Twisted Summer


I read the book Twisted Summer by Willo Davis Roberts. It was published in 1998 by Aladdin Paperbacks. This mystery was wondrous because of its fitting characters, supportive setting and unpredictable ending.

Fourteen-year-old Cici and her mom were visiting their family and friends at a Michigan cabin called Crystal Lake where they usually go to for the summer. They had missed going last year and couldn’t wait to meet up with everyone again. Cici was especially excited because Jack, the boy she liked, would be there. It would be all fun and games, right? When Cici finds out from her cousin, Ginny, that someone had murdered Zoe Cyrek the year before, the plot takes a chilling turn.

The characters in Twisted Summer fit the story tremendously well. Everyone was extremely close in the book and many of the characters were related which made them all seem very loving. This was the perfect set up because it disguised the killer. Many times in the book the characters would suggest how they believed the killer to be an outsider or someone from a different town. It was hard for them to imagine one of their own killing Zoe because they had such close bonds.

Another reason why I admired this book was because of its accommodating setting. The setting created several advantages in the book. One of the ways it did was by limiting the possible killers. They made it seem like whoever killed Zoe had to come from their area, Crystal Lake. The setting also trapped the characters. One day, Cici’s parents went back to their home and left Cici behind at the lake. Cici quickly became frightened in thinking that the killer might come for her next. These two reasons proved that the setting added additional scare and suspense to the story.


Cici now thought she was responsible to find out what really happened to Zoe. She began to question people and record key things about what happened the night of Zoe’s death. She didn’t seem to get any major suspects at first, but toward the end the unraveling truth of what she discovered shocks everyone. That was another reason why I treasured the book, its ending. The author does a great job including red herrings and leading you in the direction of where he wants you to think. For example, there was a long period, when I was reading the book, that I thought the real murderer was for sure a certain character. It turned out that at the end I was completely wrong. It shocked me, but it also made me like the book even more. The reader will never expect such an ending and will be stunned when he/she reads it.

As you can see, Twisted Summer was a stupendous book. It was filled with a wonderful setting, characters and ending. I would surely recommend this book to others, and I’m sure whoever reads it next will appreciate it like I did.