It's time to go on the road again with Christopher Pike. It's been an interesting run so far as we've covered Pike's works. Will this next book be a joyride or the highway to Hell? Let's see with Road to Nowhere.
We open as Teresa Chafey is running away. Or to be more specific, driving away. We don't know why yet, other than she doesn't want to be where she is at this moment. And with her parents gone, it's the best chance for her to make her exit. Her focus right now is getting away from someone named Bill. However, not long after driving off in her Mazda 626, she spots a pair of hitchhikers and decides to pick them up, because that always bodes well in these types of tales. We don't know their real names, or if these names are their real ones, but they call themselves Freedom Jack and... and I don't know if this one is clever or horrible... Poppy Corn. That might be our new winner for best worst book character name.
Free and Poppy enter Teresa's car and she continues her drive. They tell her to drive north as they have a gig in the Bay Area, but stop to see Poppy's father, who is a priest in the woods. Well that bodes well. Turns out that Freedom Jack is a magician and Poppy is his assistant. Oh great, another magician in these books (Referencing The Sleepwalker). They were driving to their location when Poppy crashed their car at a light pole. After Free shows Teresa some card tricks (including one where a card magically appears in her back pocket), they stop to get gas and some provisions. Freedom Jack has an argument with the store owner over ID while Teresa talks with Poppy for a bit. She thinks that whatever Teresa's hiding will come out if she confesses to Poppy's dad. Teresa denies anything to hide, but we know she's got some issue with Bill, who we learn is her now ex boyfriend.
They continue to drive while drinking beer, Teresa even drinking one because what is this, a PSA? To pass the time, Free suggests that they tell stories, with Poppy suggesting that Teresa starts, since they are curious why she's driving away from home all of a sudden. She mentions it's to get away from her boyfriend Bill Clark and we then transition to Teresa's tale. She met Bill during Christmas while she was shopping for gifts at the mall. They met while waiting for food at Carls' Jr. then start to hit it off. Bill talks a lot to her about the Big Bang Theory, which being a 1993 book is actually about the Big Bang Theory and not the sitcom, which always bugged me that it wasn't actually about a big bang theory. You lied to me, Chuck Lorre.
They head to Bill's place where Bill asks Teresa about her guitar experience, which she only briefly commented on. After some encouragement, she begins to play for him, a song that mentions that she'll stay beside him til the month of May. She stops the story there, saying that eventually she realized that Bill was using her. We'll get back to her story later, but Poppy and Free suggest they tell the story about two people named Candice Manville and John Gerhart. Free tells the story. John had moved to LA with his parents and soon went to the same school as Candice, who he called Candy. They became a couple after John helped her in math class by improving her grades. Also, just realizing. John and Candy? John Candy? Was that intentional or am I doing my old fashioned reading too much into things shtick again?
John and Candy become a couple, while John still has to deal with an abusive step dad. But he takes things in stride usually to cheer other people up. He soon learns that Candy is color blind, but is also an amazing artist. He makes one too many comments which is enough to make Candy embarrassed and destroys a picture she made of him. But instead of helping his girlfriend's poor mental health, he doubles down and mocks her some more. This is enough for Candy to hide her art and never show him what she's working on, which fair dos to her, John's kind of an asshole, even if I'm assuming a lot of that is his own defense mechanism due to living in an abusive household.
Despite that, the two are still a couple, but it's becoming clear that John's becoming more and more possessive of Candy. But he helps her get into Berkeley, where Candy's parents want her to become a doctor. But her actual lack of interest in being a doctor makes it clear that this isn't exactly what she wants in life. And everything was about to go perfect, except for their final test. As the teacher, Mr. Sims, leaves the room, John heads over to Candy's desk and hands her the answers. Unfortunately, another student named Sally saw this and rats them out. Despite their best attempts to deny this, eventually John runs his mouth too much, which is enough for Mr. Sims to rip up his test. That's a big issue for John because it'll drop his grade to a C. Not only that, but when John continues to mock him, Mr. Sims fails him from the class, meaning his college dreams are now up in smoke. So with Mr. Sims already destroying his life, and now provoking him by poking John in the chest because clearly he hasn't realized how unhinged John can be, John punches out Mr. Sims.
John is expelled from school and is arrested on assault charges. He didn't exactly have much help with a lawyer as the only one he could get was an alcoholic. Mr. Sims and Sally testify with Mr. Sims overplaying his injuries. John ends up in juvenile hall, not able to see Candy due to her parents, and thanks to Mr. Simms, he's unable to go to any school. But he did eventually find Candy at Berkeley, but at the worst possible time. But before we can go there, Poppy suggests that Teresa continues to talk about what happened with Bill first.
