IRP Trimester Three by Y Shah

I Know What You Did Last Summer

19shahy — 2015-04-12 00:14:09 UTC

A Mystery Novel By Lois Duncan

This novel never specifies a setting.

Summary

19shahy — 2015-04-12 00:18:39 UTC

I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan is the thrilling mystery novel about four teenagers who are haunted by a mistake they made nearly a year ago. One summer ago, four teenagers accidentally committed murder. Barry, Helen, Julie, and Ray were recklessly tearing down the road when young Daniel Gregg appeared on the road in front of them on his bicycle. Barry was worried about the consequences for his reckless driving, so he coerced the rest of the group to make a pact never to reveal what happened that night. As days pass the group tries hard to forget about young Daniel and move on with their lives, until they all begin to receive anonymous notes. Julie receives a note made from magazine clippings saying "I know what you did last summer." Slowly Ray and Helen receive similar notes. Barry, the driver of the vehicle, receives a call that lures him to the football field where he is shot and then hospitalized. Soon after Barry's incident, both Helen and Julie also encounter extremely close calls with death. This mysterious killer is knows what they did last summer and is out to make sure life is miserable for all four of them by attempting to kill Helen, Barry and Julie, and taking everyone of importance away from Ray. Lois Duncan keeps readers in suspense as she reveals who this killer his and his connection to the death of Daniel Gregg.

Julie James

19shahy — 2015-04-12 22:45:55 UTC

When the incident occurred that horrific summer, Julie was the most reluctant to agree to the pact. She instinctively wanted to tell the police and suffer whatever consequences she had to. Nevertheless, she was forced into agreeing to the pact and was subject to constant torture from her conscience. In hopes of distancing herself from the incident, Julie broke contact with her boyfriend Ray, Barry, and Helen. She dropped out of all academic activities and focused on her studies, which in turn granted her acceptance to her dream college, Smith. Julie James is a goodhearted student who got mixed up in dangerous practices.

Ray Bronson

19shahy — 2015-04-12 23:03:58 UTC

Ray's life has been full of people expecting him to be something he is not. His father yearns for his son to be a football star like he had been in his own youth. His father has always made it evident that he would have preferred to have a football prodigy like Barry for a son instead of Ray. Ray, like Julie, was also hesitant to agree to the pact. However, he is eventually bullied into it by Barry and Helen. When Julie breaks up with him, Ray flees home and tries living elsewhere in hopes of forgetting about the things that are hurting him. When he comes back for a visit, he is welcomed by two shocks. He is still in love with Julie and will do anything to keep her safe, and someone knows about the incident that occurred last summer. Throughout the novel Ray is a benevolent character who just wants to do what is right and make sure the people he cares about are safe.

Barry Cox

19shahy — 2015-04-13 22:54:59 UTC

Barry is known by many as the popular football player who likes to move from one girl to the next. He's the typical bad boy and player combination. When he saw beautiful Helen Rivers, he knew he had to have her. Using his charm and suave, he managed to snag the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. However, soon Barry becomes bored with Helen. He finds her too clingy. She believes that he really could be the one for her, but he sees her as nothing more than another girl. When the incident occurred, Barry was worried about the consequences he would have to face since he was above eighteen and the driver of the car. He convinced everyone else to make the pact and let the incident leave his mind with ease. All was well in Barry's life until that call that lured him to the fields where he almost said goodbye to his life. Barry is a high school student who is far too self-assured and arrogant to be able to make the right decisions.

Helen Rivers

19shahy — 2015-04-13 23:08:12 UTC

Helen Rivers was always an odd child. While most young children spent their days playing outside and enjoying life, Helen spent hers desperately searching for her talent. She was always inspecting herself, searching for something to set her apart from others. She was looking for something in her that she could build a career off of. After many trials, she realized that what really set her apart from everyone else was her beauty. Of course there was room for improvement, but she was born with naturally good looks. Over the course of many years, she perfected her image. She was now enjoying her life living in a complex with a very cushy job as a TV reporter. When Helen met Barry, she believed it was love at first sight. She believed he was the one for her. As they began to date, she took the relationship much more seriously than he did. She fell for him while he did not reciprocate those feelings. She was so blinded with lust for Barry that when Barry suggested the pact, Helen was quick to agree. Even after Barry was in the hospital Helen was adamant on protecting her boyfriend, she simply would not allow Julie and Ray to go to the police. She would not allow anything that put Barry at risk.

