After the First Death

When he wrote this book in the 1970s, Cormier had no idea how relevant it would still be twenty-five years later, in our post 9-11 world. One of the most amazing things about After the First Death is the author's ability to make you understand and even sympathize with characters who do terrible

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things. I didn't like Artkin, or Miro, or Mark, but I could understand them. And I could certainly sympathize with Kate and Ben's uncertainty and fear and desire to be brave and do the right thing. By the end, nearly every major character is dead. But a happy ending to this story simply wasn't possible.

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Summary: Terrorists hijack a summer camp bus full of children.

Evaluation: I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of Robert Cormier. I tend to think his books are a little depressing. His characters, however, are multi-layered. I do like how Kate tries to use her wits to save the children. Even if it doesn't

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work, she still comes across as a strong female character. The terrorists are three-dimensional as well. They aren't just "the bad guys." They have stories and lives, too.

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After The First Death authored by Robert Cormier is a story about a camp bus that gets hijacked by a group of terrorists that consist of Miro, Artkin, and Antibbe. The terrorists want the worst for America and will stop at nothing until it happens, so their idea is to hijack a camp bus after it

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picks up all the kids and then drive it to the middle of a bridge and stay there until they get ransom money. They will go to any extreme even if it means committing homicide. The only way to communicate with the terrorists is sending somebody to their van in front of the bus. The only person they will negotiate with is the General's son. The General's son willingly communicates with the terrorists in their van with no guard in an attempt to get the school children released from the terrorists captivity.
This book is pretty good. I would give it a 3/5 because it wasn't as interesting as I anticipated but it keeps you hooked in a way that you want to know what outrageous thing the crazy terrorists are going to do next. I like how this book was completely unpredictable it kept me shocked from the beginning due to the twists and turns in the terrorists decision making process. The author does a good job at creating the picture in your mind without dragging it on for a whole chapter, you can picture yourself on the bus so easily and you don't get bored when the author is describing things because its short and to the point. After The First Death wasn't my favorite book but if you like suspenseful stories then pick this book up.

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I didn't like the switching points of view. The story was just okay.

WAS a classroom book (left from a previous teacher), but I don't see any point in keeping it in my grade 7/8 library. Way too much for that age level, I think. This one wasn't nearly as good as any of the other Cormier novels I've read. I wasn't compelled to finish it; rather, I unenthusiastically

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plugged along to find out how it all comes together in the end. It was satisfying predictably disturbing, but made no major impact on me. I would've enjoyed discussing this at length with my peers and a good English teacher in high school, but that need can't effectively be met with online chats with strangers. I do recommend it to high school ELA teachers, but I don't know if it's worth the cost of other, more worthy novels.

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Terrorists take over a school bus full of 5 year olds on their way to a summer camp and make demands.
Cormier is a master storyteller, but his stuff is pretty dark. This one is no exception and if you even remotely think you may be troubled by it, I'd stay clear. Excellently written, but ooof, it's

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not full of unicorns and rainbows.

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