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A tough, double-barreled thriller which immerses readers, alternately, in the unexplained torment of young Ben Marchand and his father, who await each other in a prep school dorm, and in the tension aboard a hijacked school bus diverted to a rickety unused bridge. The driver is a young girl with a nervous bladder, her guard a teenage terrorist (his mentor nearby in a van) who is looking forward to his initiation: his first kill. Early on, one of the tranquilized child passengers dies of a drug overdose, and after the first death there are many others: three of the four terrorists are eventually shot; the wariest, most promising of the children is killed in retaliation for the first of the three; a soldier gets his while participating in a rescue attack; and then, crouching with him in the woods when it's almost over, the girl makes a false play for the young gunman's emotions and he shoots her. (We leave him, stepping off the last page, preparing to kill again for a getaway car.) Ben's death comes later, at his own hands, after we learn that he had been sent as envoy to the terrorists and set up by his father, a general in charge of negotiations, to "betray" his country with false information. Cormier does not so much refuse to mourn as refuse to compromise - which his merciless choice of victims and his tight-lipped projection of the Army side makes smashingly clear. (Kirkus Reviews)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
On the outskirts of a small American town, a bus-load of young children is being held hostage. The hijackers are a cold and ruthless group, opposed to the secret government agency Inner Delta. At the centre of the battle are three teenagers. Miro is the terrorist with no past and no emotions. kate is the bus driver, caught up in the nightmare, and Ben is the General's son who must act as a go-between.
A tense drama with death being the only escape.
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First Sentence
I keep thinking that I have a tunnel in my chest. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
I keep thinking that I have a tunnel in my chest. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I read this book and it totally blew me away. It is not, nor is it supposed to be, a thriller and if you're looking for a trashy paperback to read on a beach in Benidorm, then I suggest you pick up the latest John Grisham. But if you're looking for a thoroughly complex novel that makes you question every aspect of your world view then please pick up this book. It focuses on themes of betrayal and trust. How much do you know yourself? What would you do in similar circumstances? What, indeed, is heroism?
This book is one of the best things that I have ever read. It's not an easy read, but it's certainly not slow (sorry other reviewer). Read it, you won't be disappointed.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
At first when i started reading the first chapter, i didnt really get it, but when you read on you cannot put the book down, you really want to know what is going to happen. In the bus incident where the terrorists have captured people, Robert Cormier talks about the emotions, feelings, thoughts of not only the hostages but also the terrorists, you think you are acually there inside the person's body which makes it a real thriller and a hard book to put down, A MUST READ!!!!!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was pointed in the direction of this book, originally published in 1979, for a teenage audience, by another reviewer, who referenced it in comparison to The Good Father, a new book which looks at the psychology of the lone assassin, but focuses more on the father of the disaffected young man, than the assassin himself.
Cormier has four major protagonists, through whose eyes the story is examined. The major event is the hijacking of a bus full of children by 4 men from an unnamed country, most probably one of the countries of the Middle East, as part of a political protest, and in order to get hostages released and the plight of their country to be openly seen, on the world stage. The major characters are Miro, the young man who has been groomed into freedom fighting/terrorism, Kate, the young woman who happens to be driving the bus, full of 4 and 5 year olds, and Ben, the son of a shadowy figure high up in the US military, who is precipitated into a pivotal position as messenger/go between. The fourth character is his father.
