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Deep Creek Lake #1
Crash Course
An intensive SAT-preparation course at a weekend retreat in a remote lakeside cabin is transformed into a nightmare for eight teenagers when one of their number is murdered and their teacher disappears while going for help.
217 pages, Paperback
Published February 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 18, 2017
Terrible teen thriller from a usually reliable author in which a group of students head off on a trip to cram for exams. But one of them dies, and they must figure out if an unknown murderer is stalking them, or whether somebody among them is a killer.
Unfortunately, the book gives away the identity of the murderer in the prologue! Basically, due to the identity of the character who is killed - who else could the killer be?!? It's quite infuriating that the book continues trying to be a whodunit, and I just became eager for it to end so that it could confirm that the killer was indeed the very person the prologue indicated! Tagged to this is an annoying lead character - Kelly's only real ambition in life is to be with Jeff, it would seem! Other characters seem to act in odd ways to service the plot, rather than would actually be expected of them, particularly Angel. I kind of liked Nathan, though.
All in all, it was slowly-paced, boring and terribly predictable.
Unfortunately, the book gives away the identity of the murderer in the prologue! Basically, due to the identity of the character who is killed - who else could the killer be?!? It's quite infuriating that the book continues trying to be a whodunit, and I just became eager for it to end so that it could confirm that the killer was indeed the very person the prologue indicated! Tagged to this is an annoying lead character - Kelly's only real ambition in life is to be with Jeff, it would seem! Other characters seem to act in odd ways to service the plot, rather than would actually be expected of them, particularly Angel. I kind of liked Nathan, though.
All in all, it was slowly-paced, boring and terribly predictable.
August 2, 2021
I stumbled across this blog post about Crash Course while I was googling Gweemush (which didn’t have any relevant results). I’m not affiliated with the blog at all but highly recommend reading their post after finishing the book! I’m reading through it now and so far everything they’ve written is spot on.
June 7, 2016
I remember coming across this when I was about 10, and I'm sure I read it before but didn't recall how the story played out. I almost tossed it out of the window this time around. The story was not so bad, but some of the content was insulting and ridiculous.
Brian Lopez was described as having a light complexion despite his father's Hispanic genes. That was so stupid. Everyone knows that not all Hispanic people are dark, so the father having Hispanic genes does not necessarily mean he is dark.
It got worse when Chris Baxter was introduced to the reader as a hulk whose black face and hands shone with sweat even in the cool autumn air. Well, since the guy was playing a game of football it should not have been surprising that he was sweating. Later on, Kelly Peterson was watching Chris and noticed how lonely he seemed, he'd always been nice to her but everyone else was afraid of him. At one point another student catches her attention and the narration said that Kelly lost interest in the black football player.
It had already been stated that Chris was black, so there was certainly no need to remind us, and why did Chris have to be the black football player instead of just a football player like his white teammates were described as being?
It was nonstop when it came to Chris, there was mention of his wide nose and dark face numerous times. He got into a fight with a another guy and the author said his thick black fingers held the boy's shirt tight. We get it, Chris is BLACK and Chris is apparently DARK. No need to beat it into the ground. He's a big scary dark-skinned black monster.
The author took it easier on Isabel Smith, but she was not spared. She had slightly slanted eyes and honeyed-skin, so Kelly figured she was Hawaiian or Oriental. Later on, as Isabel was talking about her grandfather, Kelly was suddenly struck by the realization that Isabel was American Indian of some sort. When did that become something to be struck by? Isabel spent the first night at the cabin telling a ghost story about whites killing American Indians. For the rest of the book Isabel was known as the Indian girl with the honeyed-skin, never mind that she had an Irish grandmother.
Then you had the Goth girl, though apparently in 1990 the term was not used that much; she was never called that. Angel had long black hair, snow-white skin, and enormous eyes ringed with black eyeliner. She wore black lipstick, a black dress, and pointy black boots. She also spent her time mumbling to a tiny skull she wore on a chain.
One guy was shocked that their teacher, who was pushing 40, had all his hair. Who on earth would be shocked that a man only 38 or 39 had hair? Sure, guys lose their hair, but the way this was said made it sound like the man was about to be a senior citizen.
All of the above stupidity spoiled the book for me, I couldn't wait to be done with it. I hope part 2 is less insulting.
Brian Lopez was described as having a light complexion despite his father's Hispanic genes. That was so stupid. Everyone knows that not all Hispanic people are dark, so the father having Hispanic genes does not necessarily mean he is dark.
