THE DARK CORRIDOR

by Jay Bennett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 9, 1988

Although subtitled ""a novel of suspense,"" this weak effort is more misery than mystery. After Kerry's genius-heiress girlfriend, Alicia, joins a rash of local teen suicides, he suffers, reminisces, and endures her mogul father's accusations that Kerry's responsible. Then Kerry realizes that Alicia's violent stepmother, Marian, had plenty of motive to kill her. He confronts Marian; she confesses that the suicide was actually murder. The thin plot here is stretched to novel length, not by character development but by endless repetition. Each sentence is its own paragraph, usually followed by a phrase repeating the same information--and then another. (""Licia has killed herself. Killed herself. Her self. Like the others. Those were her words. The others""). This ""dark litany in a monotonous flat tone"" is depressing, but not suspenseful. Unrelieved by any light moments and sprinkled with painfully bad clichÉs--such as Alicia's exclamation that life is a dark corridor that leads to a dusty death--eventually it bores. Bennett, twice winner of the Poe award, can do better.

Pub Date: Nov. 9, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Watts

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1988

Categories: CHILDREN'S