By: Joan Lowery Nixon
Summary:
Mary Elizabeth Rafferty (Liz) is a 16 year old girl who just started a summer pool job at the glamorous Ridley Hotel. Liz is a normal teenage girl who is still trying to grow into her height and who is afraid of the dark. The things that she deals with are typical of an everyday teenager; including love. Liz meets Francis Liverpool III (Fran), after a strange event at the pool where Liz’s ankles are grabbed by a stranger who is in the pool after hours. The stranger never identifies himself and the event is simply shrugged off by Liz’s boss as an overactive imagination. When the Ridley hotel and its guests begin to experience higher than normal robberies, Liz and Fran work together in order to find the answer. Liz is sure that all the bizarre events happening at the Ridley are somehow synchronized. Then during Liz’s closing shift, some very eerie events start taking place near the pool area. Liz finds herself caught in the middle of a deadly web, when she discovers one of the Ridley’s most prominent guests face down in the pool. As she begins to unravel the mysteries that all seem to be linked together, the main orchestrater turns out to be someone that is least expected.
Other books by this author:
Secret, Silent Screams
The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore
Maggie Too
The Ghosts of Now
4 comments:
The Dark and Deadly pool review
By Kelsie, January 27, 2007
A Kid's Review
The Dark and Deadly Pool was a mystery as well as a ghost story. It also had a little romance. The main character, Liz is a teenager not comfortable with herself just like any other teenager. She works at the Ridley Hotel in the health club as a summer job. She meets a guy there, Fran, but he is really short. Shorter than Liz. She just can't seem to get over that even though he is a really nice guy. Anyway weird things start happening at the hotel. Valuables are stolen and some of the health club's members are in danger. With the help of Fran she tries to solve the mystery but she doesn't know that she is in danger too.
The story is very suspenseful and it is easy to relate to Liz. I highly recommend this book and its sequel, The Weekend was Murder.
Reaction: I think that this review is quite valid. The reviewer puts a lot of emphasis on the romantic parts of the novel, which I don’t think were meant to be the main point of the novel. However, the romance added a cute touch and would really appeal to middle school students.
The Dark and Deadly Pool review
By A. Edwards
i read this book with high expectations since i had previously read the weekend was murder(which i believe to be Nixon's best book). i must say it lived up to those expectations. Nixon is a great writer and her mysteries, although a little cheesy, are fun. i love her light romance. It's never too over the top. this book is great for younger teens because it is somewhat cheesy. It's not her best, but in my mind nothing tops the weekend was murder which also follows the life of Liz. I absolutely loved Fran... corky and sweet...this book is a great read.
Reaction: I agree that this novel was very cheesy. It was a quick read, but definitely not a huge suspense builder. I have never read Nixon’s books before but I think after this novel, I would be slow to pick up another one of her novels, because I found the read very elementary.
Couldn't finish it,
January 15, 2006
A Kid's Review
I thought this book would be interesting and would stretch my imagination because it was by Joan Lowery Nixon. I love her books, just not this one. The main reason is because of a character named Fran. I think he was a weirdo and a bit of a stalker considering he was every where with Liz. I could barely finish the book. This character, Fran was very annoying!!!!! Good book. Fran horrible character. I recommend a Deadly game of magic by Joan Lowery Nixon.
Reaction: I definitely don’t agree with this review. I thought that Fran was a wonderful character. He showed the persistence that young teenagers have when pursuing a girl, which I thought was cute. He added a lot of humor into the novel with his cunning personality and quick wit.
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This is a moderately suspenseful mystery, rounded out with touches of humor and romance, but not one of Nixon's best. There are too many glitches in the complicated plot for it to be fully convincing. The protagonist's foolhardy ingenuousness strains credibility: she discusses events related to the case freely, even after it seems likely an insider is involved. The relationship between the thefts and the syndicate is never really clear, and the revelation that drug deals are somehow involved which would justify the otherwise inexplicable violence is tacked-on, vague and ultimately unpersuasive. Ages 12-up.
Reaction: I couldn’t have summed it up better. There were many things in this novel that were not quite explained in enough details. I was very surprised when Mr. Jones and Mr. Kamara were both murdered because there was nothing to suggest that anybody would be capable of such foul play. At the end, when you find out the list contained names of drug dealers, you kind of put two and two together, but even the drug thing came out of the blue. This mystery was cute and definitely not overly suspenseful. However, I think that Nixon did a commendable job of combining mystery with romance and humor.
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