nostalgicHarriet Said...by Beryl Bainbridge
This 1972 novel has been reprinted. But it is not immensely readable or agreeably odd. 2 teen girls prey on creepy older men. Nobody has moral integrity in this complete disaster.
Best Lines:
“Most people refuse to walk down the street with her.”
“Harriet who was fond of assuming the character expected of her in certain different houses.”
~
Jedi Apprentice 9: The Search For Truth
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are sent off on another mission but this time they have company, Adi Gallia and her apprentice Siri. The Jedi arrive on an isolated, remote, unfriendly world. Qui-Gon and Adi Gallia go in search of a stolen child with force potential while Siri and Obi are abducted and dumped in a school for juvenile delinquents. Anyway Obi and Siri clash and fight. The book is very rushed at the end and you have to wonder about Obi-Wan, he keeps getting abducted. What sort of Jedi is he?
~
Jedi Apprentice 10: The Shattered Peace
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan head off to the worlds Rutan and Senali to prevent a war. Of course nothing goes as planned as they are soon stuck with two spoilt whining princlings and a stuck-up hippie chick. It all leads to a race against time to stop the Royal hunting dogs being blown up as part of a cunning plant to start an inter-planet war. The characters are fun and the planets are vastly different: Rutan are bloodline obsessed and love hunting and Senali are holier than thou hippies.
The villain gets off scott-free for a change as his behaviour is expected of someone in his position and there is even a quick love story thrown in. Also Obi-Wan is still obsessing about events on Melida/Daan.
~
Jedi Apprentice 12: The Evil Experiment
At the end of book 11 Qui-Gon was carried off by an evil bounty hunter and now he is the prisoner of the evil and utterly insane Jenna Zan Arbor who wishes to drain his fluids so she can study The Force. No comment. Qui-Gon is dangled upside down in a gas filled chamber and experimented on. Meanwhile the Jedi let Obi-Wan and Astri wander the galaxy looking for him. Amazingly Obi-Wan demonstrates skills. He does Jedi stuff and not once does he get kidnapped, lose his lightsaber, get beaten up or used as a hostage.
Jenna and her single digit IQ bodyguard are evil. Obi-Wan gets to do cool stuff and he and Qui-Gon have a truly sweet bonding moment. Which was never repeated.
~
Smallville: City by Devin Grayson
A forgettable bittersweet tale that centres on the Clark/Lex friendship. Lex takes Clark on a trip to Metropolis only to get embroiled in a plot where Lionel has arranged for his son to be kidnapped unaware an insane would-be-alien hunter is already stalking the duo. This captures the essence of the Clark/Lex relationship and delves into the toll Clark's lies is taking on them both. It is tinged with sadness. but does have Clark and Lex sharing a rooftop hot-tub overlooking the Metropolis skyline.
~
The School by Ed Kelleher and Harriet Vidal
Where evil is taught...
Vanessa Forbes arrives at boarding school. Everyone acts like it is the 1970s when it is the 80s. Also a triple murder was commited by a student against the perv headmaster and 2 students in the 1930s which was shrugged off. People laugh about it! The murdered headmaster's great grandnephew Matthew is now principal and yep he is a perv too. Drama teacher Karin is deciding which play her students should perform this year and Vanessa's new classmates Laura, Marie, Ingrid and Rickie do nothing but obsess about drink, drugs and the boys from the school across the lake. Two of those boys are Bobby and Dennis; it is obvious from the get-go that Dennis is bad. Bobby just has some weird dreams about dinosaur bones. Also lurking around is Walter, the perverted handyman as well as Mr and Mrs Trousdale, the satan worshipping caretakers.
Vanessa is soon hearing odd noises and bedevilled by hallucinations of death and decay. Whilst in the basement Karin finds a play written by the 1930s murderess. She and Matthew decide the play will be staged. Bad idea. The school is a genius loci or something and the events of the 1930s have been set in motion again. Because, reasons. Something demonic and unseen seduces Karin and drives her into insanity. Meanwhile production of the play begins, nobody ever goes to class, Rickie kills herself, Walter comes to a nasty end and Bobby has an accident.
Vanessa can't leave the school even when Rickie returns from the grave to plead with her to flee. Then one dark night Laura and Ingrid head to Matthew's house for some fun, Karin takes a fall and a conspiracy of evil leads Vanessa to a fate she has been destined for since the 1930s. After the fact cops and reporters descend on the school but can find no answers. Bobby and Marie transfer to schools in New York and vow to find answers unaware the evil has followed them there. This was pulp 80s horror apparently adapted into an extremely rare film called 'Voodoo Dolls'.
