Ellen Raskin

Fiction 1978| 182 pages

Sixteen people are invited to live in an apartment building north of Chicago.  One of them allegedly murders the owner of the building.  The owner’s will invites them all into a game, with clues, because he knows who is going to kill him.  Whoever discovers the murderer inherits his $200,000,000 estate.

I read some five-star reviews so I could understand why anyone LIKED this book!  Adults are writing reviews, so much of it was nostalgia for their youth, and it brought back memories.   I thought it was one of the poorest written books I have ever read, even trying to accommodate for the YA audience.  Too many characters, all of them stereotypes, cliche and shallow. Each character was just glossed over, and even though they were described in a basic way, there was nothing to really draw me in or make me care about them.  Everyone, including me, loved Turtle, however.  She was the only character with any development; she is the exception.  She is 13 years old for most of the book.  In the end, she acts as the lawyer who tries the alleged murder case. I can see why a young reader might remember Turtle well into adulthood.

Not an uninteresting plot, but I thought the search for the culprit was more interesting than the conclusion.  I did not have difficulty reading it, just thought it wasn’t any good.

My friend Mary and I read this book together.  It is one from the Goodread’s 100 books list (one for each of the last 100 years).  Some of Mary’s words are in this review.  Neither one of us will be recommending this book to you or anyone else!

April 2025