Realistically, I found the exploration of the father/son relationship, and indeed the Ben part of the story, the least credible, in terms of realism, but as this book was written specifically for teens, the unlikely choice of emissary makes sense. In fact, it's the only thing which gives away its designated audience, for this book is very adult indeed. Cormier makes no authorial 'these bad guys are monsters' calls - he explores the how they came to be as they are, with great subtlety. We see Miro through the growing understanding and subtle intuition, empathy and thought of Kate, who is able to grasp how such monstrous actions come to be, without condoning them. Miro too is challenged by his realisation of the humanity of his 'enemy'
It's obvious the book is not going to 'end well', it's not going to be a satisfyingly simplistic gung-ho good guys win and nuke the baddies to kingdom come splatt! type of book. This is not a spoiler. Kate, undoubtedly the most emotionally and mentally astute of all the characters, the most able to see behind the masks we hide behind, is clear, right from the very start that there can be no ending without dreadful loss. Cormier repeatedly, through Kate, prepares us for a real world which is brutal on all sides. Sadly, rhe subject matter of this book has become more, not less, pertinent and of the present in the 30 years since it was written. It's a book for our time, even more than for the late 70s
Cormier has four major protagonists, through whose eyes the story is examined. The major event is the hijacking of a bus full of children by 4 men from an unnamed country, most probably one of the countries of the Middle East, as part of a political protest, and in order to get hostages released and the plight of their country to be openly seen, on the world stage. The major characters are Miro, the young man who has been groomed into freedom fighting/terrorism, Kate, the young woman who happens to be driving the bus, full of 4 and 5 year olds, and Ben, the son of a shadowy figure high up in the US military, who is precipitated into a pivotal position as messenger/go between. The fourth character is his father.
Realistically, I found the exploration of the father/son relationship, and indeed the Ben part of the story, the least credible, in terms of realism, but as this book was written specifically for teens, the unlikely choice of emissary makes sense. In fact, it's the only thing which gives away its designated audience, for this book is very adult indeed. Cormier makes no authorial 'these bad guys are monsters' calls - he explores the how they came to be as they are, with great subtlety. We see Miro through the growing understanding and subtle intuition, empathy and thought of Kate, who is able to grasp how such monstrous actions come to be, without condoning them. Miro too is challenged by his realisation of the humanity of his 'enemy'
It's obvious the book is not going to 'end well', it's not going to be a satisfyingly simplistic gung-ho good guys win and nuke the baddies to kingdom come splatt! type of book. This is not a spoiler. Kate, undoubtedly the most emotionally and mentally astute of all the characters, the most able to see behind the masks we hide behind, is clear, right from the very start that there can be no ending without dreadful loss. Cormier repeatedly, through Kate, prepares us for a real world which is brutal on all sides. Sadly, rhe subject matter of this book has become more, not less, pertinent and of the present in the 30 years since it was written. It's a book for our time, even more than for the late 70s
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
25 years on - still fabulous
I am thrilled that this excellent book is still in print - I read it as part of my 'O' level (remember them?!? Read more
Published 11 months ago by judithjosie
Provocative, disturbing and timeless
Unbelievably, troubled teens sulked around unhappy worlds long before The Hunger Games. One outstanding vintage example is Richard Cormier's After the First Death, first published... Read more
Published 12 months ago by J. Shurin
Chiller thriller
It's an intriguing thought that this book is classified along with such harmless fodder as < Peter Rabbit > and <Five on a Treasure Island>, as a 'children's book'. Read more
Published 24 months ago by R. A. Williams
Suprisingly Amazing
I was litrally blown away by this book. The blurb was what intriged me, but I wasn't expecting it to be great as it is a young adult book. Read more
Published on 14 Mar 2010 by emma_jane2
FANTASTIC!
Wow that was a great book..i didn't expect it to be, its not really my sort of book but i had to read it for a school project and i mean wow that was great...
Published on 5 Oct 2003 by "alisgirl"
Purely good from start to finish
this book topped all of cormiers books, the different views gave it a brilliant but confusing way of looking at this hostage situation. Read more
Published on 17 Jun 2002 by Emma
it is an interesting book
In my opinion the book " After the first Death " was ok.At the beginning of the book it was hard to understand and I had a lot of problems with the vocabulary and the... Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2002
Exciting, but boring at some times!!
This book is very good! I only gave it four stars because it was boring at times!! Certainly I enjoyed this book but it wasn''t the thriller that I thought it would be!! Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2001
my new favorite.
This novel was required reading for my 10th grade honors English class, and I have to admit that I loved it. Read more
Published on 14 Feb 2001
This books is very good!!!
When I first started to read this book I didn't think I would like it but then BANG I was hooked. Extremely suspenseful, detailed captivating, and sad, I think it is a great read... Read more
Published on 8 Dec 1999
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