Okay, it's been a while since I've covered a Christopher Pike book. You know, coming into these fresh eyed and innocent, I was not really expecting to, you know, have to talk in depth about abortion and suicide. But, that's not enough to deter me from wanting to continue with these. So, let's see what awaits us with Witch.
Julia Florence is a witch. Well, that was a quick reveal. She doesn't have all of the stereotypical witch things like brooms or cats, but she can heal the sick and see far away and even into the future. She discovered her powers in her senior year at... Indian Pole High, which even has a totem pole in the courtyard and a football team that I assume has one hell of a name. Welp, 2 pages in an I'm already feeling awkward. That's an academy record. But Julia loves the team regardless. I say regardless because they're literally the worst team. But Julia manages to get her friend Amy Belle and Julia's boyfriend Scott Hague to join her to watch the game, which Amy's boyfriend, Jim Kovic, is playing on the opposing team, Saddleback High. The game might help Julia out since her mother died three months prior. Also Julia's mother was a witch too. This book's swimming in witches so far.
We then learn that Julia's mother, Elizabeth, worked as a nurse in the hospital, where she would mix brews to help cure ailing patients. But to do so came with a price and that meant that she would take on part of the sickness she'd cure. Case in point when she healed an injured teenage girl who suffered traumatic brain injuries in a motorcycle accident. Mrs. Florence tried to heal the girl, but to no luck. The girl died, and soon after Mrs. Florence would suffer a brain hemorrhage that would end her life as well. Julia hasn't taken it well, feeling her mother sacrificed herself for a lost cause. She'd ask her aunt, also a witch, about it, but she doesn't really trust her aunt that well.
So Julia's had these powers of sorts since she was ten when she looked in the nearby pond and could see her mother picking flowers from beyond her field of vision. That's normal, but Mrs. Florence warned Julia to not use her powers to spy on people and that she can't peer into the pond when the moonlight shines on it. But she still used it whenever possible to peer to other parts of the world. Sometimes it's cute and delightful, then sometimes the vision gets stuck in a Chinese prison where people are executed. Her mother told her that that's part of the gift. You'll get the good and the bad. And here she is years later and she's pretty much ignored that first warning, spying on her friend Amy and Scott. Julia once asked where her mother took the pain she extracted, and she says that she gave it to God. But Julia's not too happy with God taking her mother away. Oh, it's gonna be another one of these ones, huh?
Julia peers into Amy and Scott some more. We learn that while Julia is in a relationship with Scott, it's not really one out of her own attraction to him, to which there's little. For one thing he's a little fat, not as attractive and she and Amy refer to him as "The Great Pumpkin" due to his more orange skin. Ouch. Her peering gets distracted by what sounds like a hawk's screech. She manages to wake up, but everything seems wrong. The moon is out, everything seems flipped around, and there's an eerie young woman near her. A girl who looks just like her. It's her newest ability, out-of-body travel.
Julia tries to go back, but with the whole moonlight on the pond thing, she's stuck. And she sees another vision. A liquor store. Two men and a girl. The one man in a red jacket holding a gun as if he were holding the place up. The vision then flashes to the someone on the ground dying and the girl crying over him. It's Julia. As she tries to escape the vision, she sees the shooter's face. He had a greasy mustache and cold, black eyes that seem to radiate hatred towards her. Julia awakens from the vision and sees her aunt's reflection, seemingly scolding her for what just occurred.
So, then we cut to Scott and Amy at the game and Scott is pretending to be in his mid-twenties to hook up with a 30-year old woman named Sally Hanlon. Well, that escalated. Also no sign of Julia yet. Mid-game, Amy talks with Jim who is beaten up, but Saddleback has been demolishing Indian Pole, much to the chagrin of one of the Indian Pole players, Randy Classick. Randy also reveals Scott's real age to Sally which ruins those plans. Which I guess is good timing as Julia shows up. We learn a bit more about the friendship between Julia, Scott and Amy, and how Julia seemed to almost die trying to save Scott who had suffered a case of shock while swimming.
Of course Scott and Amy were the very few people who actually respected Julia and Mrs. Florence as most of the town were scared and paranoid about them, thinking them cultists or, what they technically are, witches. Amy introduces Julia to Jim and things feel awkward, as if Amy kind of realizes that Jim might be into Julia as this book wants to hammer you over the head about just how beautiful Julia is. As Jim returns to the game Scott mentions wanting to go to the liquor store, which has Julia freaked out, especially when she learns that Jim usually wears a letterman jacket. A RED letterman jacket.