Teresa and Bill had been an item for about six weeks when Bill tells her that he got her an audition to sing for a club called The Summit. Teresa's confused, and still not comfortable with this, but Bill tells her that it'll be fine as he already gave the club a tape of her work. Yeah, he's been taping her without her consent, which is already red flags. She continues to tell him no, but when he says that the two can go on a romantic getaway after the audition, she accepts. They head to The Summit and meet the owner Mr. Gracione. He asks Teresa to perform and she does, though her song is a bit more sorrowful this time. But she got the job. Though as she prepared herself, she saw less of Bill. And of course her parents were against it, but let her go for it regardless. That just leaves Teresa's friend Rene, who the two are friends despite having little in common, but still asks to go to her first performance.
The night of Teresa's first performance arrives. She arrives at the Summit with Rene, but is still nervous to perform. Bill gives her some encouragement, and that's enough for her to play to the crowd. And it goes well with a minutes long applause. She celebrates after the show with Rene and Bill and is starting to get weird vibes around the two of them, but not red-flag just yet. But she still wants that romantic getaway, which Bill agrees to give her, but also invites Rene to. Bill drives Teresa home, and after everything went so well she wants to have sex with him, but he seems passive about it. Back to the car as Teresa says that this was because, shocker, Bill was already planning to dump her for Rene. Poppy says that Bill doesn't sound that bad so far, but Teresa says that he was a user. But for now we move back to the story of John and Candy as it's Poppy's turn to narrate.
Candy felt guilty for what happened to John, despite also knowing that given his short temper and ability to fly off the handle, this was an inevitability. But she still feels that she should have gotten rid of the cheat sheet before being caught before Mr. Sims and Sally saw it. She finally goes to Berkeley, while John finally gets out of juvie. But despite trying to contact him, she hasn't been able to get any answers. Not even his parents know where he went. She misses John, and that also affected her schoolwork. But she still stayed in school regardless of how bad she was failing. But she never heard from John for months. Eventually she moved on and ended up with another man in his mid thirties named Henry. A teacher. A married teacher, so this already doesn't bode well. But they keep their relationship a secret for now as he still wants the best of both worlds.
The summer comes and Candy takes up jobs as a waitress and department store clerk. She continues to have sex with Henry, and despite protection, wasn't as protected as they'd hoped as she ends up pregnant. He suggests an abortion and she almost goes through with it, but after considering suicide instead, decides to keep the baby, which of course upsets Henry because it would destroy his reputation and his relationship. So Candy ends up in Oregon and gives birth to a boy she names Johnny as she still feels for John despite still never hearing from him. Free says that Poppy is making the story look better than it actually was. Teresa asks if John ever found Candy, and Poppy says that he did on one dark and stormy night, which means it's Free's turn to narrate.
After John left juvenile hall, he returned to his parents place, but after an argument with his step-dad, he punched him in the face and left. He eventually found work at a bakery, cleaning the machinery. He still has feelings for Candy, though also blames her for everything going wrong, but wants to at least prove he's fixed his life before he can ever face her again. As for the job, it goes well with him being an ace at keeping the machinery working. He still wants to go to a college near Candy, but soon learns that Mr. Sims had ensured that he would never be able to enroll anywhere. At the job, he meets his boss, a former marine named Tyler, and it goes off fine early, John even getting a job collecting whatever was needed for supermarkets.
Tyler would often task John with repairing the conveyor belt oven, which John didn't care for because the hot pans would often burn him. John sees the issue with the conveyor belt was dough getting caught, so he fixes the issue with some metal bars without anyone knowing. It wasn't until Tyler jokes about patenting the bars that John speaks up and says it was his idea. This doesn't go well with former marine Tyler because he doesn't like being humiliated. John loses his former jobs and moves to the hot dog bun machine, which isn't super safe given it can easily cost you a finger or two if you're unsafe. So, once again John fixes the machine to make it more efficient. When he shows Tyler his work, his gloating caused him to be careless and the machine hits his hand, tearing off his middle and index fingers, then sends them down the conveyor belt and into the oven making it impossible to get them reattached.
