Hell Phone

by William Sleator

A murder story with a devilish twist.

Nick wants a cell phone so he can talk to his girlfriend, Jen, after school, but he doesn't have a lot of money. The used phone he buys seems like a bargain, until the phone calls begin—strangers calling night and day, some begging for help, others making demands. Nick wants to get rid of the phone, but something prevents him, and, soon he finds himself committing crimes—stealing, conning . . .and killing.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Supernatural, Paranormal

237 pages, Hardcover

First published September 26, 2006

About the author

William Warner Sleator III was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland on February 13, 1945, and moved to St. Louis, MO when he was three. He graduated from University City High School in 1963, from Harvard in 1967 with BAs in music and English.

For more than thirty years, William Sleator thrilled readers with his inventive books. His House of Stairs was named one of the best novels of the twentieth century by the Young Adult Library Services Association.

William Sleator died in early August 2011 at his home in Thailand.

Reviews

[Adarsh Kota · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book on the shelf in a library. The cover and the title caught my eye and I couldn’t help but take it out. “Hell phone” is an amazing book by author William Sleator. I’d recommend this book for teens who like spooky yet humorous books. When I read this book, I sat up and stayed up in bed as hours flew by. How a simple phone can push a poor, kind and innocent teenager into a shadow of thievery, crime and eventually pulling him into the darkness that is Hell.

This book is about a well behaved, seventeen year old boy who is poor and lives in a trailer with his mother. After saving up enough money, he bought a cheap, used phone so that he could call his girlfriend Jen in the evenings. However this phone did not have Caller ID and its number couldn’t be changed. I found the beginning a bit weird because random people started calling him. First a threatening, sinister man, and then a frightened girl, begging to know what happened to someone named Trang. But this made it all the more interesting. The sinister man finally persuaded Nick to steal some equipment for him to “escape from Hell” after threatening to hurt Jen. This is when the nightmare began. Later he meets Fleck who looked like he came from hell. Fleck told Nick about a bigger threat, a teenager about the same age as him called Rusty. Rusty supposedly killed Fleck years ago and is now aiming to kill Lola, the frightened girl who called Nick earlier. Later after meeting up with Trang, Nick finds out that Rusty hangs out with Jen and she starts ignoring Nick. To help Jen and get her back, Nick has no choice but to team up with Fleck and Trang.

This is an intense book filled with twists and turns. It’s filled with mystery and excitement which I would suggest to teen readers who like thrilling, shocking books. But I wouldn’t say this book should be for the light hearted.

[Erica Leigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

WHAT did I just read. I honestly couldn’t tell you if I enjoyed this or not because I was bored for a majority of it and then flabbergasted by the rest. I felt like Sleator wanted this to be a dark comedy, but because the tone feels so serious throughout, it’s difficult to find humor in the bleaker situations, and the messaging is confusing. The characters aren’t even realistic enough to carry the story.

And wow so much exposition. Everything over-explained after the fact.

But I did enjoy the descriptions of hell lol. It was the one thing I felt was well-done and imaginative and actually brought levity to the whole thing.

Other things I liked:
- Wailing cat ringtone (“It mewed.”)
- hell being filled with Karaoke bars
- the Games from Real Hell
- just anything and everything that had to do with the phone and/or hell and not the whack murder plot

Anyway. The first 2/3 is veryyy drawn out.

Boy gets sketchy cheap phone and receives sketchy phone calls. Accidentally summons someone from hell.

And then the last 1/3 is very much a hellish video game fever dream.

A very convoluted plot takes place where our protag is coerced into murdering a guy who’s about to rape the protag’s girlfriend (everything leading up to this is so contrived and bizarre). Protag goes to trial. Gets sentenced to death via lethal injection (which is described in excruciating detail AND you get a play by play of the whole process of him DYING).

And then he GOES TO HELL.
And ESCAPES FROM HELL VIA VIDEO GAME (okay, this part was kinda fun to read).
And he not only returns to earth, but he basically gets exonerated, becomes tabloid famous, and goes on to live a somewhat normal life.

All of this takes place in the last 20pages or so!