It got worse when Chris Baxter was introduced to the reader as a hulk whose black face and hands shone with sweat even in the cool autumn air. Well, since the guy was playing a game of football it should not have been surprising that he was sweating. Later on, Kelly Peterson was watching Chris and noticed how lonely he seemed, he'd always been nice to her but everyone else was afraid of him. At one point another student catches her attention and the narration said that Kelly lost interest in the black football player.
It had already been stated that Chris was black, so there was certainly no need to remind us, and why did Chris have to be the black football player instead of just a football player like his white teammates were described as being?
It was nonstop when it came to Chris, there was mention of his wide nose and dark face numerous times. He got into a fight with a another guy and the author said his thick black fingers held the boy's shirt tight. We get it, Chris is BLACK and Chris is apparently DARK. No need to beat it into the ground. He's a big scary dark-skinned black monster.
The author took it easier on Isabel Smith, but she was not spared. She had slightly slanted eyes and honeyed-skin, so Kelly figured she was Hawaiian or Oriental. Later on, as Isabel was talking about her grandfather, Kelly was suddenly struck by the realization that Isabel was American Indian of some sort. When did that become something to be struck by? Isabel spent the first night at the cabin telling a ghost story about whites killing American Indians. For the rest of the book Isabel was known as the Indian girl with the honeyed-skin, never mind that she had an Irish grandmother.
Then you had the Goth girl, though apparently in 1990 the term was not used that much; she was never called that. Angel had long black hair, snow-white skin, and enormous eyes ringed with black eyeliner. She wore black lipstick, a black dress, and pointy black boots. She also spent her time mumbling to a tiny skull she wore on a chain.
One guy was shocked that their teacher, who was pushing 40, had all his hair. Who on earth would be shocked that a man only 38 or 39 had hair? Sure, guys lose their hair, but the way this was said made it sound like the man was about to be a senior citizen.
All of the above stupidity spoiled the book for me, I couldn't wait to be done with it. I hope part 2 is less insulting.
January 5, 2025
Why the hell would ANYONE take an SAT course at a super remote cabin in the middle of nowhere, with no electricity or bathroom or phone?? Dumb!! 🤣🤣
8 teens take a bus to this secluded cabin with their Mr. So-and-so (I forgot the teacher's name) for this...crash course. Of course things go wrong. We open up the book with 2 teens in a boat and one of them is pushed overboard. The rest of the book is spent trying to figure out whodunit and why!
I was able to guess the culprit even though I'm usually a dum dum when it comes to figuring it out 😆
Rife with silly caricatures (the weird goth girl that speaks in riddles) and casual racism (the "light skinned Hispanic", the angry violent black football player, the Native-American "slut"), but if you can look past the not-so-great side of 1990, this was actually a decent read.
We get a Scooby Doo "So THAT'S how they got away with it!" explanatory chapter at the end, so don't worry if you're not understanding anything until then 🤣
8 teens take a bus to this secluded cabin with their Mr. So-and-so (I forgot the teacher's name) for this...crash course. Of course things go wrong. We open up the book with 2 teens in a boat and one of them is pushed overboard. The rest of the book is spent trying to figure out whodunit and why!
I was able to guess the culprit even though I'm usually a dum dum when it comes to figuring it out 😆
Rife with silly caricatures (the weird goth girl that speaks in riddles) and casual racism (the "light skinned Hispanic", the angry violent black football player, the Native-American "slut"), but if you can look past the not-so-great side of 1990, this was actually a decent read.
We get a Scooby Doo "So THAT'S how they got away with it!" explanatory chapter at the end, so don't worry if you're not understanding anything until then 🤣
August 27, 2022
Published earlier than the last Nicole Davidson book I read, I was either in for the book to be better or worse. I suppose one thing that kept me from giving it four or five stars was a little bit of the not very politically correct ethnicity of the Isabel character. I know it was a different time in 1990 but it just kind of threw me off whenever that detail popped up.
We get a small description of each teenage character at the beginning of the book and I guess it gives us insight about them. I sort of got my own reading about each one too:
Kelly - sexy redhead, thinks of Brian as a brother, judgmental about his girlfriend Paula, and Isabel and even Angel at first. Got the hots for Jeff real bad...
Jeff - wants more than anything to go to Harvard like his dad and every other male in his family tree. Drives a white Corvette. Saw Kelly perform in a production of Cats and he's been gone on her ever since...
Brian - Hispanic and his family is just as well to do as Jeff's. His dad is in real estate and Brian has a lock on going to an academy that's basically Top Gun. Nice enough guy but his girlfriend has him so whipped...
