Customer Reviews

Don't Look Behind You

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Don't Look Behind You, by Lois Duncan, is a fast-paced thriller that has cliffhangers on every page. This story starts out in Norwood, Virginia, with seventeen-year-old April, as the narrator. She was rather self-centered and very afraid of change. She didn't want anything touched in the personal utopia she made for herself. She had the perfect life. She was a great tennis player, and had a nice, popular boyfriend. She liked her family and all was going well. All went well until her life turned upside-down One day in school, April was unexpectedly pulled out of class and taken , along with her family, to a hotel. The family finds out that their father was secretly working for the FBI to uncover a huge narcotics scandal. April and her family are taken from their home and put in a series hotels. Meanwhile, the trial involving the narcotics scandal takes a turn for the worse. The family's name is revealed. The narcotics ring wants to kill the family to eliminate witnesses. They are put into Witness Protection. April's life changes forever. She is moved to Florida. Her name is changed. Her birthday is deleted and a new one is made. Her Social Security is gone and she takes on a new life. Her life turns upside down and the whole time she is being watched by a notorious hitman out to get her and her family... The ending of this book was phenomenal, I would not change it one bit. Read it for yourself to see what I mean! My favorite part of the book was when April and her family are in one of the hotels and a maid comes to their door for room service. Their bodyguard is momentarily gone... The author writes, "At that precise instant I knew what was making me uneasy. My attention had been so caught by the maid's strange eyes that I had not taken in two other odd things. Her cheeks and chin were darker than the rest of her face, and her eyebrows were a different color from her hair. I must have projected my panic at that discovery, because before I could move, she hurled herself forward, ramming the door so hard with the side of her shoulder that I found myself sliding back like an inefficient doorstop." This part got my heart running very fast and kept me wondering what could happen next. Lois Duncan did an excellent job at describing every detail of what April was feeling. She showed great workmanship at detailing the very important parts, but not going off on a limb. I really liked the way Lois Duncan made everything seem so believable. She used great descriptions, wonderful figurative language, and even better sensory details that added a great touch to the story because you felt and saw everything April did. Duncan changed April over time, too. She started out a self-centered girl, but ended much softer, much more grateful for what she had, and more back to reality; back to the real world. This brings me to the theme: Appreciate what you have. It could be worse. The author described April's situation at it's lowest point. April had just moved to her new (not so good) house in Florida: "There were six tiny rooms-the living room, a kitchen, three minute bedrooms, and a bathroom-and each was in some way worse than the room before it. Ceilings were cracked and stained, plaster was flaking and pipes were leaking, two bedroom windows were broken, and when we turned on the light in the kitchen an army of cockroaches frantically scampered for cover." This was an excellent book and I would give it four stars. It held my interest the whole time because Lois Duncan kept it moving. There was truly never a dull moment in it, but she let you think about strange/unusual things that had happened. It has a very satisfying ending. All loose ends are tied up. It is very realistic, all of the characters easily come to life, and it has ironic situations with an overall very interesting plot. I would recommend it to really anyone who is interested in realistic fiction, mystery, or thrillers.

Don't Look Behind You is a suspenseful book which takes place in the late 80's. April Corrigan is a typical 17 year old girl who lives in Norwood, Virginia. In school she plays tennis, is popular and has a boyfriend whom she loves very much. The problem in the story is that a hitman is after April's father to prevent him from testifying in court. April and her family have to go into the witness protection program. April must give up her friends,her boyfriend,the prom, her home,and the state tennis championships in Virginia and begin a new life in a small rural town in Florida. She talks about her feelings and all the difficulties she has to face. Lois Duncan made this a very suspenseful book. It isn't one of those books where you can stop in the middle of the chapter; all the chapters endings have cliffhangers which make you want to read on. A theme that I learned from this book is that life isn't perfect, there are times you have to do things that you don't want to do.

It was about a girl named April who lived a normal life of a teenage girl. Until she finds out that her dad works secretly in the FBI and got caught up in a serious crime. They have to flee for their lives and they are not allowed to have any contact with anybody at all. I thought that it was a very exciting fast pace. After a close call they have to go into the Witness Protection Program and change their names,city,jobs,and msot important their way of living. The book also gives the image that you won't want to put the book down after you start to read it. I personally do not agree with some of the reviews because I thought that the setting was very realistic. I can imagine how she would feel running for her life. I mean running for your life as to be a little tough don't you think.So guess what I am trying to say is that I very strongly suggest that you read this book.

The book I read was called Don't Look Behind You by Lois Duncan.The story takes place in Norwood,Virginia and travels to Grove City,Florida.The main character,April is in her senior year and has a shot at the state tennis championship.Her father,Mr. Corrigan works at an airport and got involved in a drug smuggling.A hitman by the name of Vamp was hired to kill April's father because he thought that Mr.Corrigan knew who else was involved in the drug smuggling.Mr. Corigan didn't know what he had done but soon found out.His family had to go into the Witness Protection Program.They are forced to leave their perfect lives in Norwood and move to Florida without telling anyone where they were going and why.They all have to change their names and forget about their lives in Norwood.The family has to remain in hiding until the hired hitman Vamp is caught.I think that this book is a good book because it's very interesting.At the end of the chapter,Lois Duncan made a cliffhanger that would make you want t keep reading.It was a wonderful story of love,hate,betrayal,and fear.I would recomend this book to anyone.

