Customer Reviews

Killing Mr. Griffin (Hippo books)

5 star:		(110)
4 star:		(77)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

It all starts when a former college professor turns to highschool teaching. He is rather strict with his students, which makes many of his students dislike him. He teaches an advanced course, so mostly seniors are in it for college credits. Although, there is one junior named Susan McConnell in Mr. Griffin's class. Mr. Griffin won't tell anyone except his wife, but he thinks Susan is one of the best, if not, the best student in his class. He fears telling her that because he believes her work will get sloppy and she will think she can slide right through the course. Susan has a crush on a handsome senior named David Ruggles. This gets her into trouble. A few of David's friends think it would be funny if they played a joke on Mr. Griffin. So, David, Jeff Garrett, Mark Kinney, and Betsy Cline decide to kidnap him and teach him a lesson. They decide they could use Susan to lure Mr. Griffin into their trap, when Susan starts to lure him, Mr. Griffin tells her how much he appreciates her as a student and her work. Susan feels guilty, but its too late. All they wanted to do is teach him a lesson, they never wanted to kill him. I would recommend this book to people from the ages 13 and up. In my opinion, I do not believe that this book is appropriate for children younger, because even I cried when I read it. This book is especially good for teenagers who think they have problem teachers, and would like an answer to some questions about how teachers really think. This book may not be appropriate, however, for people who cannot stand a little devastation and fear. Lastly, I would recommend this book to people who like mystery, suspense, and horror.

I'm more of a movie watcher than a book reader (though I do read about two dozen novels a year), and this book reminded me of several recent movies along the same vein, about teenagers plotting a prank or smaller crime that spirals out of their control, like Mean Creak, Murder By Numbers, and even parts of Heathers and Sleepers. I've never seen the film version of Killing Mr. Griffin, but now that I've finished the book, I'm anxious to get the DVD.

The story is about five high school students who plan to scare their English teacher by kidnapping him, to get even for his strict grading. It all goes wrong when the teacher dies of heart failure while they have him tied up. The plot was very well crafted, especially the details of how their cover-up unravels. It's skillfully written to maintain suspense through the length of the book. The teenage characters are realistic and interesting, taking me back to my own high school days (over 20 years ago), and the difficult characterization of the victim is handled perfectly. You can easily believe he's a good man, undeserving of his fate, and at the same time see how the students could hate him. I welcomed a bit of commentary on the state of our education system from his point of view.

If there's any imperfection in this book, to me, it's the relatively abrupt ending and brief denouement. The long-term consequences of the crime are not explored, and I'd like to know what became of the students - how they're finally punished. I guess there's a balance and too much of that could become boring, but still it seems it might leave some readers with the impression the kids got off too lightly.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a suspenseful read.

The novel Killing Mr. Griffin written by Lois Duncan is a great murder-mystery story. Its a horror story involving high school students and a revenge plot of their English teacher. But the plan all goes wrong. Duncan's way of describing and making things seem real, keeps you on the edge of your seat. She places clues throughout the story to keep you guessing whats going to happen next.

Some how Susan gets involved with the cool group and becomes wrapped up in a murder case. The main characters are Susan, Mark, Jeff, David, and Betsy. Susan is the shy lonely student, Mark is the guiet cool guy, Jeff is the jock, Betsy is the head cheerleader, and David is the president of the senior class. They all have different reactions and feelings throughout the whole novel. This is a great novel, so go get it and read it.

Killing Mr. Griffin was the first Lois Duncan book that I have read and already I can't wait to get my hands on all of her other novels. This book tells what would happened if teens actually carried out their secret desires of killing their toughest, least understanding, and most hated teachers. The story has the five major sterotypes of high school;the shy, nerdy,smart girl;the beautiful, all-american, seinor body president; The popular,cute, blonde cheerleader;the misunderstood, expressionless,cool guy; and the big,loud, sports star. I liked how Lois Duncan brought these five different students together to hatch an unknownly deadly kidnapping plot. My two problems with this book is it kepted switching from one character to another and it was hard to tell who the definite main character was. It eaisly could have been Susan but then again David was a very important character. Also, I wanted to find out what the student's sentences were and if Mark went to jail or a mental hospital. But other than that I would definatly recommend this book to my friends.

