A Book Review - My Secret Admirer by Carol Ellis (Point Horror)

One of the first Point Horrors I read, and still one of the best.

Jenny's just moved to an unspecified town in an unspecified state, somewhere out west where big red cliffs, called rimrocks, surround the town. She's scared of the rimrocks, but when she gets invited to a school-organised scavenger hunt and gets partnered with handsome dark-eyed David, he talks her into climbing them to look for a bird's nest. A storm comes up and they get separated in the dark, and while Jenny's alone she thinks she hears someone cry out, although she can't make out any words.

The next day, the group find out that beautiful, bitchy Diana had a fall from the rimrocks that night, and is in a coma. Jenny immediately mentions the scream she thinks she heard, but no consensus is reached as to whether she was just hearing the wind.

Jenny's parents go away for a few days, leaving her alone with the dog. She starts receiving gifts from a secret admirer: sweet, thoughtful presents like flowers and wind chimes. But someone is also trying to scare her, leaving a dead snake wrapped like a present in her mailbox, closing the windows and shutting her dog in a hot car, and trapping her in a phone box while he - a sinister, leather clad figure on a black motorbike with a full-face helmet - repeatedly rides towards the booth, threatening to run her down if she tries to leave.

Jenny can't trust anyone in town but her secret admirer - but who is he? And who is threatening her?

As I mentioned, I think this is a great book. It's simple and cleanly-written enough for kids to follow, with enough action to stop them getting bored, yet it has a lasting appeal for me; at 28 I still enjoyed it. Jenny's an odd one; her personality is not particularly well-developed, yet what you do see of her has its own certain charm that makes me want to root for a happy ending for her. The scary scenes are quite chilling, and unique enough to be memorable, particularly the phone booth scene. I remember drawing cartoon strips of this book when I was 8 or 9, and having my dad draw the motorbike for me. I didn't do that with many books, but these were particularly powerful images that stay in the mind after reading.

I enjoyed the setting a lot, too. It's never specified exactly where the book is set, but I have in mind Utah or Arizona. I've always felt particularly comfortable in those places, so I may be attaching my own emotions when I say that the setting, despite its starkness, is very comforting and provides a really nice contrasting background for the scaries.

A great book, really nicely written.

Verdict: A shining example of early suspenseful Point Horror.