I guess it’s an unconventional take on morality/moral ambiguity but even with the suspension of disbelief, I was frustrated by how poorly the characters and real-world situations were written.

Oh! There’s also a racial slur that felt out of place 🥴, and I was turned off by the way Sleator characterized Trang.

I don’t know if I can recommend this but someone please read it so we can discuss 😬

TL; DR
Kid buys hell phone. Murders someone. Goes to hell. Escapes from hell. Lives happily ever after. The end.

[Deanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing book by William Sleator. I hate when books take forever to get into the story, but this isn't the case with Hell Phone. I couldn't put it down! The first couple chapters had me actually scared, something so far no Stephen King book could do. It was interesting and entertaining, but I wish there was a longer detailed ending to it, or I wish there had been a follow up, but sadly I suppose that won't happen now =/

R.I.P William Sleator
I've yet to read a bad book by him.

[X'avier Gamboa · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Hell Phone by William Sleator.”

I would rate this book a 3.9 and the reason for that is because the author doesn’t go much into the life of Nick and that annoys me because if I had known more about Nick I could’ve understood the story and why he had to go such high lengths to save a woman even though he was warned not to help them.

I never stopped reading the book because it kept dragging me in and in, the parts that kept keeping me into the book were the plot twist because it had a bunch of scenes where it would surprise you to see that this character was with that character and that this character was actually with this character, so the book had a lot of plot twist and a lot of parts that would surprise me in many ways.

William Sleator talks about how nick and his mom are poor so he is only able to afford things that are low prices and this affects him because after his girlfriend meets a character called rusty he finds out that rusty is much richer than him and has nicer things and jen nick’s girlfriend starts to hang out with him and he suspects that she’s hanging out with him because he is much richer but it turns out that it is actually for a much more different reason.

The best part in the book was about how the author talks about Nick and why he wants to impress her so he buys a phone and then after he buys the phone he is mad at himself because he wanted a normal phone that would work like a normal phone and he realises that it won’t actually impress her so he tries to return it but the person he bought it from says that he can’t.

Something the author could improve on is describing the characters more, he could also improve on adding more suspense on not just getting straight to the point.

But I liked that he described the characters thoroughly although he should add more to them, I also like that he made sure the text was clear and that everyone could understand it because if somebody was reading it to me or a different person he would not be able to understand it because the text would be talking more about nick and not about the problem.

And this was why I gave the book a 3.9 but it could also be a 4.0.

[Brie · Rating 1 out of 5]

In my opinion this was the stupidest book ever, and I usually like everything. I couldn't ever get past chapter 1. The scenario was just strange..and... I can't even really put my finger on it, it was just one of those books *shrugs*

[Monique Mabin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an excellent read. If you love thriller suspenceful readings then you will love this book. Its a page tuner so you might want to make sure that you have plenty of time set aside to read it =)

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although a big fan of Sleator's I was not impressed with this book. It reminded me of a horror film, where you keep shouting, "no, don't do that," and they do it anyway and the inevitable happens.

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reportedly a literary influence on R.L. Stine, William Sleator likely draws many new readers because of this. It's what brought me to Hell Phone, a novel with a fascinating premise. Seventeen-year-old Nick Gordon's mother constantly works at her job in order to keep meals on the table, and Nick is employed after school so he'll be able to afford college. His girlfriend Jen is one of life's sweet distractions; her parents aren't sure Nick is right for her, but he's not about to let Jen slip away. He buys a used cell phone so they have privacy when they converse; the investment swallows Nick's savings, but more dire consequences are ahead.

As soon as Nick activates the phone, a call comes in from a sarcastic, threatening man. He won't quit calling, but the rickety cell phone has no caller ID, so Nick can't screen his calls. A second man calls, with a halting, Asian accent, as well as a sobbing woman who claims a killer is hunting her. Nick just wanted some relaxing phone time with Jen, but he's being pulled into a nightmare of family backstabbing, cold-blooded murder, and the risk that his own involvement might lead to his death and damnation in a literal Hell. With an eternity of torment grinning ghoulishly over the horizon, it may take an Orpheus-like journey to set things right...if that's still possible.

