Before it was a '90s slasher movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer was actually a novel by Lois Duncan and believe it or not, a very good one. Published in 1973 and revised by the author in 2010, I had superficial issues with her decision to rebrand everything from fashion to geopolitics to telephones for the Young Adult reader of today--a decision that felt financial as opposed to creative--but where it matters, the book generates a terrific amount of suspense and delivers a satisfying payoff without throwing graphic violence, sex or much foul language at the reader. In this sense, it's more an Alfred Hitchcock thriller with teens than slasher fare.

Set in the vicinity of Silver Spring, Maryland with its mountain roads, the story begins with high school graduate Julie James getting summer off to a promising start when an acceptance letter to Smith College, the alma mater of her widowed mother, arrives in the mail. Mrs. James has sensed a change in her redheaded cheerleader daughter over the last year, studying harder but having less fun, breaking up with a boy named Ray Bronson, who left town about a year ago and headed to California. Julie almost ignores a second letter she's received, one with no return address on the envelope. The message in big block printing ominously reads I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER.

We next meet Barry Cox, freshman at the local college and a football hero in his high school days whose winning ways still get the attention of the girls. For this reason and others, Barry has cooled to his girlfriend of the past year, Helen Rivers, a high school dropout whose ambition and golden looks have secured her a lucrative job with Channel Five as a station rep and on-air personality. Helen's success seems to be the only reason Barry hasn't broken up with her and when she telephones with something important to talk with him about, he has no choice but go to her apartment complex. Barry finds Julie there as well, who shares the threatening letter with the couple.

Making reference to a "pact" they made last summer, Barry blames the letter on Ray, who Helen reveals is back in town. Neither of the women believe Julie's ex would do something this. The football hero offers that Julie might be getting teased about something else she did last summer. Helen is not comforted by this. Julie returns home to prepare for a date when she encounters Ray waiting for her. While he's missed Julie, she explains that she needs to move on, haunted by a tragic accident in which the car that Barry was driving with Helen in the front passenger seat and Julie & Ray in back struck a twelve-year old boy on a bicycle named Daniel Gregg.

Driving too fast while under the influence of a few beers and a little pot, Barry feared prosecution and fled the accident scene that night. Julie's vocal plea that they go back to help the boy was opposed by Helen, who then as well as now is in love with Barry and wants to protect him. Casting the deciding vote to stay silent was Ray, who at that time lacked the nerve to stand up to Barry and instead made an anonymous call to 911. Their victim died on the way to the hospital. Julie shares her letter with her ex, dreading that someone else knows their secret. Ray believes they should confess to the police, not breaking the pact, but dissolving it by convincing Barry and Helen to agree with them.

While Julie makes a fresh start with an Iraq war veteran she's dating named Bud, Helen continues to feel distance from Barry. Growing up in a low income household and sharing a bedroom with her dumpy and vindictive older sister Elsa, Helen's self-made success and minor celebrity has only made her feel more ostracized by her family and peers. She makes a friend with a handsome new neighbor named Collie but comes close to falling apart when Barry is lured away from his frat house by a telephone call and shot. His ability to walk again in doubt, Barry claims that the phone call came from Helen, who denies this. By now, both Helen and Ray have received ominous messages as well.

Taking the initiative, Julie and Ray go up up to Mountain Highway to visit the Greggs. They meet Daniel Gregg's sister Megan, who reveals that her mother blamed herself for Daniel's death and fell ill. She's convalescing in Las Lunas with her father. Julie is certain that none of the Greggs could be responsible for the threats, while Ray notices a fresh coat of paint on the house and men's shirts drying on the clothesline. The mystery thickens when Ray sneaks into the hospital to confront Barry about his fatal phone call. He conceals the truth, which is that a caller threatened to blackmail him with photos of the accident and lured Barry into a meeting, where he was shot.

Meanwhile, Mrs. James has a very bad feeling about all of this.

Not that the feelings were foolproof and could be taken as gospel. Last summer, for instance, there had been a time when she could have sworn that she felt something terrible approaching. It was during a period in which Julie was seeing a great deal of Ray, and for a while Mrs. James had wondered if that was it, if the young people's feelings for each other were growing too strong and would create a problem. Fond as she was of Ray, she was aware of his immaturity, and she wanted another year of high school for Julie and then hopefully college. The idea of an unwed pregnancy or a very young marriage was not easy for her to accept.

In the 2010 revision of I Know What You Did Last Summer, Lois Duncan made a number of superficial changes to her 1973 text. A few are hard to spot, a blue pantsuit changing to blue pants and a blouse. Vietnam and an antiwar demonstration are changed to Iraq and an indiscriminate campus demonstration. A noticeable change is the juggling act Duncan has to do with mobile phones, which could have solved her mystery in half an hour if characters were easily able to contact each other or authorities in an emergency. In the inferior revised edition, all manner of dead batteries, dropped signals or landlines still strangely in use are offered to keep the plot going.

