Funhouse [Paperback]

Diane Hoh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1990

When the Devil's Elbow roller coaster goes off track, killing one teenager and maiming two others, everyone thinks it's just an accident . . . except Tess. She saw someone tampering with the track. Then another "accident" occurs in the Funhouse and Tess may have been the intended victim.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Point (July 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590430505
• ISBN-13: 978-0590430500
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #454,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Book!...., July 23, 2003

By 

T (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Funhouse (Paperback)

Tess and her friends are having a great time at the Santa Luisa Boardwalk -- an amusement park set upon the beach. They go there very often, seeing as how it's basically the only thing to do in town. Everything seems normal until the park's roller coaster is seen hurling through the air! The crash kills one and injures a dozen. Everyone dismisses it as an accident, but Tess saw a shadow running away from the scene right after. Finding that odd, things get worse when she receives threats, etc. The culprit knows that Tess knows something she shouldn't, and plans to eliminate her.

"Funhouse" was another nice book from Diane Hoh. I personally recommend "The Invitation" from her over this, but it was still pretty good. Like most of Hoh's books, it takes a little while to get into the story. Other than that, it's great. Read it...

Also recommended:
a.) "Someone at the Door" by Richie Tankersley Cusick
b.) "The Lifeguard" by Richie Tankersley Cusick
c.) "Starstruck" by Richie Tankersley Cusick
d.) "The Invitation" by Diane Hoh
e.) "The Train" by Diane Hoh
f.) "Silent Witness" by Carol Ellis
g.) "The Stepdaughter" by Carol Ellis
h.) "Secret Santa" by D. E. Athkins
i.) R. L. Stine young-adult thrillers
j.) All books by Joan Lowery Nixon

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Secret Past of The Boardwalk, April 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Funhouse (Paperback)

"Funhouse" begins with a fatal roller coaster crash, which kills at least one teen and injures dozens of other riders and bystanders. The police consider it an accident, but Tess Landers believes differently. She was there at the Boardwalk just before The Devil's Elbow roller coaster detached from its rail and fell dozens of feet below, and she distinctly remembers seeing someone suspicious running away from the ride as it crashed. But nobody else believes her--not her friends, not the police--only the person responsible for causing the accident. And now that person is stalking Tess, leaving unsubtle hints of what will eventually happen to her because of what she knows, or at least suspects.

The book alternates between the first-person viewpoint of the unknown killer and the third-person account of Tess. The stranger is clearly obsessed with an old diary s/he finds in his/her family's attic. In it, a past secret is revealed involving several of Santa Luisa's most influential board members of the Boardwalk. This secret (which is predictable and not very shocking) is the main reason why the stranger has decided to kill at least eight of his/her peers.

I thought "Funhouse" was, for the most part, a pretty exciting Point Thriller, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. First of all, I was able to guess the killer within the first couple of chapters because of the character's descriptions and their living situations. (Keep those two clues in mind if you want to deduce the killer.) Also, I thought the motive of the killer was a little weak. In my opinion, s/he needed a better reason to go mental than by discovering his/her parents were liars. Honestly, I didn't think they did anything very wrong.

If you're a Diane Hoh fan, then you might enjoy "Funhouse", but you're not really missing much if you decide not to read it. Recommended for teens who enjoy horror.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funhouse-Whodunit?, July 15, 2000

By 

Tara J. Lawson "melancholy02" (Jackson, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Funhouse (Paperback)

Oh my! THis was a really good book, but the end is very surprising. Diane Hoh keeps you in suspense right until the very end. She makes you paranoid about everyone in the book only to discover that the one you're least worried about is really your enemy. Looking back I missed a lot of obvious clues to the guilty party and I got caught up in stereotypes but it's still a really great book.