There's nothing wrong with the concept, and I like the dark, disturbing scenes that place this book squarely in YA territory as opposed to middle-grade, but Hell Phone is mostly a disaster. Plot twists are hinted at and forgotten about, and the legal ordeal used to usher in the climax is absurd. Many of these elements could work, but the execution is amateurish. By this late stage in his career perhaps William Sleator wasn't fully engaged in the logistics grunt work as he had been for his classic House of Stairs more than thirty years earlier. I rate Hell Phone one and a half stars for its evocative scenes, but this should have been a much better book.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed by Karin Perry for TeensReadToo.com

All Nick wanted was a cell phone so he could talk to his girlfriend, Jen, in the evenings. What he got was a nightmare he would have never imagined.

Nick's mother, who works hard every day, usually from daylight to sometime in the night, doesn't earn enough money to keep much food in the house, much less afford to keep the phone turned on. Nick works almost every day himself in the hospital cafeteria after school and has saved up money to buy a cell phone.

After school one day, before he headed to work, Nick rode his bike to a store that was advertising used cell phones on a flyer he received in the mail. Once he walked in, Nick noticed that there weren't many phones on display that looked like they'd be cheap enough for him to buy. He only had fifty dollars for the phone and the minutes. When he told the salesperson how much he had to spend, there was only one phone that he would sell at that price. It surprised Nick that it looked pretty cool and he considered himself pretty lucky, even with the drawbacks. The drawbacks were that the Caller ID had been disabled and there were no returns or refunds. So, once he bought the phone he was stuck with it or just out the money. In the end, Nick decided to take the phone and paid for one-hundred-and-fifty minutes--and left the store.

When Nick arrived home after work, his mother still wasn't home from her job so he used the time to make his first call to Jen. As soon as he turned it on, it rang with an annoying mewing sound. He answered it, thinking he'd just have to tell the caller that the previous owner didn't own the phone anymore. Instead, what he hears on the other end of the line was a nasty, threatening voice asking who he was, what he was doing with the phone, and where he lived. Frightened, Nick hung up and quickly called Jen, only to have Call Waiting constantly beep in on their conversation. Disappointed with the first use of the cell phone, Nick turned it off for the night so it wouldn't ring and wake up his mother once she got home from work.

What follows is a nightmare for Nick. He is asked to gather supplies in order to help the persistent caller. The only way to get the supplies is to steal them, something he has never done before in his life. Having the cell phone leads him to lie to Jen, which is something else he has never done. He knows the phone isn't good for him, but he feels compelled to keep it, thinking he can save someone involved in this horrible mystery. In the end, his life unravels completely, leaving him in jail, sentenced to be executed, and eventually landing in Hell. However, with lessons he learned while he had the phone, Nick leads himself to a better place.

William Sleator has written a fast-paced horror novel that requires the reader to suspend disbelief and accept the story for what it is -- a thrilling read, not to be picked up right before bed.

[Lucille · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm almost ashamed to say that I read this book because I was falling behind on my goodreads goal for the year, and I saw this at the library and thought it would be a quick read to boost me up. It turned out to be an alright read. There was a lot of focus on the class system- poor boy who lives in a trailer with his mum is going out with a beautiful rich girl. To keep in contact with her, the boy buys a cheap, used cell phone. The phone is strang- some of it's features are disabled and it is sold for an unusually low price. There is just one thing that I would like to point out: caller ID is not a standard feature on all phones. You have to pay extra to get caller ID. Everyone in this book seemed to think that it was normally a given that comes with the most basic, pay as you go phones. No. It's a pain in the ass that can cost something ridiculous like $7/month to get. So when every character who came into contact with the phone gasped at the lack of caller ID, it kind of bothered me. I know, really nitpicky, but it came up more often than one would think because of the other aspects of the phone.
There is a near constant stream of strange phone calls. Some are threatening. Some beg for help. Others give cryptic warnings. Of course, the owner of the phone is too curious to listen to common sense and get rid of the phone. He becomes ensnared by it and is drawn into a plot that reaches into new realms- namely, Hell. I liked that the author creates a new vision of hell and isn't afraid to sound kind of ridiculous. The ending was a little unsatisfactory. Won't say why, but you'll know what I mean if you read it. Anyways, it entertained me, and it didn't disappoint. It was a quick, somewhat silly read that had some decent action in it. The writing wasn't great, but there were a couple of interesting plot elements.

