The Boy Who Couldn't Die Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

The Boy Who Couldn't Die Book

Young teens will rejoice at this just-for-fun creepy adventure by William Sleator, one more in a long line of such stories going back to his classic sci-fi novels, House of Stairs, and Interstellar Pig. Here he shifts from science fiction to horror, with a plot based on Hollywood-style voodoo lore. When seventeen-year-old Ken's best friend Roger dies in a plane crash, Ken suddenly realizes that he too could die at any moment. Terrified, he seeks out a plump, middle-aged psychic named Cherie Buttercup, who grants him invulnerability from death in exchange for his soul. Eager to test his new powers, Ken talks his family into a vacation in the Caribbean, where he can swim with sharks. There he is entranced with Sabine, a young scuba instructor, and shares his story with her. When Ken begins to have vivid dreams of secret murders, he and Sabine realize that Cherie Buttercup is using his soul as a zombie to do her will. But the dreams also give clues as to where his soul is hidden--so the pair set out to retrieve it. Breathless action is leavened with the unconscious humor of typical Sleator touches in which preposterous fantasy collides with the details of reality, only adding to the fun. (ages 10 to 14) --Patty CampbellRead More

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  • Product Description

    William Sleator, a master of science fiction, has turned to horror, creating a novel with the creepiness of a genre classic and the mind-twists of his best-selling House of Stairs.

    I'm lying in some kind of box, and I'm paralyzed-I can't move an arm, a leg, a finger. I have no voice, because my breathing is so shallow it's like I'm hardly aware of breathing at all. I feel very cold. My temperature is so far below normal that if I weren't paralyzed I'd be shivering uncontrollably. I have the disgusting sensation that bugs are crawling under my skin, but I can't move to scratch.

    And then everything goes black when they fit a cover onto the box. Now I understand: They think I'm dead, and they're burying me in a coffin. I try to scream, to bang on the lid of the coffin as I hear the nails being pounded in, the coffin shaking with each slam of the hammer. But I can't move; I can't make a sound. They really think I'm dead! And now they're lowering the coffin into the ground. In a moment something heavy and porous falls down on top of the coffin. Earth. They're burying me alive. I'm doing everything in my power to scream and bang but I can't move and I can't make a sound. -from The Boy Who Couldn't Die

    "William Sleator [is]...one of my favorite young-adult writers." -R. L. Stine, author of the Fear Street series

    When his best friend is killed in a plane crash, Ken makes a decision: He will never die. As the only child of rich, indulgent parents, Ken is used to getting his way, and this time is no different. He finds a woman who claims she can make him invulnerable to pain and death for the unbelievably cheap price of fifty dollars. And her strange ritual works. Ken can't be burned, beaten up, or even bitten by the sharks he dives amongst on his spring break in the Caribbean.

    Ken can't die, but he can kill. As long as he's awake, he feels in complete control of his life. But at night the dreams take over-dreams of digging up graves, of knifing perfect strangers...then of trying to murder someone he loves. And no one can stop him, not even himself.

  • 0810948249
  • 9780810948242
  • William Sleator
  • 21 July 2004
  • Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
  • Hardcover (Book)
  • 174
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