The Hole
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3.6 • 7 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
“[A] COMPELLING PSYCHOLOGICAL TALE . . . A QUICK AND INTRIGUING BOOK WITH A TRULY SATISFYING ENDING.”
–Publishers Weekly
On a spring day in England, six teenagers venture to a neglected part of their school where there is a door to a small windowless cellar. Behind the door, the old stairs have rotted away. A boy unfurls a rope ladder and five descend into The Hole. The sixth closes the door, locks it from the outside, and walks calmly away. The plan is simple: They will spend three days locked in The Hole and emerge to become part of the greatest prank the school has ever seen. But something goes terribly wrong. No one is coming back to let them out . . . ever.
Taut and eerie, suspenseful and disturbing, The Hole is a compelling novel of physical endurance, psychological survival, and unforgettable revelations made all the more stunning by its shocking end.
“A frighteningly good plot . . . Expertly borrows the horror and tension that made William Golding’s Lord of the Flies such a success.”
–Metronews
“COMPULSIVELY SINISTER.”
–The Times (London)
BB/Ballantine Books/ 44655 /$ in USA • $ in Canada
Visit our Web site at www.ballantinebooks.com
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
First published in England in 1993, and written when Burt was 18 years old, this slight but compelling psychological tale is set at an unnamed British private school. On a day when most of the students are off on a field trip, devious Martyn, the architect of a series of ever-escalating practical jokes, sets in motion his biggest prank of all, one that he envisions as an experiment in real life. An abandoned cellar lies in a rarely used area of the school. Martyn lures five students into this empty hole and locks them in with the promise that he will release them in three days. When they come out, it will be a prank none of the school officials will ever forget. While waiting for their release, the five teenagers talk about all aspects of their lives, including personal hopes and fears. As the third day comes and goes, they realize no one is coming to release them. Isolation and abandonment sink in, and the students begin resorting to desperate measures. The story is conveyed in two voices; a third-person narrator describing the ordeal and the first-person account of Liz, a survivor writing as part of her ongoing therapy. While not a classic likeThe Lord of the Flies, this novel is a quick and intriguing book with a truly satisfying ending.