I am a children's librarian and have been a Lois Duncan fan for about 20 years. When her books stopped coming for a few years, I happened to read in a librarians magazine about the murder of her daughter and figured that was why she hadn't written. After you read this book, please read the true story about her daughter's murder called, "Who Killed My Daughter." Several of the things that happened in the story, "Don't Look Behind You," Lois found out were eerily similar in her daughter's murder. Coincidence? A little more than that...PLEASE read this book if you're a Lois Duncan fan. It is an amazing story.

Don't Look Behind You by Lois Duncan was a great book. When I first started reading this book I thought that it was going to be about a girl in the eleventh grade at Springside Academy who was going to be ripped away from her every day life. This story took place in Norwood, Virginia just south of Washington D.C., and then moves to Grove City, Florida. The main character, April, is a junior and has a chance at the state tennis championship. Her father, Mr. Corrigan, works at an airport and got involved in drug smuggling. Max, a long time childhood friend of his, came to him and asked him to go under cover for the FBI as one of the smugglers. A hit man by the name of Vamp was hired to kill April's father because he thought that Mr. Corrigan didn't know what he had done. He soon found out. His family was put into the witness protection program. They thought that it would only be a few days, but instead it was for a couple of weeks. April, the daughter, always said what she thought, which made her personality very strong. She was a very outspoken girl because she always said what she thought. Lois Duncan made sure to show April's life before the incident so that after the whole incident was over you could see how much it affected her. It's very hard to know what it feels like to have your whole life erased as well as your past, but Duncan makes it very clear and made it fascinating to read about. He showed that life could be perfect one day and ripped to shreds the next day. The reason I picked this book was that the title caught my attention. Don't Look Behind You was the perfect title for this book. The title is what had me from the beginning. I would recommend this book to any person that loves adventure stories.

The book Don't Look Behind You by Lois Duncan was a thriller. I did not want to put it dowm. I enjoyed reading it because it was unpredictable. Throughout the whole book, I did not know what was going to happen next. I like how the book moved quickly and did not go into great detail over everything. The author never gave the reader time to loose interest. I also liked how the book was realistic. It seemed like the story really could happen.

My favorite part in the book was toward the end. A hitman had locked April and her grandmother in a closet while he waited for April's father to return. April escaped from the closet using the secret escape hatches hidden in each closet. After crawling through the attic, she descended from the hatch in another room. She expected the hitman to be out in her living room but he was nowhere to be found. So, she snuck out the back door and decided to run into town for help. When she approched the front yard, the hitman cam out of the darkness and began to chase her. She ran to her car, got in, and locked the doors. Unfortunatly, the car would not start.

The conflict in the story was unlike and other book I've read. The whole idea fo leaving you home and living in secret made the reader curious. To top it off, the family would probably never return to their home, family, and friends. The climax of the story was just like that in an award-winning movie. Having one of the most dangerous hitmen in the United States chasing a teenager through her yard made me want to hold my breath.

Out of all of Lois Duncan's books, this one is probably my favourite. I loved to see April go through something so scary! I was really sad about Jim though, because I know if I were April, I'd feel guilty. When I read this, I really felt as though it were me living this, not April. And when the part with the little girl remembering her, my mouth literally dropped open. That was probably my favourite part. The only part I didn't like, is when they were in the hotel, it seemed dull and boring. And then, when she doesn't call her boyfriend, I was like, that's unrealistic, pretty much everyone would have done it, because they wouldn't have been able not too. I really liked the ending, it was cool to see her do the sneaking out, and then when she felt guilty and was going to turn back, I was like, "Don't you dare". And i was happy to see that she didn't. So I recommend this book to anyone, because it's not really a thriller, but it is certainly suspenseful.

You couldn't come up with a more suspenseful story than Don't Look Behind You. It's about this girl named April and her dad is an undercover agent. While her father was in t the courtroom and they had just been let out to go to lunch and in the crowd the heard a shot and they think it was meant for Aprils dad. The family has to stay at the place the found for them to stay for a week or two. The family has to stay there for about two months. While the family is there they can't make any phone calls to anyone.

In my opinion I think this book is able to put you on the edge of your seat. You will never want to put this book down for a second. This book reminds me of the movie The Watcher. If you like suspense novels you should read this thrilling book

Don't Look Behind You was my first book of Lois Duncan. After reading it in class one day, I couldn't help but go back to the library and check out more of her books! This book was very captivating and the suspense made you want to turn the page. Though it wasn't as great as her other books, (I've figured) this still is an awesome book and I highly recommend it! I would give out some details, but then that would be giving it away! So check it out!