Pisces Drowning (Zodiac Chillers) [Paperback]

Ellen Steiber (Author)

Book Description

Series: Zodiac Chillers | Publication Date: January 16, 1996

Jenna's boyfriend Nicky, a sensitive Pisces, swears that he is innocent in a drowning case, but when Jenna, an intuitive Cancer, tries to help clear him, she discovers that he is really guilty.

Product Details

• Paperback: 170 pages
• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (January 16, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679873090
• ISBN-13: 978-0679873099
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,899,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Charlie's skin was a bluish white, his body so bloated that his once-muscular arms looked like grotesque balloons.", March 18, 2010

By 

Mark Louis Baumgart (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pisces Drowning (Zodiac Chillers) (Paperback)

The Zebra Chillers were created to exploit the Zodiac and all of the ways that it may be interpreted. The first four books were written by Carol Ellis and Ellen Steiber, with the fifth written by Vicki Kamida. Ellen Steiber is back to write the sixth, and, I think, the last of the series. And like Kamida's, it deals with a stalker, a murderer, and a boyfriend with jealousy and anger control problems. And like all of the rest of the novels in this series, this book shares no continuing characters, or places with any of the other books, and can be read without having to read any of the others first.

Jenna Durrell is in love, and she is in love with Nicky Lang. Unfortunately, Nicky is in the Juvenile Detention Center for the murder of Charlie, who was Jenna and Nicky's friend. Jenna will not hear any criticism of her lover from anybody, including her father, who was the head police detective that put together the case that put Nicky in the pokey. Her father has demanded that Jenna have no contact with Nicky, and Jenna can't even send Nicky any letters, although that doesn't stop her from writing them anyway.

Jenna isn't passive in her passion; she has started her own investigation into Charlie's death, and is actively working to find something that will clear Nicky from what she considers a false charge of murder.

Then Nicky escapes from Detention, and starts to clandestinely visit Jenna, and Jenna finds a serious flaw in her father's case against Nicky. Things start to snowball. Nicky sneaks into Jenna's house and steals her father's gun, and starts planning to run away to Mexico with Jenna, whether she wants to go or not. Yet, even while Nicky is scheming to run away, Jenna is successful in pleading her case and gets Nicky's charge of murder reversed, at the possible cost of her Dad's job.

Steiber throws away any pretense of mystery by the halfway mark, and "Pisces Drowning" becomes a lean young adult suspense novel. Steiber tells her story from both Jenna and Nicky's viewpoint, and we see just how much Jenna loves and believes in her future and Nicky, and we see just how unworthy Nicky is of Jenna's love, and just how dangerous he really is. As Jenna is planning on how to build her future, Nicky is planning on how to destroy it.

If there is one problem that "Pisces Drowning" has, is that once Nicky is cleared, everybody treats him like a hero returning from a war. Even Jenna's father, who was convinced Nicky was guilty in murdering Charlie, and stealing his gun, does a 180 degree turnabout in his attitude.

In-the-end though, Steiber does another bang-up job in this series, as the last fourth of "Pisces Drowning" is a textbook example in tight suspense writing. And once again, I thought that this novel was too short, as it could have been longer, as the ending seemed a little rushed. Thankfully, the Zodiac material in this novel is used sparingly. And again, this series is blessed by a great cover by Bill Schmidt that illustrates a scene with Jenna late in the novel.

There seems to have been thirteen books in this series planned, but I can only find the first six, The Rage of Aquarius, The Scorpio Society (Zodiac Chillers), In Leo's Lair (Zodiac Chillers), Twisted Taurus (Zodiac Chillers), Never Love a Libra (Zodiac Chillers), and this one. There are no authors mentioned, but the inside of the book lists "The Thirteenth Sign", "Virgo's Vengeance", "Gemini Divided", "Claws Of Cancer", "Psycho Sagittarius", "To Kill A Capricorn", and "The Aries Oracle" as upcoming books, and yet I can find no evidence that any of these were ever published.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jenna's love for Nicky is a powerful force as the ocean...., October 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Pisces Drowning (Zodiac Chillers) (Paperback)

. But Nicky's locked away, accused of murder. Jenna knows her boyfriend didn't commit the crime and she'll defy even her father to prove it in Romeo and Juliet style.
Yet warnings from a friend ring in her ears telling her to beware of her boyfriend.
When Jenna encounters the dark cold depths of a dangerous love will she be able to survive?
This is a great book imo. Twisted Taurus is just as good. My only complaint is that she didn't write more books for the zodiac chillers series. I also recommend L.J. Smith.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suspensful thriller!, July 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pisces Drowning (Zodiac Chillers) (Paperback)

I could not put this book down! It is the best thriller I ever read! If you like horoscopes you should read it! Am i using enought exclamation marks?! Everything about this book is perfect except for the fact that I wouldn't reccomend this for young children.