Killing Mr. Griffin
Killing Mr. Griffin book cover

Killing Mr. Griffin

Mass Market Paperback – August 1, 1990

by
Price
$5.88
Publisher
Laurel Leaf
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0440945154
Dimensions
4.83 x 0.63 x 6.89 inches
Weight
4 ounces

Description

From the Publisher The plan was only to scare their English teacher... They never actually intended to kill Mr. Griffin. But sometimes plans go wrong. From the Inside Flap The plan was only to scare their English teacher...They never actually intended to kill Mr. Griffin. But sometimes plans go wrong. Lois Duncan is the author of numerous bestselling books for young people and adults. Her novels have won her high acclaim, and many have been chosen as ALA Best Books for Young Adults. She lives in North Carolina. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. "So how does it feel?" Mark was asking in a high, nasal twang, as though he had just been imported from the back hills of the Ozarks.xa0xa0"How do you like it being on the ground for a change?xa0xa0It's not so great is it, being down where people can walk on you?xa0xa0Well, now you know how your students feel all the time."Mr.xa0xa0Griffin lay silent.xa0xa0Only the straining of the tendons in his neck showed that he was conscious and listening."Well, how does it feel?" Mark repeated.xa0xa0"We want an answer.xa0xa0Did you hear me--sir?""Yes, I heard you," Mr. Griffin said shortly."Your answer--sir?""My answer," Mr.xa0xa0Griffin said in his cold, clipped voice, "is that if you know what's good for you, you'll untie this rope this instant.xa0xa0If it's money you're after, I don't have any on me.xa0xa0I carry a checkbook.""We don't want your money," David said.xa0xa0"We're not thieves.""What are you then?" Mr.xa0xa0Griffin asked him.xa0xa0"Besides punks and kidnappers, that is?""We are your students, present, past and future," Mark told him, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly with the closest Betsy had ever seen him come to a smile.xa0xa0"We are representatives of every poor kid who has ever walked into your dungeon of a classroom.xa0xa0We come to bring you 'the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.' We're here to deliver revenge.""If this is a joke," Mr.xa0xa0Griffin said, "it's not funny.xa0xa0It's the sort of childish demonstration I'd expect from five-year-olds, not high school seniors.xa0xa0How many of you are there?""A lot," Jeff said.xa0xa0"Twenty--twenty-five--thirty!"xa0xa0He glanced at Betsy and grinned.xa0xa0"Would you believe fifty--a hundred--everybody who's ever had to take a class from you?""That's ridiculous.xa0xa0There can't be more than three of you.xa0xa0I've only heard three voices.xa0xa0And all of you are boys."Mark glanced up at Betsy and nodded."Are you sure of that?" she asked, holding her nose as she spoke so that her voice came out as nasal as Mark's had been.xa0xa0"I'm not a boy.xa0xa0There are a lot of us girls who hate you too, you know."Mr.xa0xa0Griffin gave a start of surprise.xa0xa0Quite evidently he had not expected this.xa0xa0"Then there was another car," he said.xa0xa0"Some of you came in another car.""There are lots of other cars," Jeff said.xa0xa0"Dozens of them.xa0xa0I told you, we're all here.xa0xa0None of us wanted to miss this.""Miss what?"There was a slight pause.xa0xa0Then Mark said, "Nobody wanted to miss watching you die." Read more

Features & Highlights

  • High school can be tough. But with teachers like Mr. Griffin it can seem impossible. They only planned to scare him. But sometimes even the best-laid plans go wrong.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(405)
★★★★
25%
(169)
★★★
15%
(101)
★★
7%
(47)
★
-7%
(-47)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

Good suspense.

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.
17 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

This is the best book I have ever read!

Killing Mr. Griffin was a great book. My over all opinion of this book was that it was very suspenceful. It was a book that you didn't want to put down. You wanted to keep reading to find out what happened. It was about these students that were getting tired of their English teacher so they wanted to do something about it. So they took him up to the mountains to scare him. He needed to take this certain kind of medicine but he never got it because of what they did. What do you think will happen to Mr. Griffin? What will their consequences be? I really liked this book alot. My favorite part was when these hikers that were up in the mountains found Mr. Griffin's body. This was a good book, but the begining was slow. However it didn't make it to where I wouldn't read it again. I would recommend this book to someone that would like mysteries or thrillers.
13 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Earns an English teacher's high praise!

Yep, I teach English, and I demand a lot from my students. Should I worry that so many reviewers found the kidnap scene funny? Perhaps, but the true strength of this novel lies in its insight into the confusion and uncertainty felt by Sue and David particularly as they find themselves caught in a plot to scare a disliked teacher which soon spirals out of control. Duncan also does an excellent job of capturing Brian Griffin's dedication to his students and his reasons for being so demanding. Thus, readers are swept along with alternating sympathies, first for lonely Sue, then for the kidnapped Mr. Griffin, then for Mrs. Griffin, who knows Sue is lying about her husband's last hours, finally for David, who suffers a terrible loss himself as the story draws to a close. This is an outstanding book which will grab and hold the attention of any reader who has ever wished to exact revenge on someone in power, be it a teacher, boss, or even parent.
11 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

What's So Funny?

