Book Review of Bury Me Deep by Christopher Pike

Name of Book: Bury Me Deep

Author: Christopher Pike

ISBN: 0-671-69057-4

Publisher: Archway paperback

Type of book: Hawaii, vacations, past ghosts, 1990

Year it was published: August 1991

Summary:


Jean is on her way to Hawaii for a week of fun in the sun. But the vacation gets off to a gruesome start. The boy sitting beside her on the plan suddenly chokes and dies. Jean tries to push the incident out of her mind when she arrives on the island, but finds it impossible.

Part of the reason is because Mike keeps coming back to her in her dreams. Horrible dreams filled with cold blood.

Two of Jean's friends are waiting for her in Hawaii—Mandy and Michele. They have already made friends with two young men who teach scuba diving at the hotel, Dave and Johnny. Jean and Johnny quickly become friends. But there are problems in paradise. Dave and Johnny have recently lost a partner in the ocean. No one knows how he died. No one can find his body. But then Jean finds Mike's body. It isn't where it's supposed to be, and it seems as if it's still got some life in it.

Characters:

The characters aren't cardboard and Pike tries to infuse them with personality, such as Jean's constant money worries, or Michele's popularity or Mandy's competition. But these characters are weak and they barely make an impression on human mind. In an odd way too this book is reminiscent of The Immortal and Fall Into Darkness. The only characters that I have found of interest are Johnny and Dave. (I really didn't understand Dave's comment.)

Theme:

Whatever business someone has left on earth will get finished one way or another.

Plot:

This is in third person narrative from Jean's point of view. Although the author tries to interest the reader in scuba diving and the underground scenery along with supernatural elements, for me he didn't do a good job for one reason or another. Oddly enough I didn't feel pity or happiness for any characters and the best word I could describe the book as is that kind of a brain candy.

Author Information:

Christopher Pike wrote 30+ novels mainly for young adults, the most famous or well known one is The Last Vampire Saga, Final Friends and Remember Me, and his real name is Kevin McFadden. One of his books, Fall Into Darkness was created into a movie. Unfortunately he doesn’t have a website, but there is a fan club that is devoted to him. (http://www.christopherpikefanclub.com/ )

Opinion:

This is probably one of the Pike's weaker books (not weak like The Star Group or Starlight Crystal or others that I can't recall.) but there is really nothing special or memorable about it. In someways I thought it was very similar to Fall Into Darkness, except the characters tend to be on the weak side and they don't excite the human imagination. It's a fun mindless read but its not effectual.

3 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)