Killing Mr. Griffin, by Lois Duncan

(pb; 1978)


From the back cover:

"They only planned to scare their English teacher.

"They didn't mean to kill him.

"But sometimes even the best laid plans go wrong."


Review:

Good, tightly plotted, for-older-teens* crime novel that pulls no punches, is willing to take a few chances within its genre, and has an ending with that shows real-life consequences for the kids' actions.

Check this out.

[*for-older-teens = a few instances/mentions of profanity and drug use - e.g., marijuana]

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The resulting television film aired stateside on April 7, 1997.

Amy Jo Johnson played Susan McConnell. Scott Bairstow played Mark Kinney. Mario López played Dave Ruggles. Chris Young played Jeff.

Jay Thomas played John Griffin. Cordelia Richards played Kathy Griffin. Michelle Williams played Maya. Rhonda Dotson played Dolly Luna.

Jack Bender directed the telepic, from a teleplay by Michael Angeli and Kathleen Rowell.

Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane

(hb; 2003)


From the inside flap:

"Summer, 1954.

"U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels has come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Along with his partner, Chuck Aule, he sets out to find an escaped patient, a murderess named Rachel Solando, as a hurricane bears down on them.

"But nothing at Ashecliffe is what it seems.

"And neither is Teddy Daniels.

"Is he there to find a missing patient? Or has he been sent to look into rumors of Ashecliffe's radical approach to psychiatry? An approach that may include drug experimentation, hideous surgical trials, and lethal countermoves in the shadow war against Soviet brainwashing. . .

"Or is there another, more personal reason why he has come there?

"As the investigation deepens, the questions only mount:

"How has a barefoot woman escaped the island from a locked room?

"Who is leaving clues in the form of cryptic codes?

"Why is there no record of a patient committed there just one year before?

"What really goes on in Ward C?

"Why is an empty lighthouse surrounded by an electrified fence and armed guards?

"The closer Teddy and Chuck get to the truth, the more elusive it becomes, and the more they begin to believe that they may never leave Shutter Island.

"Because someone is trying to drive them insane."


Review:

Twisty, sometimes spooky, psychological thriller that's a fun, burn-through afternoon read.

Some of the twists aren't unexpected, but they're necessary to the plot, to lead readers to the unexpected twists. I guessed most of the key ones, but the ending, like the novel, is still impressively written and powerful.

Atmospheric period-piece page-turner, this. Check it out.

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Appropriately enough, this has been made into a film.

Set for a February 19, 2010 stateside release, it was directed by Martin Scorsese , from a script by Laeta Kalogridis.

Leonardo DiCaprio played Teddy Daniels. Mark Ruffalo played Chuck Aule. Ben Kingsley played Dr. John Cawley. Emily Mortimer played Rachel Solandro. Michelle Williams played Dolores Chanal. Max von Sydow played Dr. Jeremiah Naehring. Jackie Earle Haley played George Noyce. Elias Koteas played Andrew Laeddis. Patricia Clarkson has an unnamed role. Ted Levine plays the Warden.