I found this book not morally complex or sophisticated so much as just plain offensive and cruel. I don't see the point of taking us inside the minds of teens who would even consider such a brutal crime as kidnapping and terrorizing another human being. This has none of the layers and provocative questions of "Lord of the Flies." It was, to me, pointless. Most teens I know are interested in cleaner fare, in deep questions about life on other subjects. And despite the predominance of disturbing themes and plots in teen novels, many teens I know look for other books instead; they really aren't that interested in stories of kidnap, rape, incest, suicide, and murder.
7 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

NOT A HAPPY MOTHER!!!

I had a hard time deciding what to rate this book. It was assigned to my 13 year old daughter as summer reading for school. Seriously!?! Thankfully, I read all her reading assignments with her so we can discuss them.
This book is extremely morbid and she is a soft hearted child. She cried and cried reading this book. I am a well read adult and the story bothered me. It is a story about children plotting to harm their teacher. Their actions result in his death. This is not a complete list of what's wrong with this book. It gets zero stars for being on a 13 year old child's assigned reading list.
The writing is good. The characters are complex and mostly follow character descriptions. It is an interesting, although morbid, story. I would give three, maybe three and a half, stars for the writing and character development.
All in all it gets two stars from one very unhappy parent.
5 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Whacking out Mr. Griffin...

I don't know why I chose to review a novel I read about 11 years ago in early high school now. My English teacher had some contempt for it. But for some reason, part of the novel stuck with me.
Sure, it's Lois Duncan, who pretty much cranked out young-teen books and owned a big part of that market. Dependable writing, generally.
Killing Mr. Griffin stays interesting because it's about a psychopath who manipulates other students into the title act. It's not told from the killer's point of view; the story is all from the most sympathetic female's pov. Nevertheless, in this day and age of post-Columbine, Ritaline-addicted youth, this book is powerful in the high school setting. I think it highlights the apathy and coldness of young people and the misdirected rage.
Duncan is not fancy. The storytelling is straightforward. But the sinister plot to freak out Mr. Griffin followed by the sudden death and the actions of the guilty group make this a pretty quick, compelling read.
My English teacher must have thought this was popular drivel, but I think with age it takes on relevance and still works.
4 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

An Enjoyable Psychological Thriller for Teens

Killing Mr. Griffin is an older story, but still a compelling read. Once I started, I had a hard time putting it down. I don't see many psychological thrillers for teens today. It was a nice change of pace from wizards and vampire romances. While the outcome of the book was a little predictable, it was still an enjoyable read and it kept me turning the pages to see if I was right. I would certainly recommend Killing Mr. Griffin to teens and adults alike.
3 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Lois Duncan is a great writer

I am 36 and still re-read Lois Duncan's books (tell you anything, people??). Why? She's a really great writer and they are as entertaining now as they were when I was still an adolescent. I have read almost all of her books, including the very sad one about her daughter's murder (which I highly recommend - it's fascinating and absorbing). She is skillful, entertaining, and manages to convey depth with very few words. Killing Mr. Griffin is perhaps not my favorite of her books (Summer of Fear would probably be my favorite), but the premise is irresistible. Basically a bunch of insecure students get their vulnerabilities exploited by the sociopathic friend in their midst. He hatches a plot to kill Mr. Griffin, something they all agree to do - all of them have felt their perfectionist teacher's sting one time too many.
This is a good read, and it was written in 1978 - Duncan's books are far finer than anything more current in "YA" fiction so far as I'm concerned!
A good read, like all her books.
3 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Very entertaining!

"Killing Mr. Griffin" is a fairly unrealistic book, but still a fun read. The basic plot idea is that a group of teenagers are going to gang up on a hated English teacher, Mr. Griffin, and just "scare" him. Each student has his or her own reason to hate Griffin -- one student was kept from graduating just becaue he wouldn't pass him, another is a straight "A" student who only recieves a "B" in Griffin's class, and other various teenage tales. The kids plan out an elaborate plot in order to take Griffin to an unknown area out by a river, tie him up, and make him change his ways forever. Things go wrong when Griffin unexpectedly passes due to missing a dose of his heart medication. This tells the story of the kids trying to cover up their tracks ... I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to any teen for a good laugh!
3 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

A Gripping Tale

Killing Mr. Griffin is a story about five kids who just wanted to teach their strict english teacher a lesson and get him to be easier on his students. They had just wanted to kidnap him and scare him a little. However,things didnt go like they planned and Mr. Griffin had ended up dead. Of course they hadn't meant for anything like that to happen, so the kids in a panic did all sorts of things to cover up what they had done, but had just got themselves into deeper trouble than they were in before. With all their work though, they had left one small detail and someone...was going to piece everything together. If you want to find out how the kids got themselves out of this mess....or if they got out of it at all, read this book!
I thought Killing Mr. Griffin was a very good suspense story that will more than likely keep you at the edge of your seat. However, like in many stories the plot was good, yet you just couldnt connect with the characters and how they were feeling. That was how I felt when I read this story, but other than that I really liked how Lois Duncan had made everything happen. Also, I realized that this book is on the banned book list, but I don't understand why it would be. Though the book does have a bit of cursing and violence, there are also good things about it. Like for example, how it shows if you do something bad you can't hide from it, it'll catch up with you sooner or later. In the end, I would definitely recommend this book to fans of suspense stories.
3 people found this helpful

Related Books