Hang Loose
Reviews
Prolific Charlottesville author Linda Cargill keeps turning out inventive thrillers for young adults. Her latest are Pool Party and Hang Loose. In the former, somebody's bumping off some popular high school seniors; in the latter, a nut with a noose wants to rope in our heroine.
``You teen-agers,'' mutters one presiding adult precognitively, ``will be the death of me yet.''
Artfully horripilate Halloween fare!
From The Virginian-Pilot
Mattie Sullivan, the heroine in Linda Cargill's new young adult thriller Hang Loose, published by Harper Paperbacks, lives on St. Simons Isalnd. She has big problems. Her parents are getting a divorce, and her boyfrined Brad is pressuring her to get serious.
She'd go crazy if it weren't for her best friend Laura. Laura's sense of humor keeps her sane. But if Mattie thinks she's had enough, she is about to get more -- much more. Because somebody has it in for Mattie.
On her 17th birthday, she finds an old corpse hanging from a rope in the closet at the lighthouse where she works as a tour guide. That evening someone sends her a noose wrapped up as a birthday gift.
She gets notes and theats in the mail that she doesn't care to share with her troubled parents. She'd like to share it with Brad. Just one big problem. She's started to find clues - big clues. Brad's keeping lots of rope in a part of his house that he doesn't seem to want her to find. Once when she openned the right door to the wrong room, he looked like he was ready to strangle her on the spot. Could Brad be the mysterious Hangman of St. Simons Island - or is it somebody else?
Who else could it be? Mattie doesn't believe in ghosts. Or at least she didn't use to. But after hearing footsteps in the lighthouse at night after work when nobody else is there, after hearing the old stories about the old lighthouse keeper who used to hang his victims and then was murdered hundreds of years ago, she's not too sure.
But one thing is for sure. If the ghost doesn't get her, the Hangman will!
St. Simons Island is the setting for this fast-paced, action-packed young adult thriller.
"I've never found such a spooky place as St. Simons Isalnd," Mrs. Cargill said. "It's a ghost hunter's paradise!"
The novel was the result of two summers worth of travel to the Golden Isles. Mrs. Cargill, her husband Gary, and their son Kenny packed up their minivan and combed the islands for authentic bits of lore and legend suitable for young people. St. Simons Island turned out to be an embarassment of riches with its live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, its old churchyard, its ruined plantation houses, and, above all, its "haunted" lighthouse, according to Mrs. Cargill.
"The lighthouse has become the symbol of St. Simons Island," she said. "And, of course, it's the centerpiece of Hang Loose."
Her husband Gary climbed the tower, her son snapped photos, and Mrs. Cargill let the atmosphere of the island sink in. She interviewd a woman who claimed to have met the ghost, and a man who says he has heard the haunting footsteps on the lighthouse's spiral staircase.
"Who knows? Maybe on the next trip I'll interview the ghost himself," Mrs. Cargill said. "That's if he doesn't get me first."
The author of numerous young adult horror and suspense thrillers, Mrs. Cargill graduated from Duke University with a degree in English, and graduate degrees in English and English education at Duke and the University of Virginia. Briefly she taught high school English. She is an active member of the Mystery Writers of America and currently lives in Charlottesville, Va., with her husband and son and thier three cats -- Happy, Grumpy, and of course, Spooky.
From The Brunswick News
Mattie is turning 17. Her birthday, though, is evolving into a major league bummer for the St. Simons Island beauty.
I mean, her boyfriend Brad - we're talking real hunksville here - is beginning to act like, you know weird. And then some sicko starts playing practical jokes on the Mattster - like charred ropes in her basement and stealing the rope of the flagpole at the historic lighthouse where she works.
Then events slide downhill. One day Mattie opens a door at the lighthouse and finds a rather gamey corpse. And then the creepazoid plaguing her starts leaving her threatening notes, signed "The Hangman."
Who would want to harm Mattie?
The answer to the questions uncoils slowly slowly in Hang Loose, Linda Cargill's thriller/mystery for young readers. Could the villain be Mattie's bizarre neighbor, Big Sue? Or how about her brash, big-busted rival, the saucy Kyra? O what about Brad himself? I mean, it's just dreamsville when his muscular arms encircle Mattie's slim waist, but rumor has it there's weirdness blooming on a few branches of his family tree ...
As we traipse around St. Simons after Cargill's angst-ridden teen, things get curiouser and curiouser and the plot thickens unto a rich goo. The odd happenings that befall young Matter, she learns, are somehow linked to an old ghost tale swirling around the island. Her distrust darts from one suspect to another until her sanity begins to seem a tad flimsy. Only her best buddy Laura remains a rock of sobriety and good cheer. Then we have, to be sure, the tale's denouement, which the more proficient, experienced reader will likely see from, oh, several light-years afar.
For the juvenile observer, though, still susceptible to the willies when matters ectoplasmic are hinted at, Hang Loose will provide a fair share of thrills.
Doug Wyatt, Savannah Morning News.
