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The Dead of Summer
by
Camilla Way
**DEBUT FICTION**
"Admit how your pulse quickens when you see those headlines: murder spree of schoolgirl loner; boy, 13, rapes classmate; child, 10, stabs pensioner." So says narrator Anita Naidu, and she should know. At thirteen, Anita was the sole witness to London’s notorious cave murders of 1986, which left three children dead. Told seven years later to the police psyc...more
"Admit how your pulse quickens when you see those headlines: murder spree of schoolgirl loner; boy, 13, rapes classmate; child, 10, stabs pensioner." So says narrator Anita Naidu, and she should know. At thirteen, Anita was the sole witness to London’s notorious cave murders of 1986, which left three children dead. Told seven years later to the police psyc...more
Hardcover, 208 pages
Published
January 7th 2008
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(first published January 1st 2007)
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This book started my Summer of Children in Peril. I have found a variety of books about some rather unpleasant even befalling a child or children and having it come back some date in the far future. This was a quick read, and while the subject matter is a bit disturbing I found it hard to put down.
It is highly disturbing because it is about three kids dying and a fifteen-year old kid killing them. At the same time though there is something very poignant about it and the beauty contained in this book continues to haunt me until now - more than a week since I read it. Here’s an excerpt from the book:
By the end of that summer three of us were dead. But you already knew that. Does your pulse quicken when you see those headlines? You know the type: MURDER SPREE OF SCHOOLGIRL LONER; BOY, 13, RA...more
By the end of that summer three of us were dead. But you already knew that. Does your pulse quicken when you see those headlines? You know the type: MURDER SPREE OF SCHOOLGIRL LONER; BOY, 13, RA...more
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Dead of Summer is a marvelously gruesome thriller that plunges you into the dark and twisted psyche of the adolescent killer. It’s a compulsive and fascinating read, and it’s causal narration and lightning pace make it impossible to put down. And no matter how repulsive you find the subject matter—kids killing kids—you’ll find yourself drawn to the misfits involved, not just out of morbid fascination, but out of affection too.
The story is narrated by a foul-mouthed outcast named Anita (who isn’t...more
The story is narrated by a foul-mouthed outcast named Anita (who isn’t...more
23rd January 2010.
A very disturbing little book. You know from the outset that things are going to end badly. It has a very dark and creepy atmosphere and you feel compelled to keep reading even though it is slightly unpleasant. I wouldn't say that it is particularly well written but it does provide a view into another world, one which I would prefer not to linger in for too long. The conclusion is somewhat unexpected and very grisly. The characters are all flawed people most of whom seem fairly...more
A very disturbing little book. You know from the outset that things are going to end badly. It has a very dark and creepy atmosphere and you feel compelled to keep reading even though it is slightly unpleasant. I wouldn't say that it is particularly well written but it does provide a view into another world, one which I would prefer not to linger in for too long. The conclusion is somewhat unexpected and very grisly. The characters are all flawed people most of whom seem fairly...more
The Dead of Summer is about a young woman who unfortunately is the only witness to London’s infamous cave murders in the year 1986. Anita Naidu just moved in to their new house in South London. Being new to the neighborhood she very much wanted to blend in but being a good misfit as she is, she landed on the hands of Kyle Kite who has a behavioral problem and his best dim-witted uncanny friend Denis. The trio, Kyle acting as the leader, do stuffs that favors Kyle which is to look and search for...more
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There's almost nothing I hate more in a novel than wasted potential. With the possible exception of having my time wasted. I was going to give this book zero stars, because after a semi-promising build up, the climax not only fails to deliver, it presents a cliched resolution so grotesque in its badness I'll call it bankrupt. But I've decided to give it one star instead. Camilla Way understands how to write competent prose, and if she had tried harder, she could have turned an acute awareness of...more
I found this a captivating read - the character tells it like it is (all foul language included)... The style of the book takes you from past to present, but the narration remains a constant first hand account from the main character. The plot is full of intruige, and you are led to believe one thing about the "murders", only to have the whole theory upheaved towards the end, resulting in an unexpected culprit. This book is one of the few books that actually has a satisfactory ending. Most books...more
This is a dark tale about 3 young teenage misfits: Kyle, whose little sister mysteriously vanished from her home one evening, Anita, whose mother has just died and Denis, a `special needs' child, who is Kyle's shadow. We hear how their friendship eventually leads to 3 brutal murders, and learn about the events that led up to these chilling murders 7 years after the tragedies took place. One of the group is the only witness and it's their tale that tells the reader the details of how and why thes...more
I took two evenings to read this, but it could have been done in one. While it was a quick read, it wasn't enthralling. The character development is, in my opinion, lacking. Maybe that was part of the design--the characters purposefully didn't have that much to them--I don't know. What I do know is that the novel starts off by telling you that "by the end of summer, three of us were dead" and by the end of the book, you don't really care.