John still doesn't get what happened, that how he had set the machine up would have never caused this. Then he blames Tyler, believing he must have tampered with the machine to mess with John after the prior blow up. He tries to sue Tyler, but is unsuccessful. And now missing two fingers, he feels like a pariah in the eyes of others, and the pain medication barely works, making him even more miserable. He also fears that Candy would never want to see him in this state. He becomes an addict to morphine, but when his prescription is cancelled, he becomes a heroin junkie. He doesn't have a job, but robs vending machines for their cash. His life had spiraled out of control, but Free says that it hadn't hit rock bottom just yet. He says that they should stop and get something to eat, then visit his mother, a fortune teller. He also wants Teresa to continue her story.
They stop at another convenience store to get supplies. When Teresa can't get any beer, Free goes inside and tells the other two to stay in the car. Poppy and Teresa get in an argument as Teresa denies that she's running away. She asks why Poppy stays with Free if they aren't in a relationship, but Poppy says she can't, because even after everything, she still cares about him. Free returns with beer and they joke that he probably robbed the store. They continue their drive, Free suggesting they go to his mother's. While they drive, it's Teresa's turn to reminisce.
Her second performance goes great, but on the ride home Teresa notices that Rene and Bill are getting along much better, but at this point she doesn't really suspect the worst. She tries to set up Rene with a boy named Alfred "Alf" Morrell for a double date, which annoys Bill. She continues to think about her romantic getaway and Teresa is all set for this to be the night, though she has her worries, particularly since she doesn't really know that much about Bill, or if he might even be HIV positive. Despite wanting this so much, she realizes that she is getting herself way over her head. They pick up Alf and drive for the double date, with Bill talking about how the cops in town are awful, to which Alf says "not all cops", mainly because his dad is chief. The context of this argument feels a lot different in 2021 context.
The argument gets bad enough that Rene and Alf end up driving on their own. Teresa tells him that she booked their getaway, but Bill seems concerned and confused about this. And after pressing him about why, he finally confesses that he's in a relationship with Rene. This of course upsets Teresa, who finally gets away from both of them. She goes home and collapses, now realizing she's lost her best friend and someone she thought loved her. And that all happened earlier that evening. But Poppy thinks there's still something that Teresa isn't telling them about and she thinks that maybe she can find a way to forgive them somehow. Free disagrees, feeling it's better to cut out those who hurt you. They argue a bit before Teresa asks about John. But Free says that they'll continue that after visiting his mother.
They arrive to Free's mother's house, which is almost like an old stone castle by a moat. Poppy chooses not to go with them, since she doesn't believe that Free's mother can see the future. Free's mother talks with Teresa and sure enough knows everything. When Teresa asks about why Bill and Rene did what they did, she says it was out of fear. Fear of Teresa. Teresa's frustrated and wants to leave, but Free eventually calms her down. Down long enough to have sex with her, meaning that in her mind, she's become free as well.
They continue their drive a while later. Poppy continues Candy's story. She continued to raise Johnny on her own with no one's help. She also joined a nursing program. She gets into a relationship with a doctor named Clyde who becomes hopelessly in love with her. He wants to marry her, but she isn't so keen on the idea. And even after being together for a while, she realizes that this feels like Henry all over again. She still missed John. On a rainy night, she drove to the store for cigarettes. Before Poppy can finish, Free interrupts, saying he'll cover the next part.
So, John didn't just stop at vending machines to support his heroin addiction. He turned to robbery, but he's not too good at that given the missing fingers, so he tried drug dealing, only to be robbed and stabbed by someone else. At the hospital, to make matters worse for John, he learns he has hepatitis. He's stuck in the hospital, now cut off from heroin and not even getting anything else to numb the pain. Searching the place for drugs, he spots a nurse and her son. It doesn't take long for him to realize that the nurse is Candy, but in his state, she doesn't recognize him. But he never says anything to her. He decides instead to leave the hospital to speak to his pusher. The pusher tells him that he has to run a job for him to get his fix, and John agrees to do so.
And that takes us to John going to the store to commit an armed robbery. At the same time, Candy shows up. Realizing that this is indeed John, she tries to get him to stop as cops arrive. He tries to run for it, but is locked inside. She tries to reason with him, but he hears none of it. Knowing she moved on destroyed what was left of his feelings for her. He shoots the glass door and uses Candy as a human shield. Before she can tell him something, a cop takes his chance and shoots John right in the neck, and in his last few seconds of life, points the gun at Candy and shoots her in the heart. The cop then blows John's brains out. Both John and Candy are dead.
