Locked In Time: Revenge can last forever...The Setup (Overview):A young woman named Nore is visiting her father for the first time since he remarried. The remarriage was something that took Nore by surprise since her mother had passed away not long before and her father still seemed to be lost in his grief. Though she did not entirely approve, Nore gave her father the benefit of the doubt as the new marriage seemed to pull him out of the depression that had consumed his life. In order to welcome her into the new “family” and introduce her to her stepmother, Lissette, her father invites her to Louisiana to spend her summer vacation getting to know everyone at Lissette's family estate which is known as Shadow Grove. While the initial meeting is a bit tense, Nore soon finds that Lissette and her two children are not really that bad. Everything seems to be going well until Nore starts to notice that the family seems to be a little too out of touch with the modern world...The Story(Some Story Details):Nore first notices the time frame difference in conversations with the family. Lissette's children speak of events that happened twenty years before as if they saw what happened first hand. Yet one child is only twelve and the other is seventeen. There are other occurrences where people in town swear that they have seen Lisette before, somewhere. As Nore continues to investigate it seems that she is dealing with something that is not possible. What Nore doesn't realize is that some people make terrible mistakes and will do anything to keep those mistakes secret. Even if it means making sure that those that go snooping into the past will soon become part of it. Conclusion(My Overall Opinion on the Story): This was a short, interesting read. The story flows well and for the most part makes sense. The characters are well written and even though the effects of what ails Lissette's family are not really explored in detail there are a few scenes with Lissette's children that do give a glimpse of what being “locked in time” has done to them. Even though Lissette's family has resigned themselves, mostly, to their fate; they do still try to give Nore a way out, even though she can't really take the offers because of her father. This is where I have a slight problem with the story though. Or maybe it just comes from having read other stories that are like this that have the room to explore that side of the story. I get that Nore, understandably, is not willing to give Lissette's family the benefit of the doubt due to the events of the story. Some of Nore's action's come across as tone deaf towards the end of the story to me though. Even though Lissette's children seem apathetic towards the events, they do *try*. Nore just kind of bats them away instead of trying to listen. In the end, strangely, Nore does do her best to help in a way. It just came across as too little, too late to me.In the end I do recommend giving this a read. I t does have a couple of twists in it and it does pack a lot in for a shorter story. I recommend this to anyone who likes supernatural mysteries, thrillers, and books where the “bad guys” might be worthy of some sympathy too. m.a.c
... You may think that eternal youth would be amazing and awesome. Well think again after reading this incredible book. I really enjoyed this fiction book of immortality. I couldn't stop reading this book and I think that anybody who likes creepy and dangerous flirting with immortality should absolutely read this book....Nore wanted to just spend a summer vacation in Shadow Grove with her dad and her new step family. But then she has suspicions that something is wrong with the family ,so she starts to gather information. Then she finds out something terribly unbelieveable. The type of conflict in the story is person vs. person because Nore is trying to unmask Lisette and her two childern. Nore is a pretty and clever seventeen year old girl who is trying to adapt into a new family. Chuck is the father of Nore. Lisette is the new wife of Chuck and the stepmother of Nore. Joise and Gabe are Lisettes' only two children who try to help Nore but always obey their mother to do horrible things.... I liked the way the author changed the moods slowly because I thought that it made the book interesting and wanting the reader to know what was going to happen next. In the story Nore thinks that she's living with a normal family until her suspicions slowly start to rise. This book reminds me of another amazing book called Summer of Fear because the author also changes the mood slowly. Nore's problem also reminded me of the conflict from the book Summer of Fear because both characters in the book try to discover the horrible things that people arond them and close to their family do or are doing to their family.I think that this is a very brave thing to do and thats what I also enjoyed about both books.... The character's motivation in both stories was to save their families and keep their family together. I think that its very interesting that the author put the responsibilty on a character that was not an adult and a girl , to save their family, because it would give the reader a different prespective of what a young girl would do in this situation. I was angry about Gabe wanting to kill Nore because I really thought that he was really in love with her . In the book Summer of Fear I also thought that the supposed cousin of the main character actually cared for her but it turned out that she didn't. I wish that Lisettee could've found a way to undo the spell so they could all be a family. I think that it would be a great ending but it didn't happen that way....Overall I think that this book is a great book, I loved it , it was stunning, dangerous, and creepy. From one through ten I'd rate this book with a ten because it was incredible and I love everything about this book. I'd recomend this book to whoever likes dangerous and creepy stories. So if you think immortal youth can be awesome, think again.
