HITCHHIKE

by Isabelle Holland ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 16, 1977

Holland unsuccessfully tries to get some extra mileage out of the time-worn taboo about taking rides from strangers. Sixteen-year-old Pud (who comes off as far more of a spoiled brat than the author intends) is peeved because Dad's business obligations force him to renege on a promised summer camping trip. And so instead of flying home from boarding school, Pud--plus a mangy pooch she's acquired--hits the open road in hopes of causing her parents a couple of days of anguish. Her not-so-petty sadism predictably backfires and she ends up hitching a ride from four zonked-out hippy-types who plan to kidnap and then rape her. That Pud manages to escape is a foregone conclusion; her spaced-out captors couldn't write a grocery list much less a ransom note. And Pud comes through her ordeal relatively untouched . . . in more than one sense. All she learns is the rather outdated lesson that ""the enemy"" isn't necessarily the adult world or the ""establishment"" (personified here by the rich, well-intentioned businessman who originally gives her a lift). Although Holland knows her craft well enough to keep the action speeding right along, this still deserves a decided thumbs down.

Pub Date: Sept. 16, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Lippincott

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1977

Categories: FICTION