Review - Weekend

Title: Weekend
Author: Christopher Pike
Publishing Date: 1986
Genre: Young Adult/Suspense
Rating: B
Sensuality: Kisses

I chose to read Weekend for my March Re-Read Challenge. It has been damn near close to twenty years since I last read this book. I was only twelve or thirteen at the time and Christopher Pike was one of my favorite authors. I have to be honest I didn't remember much about the plot or the characters in Weekend. When I got the book, I was shocked to see how short it was. It is a little bit smaller than a category romance, ending at 230 pages. I guess when your younger books can seem a lot bigger. I cringe to think of what Harry Potter must look like to middle school aged kids. Anyway, back to the task at hand. I am curious to see what my thoughts are now for the books I when I was younger and less experienced in my reading tastes.

On to the plot: For the seniors of Hoover High School in Santa Barbara California, graduation is almost upon them. Shani along with a group of her closest friends have been invited to spend the weekend in Mexico relaxing seaside at Robin and Lena's vacation home. What was supposed to be a fun weekend with the boys, turns into something more sinister when strange, bad things start to happen.

The first thing that comes to mind for me is that, yes the book is still quite an enjoyable read. The characters are vivid and detailed. Pike does a great job with the dialogue between characters. There is plenty of humor. Some of it might veer on the immature side, but over all I think most adults would be able to relate to it. Where I really think this book excels, is with the subtle approach to creating the atmosphere and slowly revealing the mystery. Every thing is short and to the point, which makes for a fast, entertaining read.

One thing that I thought I remembered from when first reading this book, was that there was more romance to it. After reading it as an adult and reading adult romances, I can see that there really wasn't much to the relationship between Shani and Flynn. To be honest, it was barely touched on at all. The suspense was much more the focus. One other thing that really bothered me was how the villain was punished after the big reveal. The kids decided to take matters into their own hands, and it all seemed very unrealistic.

It was really fun to read a blast from my past and see how it resonates with the "me" of today. It's nice to reach back to that inner child every now and again. I definitely think I will find the time to read another YA book. Seeing as how they are so short, it should make for easy reading.