[Sue Wargo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting twist for teens about good & evil. As a grown-up reading this I thought it a little campy but appealing to a teen/tween audience. I have a couple copies on my shelf at school and they are frequently in circulation. Lots of themes for an essay or reading response project for an English or reading assignment. For a kid this is a fun read. (although really not that scary)

[Tranna Foley · Rating 1 out of 5]

From Follett Destiny - "Seventeen-year-old Nick buys a used cell phone only to call his girlfriend, but strange and desperate people keep calling--one of them a denizen of Hell--begging for or demanding his help."

Not impressed...

[MK · Rating 1 out of 5]

For a short, simple, POLITE summary of my feelings on this book:



Be back at a later date to explain why.

(Later date)

Wow, it’s been a loooooooong time since a book has actually infuriated me, or insulted my intelligence. But here we go.

So let me summarize what exactly happens in the book (SPOILERS, okay?)

Nick is our teenage protagonist, who’s an underdog. He’s poor, lives in a trailer with his single mother who works long hours, he works a job too, works hard in school to get good grades, eats nothing but noodles at home, is kind and responsible, and is dating Jen (who is the worst girlfriend ever, but we’ll get to that in a minute), who comes from an upper class family where the mother does not approve of her dating Nick, because she’s one of those nasty bigots who blames children for being born into poverty.

Now.

Nick buys a used cell phone that turns out to be haunted, and somehow summons one of the callers named “Fleck”, who apparently comes from Hell. Because for some reason Nick thinks he has to help this guy, that he doesn’t know at all. Anyway…

Jen begins dating someone else, while she’s dating Nick (and Nick is apparently okay with this), and Fleck helps him find out about this guy: named Rusty. Fleck and Nick track him down while he’s on a date with Jen, because they believe Jen is in danger because Rusty is known to be a bad guy, and turns out…they’re right. They witness him attempt to rape Jen.

So Nick goes and stops him, saving Jen from being raped.

Then Rusty begins beating up Fleck, very severely, to the point where Fleck may die from the beating. Therefore, Nick feels no choice but to grab Fleck’s gun, and shoot Rusty in order to make him stop.

Now, most of us (I hope) are aware of and familiar with the concept of “self-defense”, but apparently that’s not a thing in this world. It’s just thrown out the window entirely, because despite the situation that I just described, Nick is tried as an adult for murder, sentenced to death, and dies by lethal injection (oh, and they go into detail about how incompetent the executioner is and how he keeps stabbing Nick in the wrist over and over again with the needle, not being able to find a vein, and then how it’s a slow death because he is paralyzed and sweating and suffocating…) Very nice.






Oh, but it gets better.

Because you see, how did people even find out about this event? He’d used gloves when handling the gun, so there were no fingerprints. They were in an extremely isolated area where there were no cameras, nor were they close enough for anyone to hear them. So…obviously the only witnesses were Fleck and Jen. So how did Nick’s story get out, so that his whole life could literally be taken from him?

I’ll tell you how: JEN, his slut girlfriend who got saved by him, was apparently so “traumatized” by the event, that she just HAD to tell her parents (that she knows damn well hate Nick already for being a poor kid who actually has to work for his money), who tells police. And SUPPOSEDLY, Jen “regrets” all of this and is hysterical and crying when she finds out the result--what did you think was going to happen, genius? She says she “never wanted this to happen”.







Like hell (no pun intended). Maybe try being a little less emotional, for God’s sake.

Speaking of Hell, Nick apparently wakes up in Hell, because self-defense = being a bad person and an evil murderer, no nuance whatsoever. And so now he has to find a way to get out of Hell, and all of this is somehow connected to a cellphone.