There are reasons why a novel written in the 1970s or '80s should not be revised for the Information Age, even a novel that on the surface seems to be little more than a Young Adult thriller. The world has changed so much in forty years that relabeling is not sufficient to pass Duncan's story off as one that could take place today. The catalyst of I Know What You Did Last Summer is a boy on a bicycle being struck by a hit and run driver at ten o'clock at night, plausible and effective in 1973, but today, when all bicycles have reflectors and all children are cocooned in safety gear, not to mention guarded by anxious parents who rarely let their children out of sight, this scenario feels a stretch.

This sort of reboot feels more a financial gambit than one made to improve quality of the book and I Know What You Did Last Summer is compelling enough not to need it. Duncan does a wonderfully subtle job of generating tension with characters who've committed an irrevocable crime and are wrapped so tight with guilt that the slightest tug might force them to snap. This is a thriller where I was able to feel empathy not only with the protagonists, but their tormentor, who un the boogeyman in the derivative 1997 slasher film and its sequels, inflicts psychic violence as opposed to mostly physical. The reveal in his identity, also altered for the movies, is novel as well.

Duncan, who allows her teenagers some illegal substances but lets the reader imagine how much sex they've experimented with, should be respected for writing a terrifying book without racking up dead bodies. More sinister and imaginative is how Duncan keeps the teenagers alive. In addition to the guilt that's been building over a year, each character is dragged into their own level of hell. A sports hero may not walk again, a beauty queen has to climb through broken glass, a college student feels her future being choked out of her and the boy who loves has to watch. It's a restrained, evocative thriller and one I more often that not found myself able to relate to.mystery-suspense76 s Gavin Hetherington681 6,702

I did a deep dive into this book and compared it to the 1997 slasher film that was loosely based on this book, check it out here: https://youtu.be/0MeDRScLajU2021-reads ya-thriller70 s1 comment Bren fall in love with the sea.1,672 340

“Girls her are a dime a dozen, and I happen to have a pocket full of dimes.”
? Lois Duncan, I Know What You Did Last Summer




One is never to old to read the classic mystery "I know what you did last summer" which was also a movie (not a very good one) and spawned many a copy c at book with a similiar premise.

I first read this as a kid. I am a huge fan of Louis Duncan's work and this was one of her best novels. The premise is simple. A group of 4 teenagers, out late one night, partying it up, hit a boy on a bike and do not stop. They make a pact to keep what happened a secret.

One year later, Julie James one of the members of said pact, receives a letter in the mail. All it says is:

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER.

This book was so damn good. And I sort of wish the movie spin off had not happened as they took the original premise..and it WAS original back then..and turned it into a horror/slasher movie which in my opinion is unforgivable given that the original book was so readable. I would have d to see the film follow the book.

What is also great are the characterizations. Duncan was always so good at that. You feel you know everyone from Julie to her sweet mom to Ray to Helen and her sullen sister to Barry the ultimate jock and frat boy. It is short book but it demands attention and honestly if you are in your adult years and have not read it, you would most ly it.

SPOILERS!

Back then, twists were not an every day thing as they are now so when Duncan did a stunner of one in this book, it was actually a surprise.

I have reread this a few times and I always love it. Nostalgia is no doubt one reason but there is also no getting around the fact that it's a mighty fine book. Read the book, skip the movie.all-different-types better-or-worse-than-expected dark-and-heavy ...more66 s megs_bookrack1,771 11.9k

Another nostalgic read from one of the pioneers in YA Thrillers, Lois Duncan!!



Originally published in 1973, Lois Duncan's I Know What You Did Last Summer paved the way for all the YA Thrillers that have come after.

Most of us are familiar with the 1997-film adaptation starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Honestly, that was one of my go-to movies in the 90s and 2000s, yet I didn't even know it was adapted from a book until a few years ago.

I bought a copy and have been meaning to read it forever...



Recently, I listened to the audiobook for another of Duncan's novels, Killing Mr. Griffin, and I had so much fun with it. It was quick, nostalgic and drama-filled. I knew when I was done with that, it was finally time for me to read this one.

I decided to listen to the audiobook in this case as well. It was read by the same narrator and I d his style.



After reading this, I gotta say, they did a great job with the adaptation. It closely followed the source material, yet with the right amount of modern twists, to make it believable and fun. I'm in love with the casting, perfection.

I am so happy that I finally took the time to read this one. I'm super into nostalgic reads right now, particularly those of the Horror and Thriller variety, so this was exactly what I was looking for.

If you are a fan of the movie, I definitely recommend you check this one out!!

56 s Kelly (and the Book Boar)2,582 8,797

Find all of my at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

3.5 Stars

Welcome to . . . .



I decided to take a break from my usual selections . . . .



And read listen to this oldie-but-goodie to celebrate my favorite time of year . . .


(Spoiler Alert: He’s really going to murder her for being a basic white bitch.)

After having a pretty meh time with Killing Mr. Griffin during Banned Book Week, I set my expectations super low before starting this one. Imagine my delight when I ended up really enjoying it. The basic premise was the same – group of drunken stumbly teenie-boppers kill someone in a hit and run and then decide . . . .



Little plot twist: in the book version they didn’t run over an adult – instead it was a kid . . . .



