This is not the Mark Harmon 80s classic with Chainsaw and Dave.

97. Terror Academy: Summer School – Nicholas Pine

So, once again in a Terror Academy novel we are asked to side with the popular rich kids and instead of having the twist of Cara’s best friend actually being a vengeful creep, he’s just a pining nice guy who saves her life from those disgusting punks. It just feels weird not being on the underdog side, I thought that was the main territory of YA, but it sure hasn’t been in Terror Academy where they don’t thwart traditional ideals of what an upstanding citizen is.

The initial punk action is good, saving Cara from her current boyfriend when he decides that his reaction to her breaking up with him is that he should rape her. She only manages to get away because of punk Eddie, who then wants her to avoid telling the police he was involved. Cara’s ex-boyfriend, who is not an upstanding citizen and has much power as a sports-guy, then hides in her car and tries again when Cara is on her way to Chris’ house. So now Chris has a chance to save her as well and he does via his compass, which she stabs her ex-boyfriend in the hand with to distract him.

Eddie the punk calls in the favor Cara owes him after her ex-boyfriend is found dead in the river in the morning of supposed suicide. He comes to dinner at her rich kid house dressed in a suit and deceives her parents and also Cara, saying they’re going to the movies when he’s actually taking her to a lake and the implication is she will be gang raped as a result of being saved from ex-boyfriend rape. Wonderful. Thankfully, Cara runs and Chris, who isn’t creepy following her, he’s just following her, picks her up and then Eddie the punk and his gang of punks cause an accident and Chris and Cara are both injured enough to have to go to… summer school! That’s right, most of the book is gone before the title comes into play at all.

Once again, I was reminded of Class of 1984 when the final confrontation between Eddie and his gang of punks in an empty school and Cara and Chris. Both Cara and Chris have casts and they were only there because the coach let them into the library after Cara’s dad’s secretary “forgot” to type her footnotes and bibliography when she typed Cara’s paper up for her from Cara’s notes. I did keep wondering why she didn’t look at it before she turned it in. Check the work, Cara. In this case it could have helped you avoid killing at least three punk dudes before graduation.

 

“She just turned it in? Without even looking at it? Ridiculous trusting popular people.” Peregrine is aghast.

 

Twiglet is not cleaning up after the carnage in the library, but she will shelve and straighten like the champ that she is. Threadless
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