Paula - blonde cheerleader completely obsessive about her boyfriend Brian. Jealous that he is friends with Kelly since they were babies and that's about it...
Chris - African American football player with a very bad temper and built like a tank. At times he seems very quiet and insecure but the next minute like a raging bull. Girls are cautious of him and other guys are intimidated by him. Another point that irks me...the big and scary black man approach to him and even the jerk jock...
Isabel - Of Native American descent, particularly Navajo. Seems to be a decent person and quite gorgeous. Keeps a knife that her grandfather made her for protection as well as a ring.
Nathan - has to work at a movie theater to have his own cash and wants nothing more than to get away from his alcoholic father. A little crass and has a habit of running his mouth. Totally not a fan of Chris and has no luck with the ladies until he meets...
Angel - last of the teens. Fully embracing this gothic, punk, witchy persona and always writing in a diary. Seems so slightly off just to get attention and the one who observes and hardly says a word.
They all have only one thing in common: going on a five day SAT Prep course set up by teacher Alexander Porter. How he randomly came up with these teenagers makes no sense with Angel who goes to a different school and Isabel is a new student. I can understand trying to make something out of Nathan and prove that Chris isn't a dumb jock but Brian is apparently smart.
Kelly doesn't seem like she needs to be there either and her dad is just pawning her off because his wife walked out on them and spending another Thanksgiving with just his daughter is awful *sarcastically rolling my eyes*
Paula's life is all Life About Brian so maybe she needs to try and find a future of her own and Jeff even tries to convince Porter he doesn't need to go like a spoiled little rich boy thinking he can just coast on being a "legacy". He chickens out telling the man off and only decides to go because Kelly's coming as well. Yet he doesn't want her hot bod distracting him from trying to get into his dream school *sarcastically rolling my eyes that they almost go back into my head*
They get to a secluded cabin on the shore of a lake with no telephone or electricity and as we all know going into the woods means nothing can bode well for any of these teenagers and not even the presence of an adult means they are safe. Attitudes flare up, misunderstandings and teen nastiness happens and soon...one of the kids is dead.
Responsible adult goes to get help and then we have seven teenagers wondering if a psycho killer is on the loose in the woods, sitting right beside one of them this very moment or if their teacher is prepping them for a crash course...in DEATH!!
Sorry couldn't resist...anyway...
There is a prologue that sort of sets up a "how we got here" with the rest of the story and does kind of give away who ends up dying if you pay very close attention despite even letting us know the gender. The real story is more finding out why this particular person is in the situation we find at the beginning.
There's accusations, playing the blame game, red herrings...you know the drill with these books.
Some interesting reveals from a few of the characters about their personal lives but no surprise really about who our "killer" is and a normal motivation for their crime.
An okay sort of climax and an ending that is truly bittersweet even if some of it is exposition and I know that there is a book called "Crash Landing" but having not acquired it as of yet...this book is a good read. Not a great one with its age holding it back but it isn't done out of pure malice and I did get a few chuckles at the dialogue.
Curious to find out who dies and never read this one before? Give it a go.
Haven't read it in awhile? Give it a re-read out of nostalgia and see what you think some years down the road.
We get a small description of each teenage character at the beginning of the book and I guess it gives us insight about them. I sort of got my own reading about each one too:
Kelly - sexy redhead, thinks of Brian as a brother, judgmental about his girlfriend Paula, and Isabel and even Angel at first. Got the hots for Jeff real bad...
Jeff - wants more than anything to go to Harvard like his dad and every other male in his family tree. Drives a white Corvette. Saw Kelly perform in a production of Cats and he's been gone on her ever since...
Brian - Hispanic and his family is just as well to do as Jeff's. His dad is in real estate and Brian has a lock on going to an academy that's basically Top Gun. Nice enough guy but his girlfriend has him so whipped...
Paula - blonde cheerleader completely obsessive about her boyfriend Brian. Jealous that he is friends with Kelly since they were babies and that's about it...
Chris - African American football player with a very bad temper and built like a tank. At times he seems very quiet and insecure but the next minute like a raging bull. Girls are cautious of him and other guys are intimidated by him. Another point that irks me...the big and scary black man approach to him and even the jerk jock...
Isabel - Of Native American descent, particularly Navajo. Seems to be a decent person and quite gorgeous. Keeps a knife that her grandfather made her for protection as well as a ring.