He gets out, coming through a pothole in the ground…walks into a police station, all muddy and dirty…and becomes a sensationalized, “Boy Who Came Back to Life” world mystery. I think his conviction is overturned or something, and the media attention gets him and his mom enough money to be able to take care of themselves forever. I guess the skeptics wrote it off as a botched execution and escape…

It’s all so ridiculous. It reads like a bad cartoon. But here is the #1 worst part in my opinion:

He takes Jen back, as his girlfriend. For the rest of his life.

She’s literally the one who ruined your life and stole it from you. WHAT?

If I knew someone who did that to me, and I rose back up from the depths of hell and found them, I’d be like




Apparently, he lives happily ever after with her.




I’m sorry…I cannot recommend this book to anyone.

[Janelle Hammonds · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this book from a library sale as an attempt to expand my reading genres and am pleasantly surprised. The premise is intriguing; a kid pays for a used phone to be able to call his girlfriend without having their parents interfering and ends up with a lot more than he bargained for. Once he turns the phone on, he receives calls from three different people: the previous owner of the phone, a woman needing help, and one claiming to be trapped in hell. The book follows this high school boy get sucked into a devious plot bigger than he ever could’ve imagined, and part of him likes it as he describes himself as always being good.





*SPOILER BELOW*





I was both happy and displeased by the ending. I think it may have been better to leave it at his execution to leave readers wondering whether or not the events that were told to him truly occurred or if it was all just an elaborate scheme to get someone else to take care of the dirty work for them.

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this as a joke the other day, and while it wasn't bad enough for me to just throw down in anger, that doesn't mean it was good. The IDEA was pretty amusing, hence why I picked it up in the first place (also, my penchant for bad lit) but the execution? mmmm...no. Characters were one-dimensional; the same stereotypical characterizations were played out over and over again (the main character is poor... in case you don't pick it up while reading). If only it had been written...better....it could have been a good book. But it wasn't.

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wouldn't say this was a great book in terms of ~quality~ and ~literature~ etc, but holy hell was it an entertaining read. Way better than I thought. It's one of those that's been sitting on my shelf for years now-- if I'd known it was this good, I'd have read it way sooner!

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre and totally not what I thought it was going to be.

[Martisha Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg!
What a fucking ride!!!!!!!
I did not see any of that coming!

[Shanaya Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was about 10 years old. I’d like to read it again some day, because I remember really enjoying it at the time.

[Taylee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book

[AP]

I read this as a teen and remembered it today. Absolutely terrified young me.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 1 out of 5]

too dark for me even when I'm trying to get in the Halloween mood

[Amanda Wingfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my absolute favorite book as a kid. Re reading it opened my eyes a lot and shed light on the fact that my taste has improved. Okay maybe that's too much credit, I think I'm simply older and more mature now. Nick, the main character, is annoying to me now, and I remember relating to him so much in the past. It's a great sci-fi for young readers. Doesn't really hold up when you are old and corrupt. Still, a great book and I will always love Sleator.

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

All Nick wanted was a cell phone so he could talk to his girlfriend, Jen, in the evenings. What he got was a nightmare he would have never imagined.


Nick's mother, who works hard everyday, usually from daylight to sometime in the night, doesn't earn enough money to keep much food in the house, much less afford to keep the phone turned on. Nick works almost everyday in the hospital cafeteria after school and has saved up money to buy a cell phone.




After school one day, before he headed to work, Nick rode his bike to a store that was advertised used cell phones on a flyer he received in the mail. Once he walked in, Nick noticed that there weren't many phones on display that looked like they'd be cheap enough for him to buy. He only had fifty dollars for the phone and the minutes. When he told the salesperson how much he had to spend, there was only one phone that he would sell at that price. It surprised Nick that it looked pretty cool and considered himself pretty lucky, even with the drawbacks. The drawbacks were that the Caller ID had been disabled and there were no returns or refunds. So, once he bought the phone he was stuck with it or just out the money. In the end, Nick decided to take the phone and paid for one-hundred and fifty minutes and left the store.




