How Could Things Have Possibly Got Even Worse?

Parker Stanley

Killing Mr. Griffin

By: Lois Duncan

     Have you ever felt that things could not possibly get worse? Well, you’re lucky you haven’t been in these student’s shoes. In this novel Killing Mr. Griffin, these students had to bounce back from continuous unfortunate events. First, they kidnapped their teacher (as you would know from my most recent blog), additionally, Mr. Griffin died unexpectedly as we know when David, one of the students involved, said: “He’s not asleep, he’s dead” (110). The students brought a larger problem upon themselves. The group of teenagers then had to get rid of the body, which was not an easy task for these kids. They come to a conclusion and chose to bury him where he died. Finally, the teens thought they were off the hook, a couple eventually saw a spot in the ground that looks as if it has been dug up recently, they checked it out and found a dead body. Later, Susan was interviewed because she was the last person that Mr. Griffin saw before his death. Susan tried to lay low, but Mr. Griffin’s wife was suspicious as we know when she said: “I think Susan can be of more help, if she wants to be” (177). Additionally, the police found that Mr. Griffin’s ring is no longer on his finger. David, one of the teenagers who was involved had taken the ring, but mysteriously, his grandmother, who lived with him, stole it from David, assuming it was her son’s who had moved away years ago. Worried, Mark, a mentally unstable teen who was the leader of this crime, was on a mission to get the ring back. He felt as if he was forced to kill David’s grandmother to make sure his crew didn’t get in trouble. Which side was Mark on? He killed David’s grandmother for the sake of the crew. Was it truly worth it? After the death of Mrs. Ruggles, Mark got a hold of Susan when they were alone. Susan was tied up and Mark set a fire, so she can be left to die. Susan thought she was doomed as she thought: “I will be burned alive” (239).

     This novel begins rather slowly, but it quickly picks up the pace. The beginning of the novel may not intrigue you as a reader at first, don’t worry, it didn’t for me, but you will be eager to read more as you get deeper into the book. I enjoyed the book after the exposition because I started to learn what the title of the book truly meant. Once Mr. Griffin is kidnapped, there is nonstop action. If you enjoy action and fiction, then I think this may be the story for you. This is 100% a good read. I am not a huge book reader, but this story was very entertaining. After every event that took place, another quickly took place. I found this very enjoyable because it never had “boring” parts. Along with the action that this novel had to offer, I really enjoyed the character development and character relationships. Every student that was involved in the kidnapping had a personal relationship with one or another, whether it was boyfriend, girlfriend, or crush, and each character has their own personalities and needs. In this novel, no two characters are the same. Mark is insane, Susan is worried, Betsy is hopeful, etc. Finally, I also found it interesting how all of these teenagers involved would look up to Mark so easily. They let Mark, who was mentally unstable, take charge. This showed me how people in society can often make poor decisions without a thought process behind it. Overall, I would give this book a 4.5/5 stars and really enjoyed the read.