There was an attempt at a twist/shocking revelation in the...more
There was an attempt at a twist/shocking revelation in the...more
13 year-old Anita Naidu, along with her family (except mom, who had recently died), move from Leeds to Greenwich. Anita is somewhat of a loner, and can clearly identify with a couple of misfits that she meets when she starts school. There's Denis, an overweight, food-loving boy with learning disabilities, and his friend Kyle. Kyle is somewhat of an enigma, with a personality that can turn on a dime. His sister disappeared years earlier, and Kyle lives with his somewhat fragile mother and his gra...more
The story pulled me in from the beginning with the narrator’s words, “By the end of the summer three of us were dead. But you already knew that. Tell me, does your pulse quicken when you see the headlines?” The narrator calls out the reader just as she draws the reader in. Here is a nasty little tale of murder and deviance, she says. How awful. How shocking. But don’t you want to know?
I did. I started reading and found myself unable to turn away. The Dead of Summer is the story of a thirtee...more
I did. I started reading and found myself unable to turn away. The Dead of Summer is the story of a thirtee...more
Centered around a summer that the narrator (13 year old Anita) shares with her two equally misfit "friends," the plot unfolds in an interview with a doctor 7 years in the future. As the pieces come together, you begin to see how truly disturbing the lives of some children can be. I thought the book was interesting, disturbing, and a quick read. It wasn't perfectly written, but wasn't bad for a first novel. The narrator was haunting.
This book is ok, quite interesting, and keeps you continously hooked by adding snippets of what the ending might be in-between pages. The ending is definitely not what the reader expects it to be. However the drawbacks are unecessary swearing(definitely not required when your talking about immigrant asian adolescents), and a less-than-true potrayal of Paki immigrants in Britain. An average book, overall.
Finished this book in 4 hours. I sat on my back porch one summer day and could not put it down. It's about 200 pages. I would call it a psychological suspense novella. I tried to put it down and save it for another day, but I got so sucked in by the lives of the two main characters, that I was actually sad when it was over. Probably the best book I read in 2009.
I am really enjoying the plethora of Scandinavia crime fiction that seems to have blossomed since Stieg Larsens's Millennium trilogy. This is an excellent crime thriller set in Sweden on the holiday island of Gotland and featuring Inspector Anders Knutas. A jogger is shot on a beach and the investigation reveals very few clues....
Feb 20, 2009
Maya Panika
added it
I couldn’t finish this, I bought it on the strength of the author's book Little Bird which I liked very much and thought I'd give her other novel a try but the animal cruelty in it sickened me. Maybe it’s a wonderful book, I couldn’t say, I haven’t read enough of it to judge, only enough to know it’s not for me.
This story is about three young friends who were basically loners. It tells how they became friends and the turmoil they endured in their lives. It is told by one of the main characters, Anita, and what happens to the three during the summer they met. Very interesting book with twists.
This was a beautifully written, compelling, engaging story that I couldn't put down. I didn't give it 5 stars because of the story, which was in and of itself terrific and original, but because of the writing style. Her descriptions made the story come to life and play out like a movie in my head as I read. Just fabulous.
A pleasant surprise - really liked the characters, well-written, and it took an unexpected turn of events toward the end, so it ended up more creepy than the depressing I'd assumed it would be, when I read the synopsis on the back.
Wow. If you've ever seen Moholland Drive or any of David Finch's productions, you will know what I mean when I say "Wow." For a first time author Camilla Way has written an intense and refreshing novel that took me by surprise.
I read it in one sitting, in a frenzy. It's hard to say I "like" this book because of the subject matter. But I was definitely held by it. I found the interview format a little cliche but the story had me overlooking it.
I just finished this book, and I have to say, I thought it was great. I couldn't put it down. Some of the British lingo was hard to understand but the basic premise was really great. The twist at the end was amazing.
This book is set in the 1980s in London. It's about three teenage misfits and their twisted psyches coming together to form a bond. The end is surprising and will haunt you for weeks after putting the book down.
A great read. I simply didn't want the story to end, and could have read on about the characters for years, though the author left a few questions unanswered, and at points the main character annoyed me.
3 misfit teenagers during a summer break. Which of the three is a killer, the young girl who lost her mother, the leader of the pack who has a missing sister or the obviously autistic chubby boy.
Surprising ending which I like, however it is a dark story line that leaves you questioning the mental stability of people. Not a must read but an interesting one at least.
What a creepy book, it worked though, kept me wondering. I even sympathized a little with the actions of the lead despite, or maybe because, of what happened.
This was an overall great read entertaining, scarry and really weird & educating at the same time. Unexpected ending brilliantly got me!
This was such a great mystery with original writing. Thanks Marie for finding this one on the library shelf! I could not put it down and it had me all the way to the end!
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| The Dead Of Summer | 1 | 11 | Oct 02, 2009 04:31am |