Prolific Charlottesville author Linda Cargill keeps turning out inventive thrillers for young adults. Her latest are Pool Party and Hang Loose. In the former, somebody's bumping off some popular high school seniors; in the latter, a nut with a noose wants to rope in our heroine.
``You teen-agers,'' mutters one presiding adult precognitively, ``will be the death of me yet.''
Artfully horripilate Halloween fare!
From The Virginian-Pilot
Mattie Sullivan, the heroine in Linda Cargill's new young adult thriller Hang Loose, published by Harper Paperbacks, lives on St. Simons Isalnd. She has big problems. Her parents are getting a divorce, and her boyfrined Brad is pressuring her to get serious.
She'd go crazy if it weren't for her best friend Laura. Laura's sense of humor keeps her sane. But if Mattie thinks she's had enough, she is about to get more -- much more. Because somebody has it in for Mattie.
On her 17th birthday, she finds an old corpse hanging from a rope in the closet at the lighthouse where she works as a tour guide. That evening someone sends her a noose wrapped up as a birthday gift.
She gets notes and theats in the mail that she doesn't care to share with her troubled parents. She'd like to share it with Brad. Just one big problem. She's started to find clues - big clues. Brad's keeping lots of rope in a part of his house that he doesn't seem to want her to find. Once when she openned the right door to the wrong room, he looked like he was ready to strangle her on the spot. Could Brad be the mysterious Hangman of St. Simons Island - or is it somebody else?
Who else could it be? Mattie doesn't believe in ghosts. Or at least she didn't use to. But after hearing footsteps in the lighthouse at night after work when nobody else is there, after hearing the old stories about the old lighthouse keeper who used to hang his victims and then was murdered hundreds of years ago, she's not too sure.
But one thing is for sure. If the ghost doesn't get her, the Hangman will!
St. Simons Island is the setting for this fast-paced, action-packed young adult thriller.
"I've never found such a spooky place as St. Simons Isalnd," Mrs. Cargill said. "It's a ghost hunter's paradise!"
The novel was the result of two summers worth of travel to the Golden Isles. Mrs. Cargill, her husband Gary, and their son Kenny packed up their minivan and combed the islands for authentic bits of lore and legend suitable for young people. St. Simons Island turned out to be an embarassment of riches with its live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, its old churchyard, its ruined plantation houses, and, above all, its "haunted" lighthouse, according to Mrs. Cargill.
"The lighthouse has become the symbol of St. Simons Island," she said. "And, of course, it's the centerpiece of Hang Loose."
Her husband Gary climbed the tower, her son snapped photos, and Mrs. Cargill let the atmosphere of the island sink in. She interviewd a woman who claimed to have met the ghost, and a man who says he has heard the haunting footsteps on the lighthouse's spiral staircase.
"Who knows? Maybe on the next trip I'll interview the ghost himself," Mrs. Cargill said. "That's if he doesn't get me first."
The author of numerous young adult horror and suspense thrillers, Mrs. Cargill graduated from Duke University with a degree in English, and graduate degrees in English and English education at Duke and the University of Virginia. Briefly she taught high school English. She is an active member of the Mystery Writers of America and currently lives in Charlottesville, Va., with her husband and son and thier three cats -- Happy, Grumpy, and of course, Spooky.
From The Brunswick News
Mattie is turning 17. Her birthday, though, is evolving into a major league bummer for the St. Simons Island beauty.
I mean, her boyfriend Brad - we're talking real hunksville here - is beginning to act like, you know weird. And then some sicko starts playing practical jokes on the Mattster - like charred ropes in her basement and stealing the rope of the flagpole at the historic lighthouse where she works.
Then events slide downhill. One day Mattie opens a door at the lighthouse and finds a rather gamey corpse. And then the creepazoid plaguing her starts leaving her threatening notes, signed "The Hangman."
Who would want to harm Mattie?
The answer to the questions uncoils slowly slowly in Hang Loose, Linda Cargill's thriller/mystery for young readers. Could the villain be Mattie's bizarre neighbor, Big Sue? Or how about her brash, big-busted rival, the saucy Kyra? O what about Brad himself? I mean, it's just dreamsville when his muscular arms encircle Mattie's slim waist, but rumor has it there's weirdness blooming on a few branches of his family tree ...
As we traipse around St. Simons after Cargill's angst-ridden teen, things get curiouser and curiouser and the plot thickens unto a rich goo. The odd happenings that befall young Matter, she learns, are somehow linked to an old ghost tale swirling around the island. Her distrust darts from one suspect to another until her sanity begins to seem a tad flimsy. Only her best buddy Laura remains a rock of sobriety and good cheer. Then we have, to be sure, the tale's denouement, which the more proficient, experienced reader will likely see from, oh, several light-years afar.
For the juvenile observer, though, still susceptible to the willies when matters ectoplasmic are hinted at, Hang Loose will provide a fair share of thrills.
Doug Wyatt, Savannah Morning News.