When Nick arrived home after work, his mother still wasn't home from her job so he used the time to make his first call to Jen. As soon as he turned it on, it rang with an annoying mewing sound. He answered it, thinking he'd just have to tell the caller that the previous owner didn't own the phone anymore. Instead, what he hears on the other end of the line was a nasty, threatening voice asking who he was, what he was doing with the phone, and where he lived. Frightened, Nick hung up and quickly called Jen only to have Call Waiting constantly beep in on their conversation. Disappointed with the first use of the cell phone Nick turned it off for the night so it wouldn't ring and wake up his mother once she got home from work.




What follows is a nightmare for Nick. He is asked to gather supplies in order to help the persistent caller. The only way to get the supplies is to steal them, something he has never done before in his life. Having the cell phone leads him to lie to Jen, which is something else he has never done. He knows the phone isn't good for him, but he feels compelled to keep it, thinking he can save someone involved in this horrible mystery. In the end, his life unravels completely, leaving him in jail, sentenced to be executed, and eventually landing in hell. However, with lessons he learned while he had the phone, Nick leads himself to a better place.




William Sleator has written a faced paced horror novel that requires the reader to suspend disbelief and accept the story for what it is – a thrilling read, not to be picked up right before bed.

[Alex F · Rating 2 out of 5]

From looking at the cover of the book Hell Phone by William Sleator I assumed that it would be a book filled with constant fear and terror. However I now understand why you should never judge the book by the cover. The book was all about this selfish kid trying to make himself look better in front of his girlfriend while trying to save himself.


As the main character, Nick, with the help of his new phone and new found friends he goes on a journey of revenge and jealously. Nick’s mission contains helping his new friends kill a relative in order to get his inheritance. Then Nick at the same time becomes jealous because his girlfriend is hanging out with the same person he is looking to kill. Right at the beginning of the plot I noticed that this book isn’t as scary or horrifying as the cover makes it out to be. I did not like how all the characters, even the main character were fueled by greed and jealously. The man by the name of Fleck that came from hell and required help from nick was a person that just wanted what his rich brother had. Money! Throughout the whole story that’s all this hell man talked and discussed with the rest of the characters.


William Sleator is known for all his fearful books but, this book is nothing of the sort. I’ll admit there were a few disturbing parts when the beasts of hell were described and describing hell itself. Sleator definitely did not bring out his scary tactics in this book because the only thing the characters were continually scared of losing the money that was at stake. Nick on the other was only really concerned about losing his precious girlfriend to a person that was all around better than him. Because of the different wants of each of the characters the main plot was rather confusing along with the motives that fueled the characters.


I honestly would not recommend this book to anyone who loves to read terror books. This book would not give anyone the frights looked for in a Sleator book because this was not one of his best books. I understand that every book can’t be as great as past books but, I am very disappointed that this book didn’t fuel my desire for fear. So if looking for terror I would stay away from this book and look on past to another section.

[Juan Almaraz · Rating 5 out of 5]

When one thinks of a cellphone, one does not associate it with bad things. If anything a cell phone has become one of humankind's most useful gadget. With technology accelerating everyday, one could say the cell phone is "humankind's best friend." The tremendous amount of things that can be done on it are countless. Without one, many people say their life would be disastrous. In this book however it is quite the opposite. A teenagers life changes completely from white to black when he purchases a secondhand phone.

It all begins when Nick, a teenager who is very poor, buys a secondhand phone so he could talk to his girlfriend Jen. Right away when Nick turns on the cell phone a series of strange, and creepy calls start enveloping his life as he slowly becomes somewhat possessed by the phone, doing what the person on the other line tells him to do. Nick is driven to do stuff he'd never done before such as stealing, lying, and in the end even killing.