Nathan - has to work at a movie theater to have his own cash and wants nothing more than to get away from his alcoholic father. A little crass and has a habit of running his mouth. Totally not a fan of Chris and has no luck with the ladies until he meets...
Angel - last of the teens. Fully embracing this gothic, punk, witchy persona and always writing in a diary. Seems so slightly off just to get attention and the one who observes and hardly says a word.
They all have only one thing in common: going on a five day SAT Prep course set up by teacher Alexander Porter. How he randomly came up with these teenagers makes no sense with Angel who goes to a different school and Isabel is a new student. I can understand trying to make something out of Nathan and prove that Chris isn't a dumb jock but Brian is apparently smart.
Kelly doesn't seem like she needs to be there either and her dad is just pawning her off because his wife walked out on them and spending another Thanksgiving with just his daughter is awful *sarcastically rolling my eyes*
Paula's life is all Life About Brian so maybe she needs to try and find a future of her own and Jeff even tries to convince Porter he doesn't need to go like a spoiled little rich boy thinking he can just coast on being a "legacy". He chickens out telling the man off and only decides to go because Kelly's coming as well. Yet he doesn't want her hot bod distracting him from trying to get into his dream school *sarcastically rolling my eyes that they almost go back into my head*
They get to a secluded cabin on the shore of a lake with no telephone or electricity and as we all know going into the woods means nothing can bode well for any of these teenagers and not even the presence of an adult means they are safe. Attitudes flare up, misunderstandings and teen nastiness happens and soon...one of the kids is dead.
Responsible adult goes to get help and then we have seven teenagers wondering if a psycho killer is on the loose in the woods, sitting right beside one of them this very moment or if their teacher is prepping them for a crash course...in DEATH!!
Sorry couldn't resist...anyway...
There is a prologue that sort of sets up a "how we got here" with the rest of the story and does kind of give away who ends up dying if you pay very close attention despite even letting us know the gender. The real story is more finding out why this particular person is in the situation we find at the beginning.
There's accusations, playing the blame game, red herrings...you know the drill with these books.
Some interesting reveals from a few of the characters about their personal lives but no surprise really about who our "killer" is and a normal motivation for their crime.
An okay sort of climax and an ending that is truly bittersweet even if some of it is exposition and I know that there is a book called "Crash Landing" but having not acquired it as of yet...this book is a good read. Not a great one with its age holding it back but it isn't done out of pure malice and I did get a few chuckles at the dialogue.
Curious to find out who dies and never read this one before? Give it a go.
Haven't read it in awhile? Give it a re-read out of nostalgia and see what you think some years down the road.
August 24, 2021
TBH, I liked this one *shrugs*.
I didn’t figure out who the killer was until at least 3/4 of the way through, which was a nice bonus, and I loved the setting of a creepy cabin in the woods! The characters - though pretty weird and at times charicaturish - felt rounded and interesting.
But there was soooo much racism. Racial slurs are just chucked in there. Isabel bears the brunt of it, but Chris was seen as this like, tragic giant figure? Which was sooo patronising and just felt completely alienating. And nobody seems to have pointed that out.
But tension-wise and fun-wise, I liked it.
I didn’t figure out who the killer was until at least 3/4 of the way through, which was a nice bonus, and I loved the setting of a creepy cabin in the woods! The characters - though pretty weird and at times charicaturish - felt rounded and interesting.
But there was soooo much racism. Racial slurs are just chucked in there. Isabel bears the brunt of it, but Chris was seen as this like, tragic giant figure? Which was sooo patronising and just felt completely alienating. And nobody seems to have pointed that out.
But tension-wise and fun-wise, I liked it.
September 15, 2019
Full review here:
While there are some fairly major plot holes, and a premise that seems largely unlikely in the modern age (one supervisor? no way to contact the outside in case of emergency?), it does provide an amusing distraction that holds up several years after publication.
While there are some fairly major plot holes, and a premise that seems largely unlikely in the modern age (one supervisor? no way to contact the outside in case of emergency?), it does provide an amusing distraction that holds up several years after publication.
September 7, 2023
This is the second of Nicole Davidson’s novels I’ve read, the first being winterkill.
As young adult fiction goes these are pretty good
As young adult fiction goes these are pretty good
December 13, 2022
A decent teen mystery that could've done a better job of hiding the "killer's" identity.
July 17, 2010
This book had a few note worthy characters in it...Alas it was not enough for it to hang around the house....It will be blown out to the winds like all the other crap novels before it...
March 14, 2013
I will make this quick: The plot sucked.
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