So now Julia realizes that it was Jim in her vision. She can't tell Amy or anyone else since they likely wouldn't believe she's a witch, so her next plan of action is to get rid of Jim's jacket. Maybe that will change the course of upcoming events. After the game, Julia talks with Randy for a bit, who she does kind of admire because she learned he carves faces on trees, which is pretty weird but sure, and one of the faces appeared to be Mrs. Florence. Julia, Scott, Jim and Amy drive off, initially planning to get liquor, but Julia doesn't want them going near any liquor stores. She also heals the back of Jim's neck in a manner similar to Mrs. Florence, but it gives her a massive headache. That and she's also getting feelings for Jim, which is awkward considering he's Amy's boyfriend.
They stop at a gas station where Scott goes inside to get some stuff, when Julia sees it. The man at the counter is the same man with the mustache from her vision. The gunman. She runs inside and tries to save Scott, but the gunman shoots him in the side of the head. The guy's accomplice, a shorter kid with a shotgun tries to shoot at Julia, but she evades in time. But in Julia's mind, she thinks that maybe the man knows about the vision, and maybe he knows that Julia can't stop the inevitable. As Scott lays in near death, Julia almost uses her healing power to save him, but also realizes that she can't. Because if she saves him this way, given what happened to her mother, he will still die and it'll be her death sentence as well.
As Scott is on the operating table and his death seemingly a certainty, the other three teens are being interrogated by a Detective Crawley. Given that Julia interfered just before the gunman made his move, it seems a bit suspect. Turns out that Julia knows of Crawley. A year prior, the paper warehouse caught fire and when Julia tried to get help, she arrived at Crawley's house and he seemed unwilling to help her for some reason. Though Julia suspected maybe Crawley had a mistress and didn't want that to come out in the open. But now Julia suspects that maybe given this past interaction, that Crawley is more suspicious of Julia given the events of the evening.
The doctor arrives and tells the teens, as well as Scott's parents, that the damage was so bad that Scott will likely not make it through the night. They're given the final visitation and Amy wants Julia to heal Scott, since she does know about Julia and Mrs. Florence's powers. However, Julia still can't, not just because of the aforementioned possibility that this will be all for naught and become her cause of death as well, but given her vision, she knows how she can find a way to catch the two gunmen. Julia and Jim leave while Amy stays with Scott, feeling she may have just lost everyone she cared about in one night.
We learn a bit more about Julia. How her father left when she was really young so she has no memories of him. And that she really doesn't like her aunt and has been living on her own and doing whatever she can to keep it that way until she turns eighteen. Jim and Julia start to feel attracted to one another, but then they remember Amy and cut that out. Julia returns to the pond for another vision. She first sees a vision of the mustached man with Mrs. Florence, angry over someone in a hospital bed. He claims to have seem Mrs. Florence's daughter and makes threats. She then sees present time where the two criminals plan their next robbery. The short guy is also sick, spitting up blood and losing his vision, but the mustached man, who we learn is named Frank, is more focused on repaying someone named King. And that plan is to rob a liquor store that night. So Julia learns the address and gets Jim as the two drive to the liquor store in hopes of stopping them.
We go back to Amy as a group of women wearing black show up, led by Julia's aunt. She pressures Amy into telling her where Julia is and what she's planning to do before making their leave. Randy then shows up as we learn he's taken a part time job as a janitor for the hospital. He did overhear Julia's aunt and mentioning the girl who had the motorcycle accident and how all of this meddling has to be stopped. So they believe there's got to be some connection to the girl who died in the motorcycle accident to the robbers, especially since they too drive motorcycles. They also know that Julia is clearly intending to kill the robbers.
They find the records on Frank Truckwater, the robber, and we learn he crashed his motorcycle while drunk and blew out his knee. They then find the record for the girl, Kary Florence, which is weird given, you know, the same last name as Julia and her mother. Amy gets a call from Jim, but despite trying to warn him to stop whatever they're planning, he seems to be all in on Julia now, meaning that confirmation on losing everyone I mentioned earlier has come full circle. But Amy continues her focus, telling Randy to try and keep the aunt and her group from finding Julia while she tries to find out more about the Truckwaters and the Florences.
Julia has a dream of swimming in Tahiti with Scott, when suddenly Scott gets attacked by some sort of monster, tearing him apart and dragging him into the water. Julia prays for his quick death, but instead his death continues to be long and painful, and she's being dragged into the water as well. Jim wakes her up and gives her the info he got from Amy. After again feeling as if she and Jim are getting closer together, Julia then tells Jim that they'll need to buy a shotgun for her. Despite her pleas to keep him out of the liquor store, Jim is against it. But Julia tells him to ditch the red jacket. Maybe that will change some of the fate.