This book was recommended to me by one of my friends. At first I was a bit hesitant since, I'd never read a thriller book. When I got home I started reading it and could not put the book down! I finished it in one day; usually when I like a book it doesn't take me long to finish it. I would however not recommend this book to people who are not into thrillers, as this this book is filled with twist and turns that make the reader wonder what will happen next. Overall this was a great book and I would recommend it to a friend.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had an incredibly interesting premise - a boy buys a phone to talk to his girlfriend and starts getting mysterious phone calls from hell. I was immediately intrigued. I think this book delivered on that premise -- maybe not along the lines of what I initially thought, but it still delivered. I enjoyed the story and the twists in the plot, but there were two main issues I had. One, the beginning set-up seemed too forced to me. It was clear the author wanted to get across how good of a guy Nick was, but it was piled on incredibly thick and it was all done through telling the reader instead of showing us. I think it would have worked better if a bit of it was shown more, because as it stands, I didn't really care about Nick until the story got started and all of the telling about how great of a guy he was just didn't work for me. My second issue was the ending. I like the ending, sort of, but some of it was too easy/too happily ever after in an odd way. I also think there was a bit of an easy save handed out, but I won't spoil things by saying what.

Otherwise, I think the author created a wonderfully horrible version of hell and a fascinating story to read. I kept waiting to see if Flick was who he said he was or if he had something more sinister in mind. I think if you like YA horror, and don't mind some blood and gore, you might like this book. It's not as good as some of my favorite YA horror writers (such as Darren Shan), but it does have an interesting plot.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hell Phone is a spooky, comical story that will keep you turning pages until there are no more to turn. But warning-it is not for the faint of heart!
All Nick wants do is talk to his girlfriend, Jen. But, being poor, Nick must buy a cheap $20 used phone. What’s the catch? Nick cannot change the number or return the phone; there also is no caller ID on it. When Nick goes home to his trailer and turns on the phone, It rings. But nobody has the number-right? When he answers the phone, a man begins talking to him. “Where do you live? What’s your name?” he asks, scarily.
And then others begin calling. A delusional, hysterical woman, a man who says not to listen to anybody. But Nick won’t let the phone go. He wants to get to the bottom of it, and maybe even save the woman from the killer she says she's hiding from.
Until Nick discovers the games on this new cell phone. Games titled “Games from Real Hell”. And these games feature his girlfriend, Jen. Could the phone be haunted? Are any of the callers telling the truth? You will have to read the book to find out!!!
I give Hell Phone 10/10. William Sleator has captured yet another audience for young adult readers. This sci-fi action book is highly recommended to teens and young adults.

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite the promising premise that is ruined because the book ends before any kind of explanation can be revealed about the phone - there exists one of the worst protagonists in all my readings. First, he won't shut up about being poor: buying things used, studying to get a scholarship, girlfriend's parents don't like him because they have money and he doesn't, can't tie up the house phone, has to watch his portions when eating, etc. The entire book is filled with these little things. I GOT IT.

Secondly, he is THE textbook definition of a beta male that it's painful to read at times. It didn't start off too bad. At one point, we learn about the "bad guy" and how he loves redheads because he's redheaded. The protagonist's girlfriend has red hair so obviously he's somehow going to meet up with her (one thing that is never explained). Obviously he does and his girlfriend says they met once at a soccer game and he just came over and took her for a ride. After that, it's near impossible to root for the guy despite his name being the same as mine! I even started rooting for the antagonist because it was just embarrassing how poorly the protagonist handled everything.

I loved Sleator growing up but his latest is a big mess.

[Alex Boyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read this novel because it's shiny red front cover caught the corner of my eye , pulling me like a magnet towards it.

Hellphone, by William Sleator fits under the category; 'science fiction or fantasy book' as it contains paranormal fantasy with a tad of scifi. This category was interesting as it has a wide range of books within it to choose from.

The quote from this novel which I found the most interesting was "you killed him!" because it clearly stated what the main character had done. As Nick (the main character) seemed so innocent,it was hard to believe that he killed somebody. But the statement verified it.

Something new I learnt from this book was never buy a phone which you can't return as it may just decide your death and bring you into hell.

A character or setting in this book which interested me was hell, as it was described so unbearable (ugly mutated fiends,the most painful and intense torture and horrible drunk karaoke singers) I didn't even want to look at the words on the page.(hyperbole)

Overall I'll give this a three. As it was OK, but not superb. I felt it was a massive build up for little outcome.(I expected more gruesome things as it was described; "readers will love every nasty detail")