I have no idea how she does it but Joan lowery Nixon has successfully written ANOTHER short thrilling YA mystery! So far, all of her books that I've read have been unique, interesting and very entertaining. I love her as an author and can't believe she's come up with all of these different plots! Don't Scream was about a high schooler named Jess in the state of Texas. Two new boys move into town, Mark and Scott, and everything about them isn't as it seems. There's a connection between them, and they act strange. Jess is suspicious of Scott and Mark is her next door neighbor. At the very beginning of the book it shows a letter with a court recording of someone named Wayne Randell. With the jury's consent he was given a new identity! Jess doesn't ever catch on to them but the reader does. Which one of them is Wayne? Who's the sociopath and who's seeking revenge? Why are cats disappearing and who's behind it? It's all in this short 165 page book.
So when I was younger I used to looove Joan Lowery Nixon. I found this book at a used book store, and got really excited about rediscovering my love. Even though it's for a younger audience, a good book is a good book, a good writer is a good writer, etc. I was pretty disappointed, though. You knew who the bad guy was the whole time. It wasn't suspenseful when the bad guy finally revealed his true self to the main character and tried to kill people. The main character is such a goody-goody it made me want to scream a little bit. The book was just kind of lame. I'm pretty shocked. Does this mean Joan Lowery Nixon is not awesome, and I was just young and silly to think she was? Or is this just one of her bad books, and all of the others are great? I'll need to read some more to find out...
What do You think about Don't Scream (1997)?
This short thriller/mystery was very enjoyable. I thought the pacing for the book was done very well, leaving the major climax to the extreme end of the book. However, the climax was far from the only exciting part. Author Joan Lowery Nixon keep the book exciting and interesting the whole way though, with pretty much no area where i felt that something too extraneous was added. She lets the reader know some key information right off the bat, while withholding this information from the main character the entire book. This allows for quite some frustration (in a good way) as you read, as the main character brushes off things she notices that mean so much more to you as a reader. The book had me on edge all day, and i loved every minute of it.
—Tony