Four Kids are the main characters along with Mr.Griffin. A girl named susan narrates the book, usally the geek, she gets invited to a place by a bunch of popular girls and guys where nobody usally goes to. When the evil plot comes into order. The kids want to SCARE there evil english Teacher Mr.Griffin. The kids intended to just scare him, they never intended to murder the poor guy. With Mark as the psycho kid who burns cats, and thinks his life is horrible, he does something else, which is worse. With Dave as the soft guy and with Betsy as the popular girl, look-at-me type. This book shows you different types of people who were well though of and L. Duncan really did a great job in making her books different, being this is one of the last L. Duncan books I have read. I noticed every story is unique and different, one with there dad as a FBI agent to a girl who has a "Third Eye" L. Duncan really takes the cake in this book in making it original.

It is a story of being betrayed by your own "Friends" I would recomend this wonderful story to people who like hanging on until the end for a great wonderful story.

Set in a wild, windy, southwestern day, Was when 5 students decided they would kill Mr. Griffin. Louis Duncan author of Block Buster hit " I know What You Did Last Summer" writes a novel called "Killing Mr. Griffin". It is about 5 teenage students that want sweet revenge on their teacher Mr. Griffin. The only thing is will everything go as they planned, or will they regret what they did forever. The five main characters in the book are Susan, David, Jeff, Betsy, and Mark. Susan is the shy kind of girl, David lives with his mom and grandma, Jeff works on cars, Betsy is a popular girl and if any one does anything to her that she doesn't like she hates them, and Mark is one who makes trouble. These teenage boys and girls all do not like Mr. Griffin. Mr. Griffin gives to much home work, and pressures everyone. Mr. Griffin has a wife who is pregnant with a child. Susan, David, Jeff, Betsy, and Mark all plan on kidnapping Mr. Griffin and taking him up to a secret spot in the mountains that only they know about. Once they got there they would make him plead for forgiveness, and freedom. Everything goes all right, they think. Did they think how they were going to get rid of his car, or if Mr. Griffin had any medications to take. You will find all of this out once you read this book. In one scene Betsy and Jeff are driving Mr. Griffins car and a cop is following them. Will they get caught, will they run from the law, will the cop not notice, or will they get put in prison, each one of these is a possibility. This book contains everything from kidnapping a teacher to someone being trapped in a house while it is on fire. Killing Mr. Griffin is everything I look for in a book and that is suspense, action, and a great and an astonishing ending. The kids only meant to scare him, but sometimes the best plans go very wrong.

Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan was a great book! When Jeff suggests that they kill their english teacher as a joke, it is taken seriously and the idea to kill Mr. Griffin is discovered. The book goes on to tell the story of how they kidnap Mr. Griffin, take him up to a waterfall, and leave him there for seven hours later. When they return, he is found dead, and the medicine he needed to take in case of a common angina attack was laying several feet away. It continues until the end when the story all unravels and everybody is told what happens. A great book!

This like on my top 5 list of favorite books ever read! It is really exciting and suspenceful cause you don't know what will happen next or how they'll get away with it. I suggest that you read this book it is very good! :)

Lois Duncan's novel Killing Mr. Griffin is the story of five teenagers who kidnap their English teacher to teach him a lesson, and scare him. However, their perfect plan does not go like the way they have planned. Killing Mr. Griffin is an outstanding book that captures full attention of the reader. The suspense and mystery in this book makes the story very attractive. The book is full of suspense. You never know what will happen next. I have also read Don't Look Behind You by Lois Duncan. That book is another trilling nover, however, I enjoyed Killing Mr. Griffin more. I think killing Mr. Griffin is more twisted and has great suspense. I could not put the book down. I encourage everyone to read Killing Mr. Griffin because it is an excellent book.

'Killin Mr. Griffin' is such an excellent book. You just want to read what happens next and you can't put the book down. I thought, at first, that it's just going to be on of those cheezy teenage horror novels but I was wrong. The book is deep and they explore the charecters and make them real. It's also very ironic. I really would like to explain all of this but you just have to simply go ahaid and read this book. You won't regret it.