 First edition cover | |
| Author | Lois Duncan |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult fiction, thriller |
| Published | October 1973 |
| Publisher | Little Brown |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 199 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | 0-316-19546-4 (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 640901 |
| LC Class | PZ7.D9117 Iak |
I Know What You Did Last Summer is a 1973 suspense novel for young adults by Lois Duncan. A film adaptation loosely based on the novel was released in 1997.
High school senior Julie James receives a note in the mail that reads, "I know what you did last summer". The previous summer, Julie, her then-boyfriend Ray Bronson, Ray's best friend Barry Cox, and Barry's girlfriend and Julie’s best friend Helen Rivers were driving home after partying in the mountains. They accidentally run over and kill a young bicycling boy named David Gregg. [note 1] After Ray anonymously calls an ambulance for David, the four make a pact never to tell anyone about their involvement in the incident. Julie and Ray subsequently drift apart from one another, and Ray moves to California for work. Out of guilt, Julie anonymously sends yellow roses to David's funeral.
After receiving the note, Julie visits Helen at her apartment. Barry is invited over, and he reassures the girls that it is just a prank and that anyone who knows about their involvement would go to the police instead of leaving notes. Ray returns home after a year away in California and tries to get back together with Julie. However, she is not interested, and he learns that she is dating Bud, who recently served in the army. The next day, Helen is tanning at her apartment complex when she meets Collingsworth "Collie" Wilson, who moved into one of the apartments the day before. After this encounter, Helen finds a magazine cutout of a boy riding a bicycle taped to her apartment door. Ray also receives a newspaper clipping in the mail about David Gregg that same day.
On Memorial Day, Barry gets a call from someone offering to sell a picture the caller says shows a car hitting David's bicycle. They agree to meet on the athletic field. When Barry gets there, he is shot in the stomach by an unknown person. The bullet becomes lodged in his spine and threatens to paralyze him. Julie and Ray meet to discuss the shooting and decide to visit the house of David's parents to see if they could have been involved. At the Greggs', Ray and Julie use the excuse of car trouble, and Megan, David's sister, lets them in. Ray goes into the hallway and pretends to make a call while Julie talks to Megan. She tells Julie that their mother had a breakdown following David's death and was sent to a hospital in Las Lunas, and their father moved there to be close to her. When Ray and Julie leave, Julie tells Ray what she found out.
Ray sneaks into the hospital to visit Barry. Barry lies about the shooting and tells him that someone was trying to rob him, and Ray passes this information along to Helen. When Barry finds out that he will be able to walk, he calls Helen because he wants to confess that the caller was the person who shot him and that she is in danger. Helen is out and misses the call; she is surprised to see Collie when she returns to her apartment. Collie says that he is David's older brother and that he shot Barry as revenge for his involvement in the accident. He explains that he found out who had run him down by questioning the saleswoman from whom Julie had bought the yellow roses. He determined Helen was involved in the hit-and-run when Julie went to Helen's apartment after Julie received the note. Helen realizes that Collie plans to kill her and locks herself in her bathroom. After Collie tries to take the door off its hinges, she breaks the bathroom window and manages to escape.
That evening, Julie prepares for her date with Bud. However, her mother has an ominous premonition and asks Julie to stay home, to which she agrees. When Bud arrives, he convinces her to walk him back to his car so that they can talk. At his car, Bud tells her that his younger brother David had given him the name Bud because he could not pronounce "Collingsworth". He reveals that he knows Julie was involved in the hit-and-run and he begins to strangle Julie. Ray, who received a call from Barry warning that they were in danger, appears and beats Collingsworth unconscious with a flashlight. The police arrive after being sent by Helen to Julie's house. Julie and Ray agree that it is time to confess what they did last summer.