Amy visits the home of Kary Florence and is greeted by her father. He doesn't take too well with learning someone's been stealing the medical records of his dead daughter, but Amy then asks if he had another daughter named Julia. And sure enough, he did. Which means that Julia and Kary were half-sisters. We learn that while he remained estranged, he did go to Mrs. Florence's funeral and was well aware of her healing powers, as well as Julia's creepy aunt. He asked Mrs. Florence to heal his daughter, and we know how that went. We also know that Kary was connected to Frank Truckwater, who was bad when Kary was alive, but got worse after, becoming a junkie and a thief. He also knows that if Julia is out to get him, she'll definitely get him. Though he remains estranged, he does ask Amy to tell Julia that he does want to meet her and also that you don't get anything for free in this world. Meanwhile, Randy manages to stall the other witches by messing with their radiator and pumping their gas at the nearby gas station. He also managed to memorize the address for the Truckwater residence and heads that way.
Julia and Jim easily get a pair of shotguns because it's America, of course it's super easy, and prepare themselves for Frank and his accomplice to hit the liquor store. As she waits, she sees the nearby lake and the moonlight reflecting the water. It's red, like in her dream about Scott, and believes it's a bad omen. But right now there's not much she can do to get Jim to back out of this. Meanwhile, Amy makes it into the empty Truckwater residence and indeed finds a picture of Frank and Kary on a motorcycle, along with Frank's little black book that mentions the planned hit on the liquor store. Randy arrives and they each give their info on what they've learned and head out.
Julia and Jim soon see the robbers arrive in the liquor store. They wait a bit before Julia feels it's ready. She then kisses Jim, which gives her enough time to knock him out with the butt of her gun, since she still hopes she can change his fate. She sneaks inside and manages to shoot the accomplice in the leg, incapacitating him and taking his revolver. She tries to shoot Frank, but misses. They have a bit of a standoff with Frank saying that he knows she's the daughter of Mrs. Florence. Frank then manages to hide off into the back of the store, making it hard to Julia to find him. And then Jim shows up, having not been knocked as hard as she thought.
Julia tries to free the liquor store owner, only for him to pull out his own gun, which at the same time, Frank pokes his gun out and both are aimed at Jim. She manages to fire at Frank, but when she tries to stop the gunshot from the owner, it's too late. Jim ends up shot and seems to have died immediately. The vision came to pass. Julia then makes a makeshift Molotov Cocktail and it eventually explodes, now setting the building ablaze. However, Frank manages to overpower her, though his right arm is shot and useless. But his left can still hold a switchblade. Julia manages to get a hold of the revolver she swiped and the two remain at a standoff.
Amy and Randy manage to contact Officer Crawley who heads to the liquor store. The two arrive and sneak inside and see both the shot fat kid and Jim, who is still alive, at least for the moment. He tries to apologize for falling for Julia, but Amy forgives him since, like, we get it, everyone falls for Julia. I guess that plays into Amy's own handling of being rejected, but it also feels kind of self-deprecating. But then again, are we going to argue with the impending corpse? And Jim does die for real this time. Amy enters the standoff between Frank and Julia. She tells Julia about everything. How Kary was her half-sister. How Frank was responsible for Kary's accident. About Julia's father.
Despite claiming he was run off the road, Frank was actually drunk that night and had hit a tree, which was what led to Kary's injury. He learned from Mr. Florence that his ex-wife had the power to heal Kary. But when she was unable to save her, he cursed Mrs. Florence. Julia then realizes that her mother tried to heal Kary as best she could. She then realizes that Scott still has a chance to live. Julia says goodbye to Amy while telling her to keep the gun on Frank until the police arrive. Not long after, Officer Crawley and Julia's Aunt arrive. Randy and Amy manage to sneak out, but Amy's car is gone. So they have Randy steal some clothes in the nearby cop car and for the second time in one night he manages to trick the other women in Julia's aunt's car. As they leave the car, Amy sneaks in and drives off, knowing exactly where Julia's headed.
Julia arrives at the hospital and speaks with Sally Hanlon, the woman that Scott tried to pick up earlier. She then goes to Scott and places her hand on his head before she finds herself in a form of limbo with her mother, back to the same lake where Julia once saved Scott. Her mother says that to heal Scott she'll need God's help. But she also mentions that Julia appears to have a death wish to be with her mother again and that was her motivation for confronting Frank and in trying to save Scott. She also reveals the reason that she tried to save Kary. That despite her husband having the affair, she still thought of Kary much like her own daughter. Julia says she felt similar to Scott, in how their friendship was so deep. And while she does have a death wish in a way, she also feels Scott deserves to live.
