REAR-VIEW MIRROR

by Caroline B. Cooney ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1980

Melodramatic ordeal in North Carolina: a psychopathic escaped convict and his doltish teenage cousin steal a car; they discover two two-year-olds in the backseat (implausibly left there by loving parents) and try to drown them; and, when heroine Susan Seton happens by and rescues one of the babes, the creeps grab her and her car for an evil joy ride. So, while Susan obeys the thugs' orders, driving around and trembling with fear for herself and the comatose child, Cooney (author of a contrived 1979 juvenile, Safe as the Grave) jumps around to other action centers: the second victimized baby is rescued by a priest and survives; a couple whose home has been vandalized by the thugs seeks revenge (the husband is eventually killed by the psycho); the police detect, and Susan's relatives react to the news of her kidnap in various cartoonily overdrawn ways (totally callous husband, obsessively bossy brother, zestfully flaky mother). Finally, after the psycho has killed his cousin and after Susan has managed to leave the baby on a doorstep, there's a showdown between villain and heroine in a motel room--where trembly Susan (who has behaved with an annoying lack of resourcefulness throughout) at last pummels her tormentor with a chair: ""No one saved me, she thought. I saved myself."" A workaday recycling, then, with more than a few amateurish lapses, but fast-moving and sometimes crudely effective.

Pub Date: May 1, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1980

Categories: FICTION