Killing Mr. Griffin

Killing Mr. Griffin is a truly terrifying book (especially if you happen to be a teacher). A group of teenagers, including one girl who is coerced into going along with the plan through peer pressure and a desire "to belong", hatch a plan to frighten their English teacher.

But their plan goes wrong. Instead of merely scaring their teacher into submission, they scare him to death. None of them, even the slightly stereotypical "bad kids," had intended for it to go that far.

Throughout most of the book, the reader is treated to a thorough exploration of the guilt, false bravado and despair the teenagers go through as they wrestle among themselves about what to do.

None of the characters, even the girl who was dragged into the plot to be the decoy, are particularly likable characters. But, that's a good thing. We may not like these characters, but we believe them.

Even though the story is far-fetched, we begin to understand how it could have happened as we travel the tortuous route to the ending. That's really the lesson here.

The characters in the story have created the terrible circumstance they find themselves in. At the same time, the situation shapes and molds their entire lives and beings. The scariest parts of the story are the ones that we see ourselves in.