I am a huge fan of Lois Duncan, so I might be a little biased. What I like in a story is tension and suspense, and Lois definitely delivers both in this book. If you enjoy modern teen fiction, you'll probably not relate to the main character. She speaks and thinks in a much more mature manner than teens in real life. But in the 80s, that was acceptable for literature. I found it a little amusing that people who reviewed this book found the dad insensitive and uncaring.If he were to believe her and take her out of the situation, there would be no story! The only part that I would have liked to have seen done differently is for the heroine to have rescued herself. It seems she had a lot of help. But in all, the story was well paced and suspenseful. A fun read. Much more interesting to me than a lot of the modern YA that I have read. But again, if you didn't grow up on 80s YA, you may have a tough time finding the main character credible because of the way she thinks and speaks.
—K.L. Gore
So I've talked about my Joan Lowery Nixon phase before. I actually think I discovered Lois Duncan right before Nixon, but the two will always go hand and hand in my mind. Together they perfectly satisfied my twelve-year-old thirst for a light blending of suspense and the macabre. And no Duncan book did that better than the deliciously creepy LOCKED IN TIME. I enjoyed all of her books and they all succeeded in giving me the chills at one point or another. My old copy of I Know What You Did Last Summer is definitely showing its age and my love, as I loved revisiting those characters the most. But LOCKED IN TIME is the one that truly scared me. Not just chills, not just anxious anticipation, but the real deal, had me setting the book down long enough to calm my racing heart kind of scared. Seventeen-year-old Nore has been away at boarding school since her mother died a year ago. Now she's on her way to Louisiana to visit her father and his new wife and her two children. When she arrives at Shadow Grove, several things are clear. Her father is happy with his new life. Her stepmother Lisette, stepbrother Gabe, and stepsister Josie are perfectly well-mannered and perfectly beautiful. And something is very, very wrong with them. Through conversations she has with elderly neighbors and residents of the town, Nore's seemingly crazy suspicions about Lisette, Gabe, and the entire Berge family start to grow. These vaguely horrific suspicions grow stronger as she overhears them discuss events from decades ago as though they were there when they happened. Nore finds herself torn between her distrust of Lisette and her growing friendship with Gabe. Determined to make her father come to his senses and see the truth, Nore rushes to solve the mystery of her new family before her time at Shadow Grove runs out.When I think about this story now, years since I last re-read it, I am still instantly filled with the same overwhelming emotions--an appreciation for the heady beauties of the Deep South mixed with a sense of impending doom. Ms. Duncan struck the perfect chord with the impossibly lovely Berges and the simultaneous fear and longing Nore feels when in the presence of a "real" family again. The truth to the mystery unfolds smoothly and slowly, like warm molasses, creeping up behind you to tap you on the shoulder. In some ways it reminded me of a younger, simpler Mary Stewart novel, with its lovely heroine and its beautiful atmosphere. I remember thinking Nore was brave and being desperate for someone to believe her, for Gabe not to really be trying to kill her, for her father, in his grief, not to have ruined them both so thoroughly. It's the same emotional connection I seek out today when I'm in the mood for something slightly dangerous, slightly haunting, slightly bittersweet. It was these early young adult mysteries that led me to the Mary Stewarts, the Laurie Kings, the Deanna Raybourns I discovered later on. I will always love them for being the beginning.
—Angie
Interested by the summary, I grabbed it from a book sale for 50 cents. I started it with lower expectations - Duncan's books always have fascinating plots, but sometimes I can't handle the stress of reading them. This, however, seemed a departure for her writing. Nore's situation was incredibly realistic, and while you were scared it wasn't horror-movie scary, more shocking scary at the reality of what is possible. The romance isn't overdone, and the characterization was fantastic. When I finished I mulled for days over other ways it could have ended and whether or not I liked how it finished. It can really get you thinking, and despite being so very very different from The Adoration of Jenna Fox, it makes you think in the same way, and perhaps could be a companion book for those that liked it. (Although this is more mystic than sci-fi.)
—Jenny