I Know What You Did Last Summer was first published in October 1973 by Little, Brown and Company in hardcover. [1] Duncan got the idea for the book while she was making dinner and her daughter Kerry was having a conversation with a friend in the kitchen. Kerry told her friend about a boy who interested her, and her friend was considering what to wear on her upcoming date. The two eventually found out they were talking about the same boy. Duncan began to wonder what would happen if "the boy had deliberately implanted himself in the lives of two girls he knew were friends" and if "he built up a different personality to present to each of them". [2] Duncan later read a story about a hit-and-run in the newspaper, which led her to incorporate one into the novel. [3]
On October 5, 2010, Little Brown reissued the novel in paperback with updates to modernize some of the content. [4] [5] I Know What You Did Last Summer was in the first group of 10 different titles that were updated and reissued with these changes. [5] In the revised edition, Duncan gave her characters cell phones and updated some of her characters' clothing choices. [6] The war Collingsworth had fought in was changed from the Vietnam War to the Iraq War. [7] [8]
An audiobook, read by Dennis Holland, was released by Hachette Audio in 2010 and features the modernized text. Lizzie Matkowski from Booklist thought that early on in the audiobook Holland "establishes a sense of normalcy in both the dialogue and narrative, which makes the revelations of what Julie and her friends did and their attempts to go on normally stand out starkly". She stated that the characters are deeply flawed, but that "Holland manages to redeem them little by little by emphasizing their naivete, youth, and regret". [9]
A movie tie-in edition of the novel released by Pocket Books in October 1997 sold 517,000 copies by November 1998. [10] It was listed by Publishers Weekly as the top-selling children's fiction book for October, November and December 1997. [11] [12] [13] A 1999 paperback edition published by Dell was selected as a 2005 Popular Paperback for Young Adults by the American Library Association. [14]
A reviewer from Kirkus Reviews felt that Barry and Helen "are so vacuous that one hardly cares whether they get murdered or not". They stated that, despite this, the "madman murderer is cleverly concealed among a bevy of red herrings, and, as he zeroes in for his revenge, this turns into a high-velocity chiller with a double identity twist". [15] Jennifer Moody writes in The Times Literary Supplement that "the mystery of who is responsible for the letters, the threats, and the violence, is handled with skill and panache". She added that Duncan "makes illuminating contrasts between the relationships of Julie and Ray on the one hand and Helen and Barry on the other". [16] Complete Review 's M. A. Orthofer gave the story a B− rating, stating that the story was a "reasonably suspenseful guilt-ridden thriller", but that "the writing (and some of the plotting) is very, very basic". [7]
The novel was adapted into a 1997 film of the same name directed by Jim Gillespie and starring Jennifer Love Hewitt as Julie, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Helen, Ryan Phillipe as Barry, and Freddie Prinze Jr. as Ray. Although the film retained the same premise of the novel, the story was re-envisioned as a slasher film, with the four friends being hunted by a hook-wielding killer. In addition to featuring the deaths of several characters, unlike the novel, the film depicts the friends as accidentally running over a fisherman, who secretly survives the hit-and-run and is ultimately revealed as the killer. Duncan was critical of the adaptation, stating in a 2002 interview she was "appalled" that her story was turned into a slasher film. [17] The film was met with mixed reviews, but was a commercial success and spawned a film series consisting of a direct sequel in 1998, and a third film in 2006.
A television series based on the novel was created by Sara Goodman for Amazon Prime Video in 2021. [18]
The series was canceled by Amazon Prime the following year. [19]
I Know What You Did Last Summer is a 1997 American slasher film directed by Jim Gillespie, written by Kevin Williamson, and starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze Jr. It is loosely based on the 1973 novel of the same name by Lois Duncan and is the first installment in the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise. The film centers on four young friends who are stalked by a hook-wielding killer one year after covering up a car accident in which they supposedly killed a man. The film also draws inspiration from the urban legend known as "The Hook" and the 1980s slasher films Prom Night (1980) and The House on Sorority Row (1982).
Scary Movie is a 2000 American slasher parody film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and written by Marlon and Shawn Wayans, alongside Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Starring Jon Abrahams, Carmen Electra, Shannon Elizabeth, Anna Faris, Kurt Fuller, Regina Hall, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, and Dave Sheridan, it follows a group of teenagers who accidentally hit a man with their car, dump his body in a lake, and swear to secrecy. A year later, someone wearing a Ghostface mask and robe begins hunting them one by one.
Killing Mr. Griffin is a 1978 suspense novel by Lois Duncan about a group of teenaged students at a New Mexico high school, who plan to kidnap their strict English teacher, Mr. Griffin. Duncan developed the story from the character of Mark, who is involved in the kidnapping plan and is based on the first boyfriend of Duncan's oldest daughter. Mr. Griffin was based on the personality of a teacher one of Duncan's daughters had in high school. In 2010, the novel was reissued with changes to modernize the content, making it more age appropriate and appealing to readers.
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is a 1998 slasher film directed by Danny Cannon and written by Trey Callaway. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Muse Watson reprise their roles, with Brandy, Mekhi Phifer and Matthew Settle joining the cast. It is the second installment in the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise. The film takes place one year after the events of I Know What You Did Last Summer. It received negative reviews and grossed $40 million on a budget of $24–65 million. A direct-to-video sequel, I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, was released in 2006.
Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th is a 2000 American direct-to-video parody slasher film directed by John Blanchard. The film stars Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Tom Arnold, Coolio and Shirley Jones. Several mid- and late 1990s teen horror films are parodied, as are slasher films from the 1970s and 1980s, including the Scream films, Friday the 13th (1980), Halloween (1978), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), as well as other films and television series outside of the horror genre. Although many different films are parodied, the film follows the plot of Scream (1996) very closely. It is often compared to Scary Movie, a commercially successful spoof from the same year, which had as a working title Scream If You Know What I Did Last Halloween.
Lois Duncan Steinmetz, known as Lois Duncan, was an American writer, novelist, poet, and journalist. She is best known for her young-adult novels, and has been credited by historians as a pioneering figure in the development of young-adult fiction, particularly in the genres of horror, thriller, and suspense.
Locked in Time is a 1985 suspense novel by Lois Duncan. The story centers around Nore, a seventeen-year-old girl who moves into a new home with her father and her new stepfamily. Soon after she meets her stepmother, stepbrother, and stepsister for the first time, Nore begins to suspect something is not quite right about her stepfamily. The author states that the novel explores some of the issues surrounding having eternal life. Duncan says she developed the idea for the novel when one of her daughters was thirteen years old and was having issues with her body image. Duncan mentions that her daughter was "taking everything out" on her, and she began to wonder what it would be like if her daughter never outgrew her adolescence.
