Customer Reviews

Hollow Skull

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book begins simply set in the small town of Madison in the middle of the desert. There 4 friends discover a black puddle at the bottom of a mine shaft. The mine has been closed down for years and is even being investigated by a group of scientists. When one of the boys is infected with the black liquid he begins to change, for the worse. He becomes a robot like monster who eats glass and kills his girlfriend and buries her in the desert. Like all Pike novels there is a lot of blood and gore. Then he threw in the Sio character and things got confusing. The alien who wanted to destroy humanity for no other reason than her own pleasure and to see men suffer. The climax and finale of the novel are a little predictable and not unexpected. This book would probably intrigue young adults who are looking for a little scare, but this is not Pike's best horror novel to date.

When the residents of a small town in Nevada start behaving strangely, after a group of teenagers stumble across a mysterious black liquid in the bottom of an old mine, 17 year old Cass starts to suspect that her neighbours may, in fact, be possessed by aliens bent on world domination.

I am 28 years old and, even though I am well out of the supposed target age group for Christopher Pike's books, I still find myself coming back to them again and again. To date, I have read around 30 of his books and own all of them. The reason why I keep coming back to Pike's books, and not those of fellow teen horror writer R.L. Stine, for example, is because Pike treats his audience and his teenage characters as intelligent adults. In "Hollow Skull", as in Pike's other books, Pike provides readers with an action driven plot reminiscent of a Hollywood horror movie, only deeper and better thought out. Admittedly "Hollow Skull" is somewhat derivative of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (even Pike seems to acknowledge this), but Pike supplies a back story to this familiar plot that makes this story an original work in its own right.

This is not my favourite of Pike's novels, but it did keep me entertained for the week that I was reading it and by the end of that week I was genuinely hooked. Both new Pike readers and fans of Pike's other works should enjoy this book.

I do not agree with the other reveiws of this book. I think it's time that we start thinking while reading a book. It's not that hard. Mr. Pike did leave a few dead ends, but that just gives the reader a chance to be creative! I liked this, it was just as good as all his others. I think the author is just changing his style of writing with his more recent books, and that doesn't mean they aren't good. This book has a certain feeling of a bigger presence, with Sio and all. It makes you feel that there is someone watching, which is a comforting thought. Even if this someone wants to destroy mankind...

In The Hollow Skull, Christopher Pike writes about a lot of interesting and exciting things, which made me want to keep reading. There's an old abandoned mine which only scientists have been down into for about twenty years. Then one day, two teenage couples decide that they want to go down into the mine and explore. While in the cave something happens, and it changes everyone's lives in the nearby little town. Pike gives so much detail that when he ends a chapter, it starts getting better and you feel like you need to keep reading.
It's exciting because Pike, throughout the book, adds something surprising that I wouldn't have expected, especially the ending. I loved this book, because Pike ends the chapter when it's getting better, and that's what made me want to keep reading.

Personally I like endinds that leave me hungry and ready for a seqal, But this one was just plainly OK. It was choppy and at sometimes revieled deep thoughts of the universe which I loved. But other parts were just pland, like bringing together Hemingway and Stephen King they just don't mesh.

this book was severely creepy. it really freaked me out. bleah. anyway, from the beginning it totally struck me as a repeat of C.P.'s earlier book, Monster," and it sort of upset me that he was essentially revamping an old story to create a new one. granted this one is different enough to merit being a book, but the difference is hardly distinct. Whatever, it was decent, i didn't like it that much, and is it just me or has his characterization gotten a little sloppy? i felt that he was starting to recycle a certain formula. BUt dang, this was still a creepy book.

I've been a Pike fan for a long time. I think, and I have to agree with the other commentary but its impossible to create one masterpiece after another . . he's running out of ideas. He's been spiraling down especially after the Last Vampire series . . with Star Group in particular. . I thought that was really, really bad. But Hollow Skull is still decent and its a lot better than most of his recent work, its pretty good. An entertaining novel, with neat twists and an interesting plot. . I just found it a little confusing. I don't know if its because I'm getting older, or because he's losing his touch but I'm slowly getting tired of Pike. . .I hope his future pieces of work will change my mind.

Stunning and thought provoking, Christopher Pike has once more outdone himself with The Hollow Skull. Packed with action, plot twists, and a shocking (but realistic, I feel) ending, I couldn't put it down. If you read but one Christopher Pike book, this should be it.

Now, I have read many Christopher Pike books and I was really looking forward to reading this one. So when I started it, I thought it was great, you know, one of those books that really holds your interest, and I read it right through the night. Then came the ending and I thought "Oh dear". This really really good book was totally ruined by a crap crap ending. I'm very sorry, but don't do what I did and loose a night's sleep reading it, because it's not worth it. Get your sleep instead and read a classic Pike book, like Chain Letter.

Seemingly commenting on both pollution and alien involvement in our lives, this book is more gory and less idea-driven than other works by Pike. Fans of Pike will still like it.