After The First Death

After The First Death

Robert Cormier
Dell Laurel-Leaf, a branch of Random House

In an attempt to end a war in their homeland, four terrorists devise a plot to expose a secret US agency. Stuck in the midst of this plan is a school bus full of young children on their way to summer camp, a fill-in teenage bus driver, and the son of a general who gets more then he bargained for. Most of the story takes place on the hijacked school bus on an old railroad bridge with little snippets into the life of the general's son after his experience on the bridge. Compelling up until the last pages, it's hard to put the book down.

WARNING: There is a lot of killing that, to me, seemed really harsh. A few swear words were also thrown in.

Personal opinion:

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was absolutely superbly written, and a further study brought a lot of enlightenment, but there was so much killing that really seemed pointless to me. I had a hard time justifying how many people died. I suppose I can say that I loved the writing style, but I didn't like the story line.