To save Scott though, Julia must walk into the water, similar in how her visions showed. She goes deeper until she is fully submerged and then enters what appears to be the hospital again. In a cubicle with Scott, both attached to cords that still give them life, though Scott's is running low. They converse for a bit with Julia relaying everything that went down. She also admits to being a witch, though Scott always suspected she was magical. She then motions to her cord, readying herself to give it to him. Scott tries to tell her not to, but Julia's decision is made. She sacrifices what's left of her life force to save him before returning with her mother.
Amy arrives at the hospital with Scott awake, but Julia is dead. Suddenly, Julia's aunt arrives and confirms that Julia indeed sacrificed her life for Scott's. She would do the same, but God would not want her life for it's not equivalent. Crawley and the others are there as well with the officer finding Frank's crack pipe on her, believing Julia to have been a junkie that died of an overdose. The aunt tells Crawley to leave, but his fellow officer takes him away. The aunt then says that Julia's body will be cremated and her ashes spread upon the pond.
Four days pass and we get a follow up on things. Frank got booked for attempted murder, theft and drug dealing, but being only nineteen it's expected he'd only get six years. The accomplice, sixteen year old Stan Easton was charged as a minor, but would do time until he was twenty. Crawley resigned from the force with the belief that he was becoming more paranoid and delusional. Jim was buried with the liquor store owner who killed him saying a prayer at the church. He was ultimately forgiven as it was still in self defense. Amy and Scott were given property to Julia's house. Amy, Scott and Randy arrive at the lake to spread Julia's ashes. They then look in the pond, hoping to get a vision of Julia. They're unable to, but Julia and Mrs. Florence see the three one more time before ascending to the sky.
I'm fine the message of the book, though the heavy handed "only God can help you" feels a bit forced. It definitely plays into a lot of Pike's work that I've read so far. It feels a bit more forced into the story than even Road to Nowhere provided. I like the idea of the powers, be it the visions and the idea of the healing being as much the sacrifice of one's life for the safety of the other while also not being a given that the power will still work. It at least makes the faith stuff work in that context. And it makes for one of the better use of magic and witchcraft I've read for the blog. Though if you're going for the more classic takes on witchcraft you'll be let down, but like, the book says right off the bat it's not the standard take on witches or witchcraft, so I wasn't let down as I progressed.
This book's pacing is decent too. It uses its 225 pages to work through the story and the mystery well, even if some things are a bit to obvious, including the connection between Kary, Mrs. Florence and Julia. It's woven much better than how Stine would do this at least. He'd make it too obvious too quick. And the book delivers on action with two tense robbery scenes. You could argue it gets a bit too crazy with how much of a gunslinger with the knowledge to make Molotov Cocktails Julia suddenly becomes, but it still works in the book's favor.
As for our supporting cast, I like Amy, I like Jim, though the book trying to add this sexual tension and love triangle between Jim's love of both Amy and Julia feels just a bit like it was forced in there because these books need romantic tension. Randy and Scott are far from the worst, but also both feel a bit too much like perverted chowder heads, especially trying to lure a thirty year old into bed with them. And I don't know, it made me less interested in seeing Julia sacrifice her life for Scott. Like, I get it, they're friends, but this is the same guy who tried to catfish a thirty year old waitress for sex, and Randy just never stops with the creepy sexual advances on Amy. Not to mention Randy's claims that he pretends to be a doctor at the hospital to feel up pregnant women as well as Scott at one point filming the cheerleaders in their underwear. Frank is an okay villain, and his motivations make sense, though this is yet another book where the villain is a crazed junkie.
I am reminded of Whisper of Death in how our main female lead dies at the end. Though at least this was less of a misguided abortion story and Julia's eventual sacrifice is important for the story's progression, but it again feels like we have to end this book with our female lead being killed off, and I can see why people have this very "anti-women" feel to it. There's also this heavy sense of treating Julia and Mrs. Florence like the most perfect people in the world. The kind you'd have no problem watching your boyfriend dump you over. Seriously, that moment was kind of dumb and made Amy come off as someone who has no self worth, and that's a shame. And, the aforementioned "seek God's will" does take me out of it a bit. I'm not atheist, though I'm also not spiritual either, so maybe it's more on me that this doesn't hit with me as well as it was probably intended to.
In the end, Witch feels serviceable but really could have been better. Fix some of its ideas, make the character we're supposed to sympathize with a bit sympathetic, and maybe not end again with our female lead dying while the more creepy individual lives. Fix the pacing a bit and this could work better and don't force the whole faith issue and you'd have a better book. But for what it is, Witch gets a B-.
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