Three Quarters Dead »

Richard Peck lives in New York City. His extensive list of honors includes the Newbery Medal, the Edgar Award, the Margaret A. Edwards Award, and the National Humanities Medal. He has twice been a finalist for the National Book Award.

Kerry is chosen by the coolest clique in school and so she thinks life has finally begun. But then it seems all over when her three friends are killed in a shocking car accident. Or are they? Only weeks after the accident, Kerry receives a text from one of the girls: We're all 3 here at my aunt's in the city. Take the 3:50 train. B there.

Exhilarating, terrifying suspense is crossed with a thought-provoking examination of peer pressure in Richard Peck's return to his contemporary teen- and ghost-story roots. This is a master author's gift to the Gossip Girl/Twilight generation: his own smart, stylish, and fun take on the paranormal.

Publishers Weekly

Peck never writes a book that is less than a page-turner, and this paranormal horror story captures the extremes of joy and dread, belonging and ostracism that are the core of the high school experience. Fifteen-year-old Kerry Williamson is new at prestigious suburban Pondfield High and doesn't expect much. Her status is transformed the day Tanya, Natalie, and Makenzie--the coolest, prettiest junior and senior girls--welcome her into their clique ("I'd moved from reality to a reality show, and what could be better?"), although a place in this charmed circle doesn't guarantee the respect of its rulers. A fatal accident just weeks before prom steals all the magic away--until an impossible text message tells Kerry that, just maybe, not everything has been lost. Kerry's voice is wistful, vulnerable, and would-be sophisticated, and the excuses she gives for her compromises ring both hollow and true. Perhaps because of this realism, the sudden escalation of fantastic horror in the last third of the book comes across as a pat resolution. Nevertheless, the story keeps its hold on readers to the very end. Ages 12 up. (Oct.)