in Boston. Not only that, but Julia seems to have a strange effect on the family dog (who bites her, then mysteriously dies), and most of Rae's friends and family, including Rae's sweetheart, Mike Gallagher. Through these strange circumstances, including Rae being struck by a case of hives that allows Julia to use Rae's dress for the Club dance, and a stroke inflicted on the one person that might have information on Julia's real behavior, Rae comes to realize she is a witch. Julia is not who she appears to be, and it in fact the adult maid that used to keep house for Julia's real parents. She arranged for their deaths, and the deaths of Julia, in the same auto accident. By claiming Julia's identity, she becomes inheritor of the family money and property, a legacy she is not willing to see given to Julia sometime in the future. Rae discovers Sarah (Julia) destroying rolls of film that might reveal she is a witch, and uncovers Sarah's plan to kill both Rae and her mother, so that Sarah can have Rae's father to herself. By convincing Mike to go find her mother on the road where Sarah plans to make her crash, and by not having gone with her mother on a trip to Sante Fe where she too might have died, they are able to save Rae's mother. By the time they return, Sarah has fled, and no one knows where she has gone. The only thing Rae finds...a new article in the newspaper about a family that has gone missing, and no evidence in the final picture they took on their trip, one that should have included the figure of an "unidentified" teenage girl, said to be the daughter's friend.
•Critical Evaluation
Two-hundred pages long, this novel isn't technically short, but it can easily be read in one sitting. Duncan knows her craft well, though the novel is dated due to the lack of cell phones, mention of flare leg jeans, and presence of the local swimming pool being the primary hangout for the teens of the Alberquerque area.
•Reader’s Annotation
Suitable for all teens, possibly slightly younger, although they might think it is rather campy. Reminiscent of the recent film called The Orphan.
•Information about the author
Lois Duncan was born in Florida, the daughter of prominent magazine photographers, and published her first article at the age of thirteen. Her teen years were spent with high school, and publishing in other magazines, like Seventeen. She moved to Alberquerque in 1962, and taught journalism at the University of New Mexico.
In total, she has written forty-eight novels, but is undoubtedly most famous for her teen mysteries, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, which was made into a film. Several of her books have won major awards, such as the American Library Association "Best Books for Young Adults" and Jr. Literary Guild Selections. Lois and her husband, Don, have four children, all of which are artists, composers or illustrators of children books.
•Genre
Mystery, Thriller
•Curriculum Ties
N/A
•Booktalking Ideas
Misconceptions about witchcraft in literature, creepy relative story lines, Lois Duncan novels
•Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 8-12/Ages 13-18
•Challenge Issues
N/A
•Why did you include this book in you’re the titles you selected?
I'd never read anything by Lois Duncan or even seen I Saw What You Did Last Summer, which has become something of a cult classic, and been the topic of several spoof films since the 1990s. I was interested in making a comparison between mystery and thrillers for teens during the period when I was born v now, and I rarely read even adult fiction, but when I do, it is normally a mystery novel that I will pick up.