A Summer Place is a 1959 American romantic drama film based on Sloan Wilson's 1958 novel of the same name, about teenage lovers from different classes who get back together 20 years later, and then must deal with the passionate love affair of their own teenage children by previous marriages. Delmer Daves directed the movie, which stars Richard Egan and Dorothy McGuire as the middle-aged lovers, and Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue as their respective children. The film contains a memorable instrumental theme composed by Max Steiner, which spent nine weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1960.
Down a Dark Hall is a 1974 young adult gothic novel by Lois Duncan. The book follows Kit Gordy, who is sent to a boarding school where only four students are admitted including herself. The students suddenly develop new talents, with Kit waking up one night playing a musical piece she has never heard. After they are told that they have been channeling the spirits of talented historical figures, Kit tries to escape the school before the bond between the spirits and the students becomes permanent.
Petulia is a 1968 drama film directed by Richard Lester and starring Julie Christie, George C. Scott and Richard Chamberlain. The film has a screenplay by Lawrence B. Marcus from a story by Barbara Turner and is based on the 1966 novel Me and the Arch Kook Petulia by John Haase. It was scored by John Barry.
Stranger with My Face is a young adult horror novel by Lois Duncan, first published in 1981. The novel is about Laurie Stratton, who is seen by others in places she knows she could not be. She discovers that she has an identical sister named Lia who has been visiting her town using astral projection, which involves sending her soul outside her body. Laurie learns astral projection and uses it to look for her sister. During this time, Lia's spirit takes control of Laurie's body. The story describes Laurie's struggle to take back control of her body. The novel explores themes of appearance versus true self and the idea of a double, someone similar but not quite the same as someone else. Duncan got the idea for the book after hearing about the concept of astral projection, which she thought would make a great plot for a novel. In 2011, the novel was updated with text to modernize the content.
I've Been Waiting for You is a 1998 made-for-TV horror/slasher film directed by Christopher Leitch. The film is based on the 1997 novel Gallows Hill written by Lois Duncan.
For Services Rendered is a play by Somerset Maugham. First performed in London in 1932, the play is about the effects of World War I on an English family.
Don't Look Behind You is a 1989 young adult thriller novel by Lois Duncan. It won a number of regional awards and was adapted into a television film in 1999.
I Know What You Did Last Summer is a 1997 American slasher film based on the 1973 novel.
Valerie Grant is a fictional character from Days of Our Lives, an American soap opera on the NBC network. The character was created by Pat Falken Smith and introduced as the black love interest for white character David Banning. The role was originated by Tina Andrews on October 27, 1975. Andrews was replaced by Rose Fonseca in the summer of 1977. Valerie and her family take David in when he is injured in a car accident and they soon fall in love. David and Valerie become engaged in the summer of 1976 but the romance is plagued by his infidelity, his ex-girlfriend Brooke Hamilton and her mother Helen's unwillingness to accept the relationship. When David's affair with Trish Clayton results in pregnancy, Valerie ends the relationship and takes a scholarship to medical school at Howard University in 1978. Actress Diane Sommerfield took over the role in 1981 when Valerie returns as a medical intern at the hospital. She becomes involved with Abe Carver which is plagued by Val's residual feelings for David and Abe's unwillingness to get married one day. The character is written out in 1982.
I Know What You Did Last Summer is an American horror film franchise consisting of three slasher films and one television series, loosely based on the novel of the same name by Lois Duncan. The first installment was written by Kevin Williamson, directed by Jim Gillespie, and released in 1997.
Helen Shivers is a fictional character in the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise. She was created by American writer Lois Duncan and originates from Duncan's 1973 suspense novel I Know What You Did Last Summer as a young woman involved in a hit and run accident. In this version, she is known as Helen Rivers. She was portrayed by actress Sarah Michelle Gellar in the Kevin Williamson scripted feature film I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) as the Croaker Queen of the Southport 1996 Beauty Pageant. Her chase sequence with the killer of the film has been deemed iconic and has been described as toying with the audience's expectations.
I Know What You Did Last Summer is an American teen slasher television series based on the 1973 novel of the same name by Lois Duncan. It was adapted for Amazon Prime Video by Sara Goodman and is produced by Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television Studios, in association with Original Film, Mandalay Television and Atomic Monster. Part of the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise, the series is a modern take on the original novel and follows a group of friends stalked by a brutal killer one year after covering up a car accident in which they killed someone. It features a cast led by Madison Iseman, Brianne Tju, Ezekiel Goodman, Ashley Moore, and Sebastian Amoruso, and also stars Bill Heck, Fiona Rene, Cassie Beck, and Brooke Bloom.
Julie James is a fictional character in the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise. The character was created by American writer Lois Duncan and appears in her 1973 suspense novel I Know What You Did Last Summer. In the story, Julie is a young woman whose friend group is involved in a hit-and-run accident. Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt portrayed Julie in the Kevin Williamson-scripted feature film I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), in which she is the final girl. She returns in the sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998).
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