Collie/Bud Wilson

19shahy — 2015-04-13 23:26:01 UTC

Collie and Bud are portrayed as two different characters throughout majority of the story. Only in the last few chapters is it revealed that they are actually the same person. Collie was the half brother of Daniel Gregg. He spend months researching his half brother's death, tediously searching for the guilty party. Eventually he figured it out. He learned that Barry, Helen, Ray, and Julie had killed his younger brother. They had damaged an entire family. Collie's aim was to make them feel the same pain he felt. Using his charm, he infiltrated Helen's life as the trusty next door neighbor. He then continued to infiltrate Julie's life as her new boyfriend. He quickly managed to get close to all his victims, in hopes that he could pounce.

The Incident

19shahy — 2015-04-16 16:00:43 UTC

Two couples were coming home from a double date. They had no alcohol in their blood. They were clean. Barry, Helen, Ray, and Julie were on their ride home when young Daniel Gregg suddenly appeared in the middle of the road. There was not nearly enough time to save him, so they ran him over. Instead of stopping to help the poor boy and calling for help, the group continued moving because Barry was worried about getting in trouble. Barry refused to let Ray make an anonymous call to the police until they were a safe distance away from the crime scene. Daniel died en route to the hospital. He may have survived had the police been alerted earlier. This even haunts the group for the rest of the book, never completely leaving their conscience alone. This incident changes their life forever. Julie goes from being the charismatic cheerleader into someone who focuses solely on her studies. Ray moves to California in hopes of leaving the past behind. The incident changed their lives, and gave someone motive to try and murder them.

The Revealing

19shahy — 2015-04-16 16:14:57 UTC

There has been a mysterious killer hunting Barry, Helen, Ray, and Julie for quite some time now. No one seems to have a clue who. Everything is revealed in the last two chapters when Helen's neighbor Collie appears in her bedroom. Pieces begin to fall into place when he says he is going to kill his date tonight. He explains that he is the half brother of Daniel Gregg. He explains that he was in Iraq when Danny died, and that he never got to say goodbye. He explains how his mother and step father have gone insane, and his sister is practically insane himself. The death of his half brother has destroyed his family, so now he plans to destroy the people who killed his half brother. When he got home from Iraq, his father showed him a bunch of yellow roses that had arrived without a note. He thought that was quite peculiar, so he traced it back to the flower shop and got a description from the owner about who purchased the roses. Julie was the one being described. Eventually he tracked Julie down and sent her the note that frightened her into running to the rest of the group. Julie led Collie right to the rest of the group. Once Collie becomes sure that he has caught the right culprits, he plans an assault. All of this is explained to Helen as she is trapped with Collie in her own bedroom. She manages to trap herself in another room, and jump out the window. By this time, Collie is late for his "date" with Julie. He appears at her house as Bud, and skillfully reveals his true identity to her. He is just about to kill her as well, until Ray saves her. Ray had figured out who Collie really was when he visited Daniel Gregg's home. The revealing of this information pushes the group to go to the police and suffer the consequences. They are willing to do anything to regain their healthy conscience.

A Reader's Reactions

19shahy — 2015-04-16 21:08:52 UTC

I am never one to particularly enjoy mystery novels. I usually find them boring and cliche, but I thoroughly enjoyed I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan. This book was very entertaining since it was told from four different perspectives. It allowed the reader to get into the mind of the characters, and see things from different points of view. I also enjoy how this book had a variety of characters. Some characters like Barry were loud and outgoing, while others like Julie were quiet and reserved. In my opinion, the thing that set this book apart from most other mystery novels was the double identity twist that was revealed at the end. I had no clue who this mysterious revenge-seeker was until the last few paragraphs. Lois Duncan also does a fantastic job at slowly revealing more and more information, therefore allowing the reader to truly feel like they are unveiling the mystery rather than just being told the solution. Overall, I loved this book and would certainly recommend it to both mystery lovers and mystery haters.