Last Summer
A Novel
Published on 13. June 2017
208 pages
978-1-5040-4395-3 (ISBN)
Description
Three teenagers turn an idyllic summer vacation into a violent nightmare in this "compelling and unforgettable" novel by the bestselling author of
The Blackboard Jungle (
Harper's).
Bored, restless, privileged teenagers Sandy, David, and Peter meet while vacationing with their families on remote Greensward Island. The two boys, both sixteen, are immediately entranced by Sandy's beauty and frank sexuality.
Over the course of the summer, the trio creates an illicit teenage paradise far removed from adult supervision. Stolen beers and lustful teasing lead to more nefarious games, however, when Rhoda appears. Shy, quiet, and unsophisticated, the fifteen-year-old desperately wants to fit in with her more glamorous peers. Her awkwardness brings out a vicious cruel streak in Sandy, who has David and Peter so tightly wrapped around her finger they'll do whatever she wants-even if it means destroying an innocent life.
A fearless, unflinching portrait of youth gone wild, Last Summer was the basis for an Academy Award-nominated film starring Barbara Hershey, Bruce Davison, Richard Thomas, and Catherine Burns. Originally published in 1968 and heralded by Cosmopolitan as "the most chilling novel of this-or any-autumn," Last Summer transforms a coming-of-age story into a dark and twisted fable and confirms Evan Hunter's reputation as a master of suspense.
Bored, restless, privileged teenagers Sandy, David, and Peter meet while vacationing with their families on remote Greensward Island. The two boys, both sixteen, are immediately entranced by Sandy's beauty and frank sexuality.
Over the course of the summer, the trio creates an illicit teenage paradise far removed from adult supervision. Stolen beers and lustful teasing lead to more nefarious games, however, when Rhoda appears. Shy, quiet, and unsophisticated, the fifteen-year-old desperately wants to fit in with her more glamorous peers. Her awkwardness brings out a vicious cruel streak in Sandy, who has David and Peter so tightly wrapped around her finger they'll do whatever she wants-even if it means destroying an innocent life.
A fearless, unflinching portrait of youth gone wild, Last Summer was the basis for an Academy Award-nominated film starring Barbara Hershey, Bruce Davison, Richard Thomas, and Catherine Burns. Originally published in 1968 and heralded by Cosmopolitan as "the most chilling novel of this-or any-autumn," Last Summer transforms a coming-of-age story into a dark and twisted fable and confirms Evan Hunter's reputation as a master of suspense.
More details
Person
Evan Hunter (1926-2005) was one of the best-loved mystery novelists of the twentieth century. Born Salvatore Lambino in New York City, he served in the US Navy during World War II and briefly worked as a teacher after graduating from Hunter College. The experience provided the inspiration for his debut novel,
The Blackboard Jungle (1954), which was published under his new legal name and adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film starring Glenn Ford and Sidney Poitier.
Cop Hater (1956), the first entry in the 87th Precinct series, was written under the pen name Ed McBain. The long-running series, which followed an ensemble cast of police officers in the fictional city of Isola, is widely credited with inventing the police procedural genre. As a screenwriter, Hunter adapted a Daphne du Maurier short story into the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's
The Birds and turned his own bestselling novel,
Strangers When We Meet (1958), into the script for a film starring Kirk Douglas and Kim Novak. His other novels include the
New York Times bestseller
Mothers and Daughters (1961),
Buddwing (1964),
Last Summer (1968), and
Come Winter (1973). Among his many honors, Hunter was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America and was the first American to receive the Cartier Diamond Dagger award from the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain.
Content
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Dedication
- One: The Gull
- Two: Rhoda
- Preview: Come Winter
- About the Author
- Copyright Page