A year goes by when suddenly the teens start receiving notes . . . .



That have them concerned their secret might get out. Or worse . . . . .



I Know What You Did Last Summer stood the test of time surprisingly well. While it has obviously been updated since its original release back in the ‘70s, a more thorough job was done here making the modern-day references more effortless instead of standing out a sore thumb. It does date itself with antiquated remarks regarding things of a “girly” nature, but if you aren’t of the easily offended variety, you can simply laugh it off as talk of the olde days of yore. Although I did see the whodunit from about a football field away, there was a little something extra that I wasn’t really looking for that ended up being a pretty decent bonus. Fairly PG (references to underage drinking and smoking pot that wouldn’t pass the test with some parents) for youngsters to read this Halloween season.audio everything-old-is-new-again liburrrrrry-book ...more49 s Ken2,305 1,345

It wasn’t until recently that I found out that one of my favourite movies of the late 90’s was actually based on a book, but what is more surprising is how different they both feel.

I’d not realised that I was in fact reading an updated version of the story, with talk of cell phones and CDs it felt very much of that time period. It wasn’t until mentions of the Iraq war that I’d finally realised that changes had been made! Oops...

This book is clearly being aimed at people me who have come to it because of the film, it was more suspenseful that the slasher flick and I quite enjoyed it for that.
The main plot of teens covering up a hit and run indecent is still the main part of the story.

Nostalgically I think I would have d to have read the original version (maybe an authors note at the beginning might have helped), but I really want to give the movie a rewatch this October!
34 s Darth J 417 1,280

Okay guys, I read this book when I was in fourth grade (when the movie came out) so my recollection will be a little bit foggy. Just go with me on this, okay? Yes, I was 9 when I read this. Can you believe that Accelerated Reader didn't even give a quiz for this back in the day? Pfft!

So the plot of this story centers on Julie James I knew a girl with the same name in high school who snitched on her whole science class about cheating on some exam and found herself friendless in senior year. #true story, who receives a mysterious note:


Her mind jumps to the conclusion that someone witnessed her and her three friends accidentally hitting a pedestrian last year and that this note is some sort of prank/blackmail about it. It isn't until the end that she realizes that, un the movie where the killer is a weird fisherman, the stalker is Johnny Galecki's character from the movie . Also, the Sarah Michelle Gellar character lives in the book.


If you've seen the movie and want the less slasher version of the story, pick up this book.
32 s Readaholic Jenn 331 116

An amazing book. It holds your attention from start to finish. I highly recommend it to everyone.classics favorites own ...more30 s Steph624 398

i was pumped to read this 1970s YA suspense classic, but oh my goodness, whose idea was it to create an updated edition for the new millennium? they modernized the teen slang and added cell phones, but left the old school misogyny and fatphobia untouched. what a cringingly anachronistic read!!

the modernization is so clumsy that i was sure it was done by a miscellaneous staff member at the publishing house. i felt awful when i got to the author Q&A at the end of the book and found that duncan herself updated all of her books that were rereleased this century.

and it's quite insulting for authors or publishers to believe that modern teens are incapable of enjoying lit that was published before they were born. i mean... kids today are aware that there was a world before cell phones. and especially in a thriller this one, where the ability to call 911 can completely alter the trajectory of the story, it just doesn't make sense. this book is filled with tacked on lines about why a given character doesn't have their cell phone at any given moment. oh my god, why did they bother?

(just kidding, i know why: they thought they could make a larger profit on the rerelease if the book was ~new and improved~ and ~relatable for new generations~)

but the worst part is that all of the updates are superficial, and the book is dated on a much deeper level: it is steeped in misogyny. we have frat boy player barry, whose sexism repeatedly goes unchallenged. we have independent helen, who we are repeatedly told is lucky to be so beautiful, because it's all she has going for her. and there's helen's sister, elsa, who is described as fat and ugly, bitterly jealous of helen, and an overall unpleasant person. it was the 1970s, and none of this is surprising to look back on... but it is so much more disturbing when we're made to believe these outdated characters are 21st century teens.

okay, end rant.

overall, this is a well-paced suspense novel with an interesting twist. duncan's Q&A mentions that she hated that the twist was omitted from the movie version, but it would have been literally impossible to manage on screen. i should have guessed the twist - that bud and collie, the two casual love interest side characters of julie and helen, respectively, are actually the same person. i actually found myself mixing them up a couple of times, since they both seem such suspiciously benign characters. i suspected collie more than i suspected bud, but i was thrilled that the double identity twist took me by surprise!

apparently duncan disd the film because of the changes to plot, and also because she had a strong aversion to violence. it's true that the book is a mysterious thriller, rather than a horror novel, so it's understandable.

one of my favorite things about reading classic YA is soaking up the vibes from another decade. and in i know what you did last summer, the 70s vibes are particularly noticeable in helen's apartment complex, a balconied building alongside an outdoor pool. all of the tenants are young singles who spend much of their time socializing poolside. we only have a few scenes in this setting, but i adored them because they feel so far from our time.

anyway. it's an entertaining read, but if you're going to pick this one up, please try to find the original version
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