The trio arrive at Poppy's father's church, where Poppy tells Teresa to confess her sins. She's not for it, but ultimately decides to get it over with. Free asks for a favor later and she accepts. The priest speaks with Teresa in confession where we learn about what happened after she collapsed in her home. She leaves her apartment, but not before grabbing a knife from the kitchen. She drove to Bill's house, intending on killing him, but she didn't. She left instead, and eventually started to run away. But the priest believes that's not the truth. That she's holding something back. But Teresa panics and runs out of the confessional.
They continue driving and Free says that they're close to their destination, despite that not being what he originally said. They stop at another store and both Free and Teresa go inside. This is where Free asks for his favor. He asks her to get the knife, which she still has. He then pulls out a gun and starts to rob the store, which was what he did at the previous stops. Teresa asks why he's doing this, but he says that he both loves her and really loves cocaine. Another woman is in the store and Free tells Teresa to put the knife at her throat, but Teresa is against doing this. As this all goes down, police sirens can be heard. It's almost becoming the John and Candy story all over again.
Free tells Teresa to slit the woman's throat, and in a panic, she ends up doing so, with Free doing the finishing touches on woman and the clerk. They hop in the car and drive to an apartment. One that Teresa recognizes. Free then shows her a tape. A tape of Teresa. A tape of her slitting her wrists in the bathtub. She finally realizes what happened. None of this really happened. She's been dead this whole time. And Freedom Jack and Poppy Corn were John and Candy the whole time. Where she's at is Bardos, the border of life and death, to where she'll end up.
In the midst of this, John and Candy argue with one another. John remains down on himself, saying that after his life was ruined he wasn't deserving of being with her. Candy then says that she still loved him. Teresa also figures that the part about John murdering Candy in the robbery wasn't true. Candy says that's true. It was the cop who shot her, not him. She also tells him that she wanted to tell him then about her son being named Johnny and that she didn't make that part up for the story. There's still the issue of Teresa's wrists, but Candy says that so long as she gets a blessing from god she'll be able to survive. She seems to float lifelessly, but sees the images of Bill and Rene. She sees that her door is still unlocked, then sees Bill running from his house.
Teresa wakes up as a man speaks with her, telling her that it was Bill who saved her life. The man isn't a doctor, but is college studying to be one. To be like his mother who was a nurse. As he goes to leave, Teresa asks if his name is Johnny. He asks how she'd know that, and she responds that he looks like someone he knew.
It's interesting that after such a brutal book like Monster I follow that up with a more reserved book. That's not to say that Road to Nowhere isn't harsh in its own rights, but we don't have to keep a kill count on this one. I like how the book sets itself up, intertwining the two tales with our three storytellers. How the story of John and Candy and Teresa's story flow in and out. Giving us enough time to build intrigue on both. With John and Candy becoming an ever increasing tragedy, and how Teresa may have just thrown her life away for no good reason. And the book builds the mystery of what Poppy Corn and Freedom Jack really are pretty well. In this case being the representations of heaven and hell. Candy representing Heaven and a chance to save Teresa's soul, while John represents Hell and tries to corrupt Teresa's soul, even recreating the same robbery right down to murdering a young nurse. Even having "sex" with Teresa as a way to try and tempt her to letting her life go.
I will say it's a good cautionary tale that intertwines with sort of a Romeo and Juliet tale from the afterlife. What I'm not super crazy on is the ending. It feels a bit too preachy. Almost setting it up as a "as long as you pray to god, you'll be saved" type deal and I find that kind of cheesy. But with how everything is set up, it's hard to find a way to end the book without going into some form of religious spirituality. And the twist is kind of predictable, but not offensive. Thankfully the book flows well and its tales are compelling enough to keep you interested in how this will end. It succeeds where Monster failed in not feeling like it spins its wheels. Every part feels important. Even the fortune teller and priest to represent Teresa's bleak future and her chance to free her sins.
I think this book is fine. It tells a strong story. It works as both a story about redemption and about not throwing your life away so easily. Though, in Teresa's defense, Bill and Rene do suck for what they did to her. Was it out of emotional manipulation? Probably not. Nor was suicide the answer (or murder at one point, let's not forget she thought of doing THAT). But clearly all three were flawed in how they handled this situation, and at least they can try to reconcile. Particularly now that Teresa seems fine with them being a couple and I guess is interested in Johnny. So a good ending all around.
In the end, the book isn't as good as our last Pike book, but still fine. It again flows well with compelling characters, but does feel a little exploitive when talking about the dangers of addiction, and the ending's message might not be for everyone as I can see people being turned off by its "ask God to forgive you" attitude, but this was still a solid book, and still a recommend. It's a book that might be a fork in the road for most people. Road to Nowhere gets a B.
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