Locked in Time (Hardcover)

by Lois Duncan (Author) "WHEN I look in the mirror, the girl I see there is pretty..." (more)
Key Phrases: roofing company, Shadow Grove, New York, Monte Carlo (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
" Duncan is a true pro, grounding the twists of her plot lines with sure motivation and providing the reader with several surprises along the way." "-- Kirkus Reviews, "Starred
" Duncan, a master of the YA suspense novel . . . has created another gripping psychological tale with an absolutely unpredictable (but thoroughly believable) twist at the end." "-- Publishers Weekly" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
“Duncan is a true pro, grounding the twists of her plot lines with sure motivation and providing the reader with several surprises along the way.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred

“Duncan, a master of the YA suspense novel . . . has created another gripping psychological tale with an absolutely unpredictable (but thoroughly believable) twist at the end.”—Publishers Weekly --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 210 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (Juv); 1st edition (April 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316195553
• ISBN-13: 978-0316195553
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (150 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,154,802 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Locked In Time, January 31, 2001

By	Kristen (Midlothian, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Locked in Time (School & Library Binding)

Can you imagine never growing older? Being stuck at the age you are right now for all eternity? If you were Lisette, Gabe or Josie in the novel "Locked In Time", by Lois Duncan, you'd know what it feels like to be the same age for over 100 years. Decades pass, new invention develop, those around you die, but you keep living on... When Nore Robbins goes to live with her dad, who recently remarried Lisette, she begins to sense something about her step-mother and her two kids. Through overhearing mysterious comments and piecing clues together, Nore begins to realize that her new step-family, by some strange occurence, never ages and never will because they are locked in time. The best part about this book is that it has it all (except comedy)... drama, murder, romance, mystery, suspense, science fiction and plenty of real life aspects. Having been written in first person main character, the book gives the reader an inside view on the story. You're right there with Nore as she's hearing the odd fragment of inforamtion and it's almost as if you are helping her piece clues together. The major lesson/moral that was clearest to me from "Locked In Time" was that some secrets just aren't meant to be kept behind closed doors forever. They're bound to be let out in the open sometime, especially if you try to hard to conceal them. Although the book isn't adult-themed, the plot and subtle clues about the ending throughout the book would make it difficult for anyone under 11 to understand and enjoy.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Will Nore save her dad?, February 10, 2006

By	Vtown Tigers "Vtown Tigers" (Versailles, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Locked in Time (Mass Market Paperback)

The book I read was Locked in time by Lois Duncan. This book was about a girl named Nore and she is visiting her dad, her new step mom, brother, and sister for the whole summer. When she begins her visit there, she loves it and she loves her new family. She begins to have weird dreams about her dead mother telling her to get herself and her father out of there immediately. She ignores them and soon wishes she hadn't. Soon her new family begins to act very strange and she is beginning to feel weird around them. Nore soon discovers why her stepfamily is acting so strange. She soon decides that she does need to get her father out of there.
I really liked this book because it was both an adventure and mystery book in one. What I didn't like was how Nore's father didn't listen to her. That mad me angry that he didn't believe his own daughter.
I would recommend this book to mysteries lovers. Also, to a person who wants a book to make them keep reading. This book reminded me of the book Tuck Everlasting because they were also locked in time.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Immortality, April 23, 2007

By	A. Luciano (Lowell, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Locked in Time (Mass Market Paperback)

Nore immediately thinks there is something creepy going on when she returns to a new home from boarding school and meets her recently widowed father's new wife. This woman, Lisette, is beautiful and young and has two perfect teenage children of her own. They are living with Nore's father in a beautiful old mansion in New Orleans, and he seems happy. But Nore still thinks something is wrong.

Lisette is very protective of her children. She sees her son, Gabriel, falling for Nore and immediately tries to keep them apart. She often hushes her daughter, Josie, stopping her from speaking. Nore keeps feeling like she should be noticing something strange, but at first she doesn't catch on. Then she listens carefully to the things her stepfamily is saying. Josie refers to being present at a disaster that took place forty years ago. She and Gabe both talk about time passing them by, and being stuck where they are. Soon Nore begins to suspect that her stepfamily is not aging at all, that they may have found some way to remain youthful forever. Now that she knows, Nore fears that her own life may be in danger. But how will she convince her lovestruck father that something terrifying is going on with his new family?

The characters in this story are really vivid and nicely described. I liked the ending and felt like it fit well with the rest of the story. I found it rather unbelievable, though, that if such a method for staying young existed, more people wouldn't have figured it out and used it.